dining out while maintaining sodium

hoktauri
hoktauri Posts: 24 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Because of my job I tend to eat out a lot, taking my lunch and/or dinner isn't an effective option and even if it wasn't I'd take eating out over cooking pretty much everytime. For the most part I've been able to keep the calories in line but I've found the sodium at some places to be insane, like the half turkey sandwich at Panera being 800mg and Applebee's chicken tortilla soup at 1220mg causes my sodium level to spike WAY over 2300.

After starting to pay attention to that aspect I've cut down on things like salad dressing and soups, but I don't check before I order some chicken tenders and I'm way over again. How do you all deal with eating out while staying within bounds? Saying don't eat out will just get you ignored.

Also, are there any good low sodium vinaigrette salad dressings? 400mg a tablespoon is nuts but when I look at food lion I don't see anything, even the Newman's Own is high.

Replies

  • oinkerjnn
    oinkerjnn Posts: 85 Member
    Can't help you on the chain restaurant scene. Try non chain places with less processed foods, and avoid deli meat in general. Processed food equals sodium. Simple food needs salt added to get that high sodium.

    Have you tried oil and vinegar for dressing?
  • rabps
    rabps Posts: 46 Member
    Oil and vinegar is best. I find that reduced fat honey mustard dressing is the best opinion to go for when eating out. Most places use newman's own (in the South US) which has 280mg Sodium and 70 cals. The nutrition also seems to be pretty standard for all lite/reduced fat of this kind. http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fats-and-oils/10040/2
    There is always salsa with tends to be a lot lower sodium and cals when compared to dressing.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    Eat at local or family places where food is cooked to order. Ask them not to use salt. Stick to basic grilled, baked, roasted. Skip the salad dressing.
  • oinkerjnn
    oinkerjnn Posts: 85 Member
    I just checked my fridge, Marie's Greek yogurt blue cheese dressing only has 190 mg sodium per two tablespoon serving. And its delicious.

    Also, clear dressings tend to go further in a salad. My go to clear dressing is newmans own red wine vinaigrette. 390 mg per two tablespoons but a salad with that much of this dressing would be gross.

    If you aren't eating at home this doesn't do much good though.
  • TurtleTape
    TurtleTape Posts: 254 Member
    Well, to be fair, sodium really doesn't matter all that much to a healthy person (and by that I mean no sodium-induced health issues). It may cause some water retention, especially if you aren't used to eating a lot of sodium, but don't let it freak you out/be something you obsess over.

    When eating out and counting calories, I focus pretty much solely on the calorie count.
  • hoktauri
    hoktauri Posts: 24 Member
    Yeah, I recently had a physical and blood work that came back completely normal so I don't worry if I go a little over. It's the days when I go back and see 5000mg that I want to avoid. That and think it's causing some water retention, I have a day or two with low sodium and that's when I see my weight loss.

    As for the salad dressing I'll take any ideas, not a fan of ranch based but anything else low sodium I'd take a look at. I eat a lot of salad.
  • djprice_69
    djprice_69 Posts: 115 Member
    One quick comment - I wouldn't worry much about water weight fluctuations. Some days you'll weight more, other days you'll weigh less, and it could easily be attributed to water one way or another. If your blood work is fine I wouldn't be too concerned about sodium intake. Yes, 5k of sodium on a daily basis is likely no good, but there are definitely a LOT more healthy options when compared to chicken wings. I'd worry more about those types of foods and enjoy your salads with a little dressing on them. Go for the baked chicken instead of fried, or the small steak portion with steamed greens instead of the french fries, and you'll be cutting out grams of sodium instead of just milligrams when compared to salad dressing.

    Just my two cents!
  • eomuno215in541
    eomuno215in541 Posts: 201 Member
    My go to is balsamic vinaigrette or raspberry vinaigrette if they have it (yes, I'm a guy :happy: ) On the side ALWAYS. Sometimes I do the Hungry Girl trick and dip my fork before each bite instead of drizzle on top. Dip, don't drizzle, hmmm. Anyway, I NEVER order chicken tenders because they are a wild card, and fried is NEVER good. Not that I don't eat it, just sparingly. If I couldn't look up a restaurant online prior, I order a salad, usually the one with the least ingredients, cuz like an Applebee's Oriental Chicken salad is still like 1000 calories! :huh: But I research EVERYTHING if I can before I leave my house. Check my diary. I Subway, Chipotle, Olive Garden. It can be done.
  • crystalewhite
    crystalewhite Posts: 422 Member
    I actually make my own vinegrette. I also put a lot of garlic, shallots and black pepper so a little goes a long way. I make them in a mason jar and keep it in the refrigerator and eat a little almost every day.


    Extra Virgin Olive Oil - Oil, 8 Tbsp
    Maille - Dijon Originale - Traditional Dijon Mustard, 3 tsp (5 g)
    Generic - Red Wine Vinegar, 4 tbsp (15 g)
    Honey - Clover, 0.33 Tablespoon (21g)
    Garlic - Raw, 2 tsp
    Shallots - Raw, 1 tbsp chopped

    It's about 129 calories a tablespoon, if you are wondering, and 48 g of sodium that comes mostly from the dijon. You can always decrease that amount or even leave it out.
  • ksy1969
    ksy1969 Posts: 700 Member
    I gave up on tracking sodium. I am constantly going over and I do not eat a lot of processed food. I guess as long as it isn't causing me any issues I will just drink a lot of water to keep my system flushed.
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
    Why are you so worried about it? You said that you have no medical issues that you should be worried about. You know that at points your weight may go up and down due to water weight. So if you lose this water weight it's not actually fat your losing so that. So why is water weight an issue then? Unless your retaining a lot of water it's not an issue.

    I really don't understand this obsession with water weight surely the idea is to lose body fat? Our bodies are 75% water so relax about it.

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