Need help with Sodium!

tamanella
tamanella Posts: 500 Member
edited September 24 in Health and Weight Loss
I have kidney disease and my doctor just told me to go low sodium from now on because I'm exhibiting poor renal function. Sooo, my family is very busy and we eat anything from fresh food to prepared frozen/packaged/can foods. And I've noticed that fresh food can have high sodium levels too, ugh! Do you have any suggestions for low sodium diets???

Replies

  • merrillfoster
    merrillfoster Posts: 855 Member
    Make all your own foods and use a salt-free seasoning (Mrs. Dash makes some good ones)
  • BriannaKef
    BriannaKef Posts: 2
    I agree with merrillfoster, Mrs. Dash all the way!! I also have to watch my salt/sodium intake. I'm a 31 year old mother of 2, just recently placed on cholesterol medication :/ Mrs. Dash makes a ton of different varieties, and they taste great! Best of luck to you!
  • luv2ash
    luv2ash Posts: 1,903 Member
    Definitely no can food or boxed foods---and you should do fine---only Mrs. Dash---no table salt!
  • alienblonde1
    alienblonde1 Posts: 749 Member
    Well they are starting to make canned foods with no added salt. When eating out tell them not to salt your food, they always put too much. I hardly ever add salt to food anymore since so much of it already is salt.
  • Aitenev
    Aitenev Posts: 62
    I found two great cook books for low sodium diet. "Low-Salt Cookbook" by the American Heart Association and "500 Low Sodium Recipes" by **** Logue. I also found alot of great recipes by googling "low sodium recipes". It takes a little effort to find good recipes and low sodium foods, but it's worth it. Good luck.

    Ha ha! MFP filtered out the first name of the author. His name is a shorter version of Richard! :)
  • maggieschuck
    maggieschuck Posts: 174
    I'm also on a low sodium diet. I have kidney stones so I need to make sure they don't get worse. My Dr. put me on a 1500 mg sodium limit. Its a trial and error bases. I cut out ham, lunch meat, tv dinners (most of them), bacon, fast food, restaurants, and I always check the sodium content. Im a mom, student and gf. I don't have time to always make all of my food from scratch. As I enter my food for the day I look at how is work out. If it was really high in sodium them I prob wont eat it again or know that its the big one ticket item of the day.

    Check out others ppls food diary so see what works for them. Good luck.
  • callipygianchronicle
    callipygianchronicle Posts: 811 Member
    I am now on a low sodium diet after being diagnosed with high blood pressure. I changed my MFP allowance to 1500 mg a day, which is the max recommended for people with sodium issues. What it means for me, is that I cannot eat anything from a can or box. Bread & tortillas have to be monitored carefully (brands vary widely and many are very high in sodium). Making my bread is not convenient enough to tackle right now, but I ay get there.

    But the biggest enemy of all: Eating Out. There is no such thing as low sodium restaurant food, even at the healthiest places I’ve been to. Eating out often means eating an entire days worth of sodium (or more) in a single entree. Very dangerous. Foods high in potassium are good to counteract the effect of sodium in the bloodstream, but this may not be okay for you with your kidney issue (ask your doctor).

    Lastly, water, water, water. You must have it. I once hated it, but have learned to love it. I try to have 9 cups a day now, because I struggle with getting my sodium under 1700 most days. And if I eat out, I only have water. Soda is completely off limits.
  • NeuroticVirgo
    NeuroticVirgo Posts: 3,671 Member
    Pretty much no more boxed or canned or pre-packaged stuff! Or pre-seasoned.

    I find the days that i manage to have low(er) sodium is when I eat a lot of fruit! I might go a little over on my sugar though...so I don't know if that's always a great idea, but i figure its sugar from fruit not sugar from candy.

    But most meats do not have very much sodium in them unless they are pre-seasoned or packaged that way (like brisket...oh sodium overload)...but almost all the steaks, chicken breasts, fish etc that I've purchased do not have very much sodium. Then I use salt substitute instead of actual salt. I threw out all my seasonings that had salt in them to avoid adding sodium to the foods I cook.

    It is very hard for me to have a low sodium. I hope you find a bunch of foods you like that are low :)
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