foods low in sodium...help please!

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Katy_Adele
Katy_Adele Posts: 20 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I need some suggestions of foods that are low in sodium. I often go over my sodium count and it's getting frustrating!

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  • crystal10584
    crystal10584 Posts: 334
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    what foods are causing it. If you open your diary we can give you alternatives and suggestions :)
  • SheilaSisco
    SheilaSisco Posts: 722 Member
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    *Bump*

    I'd like to know too...
  • Valtishia
    Valtishia Posts: 811 Member
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    If you want to add me, my diary is open to my friends and I watch my sodium too, so it may give you ideas. I do have the occasional day when I am higher than others but I still am under the 2500 on those days anyways.
  • MrsCon40
    MrsCon40 Posts: 2,351 Member
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    Fruits and vegetables!

    If you're consistently going over on sodium it's most likely because you are eating a lot of pre-packaged foods.
  • ShellyMacchi
    ShellyMacchi Posts: 975 Member
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    feel free to have a look through my diary *S* it's public. You might find ideas there.
    i keep my sodium intake under 1500mg a day
  • SaraTonin
    SaraTonin Posts: 551 Member
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    ^ I misread that and thought you were saying fruits and vegetables make you go over. :D Funny.

    But yes, anything pre-packaged will likely have salt in it as a preservative. A lot of frozen foods have it, but not all (usually dishes do, but not always frozen veggies unless they are pre-seasoned).

    Best to season things yourself and make it at home, as hard as it is to say.
  • fanceegirl75
    fanceegirl75 Posts: 620 Member
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    Be careful with salad dressings too. Just because they are fat free & low cal most are still high in sodium. I'm trying to watch my sodium intake as well. I'm now using Wish Bone salad spritzers instead of salad dressing.
  • Billybobboy
    Billybobboy Posts: 11 Member
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    Here's my take on the issue: taste is a by-product of one of two things; fat, or salt. My guess is that you may be pursuing a low-fat diet, and in order to get some taste, you end up with higher sodium foods. You will likely find that when you make the effort to eat a low-sodium diet your food choices will have higher fat content, because you want to enjoy the taste of what you are eating.

    If you try to strike a balance, a few high fat content foods mixed with a few low sodium foods, or vice-versa, you can probably enjoy your meals and stay within your goal guidelines. I'd also suggest you ask your doctor how critical it is for you to be meeting the sodium levels this website sets for you.... and make your dietary choices based on that. Maybe you are not really doing all that poorly now.

    I have a similar issue with potassium.... I do not seem to be able to get up to 3500mg daily.... and I'm not sure how important that is for me.... but it is apparently essential for good heart function.... so I changed my diet to increase my potassium.
  • corpus_validum
    corpus_validum Posts: 292 Member
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    Like a few others may have noted already, try to reduce the number of meals you eat out (high sodium content in many restaurant foods) and frozen foods.

    In addition to focusing on reducing sodium intake, you may also consider increasing your potassium intake as studies have shown that it has an inverse effect of sodium on blood pressure (hypertension).
  • Supermel
    Supermel Posts: 612 Member
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    We are dealing with this in our house as my husband has recently encountered borderline high blood pressure.

    We avoid eating out as much as possible, lunch meat, sausage and bacon, canned soups, boillion or soup mixes, store bought taco mixes, salsa and have reduced bread. I almost fell over when reading the labels i had ignored on beef boillion satchets i seasoned our roast beef with. Watch soy sauce and canned tomato products and canned beans too. We avoid microwave dinners, packaged foods, crackers, chips and most salad dressings. Cottage cheese is brutal and i love it and can't find a lower sodium version yet.

    We found one blue menu minestrone soup that is 140mg of soup and one trader joes brand of veg soup that was lower. Dh said the tj one was 'ok'. We use low sodium soy sauce, no salt added diced tomatoes, no salt added/low sodium chicken broth, soak dried beans, low sodium canned tuna and salmon (tastes fine) and cook a turkey and reeze in packags for lunch meat for quick lunches. I am going to start making my own tomato sauce and cut up tomoatoes for our own salsa. I've purchased curry powder (zero sodium) and use a lot more fresh garlic and green onions and black pepper to season.

    I have used some 'epicure' things with great success such as taco mix and lemon dilly dip mix (or seasoning for fish). I just ordered a new taco one, a barbeque seasoning that is lower sodium and a 3 onion dip for flavouring for meatloaf and roasts..

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