Done all I can, STILL overeating salt, any tips?

RedWritesBooks
RedWritesBooks Posts: 6 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hey Everybody! Hope y'all are having a good New Year :)

I had a quick question about salt: How'd you cut back on the darn thing?

I cut junk food except for special occasions (work celebrations), cut soda, check the labels on everything I eat, reduced portions semi-drastically b/c my mom just can't seem to stop pouring it into everything and yet I still somehow overdo it on the salt almost daily! :s

Replies

  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    My tip is determine if you're one of the 15% or so of the population who even needs to watch their sodium intake. Do you suffer from high blood pressure? If not, relax. :)
  • vorgas
    vorgas Posts: 741 Member
    Sweat more. Then you get to have more salt.
  • saragoesrawr
    saragoesrawr Posts: 7
    I agree! Watching your sodium intake is SO hard. EVERYTHING is loaded with it. I think the only real way to avoid so much of it is to stop eating packaged and processed foods! I know this sounds really hard but personally Ive found that focusing on "real" foods helps me live a more healthful lifestyle anyway. I LOVE this blog http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/real-food-defined-a-k-a-the-rules/

    Check it out, hopefully this helps at least a little :)
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
    edited January 2015
    Track all of your food and then look at your log. Which foods are the highest that you're eating? If you like a lot of high sodium foods, try eating just one of them each day instead of one each meal.

    Soups, bread, cheese, and lunch meat are super high in sodium. You can get low/reduced sodium soup and make your own meat.

    When cooking, try using spices instead of salt. Garlic powder, Rosemary, parsley, basil, and other Italian spices can help you get the flavor you want without the added sodium.
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
    WalkingAlong wrote: »
    My tip is determine if you're one of the 15% or so of the population who even needs to watch their sodium intake. Do you suffer from high blood pressure? If not, relax. :)

    15%? Just people with high blood pressure? False.

    From the CDC:
    The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010 recommend that everyone age 2 and up should consume less than 2,300 milligrams (mg) of sodium each day. Some groups of people should further limit sodium intake to 1,500 mg per day, including:

    Adults age 51 or older.
    -All African Americans.
    -Anyone who has high blood pressure, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease.
    Those groups add up to about half of the U.S. population and the majority of adults.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I don't even track my sodium... My blood pressure is fine, there's no need to.

    My advice is just to look at your diary and what has more sodium and try to cut out those things or find a replacement without as much sodium.
  • flabassmcgee
    flabassmcgee Posts: 659 Member
    Less prepackaged food, more whole foods. If I have to go prepackaged, I look for "--% lower sodium" or reduced sodium.
  • Slacker16
    Slacker16 Posts: 1,184 Member
    I gave up on tracking sodium...

    95% of my cooking is based on soup cubes, just can't do otherwise. For the moment, at least, my blood pressure is in the optimal range.
  • alfiedn
    alfiedn Posts: 425 Member
    I hardly ever hit my salt goals at all. I home-make most things (including veggie broth) and find that salt is less necessary if you spice well with other things. I will say some spices (garlic powder...I'm looking at you!) do have salt added, but it's fairly easy to replace some of them with the actual food that the spice is made of (garlic is a great example here).

    Some of my favorites are: chipotle powder (put that stuff on roasted sweet potatoes...yum!), cumin, cilantro (I use fresh), mint...

    Cutting salt does take some getting used to. If you're used to a ton of salt, things may taste a bit odd without it. What I'd suggest is start trying some brand new recipes that you haven't eaten before. Because they different from your normal ones, it's easier to accept that they taste different, too.

    I've actually been recommended to eat a bit more salt because my blood pressure is low, so I've been working on adding a bit to my food to help. My husband doesn't need more salt, so I still buy low sodium and no salt added canned goods/broth (when I don't have enough of my own).
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,839 Member
    Homemade soups are the bomb! And very easy. Homemade stock has FAR less sodium than even the "low sodium" versions in the store.
  • ryanhorn
    ryanhorn Posts: 355 Member
    If you're looking to reduce sodium and you eat canned vegetables, one easy way of cutting the sodium content is to drain and rinse the vegetables before eating them or switching to fresh/frozen veggies can help quite a bit too!
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    britishbroccoli wrote: »
    WalkingAlong wrote: »
    My tip is determine if you're one of the 15% or so of the population who even needs to watch their sodium intake. Do you suffer from high blood pressure? If not, relax. :)

    15%? Just people with high blood pressure? False.

    From the CDC:
    The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010 recommend that everyone age 2 and up should consume less than 2,300 milligrams (mg) of sodium each day. Some groups of people should further limit sodium intake to 1,500 mg per day, including:

    Adults age 51 or older.
    -All African Americans.
    -Anyone who has high blood pressure, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease.
    Those groups add up to about half of the U.S. population and the majority of adults.

    LOL at the CDC…I would ignore any advice coming out of that disaster zone of an organization …

  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    I would say don't worry about it..but based on your original post it seems that you have pretty demonized and restricted every food group, so why not move on to doing the same for salt? Becuase bad.
  • Archon2
    Archon2 Posts: 462 Member
    http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-end-the-war-on-salt/

    I'm not saying I necessarily agree with the article, but perhaps the fuss over sodium might be a bit over hyped by the medical establishment. IMHO, make sure you drink enough water to flush it out and watch the blood pressure if you have hypertension or a history of it in your family.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    http://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/daily-sodium-intake

    If you are under age 50, your blood pressure is in a healthy range, and your health is good, you probably have little reason to worry about salt intake.

    I got the 15% from Alton Brown. Maybe it's an under-estimate, I don't know. I have low blood pressure like many people and sodium is actually a good thing to make sure you get enough of.
  • DamitJanit
    DamitJanit Posts: 1,329 Member
    Just try to stay away from canned foods. Frozen veggies are much more like fresh and have a lot lower sodium. And never pick up the salt shaker at the table. In fact, don't put it on the table.
    Even though you may not "need" to reduce your sodium at your age, it's a bad life habit to eat too much salt. As you get older, you would possibly need to reduce it and trust me, it's easier now.
    Good luck.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    edited January 2015
    Waiting to watch your sodium intake until it causes cardiovascular issues is a little like waiting to watch your food intake until you're obese. Take car of it early and you won't have the problem later.

    I love you, salt, but you're breaking my heart: http://sodiumbreakup.heart.org/sodium-411/

    There is a section there for reducing your salt. The easiest way, IMO, is to cook your own food and don't add a bunch of salt. Once you get used to eating things without all that salt that comes in processed foods, you'll really notice how salty they are. If I get a Stouffer's meal now, it doesn't matter what it is, all it taste is salt!

    Make friends with Mrs. Dash. Once you start using those, you won't even miss the salt!

    There's a potassium "salt" now that I guess people like. That's great, because most of us get waaaay too much sodium and not enough potassium. :)
  • Laurend224
    Laurend224 Posts: 1,748 Member
    RedWritesBooks wrote: »
    Hey Everybody! Hope y'all are having a good New Year :)

    I had a quick question about salt: How'd you cut back on the darn thing?

    I cut junk food except for special occasions (work celebrations), cut soda, check the labels on everything I eat, reduced portions semi-drastically b/c my mom just can't seem to stop pouring it into everything and yet I still somehow overdo it on the salt almost daily! :s


    Is your mom still making your food? I don't mean to be snarky, but if you are concerned about the sodium In her cooking maybe you could start making your own meals? Cooking for yourself is the best way to control what goes into your food.
  • RedWritesBooks
    RedWritesBooks Posts: 6 Member
    Thanks Everybody! I guess I'll try not to obsess about it too much lol, but the tips helped quite a bit, I don't do much soup cubes or broth but I do use canned stuff during college season so I'll try to cut back on those, also you've given me the names of interesting spices I'd never even thought of! :)

    @saragoesrawr the rules was super helpful n-n thanks!

    @alfiedn I'd never heard of Chipotle Powder, I'll have to try it, also do you use the mint on like savory dishes?

    @Laurend224 She does cook the rice and the beans and the stuff that makes no sense for me to cook just a wee bit of, since there's like one pot for each of that stuff and down here it's like part of everyday diet (literally: breakfast, lunch and dinner unless it's like pasta and even then, rice and beans are there, along with a side of ketchup) but my proteins and veggies I do cook for myself…most times but I guess it couldn't hurt to cut back on the starches anyway lol

Categories