HOLY SODIUM!

How far over 2300 mg. do you usually go? I think the recommended daily allowance of sodium has increased a bit, so I wouldn't worry about it too much as long as 1) you don't have health issues, and 2) you're not very far over.

Yep, if you eat a lot of sandwiches just try giving up the processed lunch meat. Make your own or buy low-sodium. You'd be surprised how much of a difference it makes.

eat primarily whole foods and meals prepared from such...eat less processed food and eat out way less.

Lunch meat is a great big sodium bomb, for sure. I limit my intake of it. Shred some roasted chicken or turkey w/ a little mayo (or avocado, so delish) for a lunch meat alternative. Or make dinner leftovers tomorrow's lunch.

Make as much food as you can from scratch. I typically batch cook a bunch of beans and meats on Sunday, and freeze meal size portion to use throughout the week for my protein sources (time, money, and sodium saver).

Obviously most processes/convenience foods will have high sodium, but with a few 'painless' modifications, you can have them occasionally. Some moderate/high 'hidden' sodium bombs I was surprised were such:

Instant oatmeal/porridge packets (buy plain rolled or steel cut oats--zero sodium!)

Bread (check labels)

Canned soups/broths (make your own w/ zero/reduced sodium broths or buy low sodium ones)

"Healthy" frozen meals (try slow cooker recipes--prep your meats and veggies, freeze in portions, and plop them in the cooker on the morning you want to eat them--Pinterest search for "slow cooker/freezer recipes")

If you have no underlying medical issues, ie. hypertension etc., don't worry about it.

Lil_Miss_Dotti wrote: »

The main way to achieve it is to limit processed foods.

Agreed and basically cooking by yourself. The minimum we need is 500mg daily and this way your sodium intake is about 1000 to 1500. I can do it for one or two months to lose weight but won't do it for too long. After all, life is beautiful with sodium!

Try buying frozen vegetables instead of canned veggies. Canned veggies have an enormous amount of sodium in them. If I do eat canned veggies I dump the water from the can down the drain and rinse the veggies a couple of times before eating. I don't know exactly how much sodium is removed by this method but it has to do some good.

Lil_Miss_Dotti wrote: »

The main way to achieve it is to limit processed foods.

^ This.... The only days that I seem to go over on my sodium are when I eat a whole can of soup for dinner or when I eat a lot of processed food like cheese. Going out to eat puts me over as well since most places add a lot of sodium to their foods.

Agreed that processed meats/food can be bad for you, but their nitrate content (in ham for example) can sometimes help manage blood pressure (nitrates / nitric acid in beet juice has recently been shown to alleviate high blood pressure). Just watch the labels. Be careful with deli items even things like chicken salad, which can be sodium surprises.

I don't use seasoning on anything, but to make up for I do increase my saturated fat intake.

Find a substitute with a similar texture. For example giving up chips (relatively low sodium as they are) was really hard for me, but I was able to slowly wean myself off by eating crunch vegetables and fruits.

Try to stay away from canned foods (veggies, tuna, soups etc) Lots of sodium in can foods. Stay away from processed foods (lunchmeats, deli meats, hotdogs, smoked/polish sausage, pepperoni, stay away from frozen foods (some not all, read the food label to see how many servings and how much sodium per serving) Most are between 350mg to over a 1,000mg. Pays to read the label. Buy fresh or frozen veggies. Stay way from any kind of fast food or resturant...loaded with sodium. close if not over 1000mg for most burgers or main food on dish in resturant. If you want to know, google the resturant and nutrion facts about the foods you may eat.

Drop processed and canned foods, it's actually very doable.

I used to be a salt addict, but now I barely add any table salt whatsoever, there are substitutions for it that can will get better results. Garlic powder or cumin works best in my experience. When I make bread I sometimes leave the salt out altogether and substitute water for sweetened soy milk. The sugar makes up for the lack of salt. Though I have to say, adding half the amount of salt does produce better results.

Lil_Miss_Dotti wrote: »

The main way to achieve it is to limit processed foods.

^^This.

Lunch type meats have a lot of sodium added.

If you cook your own food, you can better control sodium and sugar.

I cook and prep food for the coming weeks meals, on the weekends and package it in individual portions. Using spices and herbs to replace salt. I have been doing this for almost 3 years now. Works well for me.