Need to cut sodium, got meal ideas for me???

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_SusieQ_
_SusieQ_ Posts: 2,964 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I watched my calories, was under every day but one for the week, worked out 4 days and lost 1.5 lbs. Don't get me wrong, any time the scale goes down I am happy, but for as much as I felt I worked, and as much as I have to LOSE (over a 100 lbs for my journey), I thought it would be more. So I thought back on my week and realized that I have a LOT of sodium in my diet. (sorry, I have my diary set to Private, so you'll just have to take my word for it). Frozen dinners, processed foods, etc. I never thought much about sodium before, just focused on calories, But I'm beginning to believe that that may be the culprit in why I am not doing just a little bit better.

So I'm looking for ideas, recipes, etc from you out there in MFP land that are lighter on the sodium side so I can see if that will help me on my way. Anything I can do in bulk and freeze for later is a plus! Thanks!

Replies

  • MoM2LayLa09
    MoM2LayLa09 Posts: 152
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    I've learned that almost anything prepared at home and that is not processed or fast food/restaurant is low in sodium . . the exception for me is lunch meat and hot dogs/sausage etc. - so get low sodium and limit your serving size and you will be fine!
  • Kirsty_UK
    Kirsty_UK Posts: 964 Member
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    Frozen dinners, processed foods, etc. I never thought much about sodium before, just focused on calories.

    that's your culprit, basically anything processed will have a lot of salt in it, and anything you can make from scratch will be better - typically, processed soups, bread, and packaged meal items (over cook chicken, frozen meals etc) will have a lot of salt in them
    So I'm looking for ideas, recipes, etc from you out there in MFP land that are lighter on the sodium side so I can see if that will help me on my way. Anything I can do in bulk and freeze for later is a plus! Thanks!

    anything you make from scratch will be better as I said above, but as for bulk items, you could make a tuna pasta bake that you then eat in small portions with a side of veg and salad, or lasagna and do the same, or chicken in a home made tomato and veg sauce, even homemade soups are good for freezing (I basically boil and blend whatever veg I own with a pint or two of stock and usually it comes out at least ok)
  • Pandorian
    Pandorian Posts: 2,055 MFP Moderator
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    Check out a box of KD, the pasta itself is sodium free it's not until you add the powdered cheese-sauce that you get a ton of sodium added to it, how does that compare to shredding a block of your favourite cheese? Maybe substitute that, I buy a 1kg bag of pasta elbows and only cook up a serving at a time so I'm not tempted to eat the whole box, it's cheaper though a bit more work.

    Make as much as you can yourself you can really control the added salt, if you're going to eat processed stuff you're going to get salt.
  • JennLifts
    JennLifts Posts: 1,913 Member
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    The easiest is to start with foods in their regular states. Not like going raw or something, I mean instead of having them already combined, like they would be in a can of soup or a frozen dinner. As I'm sure you noticed anything with the word cheese in it also packs sodium.

    there's basic ideas and then you just build.

    grains, eg rice, quinoa, oatmeal, etc all are low in sodium when you cook them yourself. then add veggies or fruit or what not and it's going to be super low.

    I'm not sure about cow milk, but I know soy milk can have more sodium than expected.

    not sure if that helps ;)
  • chansler5
    chansler5 Posts: 1
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    It sounds like you don't like to do a lot of cooking. On your day off from work you could make a couple different dishes and freeze them to last during the week. I have found that soups that I make at home are really low on calories and you can control the sodium. You could buy low sodium beef or chicken stock. I made a Pasta Fagioli soup that was really good. I didn't put oil that it said to at the beginning and you could use ground turkey and drain the fat.

    http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/524/Olive_Garden_Pasta_E_Fagioli35471.shtml
  • topazzzoe
    topazzzoe Posts: 12
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    Several times a week I just make a simple grilled piece of meat or fish and I just toss my veggies right onto the grill with it. Last night I even grilled fresh sugar snap peas. All fresh never frozen and very low in salt. Works well on a counter top grill ,if we fire up the grill outside you have to wrap the small stuff in foil.
  • KristiRexhepi
    KristiRexhepi Posts: 4
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    Hey!

    I noticed this when I was in my nutrition class for nursing school and we had to keep track of everything we ate for a week. I was exactly like you, I was doing great on everything EXCEPT sodium!!! It was through the roof!!! So here are the foods to stay away from if you are really watching your sodium:

    *ANYTHING FROZEN ..food companies pack these things with sodium to preserve and add flavor (especially in "diet" meals)

    *ANY RESTAURANT FOOD ..it's ok every once in a while to go out for a nice dinner...but just remember, the whole goal of a restaurant is to get you to come BACK! so to them, it's all about flavor....that's where salt comes in handy for them!...not so handy for us!

    *DELI MEAT ...FULL of salt!!! again, to preserve and add flavor

    *COTTAGE CHEESE ..great source of protein...just make sure you look for a brand with less sodium

    *CANNED FOOD: If you see a recipe that calls for 1 can of black beans, for example...go to the health market and get a can that says no salt added!

    *FLAVORED WATER: it's not much, but there is usually added sodium for flavor. Regular water is always best!

    So....with all of these things that we have used for so long to make our lives easier, how do we cut sodium??? My GO-TO meals are chicken and broccoli or carrots, and if you want to use seasoning, look for a no salt added label! You can prepare enough chicken for the week and heat it up when you're ready to eat it so that's pretty easy! Also, you can just throw your chicken breasts on a pan and bake them for an hour and ta-da! easy meal!

    I am a Personal Wellness Coach, and I always like to respond to posts like this because I really believe I can HELP you!!! I do have a program that I know you will get results with...but I don't want you to feel like I am "selling" you anything! But this response is what I do for FREE for my clients ANYTIME that have a question about ANYTHING! Let me know if you're interested in learning more. If not, NO problem! I hope that this helped you!!!! :)

    Have a Happy, Healthy Day!

    Kristi
  • _SusieQ_
    _SusieQ_ Posts: 2,964 Member
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    It sounds like you don't like to do a lot of cooking. On your day off from work you could make a couple different dishes and freeze them to last during the week. I have found that soups that I make at home are really low on calories and you can control the sodium. You could buy low sodium beef or chicken stock. I made a Pasta Fagioli soup that was really good. I didn't put oil that it said to at the beginning and you could use ground turkey and drain the fat.

    http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/524/Olive_Garden_Pasta_E_Fagioli35471.shtml

    Actually I LOVE to cook, I just think that maybe I need to change my mindset of how and WHAT I cook, b/c again, I have never really paid attention to sodium, just calories and fat. That's why I wanted suggestions of things I could make at home that would be better sodium wise. That's for the recipes, that's exactly what I was hoping for!
  • _SusieQ_
    _SusieQ_ Posts: 2,964 Member
    Options
    The easiest is to start with foods in their regular states. Not like going raw or something, I mean instead of having them already combined, like they would be in a can of soup or a frozen dinner. As I'm sure you noticed anything with the word cheese in it also packs sodium.

    there's basic ideas and then you just build.

    grains, eg rice, quinoa, oatmeal, etc all are low in sodium when you cook them yourself. then add veggies or fruit or what not and it's going to be super low.

    I'm not sure about cow milk, but I know soy milk can have more sodium than expected.

    not sure if that helps ;)

    I have eaten quinoa once before, at a friend's house, but never cooked/prepared it. Do you have a recipe, or some suggestion of how to make this?? Thanks!
  • FullOfSpice
    FullOfSpice Posts: 176 Member
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    You can check out my blog...I created my first post today regarding clean eating...

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