Asian sauce

PadKeeMao
PadKeeMao Posts: 2 Member
edited October 16 in Getting Started
Hey guys, I'm Asian and I love Asian food of course 😆 I'm just wondering if Asian paste for cooking is bad, for example tomyum paste, sambal or curry paste in general. No coconut cream but just paste stir-fried with chicken and veggies most time. I also log calories of these paste when I made my meal but they can't be good for your body right? If I can't live without them what's the right amount to have per week?

Replies

  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,838 Member
    Most of these seasonings have a ton of sodium which can be a problem if you have high blood pressure or kidney issues. But a healthy person should be fine. You can read a label, right? There’s nothing in there that’s not on the label. If a particular ingredient concerns you, you can make your own using dried peppers, herbs, and spices, and leave out some of the sodium, msg, oil, or whatever doesn’t suit your needs. Otherwise, don’t worry so much.
  • PadKeeMao
    PadKeeMao Posts: 2 Member
    rheddmobile wrote: »
    Most of these seasonings have a ton of sodium which can be a problem if you have high blood pressure or kidney issues. But a healthy person should be fine. You can read a label, right? There’s nothing in there that’s not on the label. If a particular ingredient concerns you, you can make your own using dried peppers, herbs, and spices, and leave out some of the sodium, msg, oil, or whatever doesn’t suit your needs. Otherwise, don’t worry so much.
    Thank you! How many gram of sodium is considered high?
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,838 Member
    PadKeeMao wrote: »
    rheddmobile wrote: »
    Most of these seasonings have a ton of sodium which can be a problem if you have high blood pressure or kidney issues. But a healthy person should be fine. You can read a label, right? There’s nothing in there that’s not on the label. If a particular ingredient concerns you, you can make your own using dried peppers, herbs, and spices, and leave out some of the sodium, msg, oil, or whatever doesn’t suit your needs. Otherwise, don’t worry so much.
    Thank you! How many gram of sodium is considered high?

    I looked on the internet at a random brand of Tom yum paste and it had 39% of the FDA daily recommended sodium in one serving - so, if you ate that three times daily, you can see the total would be over 100%. But there’s scientific discussion that the new RDA for sodium may be too low and that up to about 5000 mg daily may be just fine for most people. It depends on what your other meals are like, not something to panic over, just maybe something to be aware of.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,463 Spam Moderator
    PadKeeMao wrote: »
    Thank you! How many gram of sodium is considered high?
    That really depends on the individual. If one suffers from high blood pressure or hypertension, then they would have to stick to a lower sodium diet. I myself can EASILY take in 4000mgs + with no issue as long as I'm drinking enough water. Remember that sodium does cause the body to retain water (which may cause wild fluctuations in weight) if you're not balancing it out right.


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  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 10,761 Member
    edited October 2021
    It's easy to chose different pastes to cook with. If I just want spicy then I use sambal oelek, and only if I want a more refined taste I use something like sambal brandal or whatever is available here. The calories of the latter are about 3x of those of a simple sambal. Just to name an example. Those pastes available here are not that high in sodium, depending on where you are they might not be either. And hey, even if a paste has humungous numbers per 100gr, then the amount of sodium you use might still be low. And even if not: if you have no reason to restrict salt then I don't think it's a problem.
  • MikePfirrman
    MikePfirrman Posts: 3,307 Member
    I just saw this thread. I made a huge pot of Tom Kha Gai tonight. I used fresh ingredients (galangal, lemongrass, Kefir Lime leaves) plus a paste for extra flavor. Yes, most pastes (I'm a gigantic Asian curry fan) do have a lot of sodium, but they also have a lot of healthy ingredients too. There isn't a lot more healthy than red peppers.

    I've read studies where hot peppers, like in curries, have so many health benefits, especially for your heart.
  • iwannalose60kg
    iwannalose60kg Posts: 9 Member
    I use pre-made sauces too, but I try to do it from scratch when I can. It’s just the level of sodium and artificial stuff the put inside to increase the shelf life of these sauces that bugs me.

    But for curries I just use powders so they are just the spices. So you just need to level up in your cooking skills if you are like me that want to reduce sodium which the app reminds me I have hit the limit for the day.
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