low or no sodium recipes?

plfeery
plfeery Posts: 16 Member
edited December 19 in Recipes
looking for tasty recipes for comfort foods like soups, stews, pasta etc that have very little sodium. On a very restricted no sodium diet and having trouble cooking stuff that tastes good or any good recipe for that matter

Replies

  • s1lence
    s1lence Posts: 493
    I would like to know some myself. I've been willingly cutting down on my sodium but it's hard to stay under especially when it comes to meats.
  • srp2011
    srp2011 Posts: 1,829 Member
    Bump - my mom was just diagnosed with CHF and has to go on an ultra-low sodium diet - I'm trying to help her learn to cook differently. I did find a website that had some recipes that looked tasty but I haven't tried them yet: http://my.hearthealthyonline.com
  • njdemp
    njdemp Posts: 6 Member
    My father is on a no-sodium (or as close to none as possible) diet, and both he and my mother love to cook and eat delicious food, so it has been a difficult transition for them! We found this website, <http://www.sodiumgirl.com/>, and it has been really helpful for specific recipes and general ideas about how to make interesting and tasty food that also happens to have no added sodium.
  • marsellient
    marsellient Posts: 591 Member
    For soups and stews that use tomatoes, you pretty much have to use fresh, although there are some no salt brands. One suggestion is to buy (or grow) sauce tomatoes in season and freeze them whole to use in place of canned. If you partially thaw them, the skins come right off. Cook your own beans. You need some sodium in your diet, so what's in fresh meats and poultry is probably okay. Use lots of fresh herbs and spices. You will gradually get used to tasting food without added salt. Dairy products have sodium, but again, you need some. How low do you need to go?
  • plfeery
    plfeery Posts: 16 Member
    I have Meneire's Disease, have to go as low as possible to keep from having bad vertigo. I am supposed to stay below 1000 mg a day and closer to 500mg which is really tough to do as everything has sodium in it
  • smesch
    smesch Posts: 15 Member
    Check out some Eat to Live or Engine 2 recipes. Both are great books as well.
  • marsellient
    marsellient Posts: 591 Member
    Sorry to hear about the Meniere's. I keep my sodium under 1500mg on most days just by avoiding processed foods. Quite often it's under 1000mg. I do occasionally go higher, but that is usually when I have cheeses like feta in something. It is possible. Eating out, though is a big issue. Would it hurt to go over occasionally?
  • wftiger
    wftiger Posts: 1,283 Member
    Hunts 100% Natural has tomatoes with no added sodium. Tomatoes naturally have some so you can't get 0 but close. I use them all the time. They even have the basil, oregano and garlic in no sodium. I do use fresh a lot for my recipes.

    You can get quite a few no added/low sodium broths. Kitchen Basics and Progresso both have plus you can get the bouillon cubes by Herb Ox with no added.

    I make my owns soups/stews/pasta sauces using the above. I just make sure that I use some herbs to help with the lack of sodium. When you first start eating low sodium everything tastes a bit crappy but that goes away after awhile. I have been watching intake for about 6 months and now too much sodium in something tastes bad to me.

    One of my favorite sites for buying no sodium is http://www.frontiercoop.com/products/spices.php. They have really good taco and chili powders and many other no salt blends. The extra spicy chili powder is fabulous if you like really spicy.

    If you have to go canned make sure you rinse under cold water for 2 minutes. The research I have found says that reduces sodium up to 70% depending on the food. Some dairy is reasonable (sour cream) and if you get stick to the full fat as low has more sodium generally. Swiss cheese will be your new friend. It is one of the only cheeses you can get less than 100mg per serving (and some are as low as 35 mg).

    One that used to get me is frozen meat. You wouldn't think it would be high sodium but most are especially frozen chicken. They often dip in a salt solution and freeze it (so watch for IQF). The other one that gets me is condiments. But if you check around you can find some or just find recipes and make your own. I have found BBQ and soy sauce substitute recipes just by searching online.

    Breads are also super high. I stick to Mission corn tortillas. Not only low cal, fat and carb but only like 10 mg of sodium. So I use those for darn near everything I would use bread for. :-)

    Good luck and remember that it starts tasting better without all the salt. If you like spicy then spice it up a bit at the beginning.
  • plfeery
    plfeery Posts: 16 Member
    sadly yes, if I go over I get extreme vertigo and have suffered for past 3yrs with almost constant dizziness and without salt I have been dizzy free for about past month. It took 6 mo of learning how to cut back before I finally started to see some success. Now I am diligent about not going over as I can't stand the dizziness.
  • plfeery
    plfeery Posts: 16 Member
    thanks for all the advice. Yes, I am noticing finally that it's not so bad not having salt and I read all labels diligently and use mostly fresh of everything. Thanks for the spice websites that is one I have struggled finding things like taco and chili seasonings etc. Thanks so much!
  • njdemp
    njdemp Posts: 6 Member
    My dad's no sodium diet is because of Meniere's as well. He misses the Chinese/Asian food the most - his new favorite is a sweet ginger chili sauce, from The Ginger People, that can be used as a dipping sauce, or a quick marinade or stir fry sauce. Best of luck to you with keeping it up. It's an incredible challenge.
  • joy31021
    joy31021 Posts: 216
    bump
  • Kalynx
    Kalynx Posts: 707 Member
    like someone mentioned, fresh ingreedients are best when watching sodium!! I got told in January if I didnt cut it from my diet kidney dialysis was next, so I've dilligently changed my diet!!!

    Search my name for postings, i've posted a few of my favorite recipes i've done along the way.

    biggest tip is to budget for what is important to you - like I cannot imagine life without cheese, so i work it in!! Fresh tomatos definately!! Organic tomato puree is good and very low sodium too if you are lazy but still want to do your own sauces - just be sure to add a type of sweetener to it or it just wont taste 'right' ..i had that problem for a while.

    no frozen proteins - canned anything if not organic a no no - dried beans are 0 sodium, so is fruit for the most part.

    I keep my sodium under 2000 a day for the most part, have gone over only a handful of times (under five?) in 4 months..so you can do it!!

    I cook all recipes without salt unless I've cooked it a few times and just know that each serving requires so much salt, so I just add it..and breads - i just follow the directions cuz I'm afraid it wont turn out - but i chose to use lower sodium recipes so that helps.

    Flour + milk or flour+milk+fat free sour cream and sauteed onions and garlic great substitution for canned 'cream' soups that some recipes call for.

    Condiment suck lol wish my store sold low sodium ketchup!! Heinz bold and hearty steak sauce tastes the SAME to me as A1 sauce but is 100 less on sodium per serving for same amount!!

    grated parmesan cheese on a small salad is a good substitute for dressing (at least for me) and tons lower on sodium...

    phew thats all I can think of for now.
  • plfeery
    plfeery Posts: 16 Member
    I have to agree on the cheese on salad instead of dressings. I started doing that too and I am ok on my salads they still have taste. I also make homemade pico de gallo?sp? and it has no salt so I put it on salads too for more flavor. I hate milk and yogurts so the only dairy I get is cheese so I do eat it but watch my intake. Most days I am around 500 mg sodium. If I go up as high as 1000mg I get dizzy so I have to keep it below. I will try your ideas for the cream sauces as I really miss cooking with those. thanks
  • Kalynx
    Kalynx Posts: 707 Member
    plfeery - I just thought of something else that I started doing that really helps! When I make a roast or a chicken in the crock pot I use the liquid and bones n 'stuff' left to make my own batches of chicken or beef broth and freeze it to add to stuff in the future. I was making it just with straight water but read a great recipe in my Grassfed Gormet cookbook that used all sorts of stuff like carrots and celery and a tiny bit of vinegar (helps break down good stuff on the chicken bones)..going to try it next time! I try to make it pretty condensed without too much water so its smaller containers into the freezer then can add more water when I go to use it to stretch it out a little.

    the last time I did a roast I left all the 'gunk' in the crockpot and added some water and let just that go on low for 4 hrs or so and then strained it, put it in fridge overnight to get the fat hard and skimmed that off, then used it the next day for an easy beef stew with the leftover roast beef a few bags of birdseye frozen veggies and a fresh chopped onion and red bell pepper...it did need a little salt but not much soooo much better than canned anything!!
  • amcostello
    amcostello Posts: 1
    I just started this video blog on low sodium recipes. I have had bilateral meniere's disease since I was 16.


    Here is my salsa recipe

    http://lowsodiumchef.blogspot.com/2012/05/garden-fresh-black-bean-and-corn-salsa.html

    but dont forget to check out the tomato based chicken soup with rice.


    Many more to come. Please subscribe to my blog or follow my facebook page to stay in the loop with new recipes.

    https://www.facebook.com/TheLowSodiumChef


    Thanks,

    Anthony

    The Low Sodium Chef
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