So much SODIUM!!!

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orsnowboard
orsnowboard Posts: 7 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I just finished my 3rd day of tracking and I decided to just track my typical meals.... dear god!!! Sodium is sooooooooo high! This was a defnite wake-up for me, I'm revising my meal plan to cut it down!
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  • ilovegreg05
    ilovegreg05 Posts: 96 Member
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    What foods are you eating with high sodium? Also, typically as long as you keep your sodium intake pretty consistent you shouldn't see any day-to-day weight fluctuations.
  • calroseangelo
    calroseangelo Posts: 144
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    I hear ya!! I never realized how much sodium was in foods until I started keeping track of it!! I try to keep mine under 1700...been losing well ever since!!
  • MelMena
    MelMena Posts: 152 Member
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    One tip...watch the type of chicken breast that you buy. I have found that the sodium levels vary greatly. They add a "solution" and it is bacically salt water!
  • mbajrami
    mbajrami Posts: 636 Member
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    One tip...watch the type of chicken breast that you buy. I have found that the sodium levels vary greatly. They add a "solution" and it is bacically salt water!

    AMEN TO THIS!
  • kat5556
    kat5556 Posts: 164 Member
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    Seeing the amount of sodium in food was my biggest eye opener on this site. It totally made me redo my food choices. I eat a lot more veggies and fruit now.

    On the chicken, if you happen to have a BJ's Wholesale near you look for Harvestland Chicken. There is nothing added to it and it tastes great. I'm sure they sell it other places too. You can probably check out their website to see where it's sold.
  • Hearts_2015
    Hearts_2015 Posts: 12,031 Member
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    I just finished my 3rd day of tracking and I decided to just track my typical meals.... dear god!!! Sodium is sooooooooo high! This was a defnite wake-up for me, I'm revising my meal plan to cut it down!
    It can be really shocking right?! 35 years & over the sodium level is now recommended to not exceed 1500mg. As long as I cook at home and plan ahead I can stay well below that. I've gotten a wee bit obsessive about it now, it's actually the first thing I look on the pkg. for the mg. per serving.:blushing: :laugh: But once you start making changes, it really does get easier to cut back and enjoy the food in a brand new way.

    Could be worse things to obsess I suppose, plus I can't even begin to tell you how much better I feel knocking it down from 2500mg to 1000 mg. less. Now when I bite into something I actually taste the food rather than the salt/fat in the product. Typically I do homemade meals but even then sometimes something catches me by surprise by my sensitivity to it now.

    Cheers for noticing and looking into making changes for yourself!:drinker:
  • myrahonbarrier
    myrahonbarrier Posts: 191 Member
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    I agree.....it's insane how much sodium is in food. I have never been one to ADD salt to my food because it surely has enough on it's own. My mom used to salt her food before she even tasted it, drove me crazy!
  • rockerbabyy
    rockerbabyy Posts: 2,258 Member
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    i dont really worry about sodium too much - i watch my potassium intake along with sodium and make sure i drink plenty of water.
  • stinamarie17
    stinamarie17 Posts: 47 Member
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    One tip...watch the type of chicken breast that you buy. I have found that the sodium levels vary greatly. They add a "solution" and it is bacically salt water!

    YES! ground turkey too, i was SHOCKED... i've been using ground turkey in place of beef for tacos and spaghetti sauces and such for a few years now, but it wasn't until i started tracking that i realized that it has so much more sodium! gotta read those labels for sure!
  • Hearts_2015
    Hearts_2015 Posts: 12,031 Member
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    Seeing the amount of sodium in food was my biggest eye opener on this site. It totally made me redo my food choices. I eat a lot more veggies and fruit now.

    On the chicken, if you happen to have a BJ's Wholesale near you look for Harvestland Chicken. There is nothing added to it and it tastes great. I'm sure they sell it other places too. You can probably check out their website to see where it's sold.

    OH I was so excited when I saw your post so looked up the company online... UGH

    http://www.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2010/11/perdue_labels_112910.html

    I recall hearing about Purdue duping everyone and am sad to now know they duped Harvestland purchasers too. I really dislike that companies feel the need to add salt (among other creepy ingredients). I do realize it helps preserve food but enough is enough... It's really is getting harder and harder to find honest companies.

    Time to hit the local Farms!:drinker:
  • Nicole71602
    Nicole71602 Posts: 4
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    Another thing I noticed that has ALOT of sodium is those pre packaged frozen meals..weight watchers, lean cuisine, healthy choice..they are full of salt...they actually had me retaining so much water that my legs were swollen...I was dating one every 2 days or so be they were convenient to eat on lunch...I stopped immediately and the weight started coming down...also those low cal cans of soups are very salty...
  • BrightEyesx3
    BrightEyesx3 Posts: 335
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    I noticed that too when I would log in my foods, and its been actually affecting me. The best part is I try not to eat processed foods as much as possible. I just eliminate the high sodium foods out of my diet when I plan my meals out ahead of time and try plugging in substitutes to get more iron or potassium in my diet.
  • blonde71
    blonde71 Posts: 955 Member
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    There's sodium in everything! I recently started limiting mine to ~1500mg/daily. I never realized there was sodium in things like: milk and eggs. Very eye-opening.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    i dont really worry about sodium too much - i watch my potassium intake along with sodium and make sure i drink plenty of water.
    Yeah, this. Sodium doesn't really matter, unless you have a specific medical problem that contraindicates it.
  • tsh0ck
    tsh0ck Posts: 1,970 Member
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    i dont really worry about sodium too much - i watch my potassium intake along with sodium and make sure i drink plenty of water.

    bingo.
  • babycook
    babycook Posts: 172 Member
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    I watch my sodium. I don't track it but on my app I can check daily values easier. I check it a couple times a week. I also try to get enough potassium. But that's hard.
    But I have high blood pressure and retain water so I need to watch my sodium.
  • a_new_dawn
    a_new_dawn Posts: 517 Member
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    Salt in my diet is my downfall, I've recently learnt that I get alot of water retention if I over-do it (and even drinking lots and lots of water is of little help). I had no idea I was having so much until I added that column to my diary. I never add salt to my food so I thought I had no need to be concerned. I had no weight loss for a little while but it's started coming off again as i've limited sodium to 1000 or less for the last few days.
    I was shocked to see how much salt there is in what I had considered healthy "1 of your 5 a day" Heinz tomato soup! And greggs pasties are full of it too. Suddenly they don't seem as appealing.
  • subtractionproject
    subtractionproject Posts: 64 Member
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    i dont really worry about sodium too much - i watch my potassium intake along with sodium and make sure i drink plenty of water.
    Yeah, this. Sodium doesn't really matter, unless you have a specific medical problem that contraindicates it.

    Exactly.
  • Cambrendle
    Cambrendle Posts: 104 Member
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    sodium was a shocker for me too! Lunch meat and chicken breasts and chicken tenders (not breaded) were my main diet. On tracking my foods the first week I found I was in excess 5000 mg of sod per day. Now I obsess about the sodium. I can tell when I'm pushing my limit because I can literally feel my ankles start to swell, and my face starts to feel puffy too - before even looking in the mirror or at my feet.
  • kwin91
    kwin91 Posts: 128
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    Yes I realized too how much I was eating. I heard someone say once that if you are trying to eat healthy and low salt, fat, and all that shop on the outside perimeter or the store. That's what I do the only things I buy on the inside are oatmeal and bread and wheat thins. that's it. and my sodium is always under 2000 usually which the daily recommended amount is 2500mg. Good luck!

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