Taking Sodium Seriously!

by AK - Jeff 29 Replies latest social physical

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  AK - Jeff

  I am, along with my wife, trying to find creative ways to lower our sodium intake. The AHA recommends a diet consisting of less than 1500 mg of sodium daily - yet most Americans eat at least twice that. I believe now, having spent most of a morning looking through grocer shelves to determine sodium levels, that twice the level might actually be a very low estimate. Most of our salt intake is from foods that are already high in sodium or from prepackaged foods that carry unusually high levels - cause it makes it taste good.

  So for lunch we are eating a small plate of pasta topped with a spoonful of beef cooked with onion and garlic. A spoonful of low sodium pasta sauce and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese finishes the dish. I have got to find some websites with good variety of recipes using low sodium foods.

  This is tougher than I thought. Very hard to find sodium friendly foods.

  Jeff
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  VIII

  I love salt. I put salt on all my food. I have low BP, always have. Luckily. I have started watching because my husbands is high. I have to stop for him and watch what I put in and on everything. So, I have tried eating stuff without and with no salt.

  That is tough. On the plus side is less water retention. Food tastes like crap, but less water. There is always a bright side.
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  asilentone

  okay, if you have Kroger in your area, there are salt free blue chips, salt free various maranatha butter(almond, chocolate, etc, but some of them do have salt, but look for salt free labels...) There are some good low sodium Amy's Frozen Lasagna products there too. If you have trader joes in your area, they also have salt free blue chips. You can find Kashi Vanilla or Cinnamon Cereal which has Zero Sodium at Wal Mart. If I can think of some more, I will be back at this thread.
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  AK - Jeff

  Just discovered the Mayo Clinic site. They have tons of tasty sounding recipes for low sodium intake. I think this afternoon I am going to move my wife's laptop to the kitchen bar so that she can easily use the internet resources and recipes. This might be fun.

  Jeff
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  AK - Jeff

  http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/low-sodium-recipes/RE00101
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  Heartbreaker

  Also if you are adding salt to food for flavor, make sure it's SEA SALT for sure. While it has the same sodium level, it's often way better in that the trace minerals are still there (chemically removed in mined salt) and it's just plain better for you. Obviously you have less of a choice in prepackaged foods, but if you want to add salt, I recommend sea salts.
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  asilentone

  if you want to add salt, use the "no salt" salt, google about it.
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  asilentone

  take a look at www.goodsensesnacks.com some of them do have salt, some of them are sodium free.
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  GLTirebiter

  The best bet for finding low sodium foods is to make your own from the most basic ingredients you can find. For example, make spaghetti sauce from tomato puree and spices instead iof buying the jar. The same goes for reducing fat, trans-fat and sugar. You'll have a hard time finding packaged foods without it.

  By the way, keep an eye out for the MSG as well as salt--it's a major source of sodium in packaged food.

  GLT
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  Snoozy

  I too was amazed at the levels of sodium in our foods. I was really shocked to see the amount in Frozen foods and take out foods. I have had Hign blood pressure in the past so I try to watch mine also. I found Jay's potato chips have no salt in them. They have a decent taste also.

  I too have heard that about sea salt. Funny thing is I never salt my food, and have no desire to add salt to anything. Go figure. All the salt that I would get is already in the foods I would eat.

  You really have to read the labels.

  Same with sugar..I couldn't beleve the amount of sugar in juices. The recommend nothing over 25 in sugar would be good. Nothing over 30 to 50 in fat per calories..depending on your body. 25 to 30 if you are overweight or have hign blood pressure and 40-50 if you are seemingly healthy. Although you may not stay healthy if you eat that amount a lot.lol

  Take a look at some of the levels in these fast foods. Remember 2,400 is the daily amount allowed in salt and 30-40 in fat calories per item .

  http://www.fastfood.com/Nutrition/default.asp

  This is just McDonalds..remember a teaspoon of salt is the daily amount of salt eaten in a day. 1 teaspoon =2,400 (daily amount) Just a Fillet of fish has half your daily allowance of sodium and 240 fat calories of your recommended amount of 30-40 fat calories..anything over that will turn to fat in your arteries..lol

  http://www.fastfood.com/Nutrition/mcdonalds.html

  Snoozy