Reducing Sodium

[Anonymous]

Starting to pay attention to sodium intake. One sandwich with one slice of ham, cheese, and mustard has 970mg or 42% RDA!! What can I eat for lunch instead? Need more carbs than salad to avoid a headache.

[Anonymous]

Skip the ham and add avocado or a side of nuts for protein.

[Anonymous]

Oatmeal is a supersaver. Good for you heart, over all healthy and doesn't rob your wallet. Add some nuts and fruits to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oatmeal is a supersaver. Good for you heart, over all healthy and doesn't rob your wallet. Add some nuts and fruits to it.

Savory oatmeal is great too. Pressure cooked steel cut oatmeal is very similar to a low GI brown rice.

I love to poach an egg and toss on oatmeal with some fresh herbs.

You can also do cheese and tomato sauce, it’s very neutral flavor. Boiling it will make it mushy, so then you might try risotto recipes.

[Anonymous]

Pretty much anything homemade - I bring leftovers for lunch.

Avoid processed food.

If you like beans, cook your own to reduce sodium

[Anonymous]

It's HARD OP. I entirely get you. I have high BP and have been trying to cut down. Controlling sodium intake is 10x harder than controlling sugar intake. Two slices of bread alone to make a stupid sandwich will have an insane level of sodium.

The only way to control it is to not eat any packaged foods, avoid eating out a ton more, and make everything yourself. Tons and tons and tons of foods are just saturated in sodium. Very hard to control. We are huge fans of Asian food...it has been very rough for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's HARD OP. I entirely get you. I have high BP and have been trying to cut down. Controlling sodium intake is 10x harder than controlling sugar intake. Two slices of bread alone to make a stupid sandwich will have an insane level of sodium.

The only way to control it is to not eat any packaged foods, avoid eating out a ton more, and make everything yourself. Tons and tons and tons of foods are just saturated in sodium. Very hard to control. We are huge fans of Asian food...it has been very rough for me.

This. It's really hard to do w/o preparing everything from scratch.

I'm not overweight and have low BP, but try to avoid sodium and added sugars. In a busy household with two parents who WOH, it's a challenge to do without spending the entire weekend on food prep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's HARD OP. I entirely get you. I have high BP and have been trying to cut down. Controlling sodium intake is 10x harder than controlling sugar intake. Two slices of bread alone to make a stupid sandwich will have an insane level of sodium.

The only way to control it is to not eat any packaged foods, avoid eating out a ton more, and make everything yourself. Tons and tons and tons of foods are just saturated in sodium. Very hard to control. We are huge fans of Asian food...it has been very rough for me.

One thing I do when I get a sandwich or wrap is use the bread more as a wrapper. I use it to hold everything together, but I peel most of it away as I eat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's HARD OP. I entirely get you. I have high BP and have been trying to cut down. Controlling sodium intake is 10x harder than controlling sugar intake. Two slices of bread alone to make a stupid sandwich will have an insane level of sodium.

The only way to control it is to not eat any packaged foods, avoid eating out a ton more, and make everything yourself. Tons and tons and tons of foods are just saturated in sodium. Very hard to control. We are huge fans of Asian food...it has been very rough for me.

For takeout food, you can also ask for sauces on the side and ask for no added salt whenever possible.

[Anonymous]

If you can find it, King Hawaiian breads have approximately half the sodium of other brands - sandwich bread, hot dog buns, hamburger buns. A sandwich with the King Hawaiian would have 230 mg of sodium vs. 400+ for most other brands.

If you must have deli meat, switch to turkey or chicken, but watch the flavors (buffalo, etc).

Check brands for sodium - even 50 to 100 less mg per serving will make a difference at home.

Pay attention to your meat and seafood - a lot of it has been injected with sodium solution.

Take out will kill you - Panera is actually THE WORST. You are actually better off going to McDonald's re: sodium.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you can find it, King Hawaiian breads have approximately half the sodium of other brands - sandwich bread, hot dog buns, hamburger buns. A sandwich with the King Hawaiian would have 230 mg of sodium vs. 400+ for most other brands.

If you must have deli meat, switch to turkey or chicken, but watch the flavors (buffalo, etc).

Check brands for sodium - even 50 to 100 less mg per serving will make a difference at home.

Pay attention to your meat and seafood - a lot of it has been injected with sodium solution.

Take out will kill you - Panera is actually THE WORST. You are actually better off going to McDonald's re: sodium.

King's Hawaiian has ~5g added sugar, though. Not sure that's a great tradeoff.

[Anonymous]

carbs - rice, potatoes, corn, quinoa, oatmeal, etc., you can make without added salt

You can have open faced sandwiches

Eggs (omelettes, quiches, or even scrambled) make a good base for foods (and you can control the salt).

[Anonymous]

I have high BP and have to watch my Sodium. As far as lunch meat goes look for Boars Head. They have great low sodium options. The turkey I get from them has I think 60 mg or so per serving compared to 3-400 if not more on regular turkey.

[Anonymous]

You actually do not need to buy salt from the store. If you do, make sure that container can last many months.
If you cook and add sauces, you do not need to add additional salt. If you cook, add other spices, like garlic, onion powder, paprika, parsley, and a pinch of salt if you need to.

[Anonymous]

Deli meat is one of the worst foods you can eat for a variety of reasons.

Best bet is to get or make roast chicken (non-seasoned if you purchase) and use that for salads/sandwiches, etc. Instead of bread, you can buy wraps and use those. Buy the lower sodium cheeses - not "low sodium cheese" because yuck but cheeses or options that are naturally lower in sodium, e.g. fresh mozarella, ricotta, swiss, cream cheese. Low Sodium tuna (I like bumblebee albacore in gold can) is really good but expensive.

Be careful with nuts and get the low/non-salted kind and then you can use non-sodium seasons to jazz up yourself. Beans are good if fresh but if for time you need canned, rinse well and/or buy low sodium.

Low sodium marinara sauces are available if you can't find your own and then add your own seasonings to taste.

It's hard - I've done it to prevent being on hbp meds. It gets easier once you start paying attention and get grossed out at how much sodium we're taking in without even knowing it.

Basically go fresh when you can. It takes more time but you'll be all the more healthier for the effort.