Help - Low Sodium Take Out Ideas

[Anonymous]

Just was diagnosed with high blood pressure despite being relatively healthy - trying to cut out sodium, but we tend to get takeout ~2x a week.

Generally get Pad Thai one night and Italian something another night. Love all types of food though - Mexican, Indian, American, Vietnamese etc.

Help me come up with ideas for semi-healthy low sodium takeout please

[Anonymous]

Stop getting takeout. No one needs twice per week. Cook at home. That is the only way to get less sodium. There isn’t a way to make it less in the restaurant world unless you are getting a salad with no dressing and then using your own. But that hardly seems worth the trouble of takeout.

[Anonymous]

Your blood pressure will go down if you stop eating takeout. Learn to make your own at home. Low sodium takeout basically does not exist.

[Anonymous]

Takeout can be so tricky when watching sodium! I'm in a similar boat and these are my suggestions:

Depending on the restaurant, you can ask for, and sometimes get the request honored, for no salt to be added to dishes. This works best for proteins (e.g.no salt on my steak, don't season the grilled chicken before adding it to the salad, etc.) but not so well for dishes that use prepared sauces that can't be easily altered. In general, the more simple and decontructed the dish the easier it is to customize, and also easier to spot something that is over-salted.

Salads are generally a good choice with dressing on the side as it can contain more sodium than you'd think. I taste and then decide to use sparingly or sub in my own dressing. Remember to stay way from high sodium topping like olives, pepperoncini, roasted red peppers and croutons.

Chinese/Asian - order steamed veggies/protein with sauce on the side. Rice has no sodium and is fine assuming you're not watching carbs. The sauce they give you is typically way too salty so I rarely use it and add my own condiments I have at home to flavor it - coconut aminos (great sub for soy sauce), sriracha, sambal, etc. in moderation

Italian - pasta has no sodium so order the sauce on the side and proceed with caution after a taste test. Most Italian places also offer great grilled fish/protein dishes with simple sides (or olive oil/butter dressed pasta) that can be easy to customize.

My family orders takeout about twice a week and I've resigned myself to the fact that I often have to do a bit of extra work once the food is home. Sometimes that means passing it off to DH for lunch the next day or adding in my own elements to make it a full meal if certain parts aren't appropriate for my diet.

I know it can feel overwhelming at first, but trust me, your taste buds will adapt! After going low sodium, I've found it extremely easy to taste too how salty a dish is on the first bite which allows me to to branch out more with confidence. When cooking at home other salt-free seasonings and spices are your best friend!




I know it can feel overwhelming but trust me that your taste buds will adapt! After significantly reducing sodium in my diet I'm super sensitive to it and can spot a salty dish on first bite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Takeout can be so tricky when watching sodium! I'm in a similar boat and these are my suggestions:

Depending on the restaurant, you can ask for, and sometimes get the request honored, for no salt to be added to dishes. This works best for proteins (e.g.no salt on my steak, don't season the grilled chicken before adding it to the salad, etc.) but not so well for dishes that use prepared sauces that can't be easily altered. In general, the more simple and decontructed the dish the easier it is to customize, and also easier to spot something that is over-salted.

Salads are generally a good choice with dressing on the side as it can contain more sodium than you'd think. I taste and then decide to use sparingly or sub in my own dressing. Remember to stay way from high sodium topping like olives, pepperoncini, roasted red peppers and croutons.

Chinese/Asian - order steamed veggies/protein with sauce on the side. Rice has no sodium and is fine assuming you're not watching carbs. The sauce they give you is typically way too salty so I rarely use it and add my own condiments I have at home to flavor it - coconut aminos (great sub for soy sauce), sriracha, sambal, etc. in moderation

Italian - pasta has no sodium so order the sauce on the side and proceed with caution after a taste test. Most Italian places also offer great grilled fish/protein dishes with simple sides (or olive oil/butter dressed pasta) that can be easy to customize.

My family orders takeout about twice a week and I've resigned myself to the fact that I often have to do a bit of extra work once the food is home. Sometimes that means passing it off to DH for lunch the next day or adding in my own elements to make it a full meal if certain parts aren't appropriate for my diet.

I know it can feel overwhelming at first, but trust me, your taste buds will adapt! After going low sodium, I've found it extremely easy to taste too how salty a dish is on the first bite which allows me to to branch out more with confidence. When cooking at home other salt-free seasonings and spices are your best friend!




I know it can feel overwhelming but trust me that your taste buds will adapt! After significantly reducing sodium in my diet I'm super sensitive to it and can spot a salty dish on first bite.

Not sure what happened with that last part

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Takeout can be so tricky when watching sodium! I'm in a similar boat and these are my suggestions:

Depending on the restaurant, you can ask for, and sometimes get the request honored, for no salt to be added to dishes. This works best for proteins (e.g.no salt on my steak, don't season the grilled chicken before adding it to the salad, etc.) but not so well for dishes that use prepared sauces that can't be easily altered. In general, the more simple and decontructed the dish the easier it is to customize, and also easier to spot something that is over-salted.

Salads are generally a good choice with dressing on the side as it can contain more sodium than you'd think. I taste and then decide to use sparingly or sub in my own dressing. Remember to stay way from high sodium topping like olives, pepperoncini, roasted red peppers and croutons.

Chinese/Asian - order steamed veggies/protein with sauce on the side. Rice has no sodium and is fine assuming you're not watching carbs. The sauce they give you is typically way too salty so I rarely use it and add my own condiments I have at home to flavor it - coconut aminos (great sub for soy sauce), sriracha, sambal, etc. in moderation

Italian - pasta has no sodium so order the sauce on the side and proceed with caution after a taste test. Most Italian places also offer great grilled fish/protein dishes with simple sides (or olive oil/butter dressed pasta) that can be easy to customize.

My family orders takeout about twice a week and I've resigned myself to the fact that I often have to do a bit of extra work once the food is home. Sometimes that means passing it off to DH for lunch the next day or adding in my own elements to make it a full meal if certain parts aren't appropriate for my diet.

I know it can feel overwhelming at first, but trust me, your taste buds will adapt! After going low sodium, I've found it extremely easy to taste too how salty a dish is on the first bite which allows me to to branch out more with confidence. When cooking at home other salt-free seasonings and spices are your best friend!




I know it can feel overwhelming but trust me that your taste buds will adapt! After significantly reducing sodium in my diet I'm super sensitive to it and can spot a salty dish on first bite.

Any meat the is going to heavily seasoned with salt, especially grilled, roasted meat, or pan seared. Really- your only option is a dry salad or plain steamed Chinese meat/veggie, no sauce. Not very appetizing. Seriously, just make your own food

[Anonymous]

Any place where they are cooking from scratch will be glad to prepare the food with no/low salt upon request. As PP suggested, just get any sauces on the side. When I worked as a hostess, this was a pretty common request for takeout.

[Anonymous]

I eat low sodium due to HBP and the only answer is stop getting takeout. Getting takeout 2x a week is exactly why you have HBP. One Chinese dish can eaily have 3-4000 mg of sodium. Same with plenty of other takout.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Takeout can be so tricky when watching sodium! I'm in a similar boat and these are my suggestions:

Depending on the restaurant, you can ask for, and sometimes get the request honored, for no salt to be added to dishes. This works best for proteins (e.g.no salt on my steak, don't season the grilled chicken before adding it to the salad, etc.) but not so well for dishes that use prepared sauces that can't be easily altered. In general, the more simple and decontructed the dish the easier it is to customize, and also easier to spot something that is over-salted.

Salads are generally a good choice with dressing on the side as it can contain more sodium than you'd think. I taste and then decide to use sparingly or sub in my own dressing. Remember to stay way from high sodium topping like olives, pepperoncini, roasted red peppers and croutons.

Chinese/Asian - order steamed veggies/protein with sauce on the side. Rice has no sodium and is fine assuming you're not watching carbs. The sauce they give you is typically way too salty so I rarely use it and add my own condiments I have at home to flavor it - coconut aminos (great sub for soy sauce), sriracha, sambal, etc. in moderation

Italian - pasta has no sodium so order the sauce on the side and proceed with caution after a taste test. Most Italian places also offer great grilled fish/protein dishes with simple sides (or olive oil/butter dressed pasta) that can be easy to customize.

My family orders takeout about twice a week and I've resigned myself to the fact that I often have to do a bit of extra work once the food is home. Sometimes that means passing it off to DH for lunch the next day or adding in my own elements to make it a full meal if certain parts aren't appropriate for my diet.

I know it can feel overwhelming at first, but trust me, your taste buds will adapt! After going low sodium, I've found it extremely easy to taste too how salty a dish is on the first bite which allows me to to branch out more with confidence. When cooking at home other salt-free seasonings and spices are your best friend!




I know it can feel overwhelming but trust me that your taste buds will adapt! After significantly reducing sodium in my diet I'm super sensitive to it and can spot a salty dish on first bite.

I agree with much of what you’ve said, BUT rice is usually prepared with salt, often quite a bit of it, so ask before you assuming that it’s low in sodium. Same with pasta — where salt might be added to the cooking water. Ask before you eat.