Showing You How To Give Up Sodium Without Giving Up Your Life
Frequently Asked Questions
So I'm on a Low Sodium Diet ...
I was diagnosed with CHF almost 4 years ago. At that point my main symptom was lung congestion. I couldn't sleep through the night without coughing or carry anything upstairs without being out of breath. My doctor put me on a diet of 1200 mg of sodium a day. Today between that diet and mediation I don't really feel limited at all (Ok, I'm not gonna run a marathon, put then I wouldn't have anyway). A specialist I went to last year says there is no reason I should have less than a normal life expectancy. So there is hope ... and the diet does work.
It is difficult though, especially at first. You truly do get used to things not being salty ... a "normal" potato chip tastes way too salty to me now. But it takes a while ... and a commitment to eating the way you should ... to make that adjustment and get used to the taste of food without salt. I'd suggest that whoever of you does the grocery shopping spend a lot of time reading labels. You'll be surprised what you find. For example a tablespoonful of catsup on your burger will give you more sodium than that helping of chips. I found some things that actually had about twice my daily allowance in one serving ... prepared mixes and frozen entrees are going to be a thing of the past.
I would suggest that one of the most useful things you can do when just starting out is to take a hour or two and spend them just wandering up and down the aisles of your local supermarket, picking up things you would normally use and reading the labels. Not only will this get you started in thinking about how much sodium is in certain foods, but if you check different brands or types of the same food you'll often find that one has a lot less sodium than the others.
Some things to stay away from are going to be almost all canned vegetables and prepared foods like chili, packaged mixes of all kinds, frozen prepared meals and entrees. You may find low sodium versions of some of those if you look. Our local Safeway here in southern Maryland, for instance, carries no salt added canned tomatoes, stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato paste. Other things like chili and soups you'll probably find less low sodium versions of. If you live near a store that specializes in organic and gourmet foods like Trader Joe's or Whole Foods you'll probably find more low sodium items there.
A couple of things that I personally have found to be particularly troublesome are bread and cheese, both of which I ate a lot of before being put on this diet. Almost all commercial baked goods like bread contains significant sodium, anywhere from 70 mg a slice to 400-500 mg for some muffins and bagels. I bake almost all my own bread. With a bread machine this is not difficult or time consuming and it saves you a lot. The only low sodium cheese I can find here locally is Alpine Lace Swiss, at 45 mg a slice. Most other cheese is 180-200 or more milligrams per serving.
Getting Started
The following is a VERY quick and dirty guide to general sodium content by type of food. There are lots of exceptions. Learning to read the nutritional labels in the best way to really know what you are getting.
Low in sodium
- Fruits
- Fresh and frozen vegetables
- Pasta and noodles
- Rice
Moderate sodium - use carefully (in this group I typically either buy low sodium versions of the products or make my own)
- Meats (not including canned meats and cured meat like ham, bacon, hot dogs, etc.)
- Milk, cheese and most dairy products
- Condiments such as mayo, mustard and salad dressings
- Bread and other baked goods
High in sodium
- Canned vegetables, soups, meats and other processed foods
- Frozen entrees and prepared foods
- Packaged mixes (things like stuffing mix, rice and noodle mixes, skillet meals)
- Salt
Vinegar
Just a quick little tip ... your taste buds have a difficult time sorting out the difference between salty and sour, so you can often fool them into thinking a dish is saltier than it is with the addition of a little vinegar. This works particularly well for recipes containing no salt added tomato products. I probably have at least 6 different kinds of vinegar on my shelf, cider, red wine, white, white wine, balsamic and malt.
Egg Substitute
You'll notice that most of the recipes call for egg substitute rather than whole eggs. The reason I use it is I'm also trying to watch my cholesterol, so I trade off the extra 25 mg of sodium for reduced cholesterol. If cholesterol isn't an issue for you, it cheaper and easier to just use whole eggs. I use the Safeway brand egg substitute that is similar to Egg Beaters. It's basically colored egg whites with some vitamins and minerals. You could also just use egg whites in most of the recipes, but I'm the kind of guy whose Mother did too good of a job teaching to clean my plate and I have a tough time just throwing the yolks away. The "real" whites have more sodium than the yolks too, by the way, so you don't save by doing that.
Non-dairy Creamer
Although most of the recipes call for skim milk, I almost always use non-dairy creamer instead of milk myself. I don't like skim milk, and the 2% that I can stand the taste of has more fat and cholesterol. I haven't found any recipe where creamer is a problem. One of the things I've found is that there is often a tradeoff between sodium and fat and cholesterol, particularly in dairy foods. The creamer I have been using is a Safeway house brand, non-fat, non-dairy creamer. It contains no fat or cholesterol and 5 mg of sodium per tablespoon. This puts it at about 2/3 the amount of sodium in milk and with a slightly sweet, but much richer flavor than skim milk, which would rate the same in fat and cholesterol. The drawback of course is that you get none of the nutritional benefits of milk ... it is primarily corn syrup and water with some chemicals added. Milk would obviously provide protein and a wide array of vitamins and minerals that my creamer does not. This is not a major concern to me personally because I am careful about getting these nutrients elsewhere, but it is something you should be aware of in making a personal decision to use either the creamer or real milk.
Sodium Free Baking Powder
In my humble opinion, this is a no-brainer. If you bake anything that uses baking powder with the regular stuff off your grocer's shelves you are eating sodium that can easily be avoiding. Given the amount of sodium in standard baking powder it's likely to be 100-200 mgs per serving. Some doctors also believe the aluminum in regular baking powder is bad for you. The simple solution is sodium free, aluminum free baking powder. There are several brands available, but the only one I've actually seen is Featherweight. I find it at a local health food store. It's also available for just about the same price online at Healthy Heart Market. The price is also comparable to the regular baking powder.
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| Calumet Baking Powder | 120 mg per 1/4 teaspoon serving |
| Featherweight Sodium Free Baking Powder | 0 mg per 1/4 teaspoon serving |
Sodium Free Baking Soda
Like baking powder, regular baking soda is unnecessary sodium intake. The brand of sodium free baking soda I'm familiar with is Ener-G and the only place I've seen it is online at Healthy Heart Market. The only thing you need to remember is to double the amount called for in your favorite recipes. The recipes here on this site already have the amount doubled.
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| Arm and Hammer Baking Soda | 150 mg per 1/8 teaspoon serving |
| Ener-G Baking Soda | 0 mg per 1/8 teaspoon |
Bouillon
What a difference being "salt free" makes. AN envelope of regular bouillon contains over 200 times as much sodium as the low sodium variety. Wyler's make a low sodium bouillon, although none of my local stores carry it. So does Herb Ox and it is readily available around here. The only bad news is they quit packaging it in the more convenient jars and only sell it in the little single serving envelopes now. You might also check out the Gourmet Award soup base from Healthy Heart Market. It's sodium free and has a more natural taste than the bouillon.
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| Herb Ox Regular Beef | 1020 mg per envelope |
| Herb Ox Low Sodium Beef | 5 mg of envelope |
| Gourmet Award Beef | 0 mg per envelope |
| Hear Ox Regular Chicken | 1100 mg per envelope |
| Herb Ox Low Sodium Chicken | 5 mg of envelope |
| Gourmet Award Chicken | 0 mg per envelope |
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