Shopping for Low Sodium.

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Shopping for Low Sodium

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Eating on a low sodium lifestyle can be tough. The food industry today

certainly doesn't make it easy.

First and foremost, if you're truly living low sodium, forget about the

pre-mixed foodstuffs. Boxed, canned and other packaged goods that are the

" meal in a box " type deals are pretty much off the list. These products

contain an exorbitant amount of sodium per serving and of course, servings

are smaller than what most children eat so the average adult will be hard

pressed to eat just a single serving.

Instead, focus your shopping fresh foods and no-salt-added foods.

Fruits & Vegetables

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Virtually the entire produce department is on your list. Fresh fruit and

vegetables contain only the sodium that comes with the plant and that's very

little.

Canned goods are bit on the iffy side. With fruit, they may not contain

much in the way of added sodium but they nearly always contain added sugar

and that really should be avoided if at all possible. Canned vegetables

come in the " normal " variety and the " no salt added " variety. Of course,

you'll want to focus on the latter when shopping but keep in mind that there

is a substantial flavor difference.

The best solution? Frozen vegetables. They have no added ingredients and

no off flavor. They're also priced comparably to canned vegetables and can

often be purchased on sale.

Meat

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Meat can be a bit tricky. Most beef products are not salted but nearly all

poultry is injected with a sodium solution and pork is well salted. You CAN

find no-sodium-added versions of poultry and pork but you'll have to be

savvy about it.

Be aware that even if you ask the guys in the meat department if there's

added sodium they'll probably not know for certain. For this reason, it's

best to look for grocers who put nutrition labels on their meats. (In fact,

your best bet may be to go to the butcher.)

You may also want to bypass the middle man and go straight to the source.

In many cases, you can buy freshly slaughtered meat at farmers' markets and

even at the farm. Be sure the vendor is selling his/her own meat and not

someone else's though. My butcher owns a farm with a BUNCH of free ranging

chickens; he slaughters his own and brings them in to sell from time to

time. On the other hand, he does not have turkeys so he has a deal with a

local turkey farmer; given 2 days notice, I can get a fresh-kill turkey for

a reasonable price.

Most fresh meat has around 60mg of sodium per serving if no sodium has been

added. By contrast, those with added sodium range anywhere from 300-500mg

of sodium for that same serving size.

Unfortunately, lunchmeat is largely off the table for a low sodium diet.

The typical lunchmeat has 300-500mg per slice. A better idea? Make up some

fresh meat (chicken, turkey, meat loaf, etc) and use that for your

sandwiches instead.

When buying canned fish, look for low-sodium varieties.

Condiments, Sauces, Spices, & Herbs

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Many condiments and cooking spice/herb mixes disguise high sodium counts.

Go for those that are truly without the extra salt. For example, instead of

using garlic salt go with garlic powder; same goes for using onion powder

instead of onion salt. Throw away the salt shaker and instead opt for Mrs.

Dash Table Blend. Mrs Dash also has several flavorful mixes of herbs and

spices -- all without added salt.

Instead of buying pre-made sauces, make your own. It takes a little more

time but you can also make a big batch and freeze it to nuke later.

BTW, I rarely if ever use salt and only when making large batches of foods.

In those cases, I always use kosher salt. It has half the sodium and adds

more flavor. I also use Morton's No-Salt when cooking (potassium chloride)

from time to time but it's no good plain. For bouillon/broth, I like Herb

Ox; it tastes like the original Mrs Grass.

For those that like soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and other cooking

sauces, there are many low sodium varieties available.

Bread

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This is the easiest shopping advice of all -- just say no.

Store bought bread is another food that is exorbitantly high in sodium.

Instead of buying it, make your own. Store bought bread has 110-350mg of

sodium PER SLICE. If you make your own, you can cut that down to 5-15mg per

slice.

One of the best investments I've ever made was a bread machine. You need

only pour the ingredients into the pan, turn it on, then come back later to

fresh bread.

Soups & Stews

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A can of soup contains a day's ration of sodium all by itself. Low sodium

soups are available but to be honest, they taste awful. This is why I make

my own soups. (BTW, Ramen Noodles are DEFINITELY off-limits -- they're

mostly salt! From time to time though, when I get a Ramen craving, I'll

make them up but instead use a packet of Herb Ox in place of the flavor

packet.)

Making soup is super easy and does not require a great deal of effort. You

chop the vegetables, make the meat, then combine the whole lot of it in a

pot. Stir every so often and let cook for a couple-three hours to really

bring the flavors together.

The same goes for stews. I usually saute the beef in a little butter

(unsalted, sweet cream butter of course) along with onions and garlic, just

to brown it and add a little flavor. After that though, you just add water

and vegetables then stir it every so often while cooking for a few hours.

Home made soups and stews taste far, far better than the store bought stuff

and best of all -- you can freeze it for a quick nuking later.

Dairy

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Milk is fine on a low sodium diet but cheese is another story. A single

slice of American cheese clocks in at around 300mg. Cheddar, Mozzarella,

blends...they all pack a sodium wallop. The only cheese that is low enough

for the low sodium diet is Swiss (about 60mg a slice). Tastes great on a

burger though!

Snacks

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Most salty snacks are off-limits. However, there are SOME kettle chips that

can be eaten on occasion without taking too bad a sodium hit. Salted nuts

should be avoided in favor of unsalted. For most, you'll just need to watch

the labels and do the math.

A great, low sodium snack is air-popped popcorn.

Where to shop?

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The where is easy -- at your local grocer! Fresh foods can be found at

virtually every grocery store. Most large chains carry no-salt added canned

goods. For other items....

1) http://www.healthyheartmarket.com This site offers up all sorts of low

sodium goods and at not so unreasonable a price.

2) For spices go to http://www.penzeys.com and http://www.frontiercoop.com

-- be sure to get spices that have NO SALT in them!

Saving $$$

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The first thing I hear from folks when the topic of eating healthy comes up

is that it costs SO much more. Well, of course it does! You're buying REAL

food with actual nutritional value. The stuff the food industry markets as

food is laden with chemical additives and preservatives, flavoring and

coloring agents, added sodium/fat/sugar, and to top it all off it is often

made from ingredients that have been stripped of all nutrient value.

That said, you CAN keep the cost of buying these foods down. The way to do

it is to keep a pantry, use coupons, and stock up on sales.