No chips, crackers, or fried food and still can't keep my sodium down!

I have completely cut out foods that are known for high sodium. I rarely put salt in my foods, and when I do I use very little. Yet I always seem to go way over my sodium goals. What can I eat to get this down? Is anyone else staying within their goal and if so what do you eat and not eat? I'm starting to feel like it's an impossible feat.

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I can't see your diary so which foods do you believe are high in sodium? Chips, crackers and fried foods aren't actually that bad. The heavy hitters are things like deli meats, canned soups, frozen meals, canned chili, cottage cheese and salsa. Take a look at your diary and actually look at the foods which are high in sodium listed in what you're eating for the day. It should be fairly easy to spot the culprits.

When you add foods to your diary, which ones are high in sodium? Only you can truly locate the source of this extra sodium.
Some things I can think of could be bread (I know Joseph's whole grain pita bread is delicious but loaded with sodium), canned anything (soup, beans, etc.), certain mixes (especially instant pancake mix), cheese, deli meats, frozen foods, etc.
I suggest looking for low-sodium foods when shopping (but be careful, some low sodium soups still contain quite high amounts of it) and making other small changes until you learn how to balance it out.
Good luck!

I don't monitor sodium in my diary, but if you do, you should be able to scan your diary and see where your sodium is coming from.

Chain restaurant food and canned and frozen foods tend to carry a lot of "hidden" sodium. Are you cooking your own meals? That's the easiest way to cut your sodium, just cook with less salt.

Open your diary. My partner eats a lower sodium diet and we haven't found it hard to stay there as long as we home-cook most meals, so maybe I can offer some suggestions for substitutions.

Plants and animals do have salt in them. Like us they need it too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_in_biology

When I see high sodium, I look at my individual foods to find the culprit. That's the only way to do it, I think. Find the culprit and then figure out how to work around that food. Sodium lurks in ALL processed foods..even foods that don't taste salty often have a TON of sodium in them (check canned foods, too). Another thing that is a killer is eating out...the other day I checked out Bahama Breeze's nutrition menu (kudos to them for supplying all that info!) and there were a ton of choices at very reasonable calories, but there was not a SINGLE meal choice that was under 1,500mg sodium (which is my daily limit)! So, eating out is killer.

The way I stay under my low sodium limit is to cook everything from scratch. Almost everything I eat is prepared from scratch...right down to my yogurt. I never by flavored yogurt; I buy plain yogurt and add stuff to it.

Now, on a different note - something I have noticed is that in my diet my sodium and potassium levels are inversely related. When I consume a lot of sodium, typically my potassium consumption is way low. On "good sodium days," my potassium level tends to be high. However, I have NEVER, EVER gotten my potassium level up to 4,700 mg (the recommended daily amount for women). If anyone has tips on that, I'd be grateful. ;-)

HeySwoleSister wrote: »

I don't monitor sodium in my diary, but if you do, you should be able to scan your diary and see where your sodium is coming from.

Chain restaurant food and canned and frozen foods tend to carry a lot of "hidden" sodium. Are you cooking your own meals? That's the easiest way to cut your sodium, just cook with less salt.

I wish that premium membership ranked my foods with sodium rather than just carbs, fat, protein, and calories. It would make it easier to monitor this.

I do cook, but often don't use salt at all. I rarely have canned foods and eating out is usually salad and soup.

what is your sodium goal? I stay under 1500mg easily. I cook everything from scratch. The only thing that comes out of a container around here is yogurt and milk

OP - you did not find the answer in this thread you made?

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/32378529#Comment_32378529

sovrappensiero wrote: »

On "good sodium days," my potassium level tends to be high. However, I have NEVER, EVER gotten my potassium level up to 4,700 mg (the recommended daily amount for women). If anyone has tips on that, I'd be grateful. ;-)

Part of the problem is that it isn't required to put potassium content on food labels, and so you are probably eating more of it than you think, without it being added to your log. But I have the same issue.

I am also way over on my sodium many days. I was shocked when my dr told me that cheese has a lot of sodium in it. I love cheese. As others have said canned things and frozen dinners are also high in sodium and lunch meat hot dogs and smoked meats like sausage bacon and ham are high. try to use fresh or frozen vegetables when you can.

good luck. We can do this

SueInAz wrote: »

I can't see your diary so which foods do you believe are high in sodium? Chips, crackers and fried foods aren't actually that bad. The heavy hitters are things like deli meats, canned soups, frozen meals, canned chili, cottage cheese and salsa. Take a look at your diary and actually look at the foods which are high in sodium listed in what you're eating for the day. It should be fairly easy to spot the culprits.

Dang it, I love salsa. And I eat soup pretty often. But I don't have these items daily and I always go over my limit. It's getting very frustrating.

hgycta wrote: »

When you add foods to your diary, which ones are high in sodium? Only you can truly locate the source of this extra sodium.
Some things I can think of could be bread (I know Joseph's whole grain pita bread is delicious but loaded with sodium), canned anything (soup, beans, etc.), certain mixes (especially instant pancake mix), cheese, deli meats, frozen foods, etc.
I suggest looking for low-sodium foods when shopping (but be careful, some low sodium soups still contain quite high amounts of it) and making other small changes until you learn how to balance it out.
Good luck!

Thanks, I never considered whole wheat bread as a high sodium food. Or cheese for that matter. Man, I'm starting to feel like I can only eat fruits and veggies.

AshleyCMoody wrote: »

HeySwoleSister wrote: »

I don't monitor sodium in my diary, but if you do, you should be able to scan your diary and see where your sodium is coming from.

Chain restaurant food and canned and frozen foods tend to carry a lot of "hidden" sodium. Are you cooking your own meals? That's the easiest way to cut your sodium, just cook with less salt.

I wish that premium membership ranked my foods with sodium rather than just carbs, fat, protein, and calories. It would make it easier to monitor this.

I do cook, but often don't use salt at all. I rarely have canned foods and eating out is usually salad and soup.

In Premium you can track multiple nutrients. In the app, click on the net calories bar at the top of Today's Diary and scroll down the list of nutrients until you see Sodium, then click on it and you'll see the pie chart and a list of Foods Highest in Sodium. On the web, click on Reports, then select Sodium from the list of nutrients and you can scroll down and see where your sodium intake is coming from. I routinely get my potassium really high, and rarely make my sodium upper limit, but you might find just analyzing the foods which are particularly high in sodium and reducing intake of those will make a significant difference overall.

more whole foods, less processed foods.

AshleyCMoody wrote: »

HeySwoleSister wrote: »

I don't monitor sodium in my diary, but if you do, you should be able to scan your diary and see where your sodium is coming from.

Chain restaurant food and canned and frozen foods tend to carry a lot of "hidden" sodium. Are you cooking your own meals? That's the easiest way to cut your sodium, just cook with less salt.

I wish that premium membership ranked my foods with sodium rather than just carbs, fat, protein, and calories. It would make it easier to monitor this.

I do cook, but often don't use salt at all. I rarely have canned foods and eating out is usually salad and soup.

Oh, wait....they aren't showing sodium in the diaries anymore? All 5 of my chosen categories are still showing. (like I said, I swapped out sodium and sugar for fiber and calcium long ago)

Can you open up your diary so we can see?

AshleyCMoody wrote: »

HeySwoleSister wrote: »

I don't monitor sodium in my diary, but if you do, you should be able to scan your diary and see where your sodium is coming from.

Chain restaurant food and canned and frozen foods tend to carry a lot of "hidden" sodium. Are you cooking your own meals? That's the easiest way to cut your sodium, just cook with less salt.

I wish that premium membership ranked my foods with sodium rather than just carbs, fat, protein, and calories. It would make it easier to monitor this.

I do cook, but often don't use salt at all. I rarely have canned foods and eating out is usually salad and soup.

I don't have premium, but it can't have removed Diary Settings>Nutrients Tracked? Going there and you can change what nutrients you track, up to 5. Ofc, this is on PC MFP, not the app.

If you're worried about sodium, you're going to have to start paying attention to the sodium count. Do you have a medical issue that requires keeping sodium levels down?

You can check my diary. I have HBP and have sodium <2000 mg.

amyrebeccah wrote: »

Open your diary. My partner eats a lower sodium diet and we haven't found it hard to stay there as long as we home-cook most meals, so maybe I can offer some suggestions for substitutions.

The culprits yesterday were vegetarian chili and Asian salad, both over 1,000 mg.

Unless you find yourself affected by serious water retention and bloating, or you have health issues (such as a family history of high blood pressure), it's not necessary to excessively focus on sodium. Certainly the less processed stuff like canned soups and frozen dinners you eat, the better off you are, but cottage cheese for instance, is a healthy food, high in calcium and protein, and not something I'd give up because of sodium. Even Joseph's pita -- I eat lunch on pita because it's fewer calories and carbs than sandwich bread.

AshleyCMoody wrote: »

HeySwoleSister wrote: »

I don't monitor sodium in my diary, but if you do, you should be able to scan your diary and see where your sodium is coming from.

Chain restaurant food and canned and frozen foods tend to carry a lot of "hidden" sodium. Are you cooking your own meals? That's the easiest way to cut your sodium, just cook with less salt.

I wish that premium membership ranked my foods with sodium rather than just carbs, fat, protein, and calories. It would make it easier to monitor this.

I do cook, but often don't use salt at all. I rarely have canned foods and eating out is usually salad and soup.

We've always been able to track sodium in the diary. That setting is still there. Go into the Food tab and click "Settings." There are 5 options in the "Nutrients Tracked" list. Change one of those 5 to Sodium.

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