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.

Replies

Can you open your diary? I use my food diary to figure out which foods are driving me over my sodium limit.

Breads, cheeses, prepared foods (soups, cured meats, canned foods) are often culprits.

Fresh fruits/veggies, frozen fruits/veggies have almost no sodium.

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.

Can't you just look at your day and see where the sodium is coming from when you are over?

AshleyCMoody wrote: »

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.

Did you make them yourself, and use recipe builder (checking each entry it adds carefully to ensure it's all correct -- I usually find errors)? If so, which ingredients were the culprits? Adjust your recipe. (Or don't eat them on the same day again.)

Or did you just go looking for a database entry made by someone else and use it? If so... you have no idea how much sodium you actually ate, just how much sodium someone else ate when they ate THEIR vegetarian chili and Asian salad.

AshleyCMoody wrote: »

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.

Easy enough. Make from scratch. Substitute the canned beans for dry beans. I cook them in a crockpot and freeze them in pre-measured portions. They take no time to defrost. You can buy no-salt-added crushed tomatoes, and corn, if you add that to chili. Get fresh or dried chiles instead of canned. I don't know if you do a meat substitute in your chili, but TVP (textured vegetable protein) is very low in sodium.

Not sure what's in "asian salad" but my guess is the dressing with be a major factor. I would suggest making your own with a little lime juice, a touch of sesame oil, and fresh or powdered ginger and garlic. Slivered or sliced unsalted almonds, mixed greens, carrot, cucumber, and that should give you enough of a cushion to splurge on a small carefully weighed serving of the crunchy noodles, if you like those (and I do).

I usually eat a processed salad for lunch for ease. I have room to do this because I home-make my breakfast and dinner at low sodium levels like this.

In all seriousness, you have like five threads open asking for help. If you open your diary people will be able to give you more tailored advice rather than guesses.

I have no issues with sodium, other than on some days when I got way, way over the recommended milligrams I may retain a bit of water. I was stressing out when seeing the bright red number for sodium on my food diary I simply removed the category. Unless you have a medical issue that has been diagnosed by your MD, don't stress to much about it.

Also, if you exercise regularly, you may want to be careful with how much sodium you cut...you'll start cramping up like no other. I often purposely drink pickle brine to combat this.

Do you have a medical condition that requires you to eat low sodium? If not, you will get very little benefit from eating low sodium. And as you can see, it's very difficult to eat low sodium.

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.

Well there you go, that could do it! You would be surprised how much sodium is in salad dressing and restaurant soups

Not sure how I'm doing it but my sodium is usually under 1600 feel free to browse my diary

You pretty much need to mostly cook your own food to keep sodium down if that is one of your goals.

My recommendation is to enter your meals BEFORE you eat them so you can see how much your sodium will go up and then decide if you should still eat it or chose something else. This is my daily strategy for everything I eat.

Anything processed (think box, bag, can) is going to be high in sodium. However, unless you have a specific health problem that requires you to eat low sodium (like high blood pressure), you don't really need to worry about it.

You are going to have to educate yourself to understand which foods have salt. The Asian salad screamed salt at me.

I was put on a 2000mg diet and I stick to it 99% of the time. I just prelog and move things around til it is at or under 2000mg.

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.

You don't need premium to track your sodium. I track my sodium here. I don't particularly care if I go over, but it's something I track for kicks and giggles. Just go to your settings.

jgnatca wrote: »

You are going to have to educate yourself to understand which foods have salt. The Asian salad screamed salt at me.

Yup. And soup and chili is no slouch in the sodium department, unless you are making it at home from scratch. (and then sometimes it tastes terrible without tons of salt--looking at you, chicken noodle)

SueInAz wrote: »

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.

Thanks I didn't know about that!

amyrebeccah wrote: »

AshleyCMoody wrote: »

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.

Easy enough. Make from scratch. Substitute the canned beans for dry beans. I cook them in a crockpot and freeze them in pre-measured portions. They take no time to defrost. You can buy no-salt-added crushed tomatoes, and corn, if you add that to chili. Get fresh or dried chiles instead of canned. I don't know if you do a meat substitute in your chili, but TVP (textured vegetable protein) is very low in sodium.

Not sure what's in "asian salad" but my guess is the dressing with be a major factor. I would suggest making your own with a little lime juice, a touch of sesame oil, and fresh or powdered ginger and garlic. Slivered or sliced unsalted almonds, mixed greens, carrot, cucumber, and that should give you enough of a cushion to splurge on a small carefully weighed serving of the crunchy noodles, if you like those (and I do).

I usually eat a processed salad for lunch for ease. I have room to do this because I home-make my breakfast and dinner at low sodium levels like this.

In all seriousness, you have like five threads open asking for help. If you open your diary people will be able to give you more tailored advice rather than guesses.

Thanks I will do that!

Find more posts tagged with

Quick Links