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The only problem is that the average American eats way more than what has been recommended.
For example, people who need to be on a low sodium diet are supposed to consume less than 1500 mg of sodium per day. Regular folks, 2300 mg per day.
But the average person eats about 3400 ,g per day. And stop and think...that's just the average. Which means that about half the people eat considerably more than the average amount, and way more than the recommended amount.
Let's say you stop at McDonald's for lunch and order a Big Mac, large fries, and a soft drink. You're already up to 54% of your sodium for the day. And that's not counting breakfast, dinner, and snacks.
Or let's say you go to my favorite deli chain for a roast beef sandwich for lunch, along with chips. 134% of recommended sodium...just for the sandwich.
I consume low sodium foods and products whenever possible. I try and don't add sodium in any form to my cooking (believe me, it's tough). At restaurants, I ask for them to omit salt.
Problem is, sodium is hidden in many of the foods we eat. A surprise is the amount of sodium in bread. When shopping, I compare and always buy the low sodium version.
The worst offenders are fast foods, look at the sodium in a fast food burger or even a so called "healthy" salad. It will shock you.
Since going low sodium, my weight has dropped and my blood pressure is much better.
Love the thread. I needed to go low sodium and potassium a couple years ago. I started digging into things and was shocked.
Some restaurants seriously should reconsider how they make their food. The worst tend to be bar/restaurants, which I suspect want to make patrons thirsty to up drink consumption. You can have multiple days worth of salt from single entrees or even a bowl of soup. McDonalds actually isn't anywhere near the worst. At any rate, if you're not to get sodium, just forget restaurants. When you must, try to get a restaurant that doesn't have meat that is premarinated. Red Lobster has a fresh fish option...don't touch anything else. McDonalds has the SW Chicken Salad without the chicken and without dressing. If you can get the meat fresh, tacos in a corn tortilla are an excellent choice.
As for the sauces, a little tomato paste can go a long way. You can augment it with sour cream to get a kindof creamy sauce or the Low Salt Ketchup. Olive oil is your friend. Sour cream is like your only dairy friend. Coconut milk can replace milk. You can make a weak yellow curry. Look to maple syrup and/or apple cider for a sweet sauce for pasta. Cheese is gone, but some Swiss varieties are not terrible.
A few places have Low Sodium Bread. It's actually really good, but it goes bad quickly. You can make your own with a bread machine, but the lack of salt makes it hard to control shape.
Watch the protein as when that breaks down you'll get what you're not supposed to. Lobster, crab etc are naturally high sodium.
Sodium is a killer, and it ruins organs that could be used in transplants. Would love to see this get the attention it got in Scandinavia.
OP, does your 'substitute' include any soy product at all?
Make your own sauces (and pretty well everything else) at home is my solution for the excess salt that is in most processed foods. I agree though that the basic Asian 'ingredients' (i.e. fish sauce, soy sauce) have fairly high sodium contents - but that is because they are supposed to replace salt anyway and small amounts diluted in a fairly large quantity of food with no salt added otherwise usually isn't an issue (though soy is for me).
Additionally, some fish sauces taste MUCH saltier than others. Be sure to read all labels because the salt % may vary, especially if there are other ingredients one might not expect (like sugars for caramelized appearance) and you may need more or less of some than others. That's when experience in cooking comes in handy .. when one uses knowledge of ingredients and recipes and expected taste outcomes to adjust regardless of what the recipe may call for.
Also add salt sparingly but at each stage of cooking. It is hard to put too much salt (or shall we say more salt than one might find in any commercially processed similar food) into something that is made from scratch though even if it may seem like a fair bit at the time. Also I find that the salt I put on last gives me the most value for my salt money - and the type of salt used also helps (sea salts with large grains - I like gray and Himalayan - give a perception of much more salt when used as finishing salts - meaning you don't need to add as much during cooking, if any at all).
The FDA dropped it's maximum sodium recommendation again, down to 1,200 mg per day. I try to keep mine below 1,000 mg. I talked to a doctor once, who said many of his patients who have high-blood pressure and other health problems, take in as much as 10,000 mg per day or more. And he couldn't get them to change what they eat at all, even when it was killing them. It's as though their eating habits were so embedded, that maintaining them was more important than life, itself.
I gave up soy sauce and any other commercial sauces many years ago, except for a few squirts of balsamic vinegar (a little goes a long way). I routinely toss a can of "no salt added" tomato sauce into my daily stew and add only 35 mg of sodium. The regular variety would add about 360 mg of it. Commercial food processors know what they're doing to our health, but sodium, including MSG, is the cheapest flavor-enhancer they can use. If you drop your sodium intake down from a typical level of 3,000 to 4,000 mg, to the recommended 1,200 mg, your body will shed 2 to 4 pounds of extra, retained fluid. You'll be making some extra trips at night for a few days, while it spills off, but it's worth it.
Some old friends stopped by awhile back and we decided we would make a big dinner for ourselves at my place. The woman was going through my cupboards and icebox and said that she couldn't find any of the essentials. No salt, sugar, cooking oil, flour, no sauces at all, nor bacon, eggs, butter or margarine, honey, rice, oats or bread. I didn't have any salted nuts or corn curls, either. The worst missing items were tea, coffee and coca-cola (classic formula) "How can you survive without these things', she demanded, 'it's not civilized!"
Last edited by Steve McDonald; 03-10-2017 at 01:22 AM..
I eat a ketogenic diet and supplement my diet with salt, potassium, and magnesium. I track everything I eat and make sure to get close to 5,000 grams of sodium every day, as well as 1,000 g of potassium.
Blood pressure is around 110/60.
Happy to hear about your good blood pressure. But I think you must mean 5,000 mg of sodium, not grams (1,000 times as much). But that's still a high intake amount, even on a ketogenic diet, but I'm sure you know more about that than I do. I've read that the potassium intake is more difficult to maintain on that type of diet.
Happy to hear about your good blood pressure. But I think you must mean 5,000 mg of sodium, not grams (1,000 times as much). But that's still a high intake amount, even on a ketogenic diet, but I'm sure you know more about that than I do. I've read that the potassium intake is more difficult to maintain on that type of diet.
Yes, sorry, mg! I was trying to type quickly while at on a quick work break. That'll teach me!
I follow the guidelines given here. I've never gotten the keto flu, due to me keeping my electrolytes up every day. I just got prepped my morning 30 ounce water cup by adding some Lite Salt, salt, and Mio flavoring. I will drink 2-3 of these salted water cups today (as I do every day).
I have borderline high blood pressure. I really should eat less sodium but I like it.
At least I don't, as I used to, eat with the salt shaker in one hand.
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