Low sodium diet

[treebaby]

Hello everbody! My mom has Meniere disease (hope I spelled that correctly), and it has been suggested to her by her physician that she cut down on sodium. She is SO frustrated because she did not realize how difficult it would be. Does anybody have any advise or ideas on food selections so I can help her? By the way, she works full time, and is busy with other activities, so she does not have a lot of time to prepare food.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
Teresa

 

[michnola]

I just went low sodium in January and there are a few things I have learned from everything I have read and struggled with.

Recommended Reading: book "Get the Salt Out" which had plenty of useful tips.

Canned goods - "all" canned food has sodium, avoid if at all possible. Not always possible, when I need canned goods, I buy the low sodium variety. Usually I have to go to the Whole Foods store to get them. But if you have a regular store, tell them what you want with no sodium added, they are surprisingly good about adding items after a request.

Herbs - heavy up on herbs when cooking and you will not notice missing salt.

A lot of what I read recommended swicthing to Sea Salt instead of regular salt for the times you absolutely need salt, I have done that and really appreciate the flavor boost with less teaspoons.

I find that if I eat a "clean diet" I can naturally control my sodium because I am preparing the food. All processed foods have sodium. I used to love the fat-free, no sugar added pudding, and found out that one serving was 12% of my daily sodium, who would have thought PUDDING would have that much added salt.


Don't know if any of this is helpful but good luck to your Mom.

Michelle

PS - You know you are winning the sodium battle when you go out to eat in a restaurant then spend the night awake, drinking water because the salt in restaurant food is killing you with cottonmouth. That happened to me after about 6 weeks.

 

[treebaby]

Michelle,

Thank you so much for the insight. I will forward the information to my Mom.

Have a great day,
Teresa

 

[kellib]

Also...
* Try Spike - it's a no-salt seasoner - I think it's pretty inexpensive too, works well for seasoning veggies. Check around your local health foods store (Whole foods or other) for other seasoners like this without salt.

* Salt substitute - potassium chloride. You can find this next to the salts in the the spice aisle. Use in moderation - in excess, this could be just as bad as salt, but it does a decent job of replacing the salt flavor. Also see low sodium salts.

* be careful with Soy sauce, Teriyaki, tamari, etc - these are loaded with salt!

* other culprits you may not have known about: Breads, bagels, cereals, lunch meats - ALMOST ANYTHING prepared/processed.

* just check labels - i found a brand of tortilla chip (restarant style) made just with canola oil and corn and the sodium is non-existant. (also much better for you than the ones made with partially hydrogenated oil)

* Vinegars make good seasoners too - esp. with veggies and beans.

* Some soups are made with little or no salt. Also, you could prepare a big pot of homemade soup (or crock pot!) (veggies, beans, spices/garlic, etc) and have that ready for easy to prepare lunches.

good luck!

 

[treebaby]

Thanks kellib!

Teresa

 

[jillianh]

Hi,

I think a more sweeping statement, that I have found to be true, is that to cut down on sodium you pretty much have to stop buying mass produced, big name brand products...the woman who mentioned Whole Foods is right, if you compare the sodium levles in an Uncle Ben's rice bowl, to a Whole Foods brand equivalent, you will be shocked at how much more sodium is in the Uncle Ben's version. Making your own soup helps too!

Jlil

 

[treebaby]

I knew the great folks here would have the knowledge to help my Mom. I have forwarded every response to here. She is going to make some soup this weekend. Now if I can convince her she needs to do strength training....... She walks 4 times a week with a friend which is fantastic, but I can't seem to motivate her enough to use weights.

Thanks again!
Teresa

 

[michnola]

another book

Get your mom to read "Strong Women Stay Strong", it is an excellent book written by a doctor on the importance of strength trainign for women as they age.

It convinced my 68- year old mother to start weight training, she now goes to the Y 3x per week. For years, she thought just walkingwas all she needed.

Michelle

 

[kellib]

In addition to that - let your mom know how important it is to prevent osteoporosis! That's one of the biggies on the list of things to do/not do for bone health. I think it's what got my mom to pick up resistance training. I bet your mom is a little overwhelmed at the moment with all the eating habits she will need to re-evaluate for the low sodium diet, so maybe wait a little to tackle again the strength training!
good luck to your mother!