SODIUM

[annie2867]

Hi Everyone,

Is there anything that does not contain sodium in food? Obviously fruits and vegetables, but everything I look at in my fridge has sodium which includes; soy, yogurt, egg beaters, soy cheese, rice, fat free salad dressing. I use black beans from a tin for convenience, I am assuming because I rinse them thoroughly with water that this would get rid of the sodium. Is sodium a food preservative or a flavor enhancer? If anyone knows of a good recipe book on low sodium, please share.

Thanks.

 

[Bobbi]

Annabel, there are loads of foods with no added sodium. I buy sodium free canned tomatoes, tomatoe sauce and paste, tuna, beans to name a few. You may have to search them out but alot of people can't tolerate massive amounts of sodium, so the products are there. Besides the regular grocery store, check out health food stores and the like for staples you can't live without and try to prepare food from scratch as often as possible since processed foods are packed with salt and sugar. In Tucson, we have Wild Oats, a health food chain and Trader Joe's an awesome store for all sorts of products. Salt is both a preservative and a flavor enhancer. Read those labels. The amount of sodium in canned goods and frozen foods can be ridiculous! How are you doing? Keep us posted!


I found these books at http://www.half.com. What I do is find the books reasonably priced at half, jot down the titles, then go to Amazon and read reviews to see if the are what I want!
http://half.ebay.com/search/search.jsp?nthTime=1&product=books&keyword=Low+sodium
Bobbi "Chick's rule!" http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif

 

[Debra L]

You sent me to the fridge to check the label on tofu & yogurt! Only 20 mg in the tofu & 150 in the yogurt - both pretty low. The easiest way to limit sodium is to use whole foods rather than processed foods. Ever read a salad dressing label? I buy whole eggs & throw out a lot of egg yolks - still a good value.

But we all need some convenience foods & canned beans are high on my list. Yes, the rinsing removes most of the added salt.

Debra

 

[annie2867]

Thanks for the info guys, I will have to check all this stuff out when I go grocery shopping today. That's good thinking about the books!

My tofu has 90 mg for just 1oz, but it is the flavored kind, I wonder how much diet really plays into all this, I spoke to a reliable opinion who said that she doesn't think it makes a lot of difference. My blood pressure started going down the same day so you wonder if some of that was anxiety coupled with drinking coffee. So it has gone from 137/96 to the lowest today, @ 120/87. The ringing is still there so unless it totally goes away by Wednesday I am still going to keep the ENT appointment on Wednesday, I know it's expensive, but I can't walk around not knowing. I heard another horror story from a friend of mine regarding her friend, she had ringing in her ears and medication would not make it go away, finally after a year they discovered a tumor behind her ear. She was operated on it looks as though she has had a stroke on one side of her face, she is in her early 30's.

A.

 

[Bobbi]

Hi, Annabel!

I think you are smart to stay on and see the ENT. You discovered your blood pressure is elevated and that's a good thing but the ear ringing and the blood pressure may not be mutually exclusive and it's probably more likely that the noise in your head is related to your inner ear.

I did awebsearch which of course means sorting through all the schlock and there are a number of therapies to help including good old ginko and chiropratic! But first, you need to allay your fears by seeing the ENT and then work with your doctor! I am proud of you for being so proactive and getting to the bottom of this! Your number really aren't too bad. My dad had high blood pressure that was frightening! Although mine is really low, I don't like the over abudnance of salt in things and prefer to find low sodium products and season them myself. It's a wy of protecting my family, especailly my children who may have inherited my dad's high BP.

It's interesing that my doctor always tells me she would like to see my LDL numbers a little lower although my overall numbers are excellent and the LDL is not too bad. My diet is squeaky clean and I workout, blah, blah, blah! Those numbers are most likely genetic. My sister, also a health nut with a clean diet, had cholesterol over 200!

I have confidence that you will get this under control and be healthier and more fit for it!
Bobbi "Chick's rule!" http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif