But what you might not realize is that some foods that don’t necessarily taste all that salty are still loaded with huge amounts of sodium. Here’s a look at some of these secret offenders, and a few healthier choices to pile on your plate instead:
Cured Meats— When it comes time to pile some delicious snackage onto toasted bread for a big game worthy sandwich, you may think that everything at the deli counter is pretty much created equal. Not so. Five to six thin slices of salami or mortadella boast a whopping 1,200 mg of salt. That’s before adding a single other ingredient! Instead, stick with shaved honey ham or turkey breast, which will keep your hero heroic with less than half the amount of sodium.
Cheeseburgers – Ok, so it comes as no huge surprise that fast food burgers pack a huge sodium punch at upwards of 4,000 mg a piece after the bun, cheese, and secret sauce have been added. But what is a bit shocking is that you can cut out roughly 75% of that salt by grilling up some burgers at home. Creating homemade cheeseburgers means you aren’t ingesting the added salt and preservatives added by food manufacturers.
Parmesan Cheese – Oh glorious cheese god of all things Italian, why do you tease us so? 850 mg of sodium are squished into 10 tablespoons of the parm that you sprinkle over your Sunday night spaghetti. Go with a low sodium version, or even better switch to sharp cheddar; it’s got about half the salt content.
Packaged Soups and Ramen – The staple of every poor college student, ramen noodles and canned soups can be very easy on your wallet. Unfortunately, they aren’t nearly as kind to your heart. One package can have as much as 2,000 mg of sodium. If easy and inexpensive are your main priorities when it comes to your dinner menu, try boiling some pasta and topping with fresh sauce instead. Or make a big pot of soup from low sodium chicken broth and leftover chicken and vegetables. You can freeze portions for later; still saving cash and time, without sacrificing your ticker in the process.
I seem to recall that Cathe mentioned at some point that bread could also be a source for sodium.
Regarding the parmesean cheese being high in sodium, the writer indicates 10 tablespoons have 850 mg of sodium. Who eats ten tablespoons of parmesean in one setting? It’s more likely that one will eat one to two tablespoons of parmesean. At 85 mg per tablespoon, the nutritional benefits outweigh the “high” sodium level, so parmesean cheese should not be included in this section.
You have to consider that a lot of recipes have parmesean cheese mixed in with the other ingredients. It’s very common for recipes to require 1 cup or more of parmesean cheese for a serving size of 4. That’s 4 tablespoons per serving without any parmesean cheese being sprinkled on top. When you consider the fact that most people eat way more than 1 serving and pile on the sprinkled parmesean cheese it is very easy to unknowingly reach and exceed 850 mg of sodium. This is especially true when you order your meal from a restaurant where the serving size can be equal to more than 4 servings.I think you will find that the average person consumes way more than just 1 tablespoon of parmesean cheese and this is why regular parmesean cheese makes the list.