Simple steps to reduce sodium in your summer dining
By Jessica at 6 May, 2009, 5:06 pm
(ARA) – From the barbecue sauce you slather on your grilled chicken to the frozen dinner you grab between coming home from work and running the kids to soccer practice, sodium is simply everywhere in warm-weather fare.
Even if you never add salt to your food while cooking or eating it, you may still be getting too much sodium. If you have an ailment like heart disease or high blood pressure, following a low-sodium diet is advisable, but may be a challenge to achieve.
If you’ve recently suffered a heart attack or been diagnosed with heart failure, your doctor likely wants you to reduce your sodium intake because heart failure causes the body to retain sodium. Extra sodium can cause fluid to build up in your body, and extra fluid makes your heart work harder — not a good thing for a heart muscle already under strain.
A low-sodium diet means restricting your sodium intake to just 2,000 to 3,000 milligrams (mg) a day – a little more than one teaspoon. Don’t confuse sodium and salt. Sodium is a component of table salt, making up about 40 percent of salt. While certain kinds of salt, like sea salt, may have a bit less sodium there’s no such thing as a truly low-sodium salt.
While reading product labels can help you be aware of how much sodium is present in the packaged foods you eat — thanks to the FDA’s mandate to disclose such information – it can still be difficult to achieve a low-sodium diet.
So how can you cut back on sodium? The Heart Failure Society of America, an organization aimed at improving the quality of life for people diagnosed with heart failure and helping prevent the condition in those at risk, offers a few helpful tips:
1. Lose the salt shaker.
If you’re still adding salt to your food when you cook or sit down at the table to eat, stop. You’ll cut your sodium intake by as much as 30 percent by parting company with your salt shaker. Replace salt with more healthy seasonings, like black, cayenne or lemon pepper; herbs like garlic, onion powder, dill, parsley and rosemary; lemon juice and flavored extracts like vanilla or almond.
2. Choose low-sodium versions of favorite foods.
You don’t have to abandon all your favorite foods in order to reduce sodium. Replace foods traditionally high in salt with fresh foods naturally lower in sodium. For example, instead of preparing a country ham, cook a fresh, lean pork roast. Substitute freshly cooked and sliced chicken, turkey, roast beef or pork for lunch meats that usually contain a lot of sodium. Instead of buying salty canned soups, chop up fresh veggies and cooked meats, toss them in the slow cooker and season with herbs and spices. If you must buy canned soups or vegetables, look for labels that say “sodium-free,” “no salt,” “low sodium,” “reduced sodium” or “unsalted.”
3. Pick foods naturally low in sodium.
Generally, you can eat as much fresh food as you want without counting the sodium content. Fresh fruits and vegetables, including freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices, have very little sodium. (But remember, please don’t add salt to your fruits and vegetables.) The same is true for fresh meat, poultry and fish. If you are not eating fresh foods, choose other low-sodium foods as much as possible, such as canned fruits, plain frozen vegetables and dried beans, peas, rice and lentils.
4. Learn to read food labels.
By reading food labels, you can learn which foods are high and low in sodium. As a rule, most processed foods, whether they are frozen, canned or boxed, are high in sodium, but don’t rule them out entirely. Some packaged foods are available in low- or no-salt versions.
It can be difficult to change your eating habits, but try introducing changes slowly instead of all at once. It may take weeks before you enjoy the taste of low-sodium foods, but your taste buds will adjust. Be patient. Eventually you won’t even miss the salt.
To learn more about heart failure and how to manage your condition, log on to the Heart Failure Society of America’s Web site: www.abouthf.org.
Courtesy of ARAcontent
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