Low/No Sodium cooking

yaeli83

Sun, Oct 13 2013, 10:51 pm

I try really hard to cook with very little sodium. Dh has high blood pressure and his dr recommended that we do a low sodium diet.

when shopping you have to look at all the labels. Any pre-made sauce, soup, or condiment, is generally very high in sodium. There are low or less sodium options, but even those can have a lot of sodium.

I cook with no salt, and try to make everything from scratch. Its not very easy and you have to get creative with taste. You will discover that most foods have no taste, its salt that has taste!!

I do not buy soy sauce, so instead Ive found a low sodium teriyaki sauce. Ketchup is high in sodium but the low sodium version is not so bad. Mayonaise is high in sodium so we use it sparingly and always get the light version.

I try to make lots of vegetable dishes, leaner cuts of meats and chicken, fruits, rice, and pastas.

Be aware that things like cereal, bread, and canned vegis are also usually high in sodium.

You can pm me if you have questions, but I am not an expert. Just trying my best Smile

sarachana

Sun, Oct 13 2013, 11:45 pm

Every cell in your body has salt...it is a critical element of the human body...unless you have kidney issues or renal heart failure it will not benefit you to go low salt. However reg salt is stript of its 82 minirels so use a high quality sea salt. IT is a myth that salt raises blood pressure...u actually need salt to lower it...sea salt your way to health!!!! ...and of course drink plain water!

mandksima

Mon, Oct 14 2013, 3:56 am

I agree certain salts are very beneficial. I think the iodine and salts from seaweed products are very healthy as are the high mineral salts like Himalayan Pink Sea salt. If you go off of processed foods which contain a lot of sodium and not any helpful forms of it, I don't think it is unhealthy at all to add beneficial types of salts to your homecooked meals. JMHO. Of course, if your doctor says you must, don't follow anyone else's advice.

Here's some info about how certain salts are better than others for your body http://products.mercola.com/himalayan-salt/

Mevater

Tue, May 19 2020, 1:15 pm

mandksima wrote:

It depends who you ask:

Is Himalayan or unrefined salt a good source of minerals?
Which claims to take with a few grains of, umm, salt.

“Nutrient-dense,” says Terrasoul Superfoods Himalayan Pink Salt. “84 minerals.”

Its website’s advice: “Use daily in place of ordinary table salt to support optimum health, and to add a full spectrum of minerals to your diet.”

How much of those 84 minerals can you expect? Terrasoul has good data for only 23 of them, and for most of those, levels were less than 1 part per million.

The salt’s striking pink hue comes from traces of minerals like iron. A serving (¼ teaspoon) has 0 milligrams of iron, according to the label. Ditto for calcium and potassium.

Himalayan salt is “dense” in only two minerals—sodium and chloride. And the combo is far more likely to raise your blood pressure than to “support optimum health.”

https://www.nutritionaction.co.....rals/

zaq

Tue, May 19 2020, 4:45 pm

There's no such thing as "no sodium" cooking because almost everything has some sodium in it, but there is "No salt added" cooking, which is not necessarily the same as low sodium cooking if you use ingredients that are high in sodium. Canned fish and canned vegetables, for example, are high in Na, though you can remove a good part of the Na (and the flavor, alas) by rinsing. You can buy no-salt-added tuna and no-salt-added cottage cheese, but let's just say they're "not to most people's taste."

I wouldn't say I cook low sodium, but I seldom add salt to anything except challah. Without salt it's edible but clearly "missing something." Those who prefer more salt can add it to their own dishes at the table. I started cooking this way when my dad developed hypertension and required a LS diet. I find that most things are fine without added salt, though starchy items like bean soups really do need a little. Even so, I add only a small volume, way less than recipes usually call for.

Lower-sodium cooking is definitely an acquired taste, but then so is higher-sodium cooking. BTW, depending on how strict your diet has to be, you don't necessarily have to give up salty-tasting foods. Potato chips have comparatively little Na, but taste salty because it's all on the outside. Read nutrition labels--many condiments and sweet-tasting foods are loaded, as are, of course, most processed foods.

Your body does not need salt for thyroid health--what it needs is iodine, which is added to salt because it's a convenient way of supplying the minute quantities the body needs. Uniodized salt will do nothing for your thyroid.

zaq

Tue, May 19 2020, 4:57 pm

In my above post, when I say "it's edible but clearly missing something" I refer specifically to challah. Most other foods are just fine without added salt, probably because the individual ingredients have more than enough. Example: milchik lasagna: tomato sauce, cottage or ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, all loaded with Na. Only the pasta, egg and whatever fresh or frozen veggies I'm using are low in Na. I once bought no-salt-added cottage cheese by mistake. The logical use for it was in lasagna, since its lack of salt was more than compensated for by the mozzarella and tomato sauce. If I made fleishik lasagna, well, kosher meat and poultry are very high in Na. So high that some people who require a VERY low-Na diet can't eat kosher meat at all.