low salt challenge

[imafan26]

My blood pressure is causing me some grief. I have to reduce my salt intake to 1500 mg a day. It has been very hard to find recipes for some of my veggies that are easy for me to grow like eggplant, daikon and Gai choy cabbage that are low salt.

I also have a hard time finding recipes for more common things like beans, and salad dressing that are low in salt.

The only things I have come up with so far are boiled beets, potatoes, carrots with herbed butter (unsalted butter) and herbs like dill, garlic, onions.

Eggplant grilled but all of the sauces I have are soy based and cheese has too much salt.

Using fruit based sauces or fruit salsa on chicken and vegetables.

Sweet sour sauce has less salt but is not really low in salt

I have used salt substitutes for some things, but they don't work on everything.

I do use sugar substitutes, tabasco sauce, and herbs to cut salt.

Tabasco is actually cured in brine, but the average serving is contains only 30 mg of salt. A lot of flavor for very little salt.

The choices left on this diet are not necessarily healthier as the trade off for salt is more sugar and fat.

To make matters worse, I really don't like anything sour or bitter. So, I don't like lemon, vinegar, or mustard.

Anybody got any recipes, or links to recipes that are low in salt. I try to stay under 150 mg of salt for side dishes and less than 300 mg for main dishes.

Any good chicken stock, tomato soup, mushroom soup, tomato sauce that I can make without salt? Or other ideas on how I can prepare vegetables and salad dressing without salt?

[webmaster]

Soy sauce is definitely a no-go for you. That's like 900 MG per teaspoon. So toss that out. For soups I've been using something called VegeBase, which has about 400 MG per teaspoon. I also use a MisoMan Miso for soup broth, but just one teaspoon for about three to five servings. So that's 400mg (vegebase) + 500mg (miso), which works out to 900mg = 300mg per serving. For the broth I boil half a pound of mushrooms for fifteen minutes in about five or six cups of water, enough to cover them in a pot. You can then use the resulting mushroom water for a broth base with the vegebase and miso. However, if you're using udon noodles, those contain anywhere from 50mg to 500mg of sodium- be very careful of the noodles you use in soup. I usually just boil the noodles, rinse then put it in a bowl and pour the finished broth over it. I find that shaking red pepper flakes into the food helps compensate for the lack of salt. It tingles on your tongue and compensates for the lack of salt.

You might want to experiment with dried chipotle peppers, putting them into a sauce for a ten minutes or more then removing it to impart a smoky taste to a broth or whatever you're cooking. Garlic and onions are a staple in my house.

[hendi_alex]

I had a bout last year with my blood pressure all over the map, and also irregular heart beat. As it turned out, I had started drinking lots of hot tea, perhaps 400-600 mg of caffeine per day. That should have been within the moderate range, but evidently I have greater than average sensitivity.

When the episodes started, I monitored my b.p. several times per day, looking for a pattern, and also looked for a relationship with diet, to perhaps i.d. some trigger foods that preceded an episode.

The problem persisted for several months, but as info was gathered, I started taking various action. Cut down on salt/sodium. Eliminated caffeine. Increased intake of fatty fish and fish oil/krill oil. Started drinking at least 80-96 ounces of clear liquid per day. Increase intake of dark chocolate (which has a little caffeine but not much). Started eating steamed oat meal most every morning, usually by itself , but sometimes as a side with a more traditional breakfast. Cut down on processed meats.

All of these things together seemed to do the trick. But IMO nothing made a greater difference than the decrease in caffeine and the near elimination of added salt. IMO 1500 mg is way too much salt. Take a pan balance and measure out 1.5 grams. It is a very large pile of salt!

I've become an avid label reader. One thing I've noticed is how much sodium content varies in peas and beans. I buy low sodium when available, but have found that Walmart store brand usually has less salt than is in some of the low sodium brands. I also try to pay attention to the ratio of potassium to sodium.

Anyway, it is best to get into the habit of never adding salt to much of anything, especially when the ingredients contain salt. For example we no longer salt tomato based soups or sauces, as the canned tomatoes are quite salty. We always add water and that dilutes the salt in the tomatoes considerably.

I'll salt some basic foods that contain no salt, so IMO a low salting of oatmeal or grits for example is o.k. Steamed green beans get a little salt while cooking, but not on the plate.

As far as your recipes, just skip the salt or reduce the salt. Buy low sodium soy and use less than is called for. I buy a product called Mr. Spice, from spicehouse.com. It is a wonderful salt free herb blend. Most soups start with Mr. Spice, olive oil, and fresh garlic. Olive oil and fresh garlic are a great start for many, many fine dishes. We start with olive oil and garlic for any of our fresh grown greens, wilt them, then use the pressure cooker for 1-3 minutes depending upon the greens. They taste at least as good if not better than the bacon dripping flavor greens of our younger southern cooking days.

I've gone back to drinking several cups of tea per day, but only a half cup of lightly brewed caffeinated per day. The rest of the time it is half cup of low caf or decaf tea, usually followed by a cup of plain water. Haven't seemed to have any problems for about a year now.

One last thing wrt the diet. Keep it simple. Use simple ingredients and buy nothing ready made. Make your own sauces. Stay away from the processed meats. Stay away from fast food restaurants. Don't reach for the salt shaker after food has been plated. Buying basic ingredients rather than packaged meals will help the pocket book as well.

I was a salt addict. If I can cut down, anyone can. My guess is that in an average day that I now consume less than 600-800 mg of sodium.

Lastly, consider cutting down on caffeine consumption, just as a test. Oh yes, and alcohol consumption together with caffeine tends to multiply the bad effects.

[webmaster]

Funny you don't like vingegar or mustard but are ok with tabasco which is mostly vinegar. I try to avoid vinegar because it's bad for the teeth and some of it has sulfites in it, like balsamic. So if you want to cut corners on sodium, cut out the tabasco and use dried chili flakes, experiment with different varieties of dried chilis and even smoked paprika, which is really nice on seafood like shrimp and baby octopus. Smoked paprika, a dash of white wine vinegar, olive oil or safflower oil (cheaper) to cover creates a good marinade. Then toss the whole thing into a heated iron pan or skillet and flash cook it, maybe shaking in some garlic powder. I call it a Tapa. You can make a sauce with what's left in the pan and pour it all over the shrimp/baby octopus and mop it up with bread. It's one of my daughter's favorites.

[rainbowgardener]

It's all about home cooking. As long as you make your own soups, salad dressings, sauces, you can make them without salt. Just add other flavorings to make up for the lack of salt -- pepper, dill, curry, herbs, lemon, etc.

You may want to make a collection of sauce recipes that you have adjusted to be salt free - wine sauce, sour cream sauce, mushroom sauce, curry sauce, black bean sauce, creamed dill sauce, white sauce, etc.

I only discovered the smoked paprika over the holidays and it is wonderful! Adds a depth and richness of flavor to whatever you put it in.

google low sodium recipes, there's tons of stuff out there.

[imafan26]

I went to see my doctor and my blood pressure was 160/90. That was higher than usual. After lunch about 2 hours later (I did not go home), I went to my dental appt and it was 229/108. Needless to say, I did not get any dental work done.

I have cut my salt over the years. I have been using low salt bacon, low salt soy sauce, and unsalted butter for years. And I don't add salt after cooking.

I have been on a 1500 mg salt restriction before.

I have cut eating out from 2-3 times a week to less than twice a month. I try to find the least salt choices and plan on making that my salt splurge day.

I actually eat less salt than most people. But there are very salty things that I like. Ketchup, potato chips, cracked seed, sea salads are pretty bad.

I have cut my ketchup down ( I used to use it every day on almost everything) in favor of tabasco. I really do not like the vinegar in tabasco, that is why a bottle can last for years. Cut diet colas down. I used to drink 2 liters a day. Now I drink more crystal light.

I use no salt added tomato products when I can find them and I rinse canned vegetables. I don't use canned meats very much. It is hard for me to cook without soy, oyster sauce, broth, or ketchup. Most of my stir fries and stews will use one or more of that.

I use more vegetables fresh from the garden or frozen.

I use fresh tomatoes in cooking. I haven't tried to make tomato sauce.

I've had to change a lot of things in the way I cook. I use a lot of herbs, it is not the same as salt, but it is better than nothing.

I have gotten used to making casseroles, stews and stir fries. The salt restrictions makes it hard to keep doing that.

I rarely plan meals around a meat main dish. I am not vegetarian. I just started cooking using very little meat and more vegetables as a way to cut calories and not be hungry all of the time. Especially since I cut the diet colas. I had used diet colas to feel full. I need the fizz, water and crystal light does not do that for me.

I have created meals that are low in salt but higher in calories and fat than I would like. Example

4 oz Herb crusted pork medallion (herbs from the garden)
6 oz. steamed fresh broccoli
2tbs oil for cooking
1 onion, carmelized
1/2 cup boiled white or brown rice

calories 671 Na 86 mg chol 91 mg, fat 17 gms.

I have gotten my blood pressure down with the diet and medications back to 140/80. There are days that it still will go up to 180/110 and I got one day at 109/78. Its better, it is just a challenge everyday, but at this point it is just something I gotta do.

I can usually predict my blood pressure by the edema in my ankles. The diuretics actually control my blood pressure best, but it does not work that well unless I drink a lot of water. The other way for me to get rid of salt that I would rather do is to sweat it out in the garden.

[webmaster]

Alex posted some great advice. That's really, really good. I'm going to show your post to my wife. The only thing I'd change is the recommendation of switching to low sodium soy sauce. Low Sodium Soy Sauce is not low sodium at all. A tablespoon of Low Sodium soy sauce typically contains 700mg of sodium compared to 900mg for regular soy sauce. I'm a label reader too, and I'm quoting those figures from memory.

Definitely give up the low sodium soy sauce, it's still high sodium. Otherwise, Alex is spot on with excellent tips for going low sodium.

[ElizabethB]

Imafan - G has issues with both high blood pressure and obesity. His down fall is junk food - chips, dips, cheese and processed meats. A salvation is having a garden - lots of fresh flavorful, veggies, that require less salt to taste good. I make salsa with fresh tomatoes, jalapeno, a little onion and garlic and cilantro. G loves that as a snack with celery sticks. We no longer use table salt. We use Real Salt. It is sea salt that is less procesed than most. It is biege in color instead of white. The salty flavor is more intense than table salt or more refined sea salt so we use much less.

http://realsalt.com

A little pricey but worth it since we use so much less to get the same salty flavor of more refined salts. Sorry you don't like lemon. That is a flavor life saviour for us.

Processed foods and sauces are a no-no for us. Packaged seasonings are very popular in south Louisiana. Tony's and Zaterain's are 2 examples. I never really liked using them because I want more control of how much of what seasoning goes into my food. Both have too much salt and MSG. We found a local salt free, MSG free seasoning that I actually like. Benoit developed the mix and initially sold it only to hospitals, rehab facilities and extended care facilities. There was so much demand for his product that it is now available in locally owned grocery stores and produce markets. I use it on everything from salads, fish, meats, stews and soups.

Benoit's Best
Cajun Wholesale Distributing
517 Woodlawn Rd.
Maurice, La 70555
337-898-3977/1-800-533-6923

Between eliminating all processed foods and using Real Salt, Benoit's, lemon, fresh veggies and premium olive oil we are both healthier. Oh we also extremely limit carbs. G is losing weight, I maintain. We both feel better and enjoy our food more. We do like to eat out. I carry a small bag with small containers of Real Salt, Benoit's and premium olive oil. Restaurants always have lemon so our seasoning is set. With the exception of Out Back and Bonefish Grill we usually eat at locally owned restaurants. Both Out Back and Bonefish have been very accomodating about our seasoning requirements. Of course the locally owned restaurants help out. You just have to ask.

If you don't like lemon juice try fresh lemon zest. Gradually start adding juice. I love to cook and consider myself a very good home cook. I experiment with various ethnic cuisines. I use lots of lemon because I find it brightens the flavor of food without adding a harsh taste.

There I am again running my mouth. Try Real Salt and Benoit's Seasoning. Also experiment with fresh herbs. Work on the lemon aversion. G really likes Pompeian, extra virgin, first cold press olive oil. It has a very robust flavor which adds a lot to salads and cooked foods. I personally prefer milder more complex flavor but what the heck - my love likes it and he is losing weight.

Good luck. Hope you get your BP under control without having to resort to meds.

[imafan26]

Thanks for all the support and tips guys. This is why is is so great to be a member here.

I have tried other spices. I like thyme, cumin and Italian seasoning. I switched to sea salt a while ago, but I have even cut that pretty much out except when I am cooking something for a potluck.

I think I will try more peppers. I have used pepper flakes before, but I never thought of using it on anything else besides pizza. The smoked paprika also sounds like something I might try. I can use more of the fresh peppers. I have serranos and tabasco peppers and I do like hungarian wax peppers. I have habaneros, but they are too hot for me. I do make a pretty good salsa. Only it does use salt. I'll try it with the sea salt and use less or try to omit it to see what happens. Usually the thing I am putting salsa on does have some inherent salt so it might be enough.

I think I will also do the roasted vegetables. bell peppers, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes. I always did them as side dishes with a little garlic salt. Maybe I'll try it with some different seasonings instead. At least there will be more options to just steaming vegetables.

I don't usually like curries, but I might try some different curry recipes. I have murraya koenegii, the Indian curry tree. It has a different flavor from English curry, but I have cooked with it before.

Lemon zest is something I did not think about either. I might even try substituting orange zest in some recipes.

I have actually looked for recipes on line and I found a couple of sites like the dash diet, mayo clinic and low salt cooking. I have tried some of those recipes. And I usually leave out salt if it is called for in other recipes I adapted or used salt substitute.

Soups are hard. There really is not a truly low salt version that tastes ok.

[hendi_alex]

The salt craving drops off after a while. I never would have imagined getting a plate of food and not adding salt. In my earlier life, the plate would be filled, and then a liberal shaking of salt was always added to everything before sitting down to eat. Never needed tasting before hand, because the only thing better than salt was a little more salt. These days in a typical meal, almost nothing ever get salted. And far less salt is added in the cooking process as well. Things taste a little sweeter, things have a little more flavor of their own. The experience is just different, not inferior or missing something.

Typical meal.
breakfast:
oatmeal - maybe a light sprinkling of salt, maybe no salt added
somtimes and egg - smallest dash of salt, smallest maybe 1/6 tsp of lightly salted butter
Sometime home made granola with plain Greek yogart.

lunch:
sandwich:
bread, tomato, cheese, lettuce, mustard, sometime a little mayo, no salt added. Sometimes plain grilled cheese, with just a little salted butter.
soup - either veggie soup or bean soup, no salt added during prep or after

dinner:
two or three veggies - usually no salt added during prep or after, but sometimes a very tiny dash after prep
entre - if prepared with unsalted ingredients maybe some salt added during prep, rarely after. If prepared with salty ingredients, like canned tomatoes, no salt added during prep or after.

I repeat, if this person can adapt to such a low salt regimen, then anyone can. I used to say [salt is my middle name] and always lived up to that, always salting everything, and salting nothing lightly.

[sepeters]

You can make a significant cut by avoiding canned and heavily processed foods. Those canned beans do save some time, but they are loaded with salt. Check out the bulk bins at the grocery store. Dried beans are a fraction of the cost and if you make your own you don't have to add any salt. Just soak them over night in the fridge, rinse, cover in water and pop in the slow cooker for several hours.

Also try increasing your water in take ( no water subs like crystal light, etc) and get a good kidney flush with some cranberry juice. Giving your system a good flush from time to time can be very helpful in jump starting your diet or over coming a plateau.

Bread products can also be loaded with salt and most people do not think about the sodium hidden in starches.

When I cook I add all the ingredients and then when the food is almost ready I just add a little bit of salt to taste and use much less salt this way, I also only use sea salt. My blood pressure was 108/80 yesterday, it is usually lower, but I have not been exercising recently since I have bronchitis. So, that number is basically just food controlled, but exercise will help lower your blood pressure a lot.

[sepeters]

imafan, check out this low sodium, allergy free soy sauce substitute recipe. It is made from simple ingredients that you probably already have on hand. I thought you'd like it because a lot of the foods you mentioned have soy sauce and it's just not the same leaving it out! Good luck!

http://www.food.com/recipe/soy-sauce-su ... ree-111373

[applestar]

This really has nothing to do with the wonderfully detailed replies that have already been posted, but I was reminded of my daughter saying "You don't NEED salt on Spudakee (tomato) because it tastes so good all by itself."

She puts salt on all other tomatoes.

So the moral is to find food that TASTES good.

[imafan26]

That is so true, it is best to start with foods that taste good. Tonight I tried a new recipe. I would never have tried it normally because I don't think of using lime juice as a marinade

8 pieces of skinless chicken thighs
1 cup lime juice ( I had some frozen from my mother's tree)
2 tbs cilantro
4 cloves garlic crushed
black pepper to taste (I put in lots)
1 tbs fresh thyme
1 onion minced
2 tbs cannola oil
2tbs Mrs. Dash salt free herb seasoning

I put everything in a a gallon ziploc and marinated overnight. This is a recipe for the grill, but I was in a hurry so I put eveything in a microwave dish and nuked it for about 30 minutes. If I had thought about this a bit more and if I had planned to nuke it instead of grilling, I would have left out the oil, and maybe put 1 chopped chili pepper in the bag. It came out pretty good. The lime juice gave the chicken a lot of flavor, I almost did not miss the salt. After putting the fruit salsa on the chicken, it was even better.

[applestar]

I love the taste of lime, yet I hardly ever think to buy them. -- maybe I should try to grow a tree and add to my "citrus collection"

I'm afraid microwaving would take away from the caramerlizing effect from broiling or grilling. Lime juice flavor would realy sparkle. I would bake before microwaving.

I like chicken marinated in yogurt. Have you tried that? Thighs too for longer cooking (if not grilling) but also good for chicken breasts or tenders pan sautéed. Different herbs for different results, maybe pineapple -- some kind of sweet fruit, and/or curry spices. And optional coconut (milk ...and flesh but depends on if you want that texture).

[imafan26]

Grilling would have been better as you say the flavors would have popped more. I haven't tried a yogurt marinade, but that sounds good too.

Thanks a lot for all of the tips

[prettygurl]

I am trying a version of the Paleo diet. Being heart healthy is important to me.

[imafan26]

I did try a low carb diet which is similar in a lot of ways to the paleo diet.
It was more palatable but contained too much meat and limited fruits and vegetables more than I liked.

[hendi_alex]

Limiting fruits, carrots, and many other vegetables.

When first hearing friends discuss the Atkins diet, comments relating to the above represented a huge red flag to me. Not that I would have ever embraced such a limited 'diet' but was surprised that so many in the community were drawn in. To me the South Beach diet went further in representing a more sensible approach with its emphasis on ratios of carbs, to fats, to proteins. Still the diet was overly restrictive on many 'good for you foods' which nevertheless are higher on the glycemic index rating.

While never overweight by more than a few pounds, I've spent a lifetime reading about foods, diet, health and nutrition. Here are some of the more important conclusions or facts from that reading and experience, in no particular order.

1. Balance in one's diet is more important than any particular taboos.
2. This sweeping comment is as close to a taboo as one would get from me. Limit any white foods, limed refined sugar, limit bad fats, limit salt.
3. As much as possible, get fat calories from 'good' fats. Olive oil, nut oil, fish oil, etc.
4. Eat liberal amounts of any red fruits and vegetables.
5. Eat liberal amounts of a great variety of leafy greens, both raw and cooked.
6. Eat liberal amounts of whole grain, low processed foods.
7. Eat oatmeal several times per week. I eat it almost every day.
8. A glass of red wine per day (4-7 ounces) is not the same as having 7 glasses all on Saturday night!
9. Eat non fried fish at least 2-3 meals per week.
10. Keep home made (low fat, low sugar, low salt) oat based granola on hand for snacks. But remember, a small amount contains lots of calories.
11. Keep various fruits on hand for snack.
12. Eat at least 2-3 organic prunes per day.
13. Keep a bowl of raw or home toasted (non salted) mixed nuts on the counter for snacking or protein supplement. Be sure to include Brazil nuts. Nuts should be eaten by the half dozen, not by the hand full!
14. Prepare simple home made meals made with basic ingredients. Starting with a can of tomatoes gives a person much more control than starting with Ragu sauce for example.
15. Limit red meat and limit processed meats.
16. Eating a healthy diet requires advanced planning, and requires keeping 'good for you' ingredients and snacks always available.
17. Grow what you can, and grow it as organically as you can.
18. Eat 1-2 ounces of dark chocolate per day
19. For most people over 50 or so, take a LD aspirin per day. I generally avoid all medicines except when absolutely necessary, but I'm a believer in the benefits of low dose aspirin.
20. Take a reasonable dose of fish oil or krill oil per day, especially on non fish days.
21. Limit meals eaten out, especially of the fast food variety. Plan, plan, plan. When having to eat out regularly, know the places that carry a healthy menu and stick to those items 80%-90%+ of the time.
22. Limit fried foods.

This free flow list represents no effort at being complete. I would love to hear other ideas that have been omitted from my list.

[cynthia_h]

I've been on a low-sodium (< 1,000 mg/day) diet since my 21st birthday, when I discovered the link between sodium intake and migraines. My migraines, at least.

I immediately learned all I could about scratch cooking (no, my mother had been useless in this regard; I actually learned to cook from the man I was living with in college). Although there have been times when I've eaten more than 1,000 mg/day, I can feel them the very next morning--if I don't get a migraine sooner--and haven't purchased chicken stock my entire adult life since that fateful birthday.

So, for anyone who's interested, here is my method (not recipe) for making sodium-FREE chicken stock:

First method: with left-over bones from roasted chicken

1) Fill the stock pot approx. two-thirds full with saved (probably frozen while they accumulated) bones from consumed chicken. Bones will keep in the freezer for a couple of months, so if you eat one chicken per week, two to three months' worth of roasted chicken will do for one batch of this stock.

2) Peel and slice 3 or 4 carrots, 2 or 3 sticks of celery, a parsnip or two (if you like parsnips), an onion or two (if you won't be cooking anything to share with dogs), and chop a handful of parsley. Add these and 3 or so large bay leaves to the stockpot.

3) Add 2 Tb. of either cider or plain white vinegar (this helps leach calcium from the chicken bones, thus increasing the nutritional value of the stock).

4) Fill the stockpot with COLD water to within 2 or so inches of its top edge. Cover with the lid. Start a medium to low flame (gas stove) or low heat (electric stove) and come back every 20 to 30 minutes until the liquid reaches a boil, then turn down the heat and let the stock simmer for 3 or 4 hours. Stir occasionally.

5) Let cool until manageable (ideally, this process will be started in the morning, cooled in the afternoon, then finished in the evening, but we don't all have an "ideal" situation). Make sure there are a sufficient number of canning jars available to contain the filtered stock to freeze it. Place a sieve and canning funnel over a canning jar and ladle/pour with a measuring cup enough stock into each canning jar to fill it to within 1 inch or so of the top (i.e., leave enough head space for freezing). Put on the two-part lids and freeze.

Depending on your own personal composting philosophy *and* the temperature of your compost pile, either throw the veggies into said pile, the veggies + bones into said pile, or bag everything up for the trash.

Second method: with purchased fresh chicken "parts"

1) Purchase necks, backs, and feet (if you can get them). 3 to 5 lb will make a terrific batch of stock.

Proceed as in Method 1.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9