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Bob,
I was more referring to the serving sizes of vegetables and soup. I usually eat a can of either, which I think is actually a good thing, since that's filling me up and not the 20 ounce porterhouse or half a pie with ice cream. My estimate of a serving of those things gave me my spare (truck) tire. I used to call a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese the "handy one serving container".
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Yea, the serving sizes are dinky aren't they? But, then again, if I would've minded those serving sizes from the beginning (and made wiser food choices also) I wouldn't be battling this spare tire I have now!
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| Yeah, I usually buy "no salt added" canned veggies....it's hard to find some things though. I do try and avoid fast food and TV dinners and stuff like that. I know they're loaded with salt.
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And who eats "one" serving? Check out a can of soup. Says it's 3.5 servings and when you add them all together, you end up with half or more of your daily allowance. I will have to say thanks to Campbell's. I've been finding low sodium soups lately. The tomato really sucks, but I figure if I put in three or four hundred mg's of salt to help the flavor, I'm still probably ahead by a thousand.
Some of the canned and frozen meals will get you to nearly your daily allowance in one sitting. There are a lot of canned veggies available in low sodium varieties and all the fresh ones are good, as are most of the frozen, so at least you have veggies and fruits to start (which is good). That leaves meats and snacks. It's really not bad once you find the things you like... it's the finding them that's the pain.
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| It's really amazing. You don't think about it when you see that something has 300mg per serving...but it really adds up in a hurry!!
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| I know what you mean Cobbie1, I'm having the same problem as you. Processed and restaurant foods can really get ya.
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Man, this sodium thing is tough!! I'm supposed to try and keep my daily intake under 2000mg. Yesterday I thought I had done pretty well and had nearly 5000mg!!! Today, all I've had is a smoothie and a slice of bread and lunch of leftovers from last night (a sparkpeople recipe!) and I'm already at 2300mg. Dang!! I guess there's a lot of sodium in any processed food. 
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| Thats great Niteman, I appreciate that. And I will definitely take your advice on these things.
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Oh yeah! Go to the web sites for the various fast food chains you eat at. Most have some sort of nutrition pages posted (even if you do have to hunt pretty hard for some of them) and you'll soon see there is little to choose from that's even reduced sodium, let alone low sodium. We usually end up with salads when we eat out and even carry our own dressing. We went to a local restaurant supply and got a box of fat free Italian dressing packets that are easy to carry. I also have one of those camping salt/pepper shakers that I've put salt free Greek seasoning in one side and Mrs. Dash Table Blend in the other. The inconvenience has been worth the effort. My BP was hitting 170 on the top number and my resting pulse was 75/80. For the last two months, the top BP number hasn't been over 140 and is sometimes as low as 120 while my resting pulse ranges from 58 to 67. For the most part, I don't miss the salt at all. Some soups and other items do take some getting used to without the salt, but once you do get used to it, it's not bad at all.
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LOSINGIT61
4/2/06 10:27 A
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| I've got high blood pressure and high cholesterol. I should probably stay away from fast food. Would you say that is where alot of the sodium is coming from?
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Losingit,
First, do you have any health problems other than wanting to lose weight? If you don't have high blood pressure, I wouldn't obsess right now about the sodium. Just work on it as time goes by. Concentrate on calories and exercise for right now and work on the fine tuning as you go along. sodium is a hard one to get a handle on, especially if you eat out a lot. My wife and I now eat out about once every two weeks compared to before, when it was twice a week as a rule and often more. Same goes for takeout. Once you learn what's in what they're feeding you, it gets a lot less tempting. You can find canned and fresh foods without it, but even that is sometimes a challenge. Once you find it, you have to get used to the taste. It's not an easy dragon to slay, but it can be done. For now, concentrate on calories and exercise and work your way into lower sodium and a better nutrient intake. Good luck!
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| Now wonder where the sodium level would be if you picked up the shaker!
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| Man oh man, I've got to pull this together. For the first time so far, I'm going to be within my calorie range. I was feeling real good, and then I looked at my sodium. 4390. I ate out twice today. I guess thats where it came from. I ate at Krystal (breakfast) and Subway (lunch) Restuarant food has a lot of sodium, canned foods has a lot of sodium. This is tough. I am determined to do this. And for positiveness I will do it. Just letting out a little frustration. You all have a great night
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Bob,
I'm thinking this whole nutrition thing can be a bit tricky, what with all the variables involved. I figure I have to be at least headed in a better direction than I was when ingesting six or seven thousand milligrams a day with little or no exercise. I'm trusting the Spark People recommendations to be close enough and I'm guessing a little extra on really sweaty days won't hurt. All I know is that the combination of better all around eating habits, lowered sodium, increased potassium and calcium, and way more exercise is working. If it ain't broke, I ain't gonna' fix it.
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Dave,
Just read the article you recommended. There is a delicate balance betweeb having too little or too much sodium isn't there? I remember the first half marathon I ran in the last three miles my calves were crampimg severely and my face was crusted in salt! My sweat always tastes real salty but is it because i ingest too much sodium or just sweat more sodium than others. I don't know. As a runner I've read so much about maintaining the correct electrolyte balance to keep from cramping but like I said, it's a delicate balance. You almost have to be a rocket scientist to get it right!
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| Yep. I drink a minimum of 2 liters of H2O a day.
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NITEMAN3D
3/29/06 10:37 A
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Here's an article on the subject that I thought helpful. You'll have to copy and paste the link, a line at a time.
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0675/is_5_17/ai_57387252
Also, I remembered what the other cool food I found was. "Back to Nature" Strawberry Granola for a good snack if you like granola. Only 20mg sodium per half cup serving.
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| Yep. I drink a minimum of 2 liters of H2O a day.
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You shouldn't harm yourself by keeping it at the 2400, but you should also be OK at 2800-3000 on days you're drinking lots of water and sweating.
matt
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A question to ponder. Should I be freaking out as much as I am concerning my sodium intake? I average about 20 miles a week running with a long run on Saturday ranging from 6 to 10 miles. I sweat quite a bit during these runs. Would this off set the elevated sodium levels, averaging about 2800-3000? Would I be doing more harm than good by keeping my sodium levels at the SP recommended max of 2400? What do you guys think?
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We've pretty much given up on take out, most dining out and prepackaged foods. It sure does make for a lot of dishes to wash.
OTH, I did find some low sodium pretzels today that are actually good. Still can't have too many because of the dough, but they make a nice replacement for chips with a sandwich.
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KINGDENNIS2006
3/28/06 5:07 P
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| I try and track sodium.. but it often depresses me. Being a university student I'm eating alot of the prepared type foods, just for it's ease and reduced prep time... but they are just killer for sodium. I try and track it because I have high blood pressure in the family and mine is a little on the high side, last few times at the DR was about 150/95 (but it has since dropped a bit)... I find if I want to eat anything at campus, such as a sub or whatever, my sodium is just shot for the day
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That's a good thing!
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Yea, I set up my profile to reflect my high blood pressure. GOLFPRO instructed me how to set up sodium as one of the nutrients that I wanted to track. My max is 2400. I already use numerous Mrs. Dash flavors and a salt alternative called "No Salt". It's the processed foods like, lunch meat, cheese, bread, cottage cheese etc. that's killing me with the sodium. Ah, yi, yi, I'm becoming obsessed
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Have you done the Spark People 'diet profile' to get your daily recommendations? It will ask you something about BP and heart conditions and put your targets higher for things like potassium and calcium and lower for sodium. Another suggestion for after lowering the sodium is lots of spices like salt free Greek Seasoning, salt free Creole Seasoning, Mrs. Dash, and anything you enjoy that has no salt. I'm big on garlic and my wife doesn't seem to mind me smelling like it, so that's a good one. garlic powder, minced garlic and whole cloves serve me well. Just be careful that whatever you choose has no salt. Also be careful not to go too high on potassium chloride. You want to get your potassium up, but don't go over the recommended amounts. Like most nutrients, too much is bad just like not enough. All this reading keeps you off the streets and out of trouble too!
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| Thanks NITEMAN3D. The last couple of days of tracking my sodium intake has been a real eye opener for me. I thought I had found the perfect fat free cheese when I bought Borden's Fat Free Sharp singles. Then I noticed that each slice has 300mg of sodium. Then I noticed that my whole wheat bread has 180mg per slice! One of the many reasons I started losing weight and exercising was to get off blood pressure medicine. I reached 190 and my blood pressure was still through the roof. I chalked it up to genes and accepted my fate. But now, I'm starting to wonder. Eating what I consider to be a healthy, low fat diet with whole grains, fruits and vegetables still nets me over 3000mg of sodium a day! You're right NITEMAN3D, why do manufacturers need to add so much sodium to every thing we eat? This is going to require due diligence on my part to lower my sodium intake.
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My only suggestion is buy your own meat from a local butcher and buy a slicer. (I got a really nice one from Amazon for around $100) I found one pre-packed ham that said it was "reduced" sodium and it was still 400 or so per ounce. Also try grinding or finely chopping your own chicken and turkey after rinsing and making chicken or turkey salad if you like it. Same with tuna and canned meats. Also be careful of the "fresh" meat at big stores like Wal Mart. Even they have been bathed or injected with brine. I about fell over when I discovered my "fresh" beef had 400 mg per four ounce serving and I had thought it was almost nil.
You make a good point about supplements too. I shave fifty calories off my allowance every day to help compensate for the unstated calories in the fist full of pills I swallow every day. Funny thing is, there's no real proof that most of them do me a lot of good. I see things like vegetable oil and corn starch on the labels, but no accounting of nutrients other than the vitamins and minerals, but you know there has to be some just looking at the list of ingredients. Like you said, you can't win, but we can only do our best to at least keep up. I like to have a a Philly Cheese Steak every now and then, so I just budget it in the best I can, but for the most part I don't eat very large portions of meat anymore. The nice thing is, I don't miss it since I get plenty of other good things.
With sodium, all you can do is your best. That's why I've taken to writing letters about it. (I even wrote a nice one to thank Campbell's for the low sodium soups I've been finding lately.) There's really no reason to have most of it in food in the first place. If it's just for taste, let it out and let the final consumer apply however much they want. I haven't received a reply from any of them yet.
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Good advice NITEMAN3D. What do you do about sandwich meats such as turkey? I buy the Buddig turkey (cheap) and there is like 630mg of sodium in a single serving! SP suggests that I ingest no more than 2400 a day. That's 26% of my daily value. Any other suggestions?
Side note: I checked out the supplements I take and the glucosamine/chondroitin I take daily has 130mg per dose. I can't win
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An additional comment to the original poster. Even though you won't really be able to track the benefit, you will also want to rinse any processed food that will stand it, since you'll be removing a very large portion of the listed sodium that way. Like I said, there's really no way to quantify the good it's doing you, but taste some before and after rinsing and you'll see what I mean. It definitely has to help.
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In order to keep our heads above water, one of us had to keep working and since my wife just underwent a whole bunch of cardiac grief involving major surgery at a relatively young age, it was up to me to try to keep going so one of us could continue to work and drive. I was having palpitations in addition to my historic irregular heartbeat. My top BP number was hitting 160 and 170 with some regularity. Resting pulse was 75. We're now approaching four months since I gave up caffeine and started working out. Over two months since I got truly committed and began Spark People.
My eyes about popped when I saw the sodium I was ingesting. I've cut over thirty pounds, am quite active again... but I think as important as any of that.. I've cut sodium from the 6000 level to 3000 and mostly far less, some days even under 1500. I haven't had a BP reading over 130 in a month (most days under 125) and my resting pulse is sometimes as low as 58. My heart doesn't skip a beat, even under stress, which is really unusual, since that's been irregular for nearly sixty years. Just think what a year of healthy living will do if that's what I get for four months?
I'm becoming somewhat an activist on the subject of sodium, writing letters asking why? Why does there have to be so much in any food, but especially canned foods that don't need it. No answer as yet, but I'm not giving up.
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