HBP: sick of food with hidden sodium

re Olive Garden: You CAN do better than 900 mg.

I chose the Fettuccine Alfredo (lunch portion) last time I was there.
800 calories and 810 mg sodium.

But, I only ate half and had the other half for lunch the next day.

So 405 mg worked very nicely into a lower sodium diet.

Edited by: LUANN_IN_PA at: 10/21/2012 (11:25)

Yes lots of hidden sodium especially in Pizza, shredded mozzerella has about 700mg of sodium in 1 cup, so a regular 14 inch pizza has about 6,000 mg of sodium....poulty is another as Americ pumps sodium into the chickens to make them look plumper ...1 freid chicken breast is around 1050mg of sodium or A CHICKEN CLUB might be around 1,000mg.

Stay away from cold cuts and cured meats, bread and rolls have salt, some cheese...so buy low sodium varites, 1 Mc Donalds hamburger roughly has 520 grams of sodium, a Big Mac 1,040mg. Yes soup too...make homemade! And dont forget the sauces especially those in frozen entrees....its easier now to lower your intake if you buy low sodium or reduced sdoium products.

Skip the chips, cheese curls, pretzels too...an 8 ounce bag of chios has about 1,350mg of sodium,

Think about this...the lowest sodium pasta dish at Olive Garden which is Linguini Alla Marinara is 900mg in sodium...EGADS!

When you eat out remember that breading and sauces add up to sodium, skip the bread too!

Definitely try to make more of your soups and sauces at home. A couple of hours cooking on a day off can provide you with lunches for the coming week and maybe even a dinner or two. There are excellent soup recipes in SparkRecipes (one of my favorites is the Rustic Lentil Soup). Some even freeze really well for use in a couple of weeks or months.

Not only does home cooked = more delicious, it = less (you control the amount) sodium.

SALONJA,

It's true. It's difficult to find processed foods that are low in sodium, BUT it is not impossible. Because more people are more conscious about their salt intake, more food manufacturers are providing low sodium options. You are supposed to have some salt to be healthy. The problem is that too many highly processed foods are loaded with salt.

Your best option is to try to home cook most of your meals when possible. Try not to worry if you go over some days. This is a learning process. the more you learn, the better you'll be able to see what products have too much salt and which don't.

The worst offenders are soups and frozen meals. Progresso, Campbell's, etc... can routinely have 700+ mg of salt per serving. mind you, two servings per can too. So, be mindful of how much soup you eat. it's okay once in a while, but if you're watching your sodium, try to buy the low salt cans.

When you track your foods, you easily see what you need to cut out.... all the things high in sodium!
Sodium is really NOT hidden. It is clearly marked on all the labels. Read the labels and don't buy high sodium items.

It IS do-able... I average between 1500-1800mg sodium daily.

This site has shown me how much hidden sodium is in food.. not cooking with salt is not enough .I have found some foods like spagetti sauce, bread, etc has a lot of sodium. It is very frustrating !!!!!! I am staying within my calories but the sodium levels are too high some food that I did not expect.

Edited by: SALONJA at: 10/20/2012 (13:41)