Decreasing Sodium Tips

Yesterday I mentioned reading labels carefully. Add up all of the sodium from the foods that you eat and if you're over your limit of 2300 or less, cut something out.

But there are other ways to cut sodium. Most of the sodium as I mentioned yesterday comes from processed foods. the other place that we get a lot of sodium is in restaurant food. So if you eat out a lot, ask about low sodium items on the menu. You can also ask to see nutritional content for the menu items you're thinking of choosing. If you're doing fast food, not to pick on McDonald's, but a Big Mac has 1040mg. So almost half of your day's allotment is taken in that one thing. If you do the large fries, you're adding about 300mg, so now you would definitely be over half way to your daily limit. Wendy's Baconater has 1880mg!! The Burger King Whopper has 1020mg.

If you're eating out, either stay away from foods with sauces or eat very little sodium at any of your other meals for the day.

When cooking, do not add salt to the food. My mother had heart disease, so I learned to cook without salt and while my mother-in-law was a big user of salt in food, my husband is just fine with very little salt. We use other spices for flavor so no sodium is required.