So I am about to attempt to decrease my salt intake to hopefully decrease my bp
Living in us it is so difficult to eat anything that doesn't contain sodium in it.
I was hoping you guys here can share some tips for me as well and some of your success stories to help me feel motivated to do this diet
Thank you guys
Can you not buy vegetables, meat, fish etc. in the US in an unprepared state so you can cook them yourself? It would surprise me if you couldn't. I live in Europe but I remember when I went to stay a couple of weeks with a British friend who lived in DE, we used to go shopping and buy stuff to take home and cook, just like over here. Maybe that's only possible on the east coast...?
No I defiantly can do that but I'm just curious if going no salt diet consist of not eating out at all anymore?
And also just pretty much making all home cook foods with no salt?
Cook. No boxed foods. Salads. Read labels. Or look up salt content. Rinse salt off small handful of nuts or chips. Avoid bread and crackers. Shop at health food section of store. Canned food rinse and throw out water. Sometimes i rinse twice. If you eat out speak to cook or ask about no salt. Remember you need some salt
No, you can still eat out occasionally - you don't have to be a slave to your diet. I eat out on average three times per month, but I always notice I feel thirsty for hours afterwards because of all the salt they put in everything.
And you can still eat a limited amount of treats and convenience foods, provided you check out the salt content and avoid the high-sodium foods. They're getting stricter all the time about labelling here in Europe, and I'm guessing it's the same stateside. But it's better all round if you can eat mainly food you've prepared yourself. That way you avoid excessive carbs and sugars too. Junk food is stuffed with sugar as well as salt - even savoury dishes.
I never believed I could enjoy food cooked without salt but was told i would soon get used to it and so it has proved. In fact if I do add salt, food tastes far too salty; I never believed that would happen although I was told I would soon get used to it. I used to pile salt on the side of my plate but never do so these days. i also steam most vegetables as this preserves most of the vitamins.
My husband on the other hand claims to love his salt and literally piles the stuff on the side of his plate, he says he enjoys the 'crunch factor' although doesn't seem to notice that no salt is actually added to the cooking. Despite all this salt he consumes his BP remains well below the optimum 120/80. Not fair is it !!
Best to avoid takeaways and most ready meals and cook from scratch: Takeaways and ready meals are usually laden with salt.
I stopped using salt in 1983 and we very seldom eat processed foods and cook our own. I stopped sugar the following year and smoking in 1993
In 1983 I did not have hypertension but in 2000 it was 210/110. Go figure.
Salt is an essential nutrient, you need some just not overload.
I am in AUSTRALIA, so here I found when I checked supermarket food, everything had huge amounts of salt in it.
We were told at heart rehab, 11mg a day. some item have 2000mg in them, so they are out.
Rediscoverd the fresh food section and receipes that have little or no salt, or just took the salt content out of the receipe.
A challenge at first, but after about 6 weeks your body seems to adjust as does your taste buds, then everything, I now find even cornflakes taste salty, ughhhh.
Add flavours and colours, mint leaves, parsley, corriander, chives, onions, chillies, tumeric, ginger, we are lucky where we are, we can grow tumeric and ginger, in a pot otherwise they are a weed.
If your are a bread eater, they are on of the worst, they have handfulls of salt in them, again watch the labels, salad dressing a horror for salt, I make my own from sweetened condensed milk, and vinegar and some mustard, yummmm. again check all the labels, only thing at the supermaket I have found without salt is canned tomatoes, but I don't need canned tomatoes now, have my own.
We get a real kick out of having a garden, now, we grow lettuce mixed variety, pick only the leaf, cherry tomatoes, have even been able to grow beans on a frame, being able to go out and pick a few leaves on lettuce and a couple of cherry tomatoes to make a salad lovely.
Yes, a friend who had high BP and was dependent on salt for flavour found she could cut out added salt at the table by sprinkling her meals with herbs - dried and from the supermarket in this case. There's a lot you can do if you set your mind to it. Personally I've never used salt at the table but use a very little in cooking potatoes and green vegetables (none in cooking meat, fish or chicken) and don't eat ready meals. I'm now working on cutting back further on this. My only real weakness for salt is in cooking eggs - omelettes and scrambled eggs cry out for salt to my taste - but I'm also cutting back on this as far as possible. I find fiery smoked paprika - added at the end of cooking eggs rather than during the process - is a useful alternative. Also contains a range of vitamins plus potassium.
We make our own bread and that is the only thing we put salt in and that is minimal. I'm Mr Bland and never put anything in or on my food as I want to taste what I'm eating not herbs, spices etc.