Low Sodium Way of Life - Healthier Living

2009-01-18T21:48:00.001-08:00

Pasta Sauce Alternative

During my last trip to Trader Joe's, I found their private label Organic Marinara Sauce with no salt added. It's not sodium-free, but very low (25 mg per 1/2 cup). It was a little watery and had a more subtle taste than the typical bottled sauce, but hey, it's not bad when you don't have much time and you need to whip up a meal for the family (I typically like to make my own sauce from scratch, but seldom have time to do so). I added dried oregano & basil, a little crushed red pepper flakes and some no-sodium salt substitute (Morton's). The overall taste turned out pretty good, and the sauce stuck to the pasta well. As an accompaniment, I made some turkey meat balls.

For the meat balls, I used a pound of ground turkey, panko bread crumbs, black pepper, no-sodium salt substitute, dried oregano & basil, parmesan cheese, and one egg. After browning the mini meat balls (about 1-1.5 inches in diameter) in some grape seed oil on the stove top, I threw them in the oven and broiled them for about 15-20 minutes (in retrospect, they would've been less dry if they were baked instead).

All this yielded 3 decent-sized portions of pasta.

Tough Challenge

2008-07-28T21:12:00.000-07:00

I've now been at my new job for almost a year, and the biggest challenge is still eating out for lunch everyday with coworkers. I've been continuing to try to balance it out by eating self-made dinners at home, which still seems to be keeping my BP in check. At my last doctors appointment it was at about 130/80 (which isn't too bad considering all of the burgers, burritos, etc that I've consumed!). One down side is that I've gained back about half of the weight that I initially lost a few years back. It's just so easy to fall off the wagon, especially when you love to eat tasty food!

Yes, processed foods are often terrible for a low-sodium diet, but shockingly, a lot of restaurant foods are even worse. I was reading this list of the saltiest foods in America and couldn't believe how much sodium some of these dishes have! I had been eating one of the dishes, broccoli with beef, instead of some of the saucier choices at Chinese restaurants because I thought that it was a better low-sodium option; boy was I wrong. Check out the list, its very interesting.

I'm now back in the process of trying to lower my sodium intake again, to avoid having my BP skyrocket like it did before. It's pretty easy to make low-sodium pasta sauces (I really enjoy experimenting with different ingredients), stir-frys and dishes made with our slow-cooker. One day I'll start to take lunch to work (at least a couple of times per week) - we'll see how that goes.

Thanks for reading, and for sharing your comments.

A Year Later...

2008-01-22T23:40:00.000-08:00

Now, about a year after I got off of atenolol, I'm maintaining my blood pressure at around 130/90, taking just 1/2 a HCZ pill per day. Yes, I was off of both meds for about 6 months, but my Dr. thought it would be good to get back on a minimal dose since my BP did go up some (but still within the normal range). I started a new job a few months ago, and I've been slacking some on the food I eat for lunch out. I'm still eating low sodium dinners (i.e. same cereal and/or no or little-salt-added cooking), so it seems to be balancing out. One surprising change at my last check-up was my cholesterol, which was at 210 2 years ago (when my BP was off the charts), was down to 170. Guess it was a positive by-product of my change in diet.

I've found that Swiss cheese (60-90 mg sodium/serving) is a much lower sodium alternative to cheddar or jack cheese (usually 170-190 mg sodium/serving). I like to melt a slice on a piece of toast to eat with my cereal. I also found Heinz No Salt Added Ketchup, which I had never seen before. Not as tasty as the regular version, but not too bad. Works well on no-salt-added turkey swiss burgers!

It's amazing how all of these little things that you can watch can really make a different in the long-run.

2007-07-08T15:50:00.000-07:00

Daily Breakfast

I've been eating the same 2 things for breakfast everyday for the past few months. The first is what I call my "Open Face Breakfast Sandwich", which includes:

1 egg (I like organic brown eggs)
1 small red or white potato
grated parmesan cheese - 90 mg sodium/2 tsp
black pepper
salt substitute
chili pepper flakes
1 slice bread (I use a whole grain brown bread) - 95 mg sodium/slice

Recipe

Heat a some olive oil in a small frying pan over low to medium heat (enough to coat the bottom)
Slice the potato into thin, long strips and put into pan (make sure all strips are touching pan)
Sprinkle some chili pepper flakes onto potatoes (to taste)
When potatoes are browned on one side, flip them over and crack the egg over the top (potatoes should be arranged in a loose grouping, so that eggs covers them)
Sprinkle the salt substitute & black pepper over the egg (to taste), and enough of the parmesan cheese to make a thin layer over unbroken yolk & rest of egg
After a few minutes, flip entire egg/potato over without breaking yolk, and brown on yolk side
Toast bread
Remove egg/potato mix from pan and blot with paper towel (should come out of pan as one cohesive unit).
You can put the mix onto the toast as is, or sometimes i like to spread a little mustard or hummus onto the toast before putting the egg mix on
Ready to eat!

I eat this with a small bowl of cereal, with a one sliced up banana & Rice Dream Organic Original flavor rice milk (lactose intolerant). My cereal of choice is Nature's Path Organic Pumpkin Flax Plus Granola (25 mg sodium/half cup). The rice milk is lower in sodium than the soy milks that I've seen (100 mg sodium/cup). I know that for normal eaters, this doesn't sound very appetizing, but it's actually pretty good. Trader Joe's has the cereal for between $2 to $3. At Gelsons they charge around $5 for the same product. The rice milk is around $1.99.

If you do search for flax seeds, you'll see that one of its benefits is that it helps lower blood pressure. Same goes for bananas, because of their potassium content (I always load up on bananas before my Dr. visits!).

2007-07-08T15:27:00.000-07:00

Back on the Meds

I went for my check up back in April, and my BP was a little too high for my Dr.'s liking, so I was put back on meds. Luckily it's only 1/2 pill per day of a water pill (Maxide), unlike before when I was taking 1 water pill + 1/2 Atenolol per day. My BP was 149/85.

I know that I've slacking on my low-sodium diet, eating out way too much. Since then I've been trying to cook at home more, and eat out only once or twice a month. That restaurant food has so much sodium! I guess if you watch the Food Network you do notice that all of the chefs are pretty liberal with the salt.

This past week I had my first follow-up appointment since being back on the meds. My BP had gone down to 138/70. The Dr. said I can come back in 4 months instead of 3, and if I can get my systolic (top #) down below 130 and maintain it there, we can talk again about getting off the meds (and of course keep the diastolic down around 70). I need to come up with some new low-so recipes to keep variety in my diet. Can't eat the same 3 dishes all the time! As I develop new ones I'll try to post them up here on my blog.

Another Low Sodium Cheese Found

2007-03-12T12:50:00.000-07:00

I found another low sodium cheese (both Cheddar & Monterey Jack available) at my local natural foods store. It's from Sonnet Farms, and distributed by CLC of Kenwood, CA. It has no salt or coloring added, its aged over 60 days, rennetless, and made from whole raw milk from a cow not treated with rBST.
The serving size is 1 oz, and the nutritionals per serving are: 110 cal, 9 g fat, 20 g Cholesterol and only 10 mg sodium. Much lower than even the Landmark cheese that I bought last time which had 35 mg sodium per 1 oz! The taste is very similar to the Landmark cheese (don't expect a lot of flavor from either - just add your own low/no sodium seasonings & dried herbs before melting). Since Sonnet Farms cheese has less than 1/3 the sodium, I guess I found myself a new fav to buy (and I can eat three times as much! haha). The price was $6.99/lb (same as Landmark). The only difference that I noticed was that the Sonnet Farms seemed to be a little softer (less firm). Sorry for the bad pic. I waited till I finished eating it to take the pic.

Bacon Update

2007-02-26T13:54:00.000-08:00

I recently found two more bacon brands that are lower in sodium. They are Boar's Head (190 mg per 2 slices) and Pederson's Natural Farms (140 mg per 2 slices). These are actually lower than the Niman Ranch bacon (135 mg per 1 slice). I plan on trying the Pederson's first (since it has the lower sodium level) as soon as I finish off my current package of bacon. I can't wait!

Crazy for Bacon!

2007-02-23T10:10:00.000-08:00

Bacon is one of the most versatile & tasty foods around. You can use it as an ingredient for other dishes, have it as a side with your breakfast, zest up your sandwich with it, fry it up and use the drippings to cook other foods,....the list goes on. When I started eating a low sodium diet, I thought that bacon was just another fav food that was out the door, since I couldn't find any with less than 200+ mg of sodium per slice.

Then I found Niman Ranch Applewood Smoked Uncured Bacon at Trader Joe's. It's not super low in sodium, at 135 mg per slice, but better than most I've seen. Also, there are no nitrates or nitrites added, no antibiotics or added hormones, all vegetarian feeds and it says that their animals are humanely raised on environmentally sustainable family farms.

Because it still has 135 mg of sodium, I only use one slice at a time, usually as an ingredient to flavor other foods. One of my favorite & easiest recipes to make is bacon fried rice. Just cut bacon into small pieces and fry in a pan with a little grape seed oil & diced onions. Once bacon is browned & onions are translucent, then add refrigerated day-old rice and fry up together. Add black & cayenne pepper and no sodium salt substitute for added kick. One slice of bacon will provide enough flavor for about 2 cups worth of uncooked rice.

Fried Chicken Anyone?

2007-02-20T17:41:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite foods is fried chicken. Unfortunately, if you ever check the nutritional values of restaurant or fast food fried chicken, you'd be shocked at how much sodium there is. I looked up the websites for three chicken chains: KFC, Popeyes & Pollo Campero (a South American Fried Chicken chain). Below is the sodium content for one breast of each of their different types of chicken:

KFC Original Recipe - 960 mg

No Skin/Breading - 600 mg

KFC Extra Crispy - 1020 mg
KFC Hot & Spicy - 1450 mg
Popeyes Spicy - 1090 mg
Popeyes Mild - 1380 mg

No Skin/Breading - 960 mg

Pollo Campero Traditional - 810 mg

I guess you could order the chicken without the skin & breading (and still rack up 600 to 960 mg sodium!), but why? If that's the case, you might as well go to El Pollo Loco or Boston Market, since fried chicken just isn't "fried" chicken without the breading!

I've been making my own healthier version of fried chicken at home, that minimizes the amount of sodium used. Here's the recipe:

2 Skinless/Boneless Chicken Breasts (est 230 mg sodium)
All-Purpose Flour (0 mg)
Gulden's Spicy Brown Mustard (50 mg/tsp)
Dry Ingredients: Black Pepper, Paprika, Cayenne Pepper, Morton Salt Substitute (0 mg)
Optional Dry Ingredients: Curry Powder (80 mg/tsp), Dried Oregano (0 mg)
Olive Oil or Grape Seed Oil for frying
Large Zip Lock Plastic Bag

1. Put mustard (2-3 tsp, depending on sizes of chicken) into a large bowl & rub thoroughly onto clean chicken breasts; let sit covered in fridge for 1 hour
2. Put flour (about 1-1.5 cups) & dry ingredients (amounts up to personal tastes, but since there's very little sodium, I would suggest liberal use; if using curry powder, a little goes a long way to add some great flavor!) into zip lock bag and shake well to mix
3. Heat oil on high in a skillet (enough oil to have chicken half way submerged)
4. Put mustard-marinated chicken into seasoning bag, seal, and shake till chicken is well-coated. When oil starts to bubble, turn heat down to medium
5. Shake off excess flour from chicken and carefully place into skillet
6. Fry for 3-5 minutes (or until nicely browned), then flip over and repeat; Make sure chicken is cooked inside - try cutting one breast open to check
7. Remove chicken from oil and place onto wire rack, with paper towels underneath to catch dripping oil. Lightly blot chicken with paper towel.

I like to eat this chicken with rice, in a sandwich, with mashed potatoes or even by itself!

Enjoy!

Low Sodium for Cheese Lovers

2007-02-16T15:11:00.000-08:00

One food that I really love is cheese; in sandwiches, melted on corn chips, with crackers, etc...Unfortunately, cheese has quite a bit of sodium. The normal Cheddar or Jack typically has at least 150 mg of sodium per serving (which is 1 oz). If you only eat one serving, that's not bad, but how many of us really eat only 1 oz?

I recently found a company that sells low sodium Raw Milk Cheddar & Jack cheeses under the Landmark brand, called Rumiano Cheese, based in Willows, CA. You can order it from their website at http://rumiano-cheese.com for $3.85 per 8 oz block. The company says that there is no salt added during its production, and there's only 35 mg of sodium per 1 oz serving. The only brick & mortar store that I've seen it at is a local health food store, selling for $6.99 per lb (16 oz). Couldn't find it at any of the chains like Trader Joe's or Whole Foods though. I've bought the Jack cheese a couple of times and it's not bad. Of course there isn't as much flavor as regular Jack, but what do you expect when there's less than a third of the sodium!

One good way to give this cheese more flavor is to slice or shred it onto bread, chips or whatever you're gonna eat it with, then sprinkle some non-salt/zero sodium seasoning onto it (i.e. black pepper, cayenne pepper, dried basil or organo, etc.) and pop it in the microwave for about 45 seconds. The seasonings melt into the cheese and give it a nice flavor and aroma, without increasing the sodium level. Those seasoning that I listed above are my favorites to use.

Intro

2007-02-16T09:30:00.000-08:00

I'm a 32 y.o male, and up till about 1-1/2 years ago, I was eating all the foods that I loved, like fried chicken, hot pastrami dip, carnitas burritos, etc (you get the idea), whenever I felt like it. I hadn't been to the doctor for a while, so I thought it might be a good idea to get a check up. What a reality check. I was 190 lbs (5'9" tall) and my blood pressure was 190/115. My doctor said that I could have a stroke at any time! They put me on meds (Atenolol) and told me that I had to change the way that I ate, by reducing my sodium intake. They also said that I would probably be on medication for the rest of my life. The normal recommended daily intake of sodium is 2400 mg. I was told to keep mine between 500 to 1000 mg.

I had never thought about checking the sodium level in foods. I always thought that if you were trying to eat more healthily, you would watch the calories, fat & cholesterol. That's when I noticed that the sodium levels of so many prepared and prepackaged foods was so high. I used to eat out or pick up at least 10 times/week (a couple of those times were usually fast food for lunch). Unfortunately, almost all restaurant food is high in sodium. That's how you get the nice taste. Even most home cooked recipes use a lot of salt.

I started cooking a lot more at home, making my own low sodium versions of the foods that I liked. After 3 months, I got my blood pressure down to 160/90, and lost about 10 lbs. The only things that I changed in my diet were minimizing my sodium intake, and cooking with olive or grapeseed oil instead of other oils. After 9 months, my BP was down to 90/56 and total weight loss was about 20 lbs!

I'm now off the meds (after only being on them for less than a year - much shorter than "the rest of my life" like they had predicted), and maintaining my low sodium lifestyle. Of course I occasionally do eat regular restaurant food, but just try not to make it a frequent thing. My BP has gone up some, but is now maintaining a normal level, without medicinal assistance.

I'm starting this blog to raise awareness of the health hazards of consuming too much sodium, and to emphasize the potential benefits of living a low sodium lifestyle.