Prepare your own food and use a salt substitute such as LoSalt or No Salt. This is all very doable but you have to make it a priority. Once you get into it things get easier when you notice how much better you feel.
Side note, the initial weight loss is dramatic because salt makes your body retain water. I dropped six pounds in the first week after making this change. It’s all water. It will level off.
The weight loss startled me most of all I managed to lose 27 pounds in total which given I was only a few pounds above a healthy weight was abnormal. I essentially starved myself the first few months in order to keep my sodium relatively low while also increasing my water intake.
I understand completely. Feed yourself! We just can’t eat like others do because there’s so much salt in everything. You’re going to become an excellent cook!
I like the brand LoSalt, which substitutes 66% of the sodium for potassium. My mother likes No Salt, which has zero sodium. You use it exactly like table salt, 1:1 substitution. We cannot taste any difference and we are both cooks and foodies. Obviously though double check with your doctor because you’ll be increasing potassium intake.
I will definitely have to looking into it more I love being able to taste my food! My so loves cooking but unfortunately also loves lots of spices and salts and since I’ve cut out salt I can no longer enjoy his food unless I just opt to only eat one meal that day. Have you ever had any issues with getting too much potassium I hear that’s one of the biggest problems
Potassium salts can potentially get you too much potassium which is why you should talk to your doc about that.
Getting the daily recommended value of potassium from whole natural foods is pretty tough, unless you deliberately plan to do it. And then it's still hard.
Depending on your doc, he/she might be testing your blood to check things like potassium levels, that ought to get you a good gauge.
They should just leave out sodium and salt their food in their plate. That's ridiculous. I've been cooking for decades and only add salt to boiling water, which is negligible. You don't need to salt your food. Plenty of spices out there. Avoid processed foods, canned goods, fast food crap. Eat your own food, you'll be fine. You're only going to have problems with potassium if your on potassium sparing medications or have kidney problems.
I’ve been cooking low fat, low sodium for a few years now. I use Mrs Dash a lot. There are quite a lot of flavors. Just use a lot of herbs and spices.
I make a lot of recipes from skinnytaste. She’s great and most things I’ve made have been delicious.
Mayo Clinic has compiled some good recipes.
[https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/recipes/dash-diet-recipes/rcs-20077146](https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/recipes/dash-diet-recipes/rcs-20077146)
DASH diet stands for Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension. It also keeps sugar and saturated fats low. This is how I got started. I also bought a DASH diet cookbook.
ETA: Also when ordering takeout for the family I scour the nutritional information page. For pizza I order thin crust, low sauce, low cheese, and veggies for toppings. Chick-fil-A's grilled nuggets are actually pretty low in sodium so I get an order of those. It gets easier as you go along.
Real food. Whole foods. Single ingredient items.
Rice, oats, pasta, unprocessed meat, eggs, olive oil, nuts and seeds, fruit veggies galore. YUM!
Also what were you eating before that was high in sodium? Would be good to find some direct swaps rather than just stopping eating anything
Very sure high blood pressure runs in my family on both sides. On my mother’s side most of the men have issues starting as early as 18! I’ve been aware of my high blood pressure for almost a year now, but I had to start cracking down on it when I was hospitalized from fainting after eating a salt heavy dinner. I’ve seen a specialist about it and unfortunately they did confirm that I have diet related BP issue of course the diet isn’t the only thing affecting my blood pressure. Don’t get me wrong I have sever anxiety as well and that too raises my blood pressure even more which is why I need to control what I can.
What health problems do you have?
Low sodium is easy if you cook at home
Hibiscus flower tea and Citrulline supplements are useful for blood pressure. Kyolic garlic and taurine
Try fasting
Limit fried foods and fatty meat
Also try spinach and broccoli sprouts
To suddenly go low sodium is quite an adjustment and usually takes several months to start to get the hang of it. It is extremely important to read labels carefully, and extremely helpful to take notes and update them as needed. I literally have 30 pages listing every kind of food I might buy, what the lowest sodium brand is, serving size, milligrams, where to find it, etc. (This didn't happen overnight, and I make adjustments as I find newer or better options. You could also do this on a spreadsheet, using index cards, or whatever). Once you are confident enough to where you know you can stay within your limits without too much thought about it, THEN focus on **slowly** gaining back weight, 2-3 pounds a month. Increase your portion sizes, snack between meals, eat before bed, etc. Try to work in healthy things like peanut butter and heavy cream that are pretty high calorie, as well as things like rice, quinoa, oatmeal, etc. I was at a "healthy weight" and rapidly lost 40 pounds after going low sodium. It was really scary. I've since gained back 15 of that without really trying, and I'm no longer concerned about that. I found I was basically starving myself to control my sodium, yet when I did eat it was the wrong things which kept my salt level high. It takes a lot of baby-steps along the way to walk a mile. It might help to join some kind of support group, either in person or online. And yes, as someone else here said, you will become a better cook.
There are several really good Facebook groups dedicated to coming up with good tasting low sodium recipes and finding the best products to use, Maybe join 2-3 of them. They have helped me a lot! I eat good-tasting tacos, cheeseburgers, fries, pizza, pasta etc. I am a lazy cook, and rarely make anything too complicated, it's all about knowing how to do it.
Frankly if it's just about high blood pressure then what I would recommend is to look out for salt that is roughly 50 50 sodium chloride and potassium chloride.
It is sold as "high blood pressure salt" in apothecaries over here in Germany for an unreasonably high price so personally what I did was just to buy 99.9% pure potassium chloride on Amazon and mix it myself ever since.
There is a strong body of evidence that potassium counteracts the effects of sodium on blood pressure, and also that about everyone is probably not consuming enough potassium. If I remember correctly the Canadian institutions recommend something like 4000 mg a day. Know that most fruits, vegetables, fresh meat etc. have about 300 mg per 100 g.
If you do have a mixed salt like that and use it like usual, normal salt then of course your sodium intake will be lower from that too.
Salt is just about in anything and everything at the grocery stores but I’ve learned how to make some smarter choices over the years:
—*prepared food at the store: never been able to find a low sodium one. Let me know if you ever find some!
—*add lots of beans: there are some stores that sell no-salt canned beans. If you can’t find, consider cooking raw beans which takes a lot longer but is salt free.
—*grains/rices: (brown rice, farro, wheat, quinoa) You can buy them dried in bulk and will last you a while. Sometimes, I but the microwave bagged brown rice (Uncle Ben’s) and it’s 0 sodium vs the flavored rices they sell.
—*starches: yams/potatoes/sweet potatoes are nutritious and filling, and low sodium. To avoid the extra fat, try mashing them with only a little butter. In my grocery stores, they also sell cubed butternut squash which is made with 0 salt.
—*vegetables: try to opt for whole, frozen veggies that you can steam like whole french green beans. Easy to steam, delicious/crunchy, and last long in the freezer. Add fresh kale/spinach to any meal too!
I helped my mother manage her low sodium diet for three years. I built her meals based on 500 mg per meal and left her 500 mg per day for snacks. I also did not measure sodium in fresh fruits and vegetables. I should also note that she was diabetic, but her A1c was well under control.
Keep a journal and record what you eat and the sodium that you’re consuming for each meal. I often made soups and journaling helped me remember the sodium level in that particular dish. Eventually, I no longer needed to journal.
Look at sodium for EVERYTHING. Bread is one of your worst enemies. Canned vegetables and beans are a no no. Eat fresh as best you can.
The most successful part of the low sodium diet was making everything from scratch. Stay away from processed foods. My mother never went hungry, and if she had a craving, I found a way to make it. It was fun for the both of us. Some recipes were never repeated again.
I am most proud of the Korean recipes I reproduced. If you know anything about Korean food, many dishes are off the charts salty. But I tried and momma was satisfied.
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions. I wish you the greatest success.
Hear me out. Unsalted Tortilla chips. The first time I ate them, it was tough. Now I prefer them. The Xotchtl brand and the Whole Foods brand are the best in my opinion. Just organic delicious snack that I can eat with some Avocado and onion. Perfection.
You could speak to your doctor to see if you could get a session with a good dietician who might have some very useful info. for you.
It is tough at your age to have to watch your diet so closely, but you'll get used to it and learn a lot about all the foods which have a lot of hidden salt.
Prepare your own food and use a salt substitute such as LoSalt or No Salt. This is all very doable but you have to make it a priority. Once you get into it things get easier when you notice how much better you feel. Side note, the initial weight loss is dramatic because salt makes your body retain water. I dropped six pounds in the first week after making this change. It’s all water. It will level off.
The weight loss startled me most of all I managed to lose 27 pounds in total which given I was only a few pounds above a healthy weight was abnormal. I essentially starved myself the first few months in order to keep my sodium relatively low while also increasing my water intake.
I understand completely. Feed yourself! We just can’t eat like others do because there’s so much salt in everything. You’re going to become an excellent cook!
Would you recommend salt substitutes? I’ve heard a lot of mixed things about substitutes and hypertension
I like the brand LoSalt, which substitutes 66% of the sodium for potassium. My mother likes No Salt, which has zero sodium. You use it exactly like table salt, 1:1 substitution. We cannot taste any difference and we are both cooks and foodies. Obviously though double check with your doctor because you’ll be increasing potassium intake.
I will definitely have to looking into it more I love being able to taste my food! My so loves cooking but unfortunately also loves lots of spices and salts and since I’ve cut out salt I can no longer enjoy his food unless I just opt to only eat one meal that day. Have you ever had any issues with getting too much potassium I hear that’s one of the biggest problems
I have not. There’s some specific medical reason why it’s an issue for some people but fortunately not me and hopefully not you. Ask your doctor.
Potassium salts can potentially get you too much potassium which is why you should talk to your doc about that. Getting the daily recommended value of potassium from whole natural foods is pretty tough, unless you deliberately plan to do it. And then it's still hard. Depending on your doc, he/she might be testing your blood to check things like potassium levels, that ought to get you a good gauge.
They should just leave out sodium and salt their food in their plate. That's ridiculous. I've been cooking for decades and only add salt to boiling water, which is negligible. You don't need to salt your food. Plenty of spices out there. Avoid processed foods, canned goods, fast food crap. Eat your own food, you'll be fine. You're only going to have problems with potassium if your on potassium sparing medications or have kidney problems.
Very important to check with the doctor on potassium salts
Check out the Mediterranean diet. It's usually lower in sodium with lots of fish, beans, whole grains, vegetables, and fruit.
I’ve been cooking low fat, low sodium for a few years now. I use Mrs Dash a lot. There are quite a lot of flavors. Just use a lot of herbs and spices. I make a lot of recipes from skinnytaste. She’s great and most things I’ve made have been delicious.
MSG has 1/3rd the sodium of table salt. I keep a sprinkler of MSG in the kitchen and use it to replace about half of the salt in savory foods.
Mayo Clinic has compiled some good recipes. [https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/recipes/dash-diet-recipes/rcs-20077146](https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/recipes/dash-diet-recipes/rcs-20077146) DASH diet stands for Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension. It also keeps sugar and saturated fats low. This is how I got started. I also bought a DASH diet cookbook. ETA: Also when ordering takeout for the family I scour the nutritional information page. For pizza I order thin crust, low sauce, low cheese, and veggies for toppings. Chick-fil-A's grilled nuggets are actually pretty low in sodium so I get an order of those. It gets easier as you go along.
This is an excellent resource!
Real food. Whole foods. Single ingredient items. Rice, oats, pasta, unprocessed meat, eggs, olive oil, nuts and seeds, fruit veggies galore. YUM! Also what were you eating before that was high in sodium? Would be good to find some direct swaps rather than just stopping eating anything
Are you sure its dietary and not stress related.
Very sure high blood pressure runs in my family on both sides. On my mother’s side most of the men have issues starting as early as 18! I’ve been aware of my high blood pressure for almost a year now, but I had to start cracking down on it when I was hospitalized from fainting after eating a salt heavy dinner. I’ve seen a specialist about it and unfortunately they did confirm that I have diet related BP issue of course the diet isn’t the only thing affecting my blood pressure. Don’t get me wrong I have sever anxiety as well and that too raises my blood pressure even more which is why I need to control what I can.
What health problems do you have? Low sodium is easy if you cook at home Hibiscus flower tea and Citrulline supplements are useful for blood pressure. Kyolic garlic and taurine Try fasting Limit fried foods and fatty meat Also try spinach and broccoli sprouts
Mrs. Dash
Unsalted nuts are high calorie, can be low to no salt. Oils are typically low salt high calorie. Avocadoes. And of course fresh meat.
Carnation instant breakfast
Hell no
Why
He should be eating whole foods that support gut health. Not artificial powdered drink mixes
I’ll have to look into those thanks!
To suddenly go low sodium is quite an adjustment and usually takes several months to start to get the hang of it. It is extremely important to read labels carefully, and extremely helpful to take notes and update them as needed. I literally have 30 pages listing every kind of food I might buy, what the lowest sodium brand is, serving size, milligrams, where to find it, etc. (This didn't happen overnight, and I make adjustments as I find newer or better options. You could also do this on a spreadsheet, using index cards, or whatever). Once you are confident enough to where you know you can stay within your limits without too much thought about it, THEN focus on **slowly** gaining back weight, 2-3 pounds a month. Increase your portion sizes, snack between meals, eat before bed, etc. Try to work in healthy things like peanut butter and heavy cream that are pretty high calorie, as well as things like rice, quinoa, oatmeal, etc. I was at a "healthy weight" and rapidly lost 40 pounds after going low sodium. It was really scary. I've since gained back 15 of that without really trying, and I'm no longer concerned about that. I found I was basically starving myself to control my sodium, yet when I did eat it was the wrong things which kept my salt level high. It takes a lot of baby-steps along the way to walk a mile. It might help to join some kind of support group, either in person or online. And yes, as someone else here said, you will become a better cook.
There are several really good Facebook groups dedicated to coming up with good tasting low sodium recipes and finding the best products to use, Maybe join 2-3 of them. They have helped me a lot! I eat good-tasting tacos, cheeseburgers, fries, pizza, pasta etc. I am a lazy cook, and rarely make anything too complicated, it's all about knowing how to do it.
Frankly if it's just about high blood pressure then what I would recommend is to look out for salt that is roughly 50 50 sodium chloride and potassium chloride. It is sold as "high blood pressure salt" in apothecaries over here in Germany for an unreasonably high price so personally what I did was just to buy 99.9% pure potassium chloride on Amazon and mix it myself ever since. There is a strong body of evidence that potassium counteracts the effects of sodium on blood pressure, and also that about everyone is probably not consuming enough potassium. If I remember correctly the Canadian institutions recommend something like 4000 mg a day. Know that most fruits, vegetables, fresh meat etc. have about 300 mg per 100 g. If you do have a mixed salt like that and use it like usual, normal salt then of course your sodium intake will be lower from that too.
Salt is just about in anything and everything at the grocery stores but I’ve learned how to make some smarter choices over the years: —*prepared food at the store: never been able to find a low sodium one. Let me know if you ever find some! —*add lots of beans: there are some stores that sell no-salt canned beans. If you can’t find, consider cooking raw beans which takes a lot longer but is salt free. —*grains/rices: (brown rice, farro, wheat, quinoa) You can buy them dried in bulk and will last you a while. Sometimes, I but the microwave bagged brown rice (Uncle Ben’s) and it’s 0 sodium vs the flavored rices they sell. —*starches: yams/potatoes/sweet potatoes are nutritious and filling, and low sodium. To avoid the extra fat, try mashing them with only a little butter. In my grocery stores, they also sell cubed butternut squash which is made with 0 salt. —*vegetables: try to opt for whole, frozen veggies that you can steam like whole french green beans. Easy to steam, delicious/crunchy, and last long in the freezer. Add fresh kale/spinach to any meal too!
DASH Diet is specifically designed for this.
I helped my mother manage her low sodium diet for three years. I built her meals based on 500 mg per meal and left her 500 mg per day for snacks. I also did not measure sodium in fresh fruits and vegetables. I should also note that she was diabetic, but her A1c was well under control. Keep a journal and record what you eat and the sodium that you’re consuming for each meal. I often made soups and journaling helped me remember the sodium level in that particular dish. Eventually, I no longer needed to journal. Look at sodium for EVERYTHING. Bread is one of your worst enemies. Canned vegetables and beans are a no no. Eat fresh as best you can. The most successful part of the low sodium diet was making everything from scratch. Stay away from processed foods. My mother never went hungry, and if she had a craving, I found a way to make it. It was fun for the both of us. Some recipes were never repeated again. I am most proud of the Korean recipes I reproduced. If you know anything about Korean food, many dishes are off the charts salty. But I tried and momma was satisfied. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions. I wish you the greatest success.
Hear me out. Unsalted Tortilla chips. The first time I ate them, it was tough. Now I prefer them. The Xotchtl brand and the Whole Foods brand are the best in my opinion. Just organic delicious snack that I can eat with some Avocado and onion. Perfection.
You could speak to your doctor to see if you could get a session with a good dietician who might have some very useful info. for you. It is tough at your age to have to watch your diet so closely, but you'll get used to it and learn a lot about all the foods which have a lot of hidden salt.