When they sent Rick home from the hospital the doctor said he should go on a low sodium diet. I kind of latched on to this as one thing I could do to help protect him from having another stroke. So I've hurled myself into figuring out how to do this.
I keep reading different things about what constitutes a low sodium diet. They say the average American has over 3000 mg of sodium which is not healthy. 2,300 mg is at upper limit of what is considered healthy. People with high blood pressure shouldn't have more than 1, 500 mg.
This is what I've discovered so far: processed foods have tons of sodium. Making things at home really reduces the sodium level.
Bread has lots of sodium. I decided I'd ignore grocery store bread (I've been avoiding it anyway because I don't want the plastic wrapper) and I went to the local bakery website. But alas even their wholesome, freshly milled flour, baked locally bread is high in sodium. I resorted to buying Ezekial bread from Whole Foods.
Cheese has lots of sodium.
Adding stuff like ketchup, etc to your food, ups the sodium
Since I have been making stuff at home a lot already, we've been avoiding processed food. Except the thing is Rick mostly eats out. Before he leaves for work sometimes he just has a banana because he's running out the door. Other times he'll eat some scrabbled eggs. I usually don't salt them. And if he does salt them, it is just a shake or two from the salt shaker. Or sometimes he'll have a bagel or toast. Then he;s gone all day and he usually eats a big lunch out late in the afternoon. He gets burgers from BGR or kabobs from House of Moby Dick. I know those are some of his regulars. He loves the potato soup at Potbelly's which I am sure is swimming in sodium. So he's really going to have to change his lunch ways.
I discovered after reading lots of recipes that for home cooked stuff, recipes tend to substitute fruit to give something flavoring. Or you just up the other flavorings like onions and garlic. I do think lots of onions and garlic really help with the no salt.
Saturday night I made a dish with pork chops. I never cook with pork at all. But these were on sale and I thought, hey pork and apples go together. And I happened to have a jar of apple butter sitting in my pantry. So I looked at various recipes and came up with my own concoction of browning pork chops in olive oil and garlic, then cooking in a jar of apple butter, lots of chopped white onion and a little water. It came out delicious but I cooked away too much of the sauce, so next time, I'll be careful about that. It was a bit dry.
I kept track of sodium on Sunday:
Breakfast
Parfait - homemade yogurt-105 mg a cup ,but he had less than a cup with strawberries and mango and couple of unsalted cashews.
French toast made with two slices of cinnamon raisin bread (Ezekial which is lower in sodium than most brands) soaked in a mixture of egg, a splash of milk, vanilla, cinnamon and a little sugar. Cooked in no salt butter. 65mg per slice.
So far: 235 mg give or take.
Usually on Sundays we have a late big breakfast and then an early supper. So we really don't do lunch on Sundays.
Dinner:
He had two quick fry hamburgers - no salt added, just ground beef and lots of tiny diced bits of onion. That's about 150 mg total. He had to forgo the bun and the cheese. We just gave him a big salad of romaine, cucumbers, carrots and red pepper. I also made my own version of guacamole which came out delicious: 2 ripe avocado, 1 large finely chopped tomato, a couple of heaping tablespoons of finely chopped onion, a good sprinkling of cumin and a about 1 teaspoon and 1/2 of lemon juice (I was just eyeing it). It turned out tasty! No salt! The naturally occurring sodium is barely worth recording. Rick doesn't even like guacamole, but he tried it and said he liked it.
235 + 150 = 385
We went to mass in the evening after dinner and then out for gelato after church. The place puts huge scoops on your cone. Rick even told the girl you don't have to put that much on! He got a combo of toasted almond and coconut.
toasted almond gelato 65mg a cup. He had possibly 1/2 cup
coconut gelato 50 mg a cup. He had maybe 1/2 cup.
cone 84 mg
35 + 25 + 84 = 144 mg
Total for the day: 764 mg of sodium. Of course this is a rough estimate and I don't even know if I am reading the chart I am using for calculations correctly.
But even so, I am sure it was much less sodium than he usually takes in on a daily basis.
Today, I am going to make him lunch with no salt tuna, lots of carrot sticks. Not sure what else I'll be able to give him.
I really wouldn't hesitate to salt the food you cook a normal amount. It is still nowhere close to what you get in processed foods! And meals without salt are just not as tasty, which makes it more likely he will cheat and go overboard when he is out. I kept track of my intake for a while and it was always between 1500 and 2000, even though I salt my cooking. It's the processed foods and baked goods that put you over.
ReplyDeleteI actually made a really tasty dinner tonight without any salt. I used Mrs. Dash though. I browned chicken legs in olive oil and garlic. Then I dumped in a can of crushed tomatoes, then I sliced up a bunch of red potatoes and an onion and layered them in the pot, put the chicken back on top and baked the whole thing. It was yummy and no salt! I figure people can add salt at the table. But no did! And then we had peaches for dessert. It was good! I think Rick is getting leftovers for lunch. He doesn't usually like leftovers though, so I think I have to doctor it up somehow.
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