I’ll never forget the day my father came home with Chef’s Best, a low sodium, and salt-like product. He had just been to his doctor and was told to drastically reduce his sodium intake. My father’s blood pressure and hypertension problems were so dire that the doctor told him to immediately start a Low Sodium Diet that included no more than 1,500 to 2,400 mgs of sodium per day.
My father did a lot of the cooking at home and salt was in almost every dish. When he realised that a mere teaspoon of salt contained about 2,300 mg of sodium, and his requirement for salt was about 69 mg per day, he hastily looked for low sodium alternatives. Soy sauce, vegetable salt and his favourite stocks and sauces were out and never to return.
Not only did he have to stop adding salt to his cooking, he had to avoid high sodium foods. Processed meats and sausages, canned tuna and pre-packaged and convenience foods were the main offenders. To get his hypertension under control, he had to avoid certain healthy foods that contained a lot of naturally occurring sodium. Vegetables like carrots, spinach, beetroot and celery most of all. These are clearly the tastiest vegetables and it became clear to me why.
My father also had a sweet tooth and he soon discovered that his favourite desserts were no longer on the menu. The biscuits, cakes and slices in our pantry were laden with salt and never going to form a part of his Low Sodium Diet plan. What follows, is list of foods that did:
- Fresh fruit
- Wholegrain
- Dried beans
- Lean meats
- Poultry
- Fish
If you have been told to cut down on salt for your health’s sake, or want to avoid problems with high blood pressure in the future, you might like to create your own low sodium diet plan with the foods listed above. Clear the cupboards of salted products and stock up on some low sodium salt products like Chef’s Best and LoSalt.
At first, my father found that without salt, his favourite meals were bland and tasteless. He eventually tried some low sodium diet recipes and in doing so, gradually moved to garlic, chilli and spices for flavour. It wasn’t long before he started cooking a predominantly Indian menu with spices like cumin, coriander, turmeric and curry powder. He felt that this way, he could still enjoy the cooking process and maintain the flavour of his meals while continuing his low salt diet.
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