G
geebee
I am just curious as to how much sodium members consume daily. Obviously this will mostly apply to those watching their sodium intake but is open to anyone.
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G
geebee
I really try hard to keep my intake to a minimum but it is difficult. I really like cottage cheese - that is probably my biggest problem. I started making my own tomato soup since the strore-bought ones are so outrageously high in sodium. You can throw the salt shaker away and still end up with more salt than if you added salt to fresh vegetables.
Nancy
Well-known member
Joe has to keep to 500mg or less per day, and even then it isn't enough. His kidneys have really suffered from lots of diuresis over the years, and they are in fragile condition, in chronic failure much of the time, and in acute failure recently.
If he were to eat more sodium, I'm sure he would be on dialysis right now.
He was recently hospitalized three times for kidney failure and a host of other advanced problems. The docs reduced his diuretics drastically and right now he has about 15 pounds of fluid on board, with not much diuretic help. So keeping his sodium low is imperative.
And, by the way, you will all be interested to know that hospitals do not care about trying to accommodate a person who has a low sodium restriction.
Only one local hospital was accommodating, at least with one of the dieticians. When he went to another floor, the registered dietician came in and told me that 500mg was too low, and that they could not or would not do it. However, I did an end run on her, and had already gotten it straightened out with someone else, so I told her to leave, that the problem was solved.
Unfortunately, Joe had to be admitted to a larger facility, and they absolutely refuse to to help out. Even the kitchen sends up inappropriate meals when the dietician tries to set something up. So the end result is my husband's 15 pounds of fluid. They even went so far as to tell us that he was being sent low sodium "renal" meals, and printed that on the menu, but when I taste tested it, it was all salty. One of the meals was double portions of bagels and cream cheese. It seems like kitchen sabotage to me.
Thank God, Joe knows not to eat that. But he almost has to go into starvation mode to try to keep things on a even keel.
Here are some tips.
Watch out for sodium laden meats in the market. Many meats are soaked in a broth solution which contains mainly salt. This is to give them longer shelf life. They should all have the sodium content on the label, but many do not. Turkey, chicken and pork are some of the worst offenders.
Watch out for saltwater fish and crustaceans.
Bakinf powder and baking soda have a whopping amount of sodium.
There are substitutes which can be used, but you will have to buy them online, at least that is the case here. Some healthfood stores might carry Ener-G baking powder and soda which is made from calcium carbonate instead of sodium carbonate.
Homemade yeast breads can certainly be made without salt. They turn out just fine.
Here are two of my favorite online resources.
http://www.mrspice.com/
http://www.healthyheartmarket.com/Merchant/Home.htm
If he were to eat more sodium, I'm sure he would be on dialysis right now.
He was recently hospitalized three times for kidney failure and a host of other advanced problems. The docs reduced his diuretics drastically and right now he has about 15 pounds of fluid on board, with not much diuretic help. So keeping his sodium low is imperative.
And, by the way, you will all be interested to know that hospitals do not care about trying to accommodate a person who has a low sodium restriction.
Only one local hospital was accommodating, at least with one of the dieticians. When he went to another floor, the registered dietician came in and told me that 500mg was too low, and that they could not or would not do it. However, I did an end run on her, and had already gotten it straightened out with someone else, so I told her to leave, that the problem was solved.
Unfortunately, Joe had to be admitted to a larger facility, and they absolutely refuse to to help out. Even the kitchen sends up inappropriate meals when the dietician tries to set something up. So the end result is my husband's 15 pounds of fluid. They even went so far as to tell us that he was being sent low sodium "renal" meals, and printed that on the menu, but when I taste tested it, it was all salty. One of the meals was double portions of bagels and cream cheese. It seems like kitchen sabotage to me.
Thank God, Joe knows not to eat that. But he almost has to go into starvation mode to try to keep things on a even keel.
Here are some tips.
Watch out for sodium laden meats in the market. Many meats are soaked in a broth solution which contains mainly salt. This is to give them longer shelf life. They should all have the sodium content on the label, but many do not. Turkey, chicken and pork are some of the worst offenders.
Watch out for saltwater fish and crustaceans.
Bakinf powder and baking soda have a whopping amount of sodium.
There are substitutes which can be used, but you will have to buy them online, at least that is the case here. Some healthfood stores might carry Ener-G baking powder and soda which is made from calcium carbonate instead of sodium carbonate.
Homemade yeast breads can certainly be made without salt. They turn out just fine.
Here are two of my favorite online resources.
http://www.mrspice.com/
http://www.healthyheartmarket.com/Merchant/Home.htm
M
Mary
I am a convert to low sodium living, but as I've learned, if things get bad enough, this old dog is capable of learning new tricks.
It's simply too hard to lose the fluid once it's on, so I'm practicing prevention all the time. I've taken heed of Joe's problems, and realize it could happen to me.
It's not as low as I would like it to be, but it's still low.
It's simply too hard to lose the fluid once it's on, so I'm practicing prevention all the time. I've taken heed of Joe's problems, and realize it could happen to me.
It's not as low as I would like it to be, but it's still low.
Christina L
Well-known member
I have no idea
I have no idea
how many grams I consume of sodium a day, but I am trying to buy low sodium products and do not add salt any more to my vegetables and food I am cooking, etc. Wayne is being told "you need to add a (little) salt to your portions as I did not add any salt while cooking." Since my surgery, I notice water retention when I eat something high in salt. I am not sure if it is my heart that is the problem or going through perimenopause. I notice it more around certain times of the month.
The Cleveland Clinic SURE watches a person's sodium!! Goodness - the food was soooo awful-tasting to me, as I had never given up salt before. I remember being so excited when I chose chicken noodle soup for lunch one day and then when I got it and took the first bite, I remembered, "Oh, no sodium."
They could not get my BP up or my heart rate while I was in the hospital and I remember Melissa mentioning that a person needs some salt to help with a low BP and that was probably part of the problem (who knows). The body needs some salt, but we eat WAY too much salt in our modern world.
Great poll - it will be interesting to see the results and the differing opinions.
P.S. I also purchase unrefined sea salt from the health food store or kosher salt also. Morton's has gone by the wayside in this household.
Christina L
I have no idea
how many grams I consume of sodium a day, but I am trying to buy low sodium products and do not add salt any more to my vegetables and food I am cooking, etc. Wayne is being told "you need to add a (little) salt to your portions as I did not add any salt while cooking." Since my surgery, I notice water retention when I eat something high in salt. I am not sure if it is my heart that is the problem or going through perimenopause. I notice it more around certain times of the month.
The Cleveland Clinic SURE watches a person's sodium!! Goodness - the food was soooo awful-tasting to me, as I had never given up salt before. I remember being so excited when I chose chicken noodle soup for lunch one day and then when I got it and took the first bite, I remembered, "Oh, no sodium."
They could not get my BP up or my heart rate while I was in the hospital and I remember Melissa mentioning that a person needs some salt to help with a low BP and that was probably part of the problem (who knows). The body needs some salt, but we eat WAY too much salt in our modern world.
Great poll - it will be interesting to see the results and the differing opinions.
P.S. I also purchase unrefined sea salt from the health food store or kosher salt also. Morton's has gone by the wayside in this household.
Christina L
G
geebee
Ross,
Can you add a line to the poll that reads:
I watch my sodium but do not know how much I consume daily.
Thanks
Can you add a line to the poll that reads:
I watch my sodium but do not know how much I consume daily.
Thanks
G
Georgia
Gina - look around - my husband uses low salt cottage cheese - and it's REALLY much lower than regular cottage cheese. I don't know if it's a regional brand - Dean's makes it. Of course, I salt it. My bad.
Nancy
Well-known member
I just bought Joe some Friendship brand no salt added cottage cheese. I had it for lunch myself with sliced strawberries and a little mayo and honey. It was good.
You can also get Heluva Good low sodium cheddar cheese. That's really good. And fresh mozarella usually has much lower sodium than normal. Ricotta cheese can be low soium too.
Here's another shopping link. I have never purchased from them, but it looks promising.
http://saltwatcher.com/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi
You can also get Heluva Good low sodium cheddar cheese. That's really good. And fresh mozarella usually has much lower sodium than normal. Ricotta cheese can be low soium too.
Here's another shopping link. I have never purchased from them, but it looks promising.
http://saltwatcher.com/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi
K
Karlynn
I was told not to watch my sodium intake by my former (and beloved) cardio. My BP has always been low and since I take Toprol for heart rate, I need to work at keeping the BP up. HOWEVER - now that I'm getting older, I find my BP creeping up, so I may have to start watching it.
American Heart Association
American Heart Association
This is from the American Heart Association. Thought some of you might be interested.
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=336
American Heart Association
This is from the American Heart Association. Thought some of you might be interested.
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=336
I never buy snacks..hubby and I just eat 3 normal meals a day..I do buy snacks for weekends for Kameron..Try to remember to send them home with him... chips, ect....Question..when one has fluid?..where does it show up? My rings are loose on my fingers, my ankles are normal, ect..I teased my Cardio once about giving me something to get rid of the fluid in my stomach. He laughed..said, you know that's fat. Bonnie
chips, ect....Question..when one has fluid?..where does it show up? My rings are loose on my fingers, my ankles are normal, ect..I teased my Cardio once about giving me something to get rid of the fluid in my stomach. He laughed..said, you know that's fat. BonnieNancy
Well-known member
Most people would never have to be extremely strict with sodium. However, those who are battling congestive heart failure on a daily basis know how difficult it is to try to cut sodium out.
I feel the American Heart Assoc. does a terrible disservice to those with congestive heart failure. They KNOW that many heart failure people will have to cut back farther than 2000mg per day, yet they perpetuate this myth and so all the dieticians decide that this is what they will do and will not budge.
And then this also influences the foods that we are able to buy in the markets which are way too high in sodium, even for normal folks. Who in the world needs their canned soup to have 39 percent of the normal amount of sodium per day per serving??? Or why does a 1 inch cube of cheese have to have 17 percent of the normal allotment?
Diabetic people have many, many foods to choose from in the markets and hospital dieticians have substitutions available for them.
Why not the same for congestive heart people? And it's not only people with congestive heart failure that suffer. Those who have renal problems do as well, so do folks with pulmonary hypertension which causes fluid overload too. Not to mention ordinary high blood pressure people.
Can you tell this annoys me?
I feel the American Heart Assoc. does a terrible disservice to those with congestive heart failure. They KNOW that many heart failure people will have to cut back farther than 2000mg per day, yet they perpetuate this myth and so all the dieticians decide that this is what they will do and will not budge.
And then this also influences the foods that we are able to buy in the markets which are way too high in sodium, even for normal folks. Who in the world needs their canned soup to have 39 percent of the normal amount of sodium per day per serving??? Or why does a 1 inch cube of cheese have to have 17 percent of the normal allotment?
Diabetic people have many, many foods to choose from in the markets and hospital dieticians have substitutions available for them.
Why not the same for congestive heart people? And it's not only people with congestive heart failure that suffer. Those who have renal problems do as well, so do folks with pulmonary hypertension which causes fluid overload too. Not to mention ordinary high blood pressure people.
Can you tell this annoys me?
M
Mary
Nancy said:Most people would never have to be extremely strict with sodium. However, those who are battling congestive heart failure on a daily basis know how difficult it is to try to cut sodium out.
I feel the American Heart Assoc. does a terrible disservice to those with congestive heart failure. They KNOW that many heart failure people will have to cut back farther than 2000mg per day, yet they perpetuate this myth and so all the dieticians decide that this is what they will do and will not budge.
And then this also influences the foods that we are able to buy in the markets which are way too high in sodium, even for normal folks. Who in the world needs their canned soup to have 39 percent of the normal amount of sodium per day per serving??? Or why does a 1 inch cube of cheese have to have 17 percent of the normal allotment?
Diabetic people have many, many foods to choose from in the markets and hospital dieticians have substitutions available for them.
Why not the same for congestive heart people? And it's not only people with congestive heart failure that suffer. Those who have renal problems do as well, so do folks with pulmonary hypertension which causes fluid overload too. Not to mention ordinary high blood pressure people.
Can you tell this annoys me?
Amen, Nancy!
I can't answer, because I don't know. I watch my salt intake. I just don't count it. I don't use table salt, with the exception of sparingly on corn on the cob, which I don't have often.
I don't eat many prepared foods, almost no fast foods, and I don't like salty foods like ham. I don't salt when I cook. As I don't eat much salt, I find a surprising number of foods to be salty, particularly from restaurants.
I think salting has gotten worse with the Food Channel always "seasoning" everything before it goes into the pot, then "seasoning" the whole pot afterwards. Those people don't know how anything really tastes anymore. Everything tastes like salt and black pepper. Those idiots even put salt on seafood.
OK. Enough griping from me.
Best wishes,
I don't eat many prepared foods, almost no fast foods, and I don't like salty foods like ham. I don't salt when I cook. As I don't eat much salt, I find a surprising number of foods to be salty, particularly from restaurants.
I think salting has gotten worse with the Food Channel always "seasoning" everything before it goes into the pot, then "seasoning" the whole pot afterwards. Those people don't know how anything really tastes anymore. Everything tastes like salt and black pepper. Those idiots even put salt on seafood.
OK. Enough griping from me.
Best wishes,
W
William
Yea, I watch my sodium intake for a BP problem. I don't keep a track of the amount but I can tell you it's A Lot less than before. I make my own low salt pasta sauce and keep an eye on the cheese. Swiss is low salt, but can taste bland. Goat cheese is wonderful, low salt. An interesting point I've noticed, when a produce is "fat-free", they pump up the sodium.
N
Nan
I am currently keeping my sodium intake between 500 and 999.....I seem to be able to handle that at this point. A couple of years ago I was trying (and succeeding) to keep it below 400mg. A challenge, but do-able, again with lots of ideas from Nancy.
Every once in a while I might have a slice of pizza while we are out and that undoubtedly puts me over my limit for the day! But so far, so good.
Every once in a while I might have a slice of pizza while we are out and that undoubtedly puts me over my limit for the day! But so far, so good.
MikeHeim
Well-known member
God bless all of you who are doing 1000mg or less. 500mg or less is beyond my comprehension. I would fit in the category of "I watch my salt somewhat, but I don't keep track". I also cheat a lot. Fortunately, my blood pressure was low before surgery and is just as low after surgery (106/58 yesterday). I've always been a workout fiend, which I have always used to justify my reckless eating habits.
M
M&M
I don't know how much sodium I take in a day. But I venture to say its very low. I watch what I eat and make all my foods from scratch. I have some wonderful cookbooks and I've learned to substitue regular recipes. If I eat a normal 'meal' - it tastes awful. I can taste the salt in any food right away. My husband adds salt to our meals. I add pepper. I love Mrs. Dash and I love all the spices. I'm having lots of fun and creativity with this new diet.
I have chronic heart failure and I can tell when I have consumed to much sodium - I can't breath well. So, its not that I think this eating is good for me - I know its better for me because if I'm real strict with the sodium I can breath better. That's not to say sometimes even though I'm very low on sodium - I still can't breath. My heart failure specialist said this can happen as well from time to time. I'm very hard on myself. People with heart disease are living much longer than ever before but its very challenging. We're much more fortunate today to have more knowledge on this disease than in years past.
But, I'm so very fatigued some days and although I breath well - I have absolutely no energy. Then I wake up one morning and I feel great - I get up all excited and full of energy - only to feel I used up all my energy in an hour and I'm terribly tired again. I don't know if its the meds or what - but I don't sleep well at all. I'm lucky if I sleep 3 hours in a row each night. I had to retire from my job of 20 years and stay home. I use to be a runner - I use to be very, very active for many years right up till this past year or so. If I exercised - I was to tired to get out of bed the next day. So over the course of mos and mos - I became convinced that exercise was making it worse and I didn't have the energy to work if I exercised. So I worked and didn't exercise. But that eventually caught up with me and I didn't have the energy to go to work even if I didn't exercise. Heart failure is so hard to accept. Your mind has wonderful ideas and the body just won't go. I now hope by not working - and resting when I need to that I may have more 'good' days or good hours than 'bad' days or bad hours.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll feel better with more rest and small bursts of exercise 'daily'. Not eating sodium is really a minor inconvenience in cooking everything from scratch. I can do that. Giving up my normal quality of life is harder to accept. But, I know in my heart that I'm one of the very lucky ones - I'm still alive.
M&M
I have chronic heart failure and I can tell when I have consumed to much sodium - I can't breath well. So, its not that I think this eating is good for me - I know its better for me because if I'm real strict with the sodium I can breath better. That's not to say sometimes even though I'm very low on sodium - I still can't breath. My heart failure specialist said this can happen as well from time to time. I'm very hard on myself. People with heart disease are living much longer than ever before but its very challenging. We're much more fortunate today to have more knowledge on this disease than in years past.
But, I'm so very fatigued some days and although I breath well - I have absolutely no energy. Then I wake up one morning and I feel great - I get up all excited and full of energy - only to feel I used up all my energy in an hour and I'm terribly tired again. I don't know if its the meds or what - but I don't sleep well at all. I'm lucky if I sleep 3 hours in a row each night. I had to retire from my job of 20 years and stay home. I use to be a runner - I use to be very, very active for many years right up till this past year or so. If I exercised - I was to tired to get out of bed the next day. So over the course of mos and mos - I became convinced that exercise was making it worse and I didn't have the energy to work if I exercised. So I worked and didn't exercise. But that eventually caught up with me and I didn't have the energy to go to work even if I didn't exercise. Heart failure is so hard to accept. Your mind has wonderful ideas and the body just won't go. I now hope by not working - and resting when I need to that I may have more 'good' days or good hours than 'bad' days or bad hours.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll feel better with more rest and small bursts of exercise 'daily'. Not eating sodium is really a minor inconvenience in cooking everything from scratch. I can do that. Giving up my normal quality of life is harder to accept. But, I know in my heart that I'm one of the very lucky ones - I'm still alive.
M&M
aussigal
Well-known member
Yes...
I would have liked to tick the "i watch my sodium but dont know how much" answer, I do know my salt intake is very low...
I gave up adding salt when I was 15...simply because I dodnt like it and was having a teenage-moment of rebellion...I also gave up butter then too...
the only salt I get is whats added to food already and I can taste it right away...tinned foods are the worst ...I steer away from all the things I know are loaded like commercial chicken stock and the like...
very occaisionally I will crave a little salt and have a slice of processed cheese, you would be amazed at how salty it tastes when you dont add salt to anything anymore...
We even had to go out especially and buy salt when we had the kids. To put it in the home-made play-dough cos we didnt have any salt in the house...
went a had a look in my fridge ! and was horrified to learn half a cup of milk has about 100mg of salt in it!
There are low-salt varities of lots of food in Aus. But they are still too salty for my taste...I am a habitual label-reader too...
1 toasted cheese sandwich has approx. 500mg of salt...
I am getting my breadmaker back out...had forgotten how much salt is in bread.
I would have liked to tick the "i watch my sodium but dont know how much" answer, I do know my salt intake is very low...
I gave up adding salt when I was 15...simply because I dodnt like it and was having a teenage-moment of rebellion...I also gave up butter then too...
the only salt I get is whats added to food already and I can taste it right away...tinned foods are the worst ...I steer away from all the things I know are loaded like commercial chicken stock and the like...
very occaisionally I will crave a little salt and have a slice of processed cheese, you would be amazed at how salty it tastes when you dont add salt to anything anymore...
We even had to go out especially and buy salt when we had the kids. To put it in the home-made play-dough cos we didnt have any salt in the house...
went a had a look in my fridge ! and was horrified to learn half a cup of milk has about 100mg of salt in it!
There are low-salt varities of lots of food in Aus. But they are still too salty for my taste...I am a habitual label-reader too...
1 toasted cheese sandwich has approx. 500mg of salt...
I am getting my breadmaker back out...had forgotten how much salt is in bread.
