LOWER SODIUM DIETS/FOODS

[Lord Eoin MacKenzie]

IS there any lower salt suggestions for those us with zipper tracks on our chests? 

[Mogorilla]

Well, some will disagree, but my father was in the group that if he ate "salty" foods, you could literally see his face change colors from a blood pressure increase.   So, how we addressed that was to increase the flavor profile.  The problem with that is it is more labour intensive.   The other problem is it really eliminates a lot of processed foods.   Since I have an intense soy allergy, I have not used many processed foods.

Make your own stocks.   Roast bones, and simmer them with vegetable parts (I save the trimmings from onion, celery and carrot slicing).   I make beef, chicken and ham stock and freeze it in 1 cup portions in ziploc bags.  Usually I have reduced the stock by half anyway, so they are really 2 cups.   With ham, you can get a lot of flavor out of 2 ham hocks.  They are cheap.  Make soup from that with leaner hams or meats and you will be surprised how much you do not notice a lower amount of NaCl.   Same with beef and chicken broth.   They can bring a lot to any dish you fix.   
I do have high BP and I limit my salt intake on the possibility I have my father's predisposition, so if I am having salt, it is in good cheese or olives.  Both things I still enjoy.   

I do not have any specific recipe per se, but I can write up how I do stocks if you are interested.

[Niederlander]

Not in any way making light of this thread, but one day our shift was at lunch, and it was pointed out when we all were here twenty-five years ago, we talked about girls and sports.  Now we talk about colonoscopies and knee replacements!

[Delmonico]

Make as much from scratch as possible and toss away the salt shaker, been doing it for years, my problems were not the BP or cholesterol, probably had the problems all my life, explains a lot.

I actually am fighting low BP part of the time.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Del; Where is that long nightshirt when it is really needed!

[Dave T]

I'm in this crowd. Had a double by-pass done in 2010 and like most of us older pharts I weigh more than I'm supposed to. Recently I learned I have vein problems in my lower legs too. The recommend low salt eating. I've put away the salt shaker and started reading labels and menus more carefully.

Back in 2010 my wife decided we should get away from processed foods and preservatives. We don't buy much of anything in boxes or mixes anymore. We eat grass-fed beef and have discovered buffalo as an even leaner alternative. When I can afford it we buy range grazed, no feed lot buffalo from a ranch in South Dakota. Great stuff. We had 6oz buffalo sirloins for Sunday dinner. Excellent!

Dave

[Professor Marvel]

Plus to Mog and Dave

grass fed cattle, buffalo meat, turkey meat.

Mog - check out coconut- minos, esp the teriyaki flavor. Much lower in salt as well as no soy.
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/coconut-aminos

[Mogorilla]

Hi Prof.  Yep, I have a bottle in the fridge.   Great stuff and use it to make a whole lot of home stir fry.   Still love good restaurant egg rolls though.  I spent 6 years getting shots and now soybeans at least won't kill me straight off.   Touch and go when I was first diagnosed.   I still avoid it and can definitely tell when I get a healthy dose, as the throat still wants to close up.   
I grew up with us raising most everything we ate.   I still do a load of preparation, down to making own pizza crusts 99% of the time.   I make my own mustard, and truthfully I find that to be one of the most in your face taste differences from off the shelf prepared.   The other is sausage.   I make a nice lean chicken breakfast sausage and really do not miss store sausage except for the once or twice a year I make biscuits and gravy.   

I pretty much do most of the cooking at home and it is a lot of prep, but when I travel for work or am away on a shoot, my wife appreciates the cooking when I get home.   

[1961MJS]

Hi

Born in the Early 1960's, when I was in Grade School, Dad's blood pressure was measured at 300/200, obviously a bit high both in count and accuracy.  His chubby doctor told him to quit smoking (Dad didn't, his doctor did), and lose weight (Dad was taller and skinnier).  He also told him to give up the salt, so he did and I did.  The ONLY thing I salt is Sonic Tater Tots.  Dad made 92 after a 4 or 5 way bypass in early 1984 as week from being 65.  Mom was much younger, but had congestive heart failure at 80 years old and was told to cut off the salt.  Couldn't stand the food.  Got her off it for a couple of months, went out for pizza and it was TOO SALTY.  Mom made 82.

Later