high sodium in low fat foods...

so about a month ago i started going to the gym to get back into shape. Slowly changed my diet agian to start eating better. So far, its not as bad as i thought. got a great phone app that helps me track calories and all the other stuff i eat and its working out nice. With one exception. Low fat foods seem to be really high in sodium. Now i don't have the time to carefully precook whole meals for an entire week. but i gotta find something thats low fat, healthy and low in sodium plus cheap and able to keep in the freezer at work and warmed up in the microwave quickly as i don't have a lot of time. something between 400 and 600 calories would be perfect for what im working with currently. just can't seem to find anything low in sodium thats also healthy

The balance of the electrolytes in the body is crucial to good health. The ratio of chlorides in the body to Sodium should be at least two or three to one. Salt has more chloride than sodium in nature. Chlorine is not an alternative to chloride though.

The problem we seem to have is the balance of sodium is too high for the chlorides in the body. Many things have chemicals that are sodium based, this causes the kidneys to retain water. Eat some veggies to balance this. Egg whites contain chloride with less sodium. Cooking the eggs overeasy or boiled is better also. Chloride is needed to form the stomach acid and the neutralizing of this is done with sodium bicarbonate in the beginning of the small intestine.

If your salt level in the body gets too low, you get swelling in the brain which can cause lots of problems. Investigate this at Mayo clinic site. It can also cause cells to get bloated. It's a little complicated, I am trying to find the best way to work with this to find the whole truth. High blood pressure is more likely caused by excessive tyramine consumption than salt use, but about ten percent of people do have problems with salt related BP problems. Many foods contain a lot of sodium, I cook at home so I have to add salt or I get weak from low salt. Everyone is different in their metabolism and their kidney function. Don't cut back too much without researching this. If you get too low and then eat a bunch of salt it can cause problems because the cells are plump with water and the salt sucks it out and causes edema in the fluid between the cells. This can cause problems.

Do some broad research before trying to reduce salt too much, too little is often more dangerous than too much.

reply to post by rickymouse


ya i hard boil my eggs for the extra protein, my problem is all these low fat foods are sooo high in sodium. The numbers literally blew me away once i started tracking everything. I'm trying to limit how much actual prep i have to do for the week because my personal trainer program is time consuming lol but I'm just not seeing an alternative yet saddly. never paid much attention to it before bc i just didn't care. totally changing my lifestyle on this lol never thought I'd see myself going full bore like this honestly lol. Thanks for the tip tho, I'll dig around on the mayo clinic website a little today

reply to post by roaland


When I quit eating processed foods, I wound up getting weak from lack of salt. I had to take out the saltshaker and add some to my food. There is a lot of sodium in processed foods, it is not sodium Chloride most times. I also eat local foods a lot, there is not much salt around here in the soils. There is a lot by the road though, they used it for salting the roads a lot. This made me weak.

My wife keeps looking at me weird and says I shouldn't eat so much salt. She has chips almost every night, I rarely have chips. She eats salty popcorn and a lot of goodies at work that have salt in them. I eat homemade soup and healthy foods, avoiding the processed foods. I can[t stand the sodium taste in those foods anymore. I never order a steak in a restaurant, they seem to be full of sodium. But she complains when I salt my food with less added salt than her chips contain. I only drink about six cans of soda a year now, that is a reduction by a lot. She drinks a bottle a day.

People often judge others without looking at their self. Sure, if I ate all that crappy food I wouldn't need the salt shaker.

My daughter recognizes a salt craving, but instead of buying some cheap sunflower seeds, she buys a two dollar small bag of some expensive nuts like cashews at the gas station. The fifty cent sunflower seeds are much better for you. If you crave salt, you eat. I can solve a food craving by putting a shake of salt in water. No cost and no calories.

reply to post by rickymouse


ya sunflower seeds are my new weakness lol in the shell of course lol. been looking at some of the recipes on the mayo clinic lol didn't even know they had those, lots of good stuff and my culinary training is kicking back in. i really didn't want to precook all my meals but i gotta cut out, like you said, all the processed foods. I'll keep plugging away a little at a time on changing my diet, don't really wanna change everything at once with all the other stuff I'm changing in my life. thanks for the tips I'll def be doing some cooking experiments this weekend

still never thought I'd be taking all this, this seriously tho lol this all started at me wanting to loose a little weight and it just kinda snowballed lol

reply to post by roaland


Some of the side effects of changing the diet back to a more natural one are complex. I have had to talk to a couple of vegetarians, and also to some people at the food coop. It seems that these people are aware of these complications. Many made mistakes when they decided to start eating healthier as I did. I guess it pays to ask people who know first hand in person. The people with degrees in this aren't reliable sources, they don't question why something bad occurs from the changing diets of the people who they council. They have been brainwashed to see what the books see and deny problems exist because of the dietary changes.

The lowering of salt is because these people think everyone consumes potato chips and pretzels. They think everyone cheats regularly when in fact many quit because the old fashioned diet gives them side effects. Recipes were a critical part of the old people's lives, they live long because they kept up the good eating. I bet the life expectancy of people that are in their twenties is only sixty five now. I think we are losing ground from all the changes in food. We cannot eat all the stuff we are told is edible. We have to evolve to food changes gradually, changing fast screws up things and causes mutations.

reply to post by rickymouse


ya in culinary school, we were taught in nutrition class that changing any persons diet quickly will cause the body to backslide and create bigger problems because the body doesn't have time to adjust. So to my knowledge this is still taught to young chefs, but ya your right, professional nutritionists tend to ignore this stuff. I think its because they just number crunch so much they forget the people their dealing with are human. Where as chefs have to be a bit more personal with their clientele. No I'm not a chef anymore, but i did have all the training lol.

I cut way back on sugary stuff and started eating more salty stuff, and my blood pressure went down. It wasn't high to begin with - 120 over 80, but now it's about 100 over 65.
More salt, less sugar. Sugar is very inflammatory.

I was eating almost nothing processed, except sugary treats, and my salt intake was too low.

That said, one of the fastest things to cook up quickly is a chicken breast. You can cook it in almost any sauce, and it's fast and tasty. I've even thrown them in the frying pan and added whatever juice is in the fridge. Or beer. Or wine. Or liqueur. Or with fruit jam added, or honey, and/or mustard. Or peanut butter, soy sauce, honey, and ginger.

Or precook it for sandwiches (use sprouted grain bread).

There's a million ways to cook it.
And its just so fast and healthy.


It's almost impossible to find inexpensive and healthy......

reply to post by snowspirit


If the kidneys are working properly, the proper amount of salt can actually keep blood pressure lower. Too little and blood pressure can spike when you do eat salt. This can be a problem.

Sugars/starches and salt are not good together, the chloride in the salt raises the stomach acid and the starches and sugar do not use acid to work. Breads actually suppress the acid and the resulting blood ph becomes acidic. The people structuring the health care got this country all messed up. Salt is needed to properly take apart leafy veggies also, the sodium is in the saliva and is needed in the saliva along with Calcium to help to digest things properly.

Hey OP I'm in sort of the same boat. I'm fairly young and the drinking, smoking and salt finally caught up with me. My blood pressure isn't awful, but for my age it isn't great.

EVERYTHING is loaded with sodium now. Especially microwave stuff. Get the wrong slice of bread and it's 10% of RDI. Have two Lean Cuisines and you don't get swamped with calories but the salt is insane. They also leave me hungry personally, and if you want to get actually healthy it's time to strap on big boy or girl pants and learn to cook some healthy staple dishes. They sell lean and low sodium chicken breast which is one of the easiest and most flexible sources of protein to cook.

I went out and got a Crock Pot (mines sweet and was only about $50 which I've already saved using it). I've had it less than a month and without changing much of anything have dropped ten pounds. Google low sodium slow cooker recipes and you'll find a TON. They are super easy to use, takes about ten minutes to prep and you can leave the thing on all night or all day so when you get home you have a warm homemade meal that's surprisingly healthy. I've found almost everything re-heats well. Make shredded chicken burritos, bring in a tupperware thing and put it in the fridge, microwave it at lunch and it's delicious. They are also super easy to clean. Pull out the ceramic pot and wash it. Easy.

Also George Forman type grill. Season up some chicken breasteses, slap 'em on, done in ten minutes. Spring for the kind with removable plates so it's easier to clean.

Here Is A List Of Microwave Meals From WebMD

DASH Diet is supposed to be VERY healthy and good for lowering blood pressure and losing weight. I've seen it recommended by a Nutritionist and Doctors (in person) for a family member that had a very serious sodium restriction.

I saw that another poster said something about getting too little sodium raising blood pressure. I don't think that's going to happen for the overwhelming majority of people, especially Americans. Of course talk to your doctor, maybe get some blood work done.

reply to post by Domo1


ya still slowly trying to change my diet around, taking one thing at a time. Guess I got caught up to much on the sodium thing lol. It's not that huge a deal because I still got a bunch to change yet. but ya I'm actually looking at the dash diet now lol sounds pretty much like what i was aiming for anyway so I'm on the right track at least lol now if i can cut out some of my coffee intake and replace it with water I'd be golden lol