Low-sodium diets

[GrantDawg]

I have recently had a life-changing medical diagnosis. I had been having problems breathing, especially at night when I would lay down. Eventually, it grew to a point where I was heavily fatigued all the time, and it became very apparent that fluid was building up in my body (to the point I no longer had ankles). I ended up in the hospital, spending 2 of the 6 days in the ICU. It was heart-failure and along with chronic kidney disease. I have extreme hyper-tension to go along with (maybe caused) the whole situation.


Anyway, this means a extreme change in life-style. The biggest one being low-sodium. Low-sodium sucks. Basically, salt is what makes everything taste good. Salt is also basically added to everything. There is no low-sodium options at restaurants (heck, some of the "healthy choices" in restaurants have more sodium than you are supposed to have in a day). All processed food are no-go's. It is one of the most annoying diets ever.


What I am asking you guys about is simple. Anyone dealing with this? And how do you deal? Any simple tricks you might have? Also, any of you really good at cooking fish? Any recommendations to try? I am trying to have fish a couple of times a week, but I am not real experienced with it.

[GrantDawg]

Oh, as a dola...the fun part of all this. I have lost massive weight. Like 45 pounds in the first month. I am down now to the lowest weight I have been since I was 19. That and the fact I shaved my beard has people not even recognizing me. So, at least something fun has come of it.

[tarcone]

Sorry to hear about this. I have no advice. Except eat fresh. Its sad that in order to eat healthy you have to spend more money.

Are your kidneys back functioning properly?

Good luck.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Sorry to hear about this. I have no advice. Except eat fresh. Its sad that in order to eat healthy you have to spend more money.

Are your kidneys back functioning properly?

Good luck.

Not quite. Basically, I am up to 34% function. It had gotten down to 23%, so that was good news. But they expect I will only get back to 45% at the most. That would be fine, as long as I am careful. Functioning is functioning, and I can live fine as long as I stay above dialysis range.


And yes, eat fresh. You are so right how much more expensive that is. Not to mention, everything has to be full-time prepared and cooked. The time-sync in every meal is a pain.

[Thomkal]

I too had to cut back on sodium, starting a couple years ago when I was in the hospital for untreated high blood pressure. While I was there, they discovered I was in the 3rd stage of kidney failure, about 40%. Water pills (which I hate) and low-sodium diet was the prescription. They think I may have had some minor strokes when they brought my blood pressure down. Feeling pretty good these days at least.



Are you on a set amount of sodium/week or day? Its been a lot of "fun" checking every label to see how much sodium is in it. Drink a lot of water I'm sure they told you. Hard to believe you can lose so much weight just by limiting your salt intake. Processed, prepared meals, side dishes etc, are your worse enemy. Buy frozen vegetables instead of in-the-can vegetables. If you do eat something with a lot of salt, try to eat smaller portions. Thankfully more and more companies are coming out with low-sodium or even no sodium products-even snacky stuff like potato chips and pretzels.



Find a replacement for the salt shaker at the dinner table. I like garlic mixes a lot. Mrs. Dash has a line of no-salt spice mixes. As for fish, I've never been a big fish/seafood eater, but we have tilapia and catfish a lot-fried, with Mrs. Dash or some other spice on it.


Combing the Steam thread where you talked about this a bit, my suggestion in dealing with the fatigue/exhaustion you get playing games is just fight through it. I was in a bit of a fog for a long while when I was first recovering, felt like I was losing some of my intelligence. Find something like crossword puzzles/word games/hidden-object games, etc that you like doing and get into a routine of doing them every day. It helped me recover from that at least.


It sounds like my condition is/was not as severe as yours, but you can overcome it. Don't shut your family/friends/doctors out about what you are feeling. Let them be a part of the process.

[MizzouRah]

I've been trying my best to eat low-sodium.


Mrs. Dash on everything

[JPhillips]

I'm not as consistent as I should be, but my BP means a lower sodium diet. I've been buying some really good spices from Penzeys and they make everything I cook better. They have all sorts of no salt blends and their pepper is to die for.

I grill everything, so I'll do a rub and grill with a vegetable, either fresh or frozen, all through the year. For me the secret is add a lot of spice. I can't do food without any other seasoning.

[GrantDawg]

Thomkal: Basically I was just a little further down the line than you. The heart failure was probably was where you were heading. Low sodium and water pills for me as well, along with 3 bp meds and 2 prostate meds plus potassium. Using Mrs. Dash a good bit, but it doesn't help with some things. I have been doing a lot of tilapia along with salmon on the grill. Olive oil and dill. I am hoping to get some advice on how to mix that up.


MizzouRah: Yup. I will also highly recommend Tony Chachere's no salt creole seasoning. Use it in place of season salt. Works well.


Jphillips: Definitely grilling as much as possible. That adds flavor well to almost anything. Thanks for the Penzeys tip. I am going to have to try there stuff. Looks excellent.

[Thomkal]

I have not heard of Penzeys spices-available in grocery stores?

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

I have not heard of Penzeys spices-available in grocery stores?

There are Penzeys stores, but you can get everything online.

[JPhillips]

I do grilled salmon with a low sodium teriyaki over rice.

I also do a steamed clams with butter, white wine shallots and garlic that's good.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

MizzouRah: Yup. I will also highly recommend Tony Chachere's no salt creole seasoning. Use it in place of season salt. Works well.

Thanks, I'll try that out. I buy all the low sodium stuff, especially the soups and I never salt anything.


Bananas are good for removing salt from your body so I eat them regularly as well.

[Umbrella]

For veggies, try using lemon juice and/or garlic instead of salt.

In recipes, I usually use 1/2 the recommended salt. For most of them, I can't tell a difference. There are some that are noticeable, but most seem to do OK.

Fish is a great one. My wife hates fish, but since I had to go lower sodium, she is taking one for the team. Tilapia is mild, so she eats that. I have a recipe where I use Parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes as a seasoning that is really tasty. Or a simply dill blend works well with most fish. Try this recipe, it's super easy to make. Red Pepper & Parmesan Tilapia Recipe | Taste of Home

One of the down sides of going low sodium is now when I eat out, things tend to taste a little too salty for me.

[JPhillips]

Right now Penzeys is giving away small bottles of their Arizona spice blend in honor of John McCain. It's completely free at the stores and shipping only through the website.