Low Sodium Food Suggestions?

Well I’ve decided to cut down on sodium in my diet. This is not going to be easy. I went to the grocery store yesterday, and it took me 15 minutes just to find low-sodium Saltines (yes, irony noted). I’m really trying to go for a healthier approach to my diet altogether, but sodium is my key target at the moment.

Finding ANYthing that was relatively low in sodium was a challenge. Things that I otherwise thought of as healthy were just bogged down in sodium. The biggest blow came when I got home, and looked for my traditional late night meal - a bowl of rice with a little fish sauce sprinkled on. As I reached for the fish sauce, dread hit me. Slowly I turned the bottle to find that it has a whopping 1000 mg of sodium per serving! OK, I knew the stuff was high, but still.

No more fish sauce for me.

Anyway, I bought myself some low-so crackers, some hummus (after carefully checking the various types and settling on one that had relatively little sodium per serving. Another thing that’s difficult - I have to judge the sodium content based on what I’m going to realistically eat - which is probably twice what the label claims is a serving size) Some hot pepper jam (a real weakness of mine, but fat free AND sodium free!) and lambchops - trimmed. Well, I can’t live on that diet forever. Well, I could, but I don’t intend to.

So any other low-so suggestions for food that tastes good? (Oh, already replacing table salt with Mrs. Dash.) Is there such a thing as low-so butter? (NOT margarine?) I see Nutella is sodium safe, so that makes me happy…

Anyway, forgive my incoherence. Any suggestions are welcome.

As long as you steer clear of processed stuff, you should be okay. It’s relatively easy to make things like hummus, salad dressings, and sauces yourself. That way you can control the amount of salt you use. Then just stick to fresh fruits, vegetables, etc. You can find low-salt baked goods, too, if you look.

And yes, there is unsalted butter. Some people actually prefer using it and it’s the stuff of choice for most high-end restaurants.