Stick to a Daily Sodium Allowance
The recommended daily intake of sodium for healthy adults is 2300 mg. If you’re African American or older than 51, it’s only 1550 mg. It may sound like a lot but it’s surprising how quickly your meals can add up to your daily allowance. On average, Americans take in nearly 3,300 milligrams of sodium per day, almost 1,000 more milligrams than is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control. “Treat sodium like it’s money and you’re on a budget,” says Marilyn Tanner-Blasiar, R.D., L.D., a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “Let’s say 2300mg is the equivalent of 23 dollars. If you ‘spend’ 1000 mg, or 10 dollars, on chicken soup at lunch, your budget is nearly half gone.” Better to divvy it up more sensibly, trying not to exceed 600 mg of sodium per meal and snacks.
Cut Back on Everyday Culprits
More than 40 percent of our sodium intake comes from food most of us eat every day, according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The biggest offenders: bread, lunch meat such as deli ham or turkey, pizza, chicken soup, cheeseburgers and other sandwiches, cheese, pasta dishes, meat dishes such as meat loaf, and snack foods such as potato chips (including canned tomato sauce), pretzels and popcorn. To sidestep these sodium traps, compare nutrition labels on your favorite foods because different brands vary in sodium content. You should also look for no- or low-sodium labels, says Christine Gerbstadt, M.D., R.D., spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Replace pre-packaged canned food wherever you can with lower-sodium alternatives like dried beans and frozen vegetables.
Learn to Find Hidden Salt Content on Food Labels
While there’s sodium in almost everything, the amount of sodium in things like condiments can be shocking. When you read a food's ingredients, salt (sodium chloride) isn't the only thing you should be looking for. There are other sodium-containing compounds such as monosodium glutamate (MSG), sodium nitrate or nitrite and sodium alginate, which will up the total sodium count. One tablespoon of soy sauce has 920 mg of sodium; even soy labeled “low sodium” has 575 mg of sodium. Other big offenders include teriyaki sauce (690 mg per tablespoon), tomato sauce (640 mg per half cup) and barbecue sauce (420 mg per two tablespoons). “If you overdo it at one meal, make sure you make low-sodium choices the rest of the day,” says Tanner-Blasiar. Also, low-fat doesn’t mean low-sodium -- when food companies take out fat, they often replace it with salt to boost flavor.
Learn to Love Other Spices
Instead of adding salt, use fresh or dried herbs and spices to kick up the flavor in your food, like garlic, basil, cumin, chili peppers, rosemary, ginger or cinnamon. You can also try flavored vinegars, such as fig, pear and cranberry. Because premixed blends of spices often contain salt, come up with your own favorite blends of dried spices and keep them in a shaker instead of putting the salt on the table, says Gerbstadt.
Know What to Order When Eating Out
Stick to restaurants where your food is cooked to order rather than chain-type eateries where food may be prepackaged (like soup, gravy or even crab cakes). Choose simple items without gravies or sauces and ask for them to be prepared without salt. Order the baked potato instead of the mashed potatoes, but don’t eat the skin, which has likely been oiled and salted before baking. Add a salad to fill up on greens, but keep dressings on the side since they’re often loaded with sodium. Request that grilled entrees, like fish and chicken, be cooked without salt.
Give Your Taste Buds Time to Adapt
Your taste for salt is acquired, so it will take some to get used to a lower-sodium diet. “When you first cut back, food may taste a little bland,” says Gerbstadt. “It’s simply that you’ve lost sight of how food naturally tastes.” Decrease your salt intake gradually, and after a few weeks, you probably won’t even miss it.