The Importance of Reading Labels

A recent article on "Please, don't pass the salt" I decided it was pertinent to post an article on the importance of reading labels.  For those with kidney disease, lowering sodium intake to help control blood pressure is only half the battle... because of decreased kidney function, other electrolytes can get out of balance.  For example, my husband has to limit his potassium intake.  For those of you facing the challenge of adjusting to a low sodium diet know how tough it is.  Also having a potassium limitation adds an additional level of challenge since potassium choloride is a common substitute for table salt in many commercial foods that claim to have "no salt added."  For example, Heinz's "No Salt Tomato Ketchup" lists potassium chloride as one of its ingrediants, and the nutritional facts do NOT list how much potassium is in each serving.  To me, it's very scary to know that potassium has been added, but not to know how much is in each serving.  It took several weeks when my husband was first diagnosed to read the label of every brand whose brand says "no salt" or "low sodium" to figure out those that have not added potassium chloride to replace the sodium. 

Reduced Sodium Cheeses and reduced sodium recipes by Sargento!

I'm wicked excited!  We discovered that Sargento makes reduced sodium cheeses, and... our local grocery store carries them!  It was a very pleasant surprise as we were shopping yesterday.  Normally I don't give Sargento cheeses a second glance b/c I buy store brand cheeses.  However, this week we had a coupon for Sargento and as we were comparing the prices, I noticed the reduced sodium cheeses.  We haven't tried them yet, so I'll have to update you on whether they are worth the money.

Also, on their website they have a recipe brochure.  I'm excited to give a few of their recipes a try!

Fresh (ie low sodium) Pork Products

I am sooooo excited!  I found a farm a few towns over from us that sells "fresh" pork products!  Which means, it is uncured, and therefore the lowest sodium we can get!  Ed will get to have ham for easter and not feel bad about it!

Thank you Open Meadow Farm!

Our Staple Brands

Knowing how hard it is to find brands that don't use salt (or use low amounts) but also don't replace salt with potassium, I decided to go through my cupboards and put up a list of brands that I keep in my cupboard.

Newman's Own:  Not only are they some of the tastiest foods, they are also natural and don't use MSG which keeps their sodium levels low.  Newman's Own even makes a pizza that uses uncured pepperoni, which I allow my husband to splurge and eat when he has a pizza craving.  Of the few pre-made things we buy, I would say that 90% of them are Newman's Own.

Old London:  Just the other day I discovered that Old London makes an unsalted Melba Toast that has NO sodium!

Pepperidge Farm:  Pepperidge farm makes many "heart healthy" breads in which they have reduced the amount of sodium that they use.  We pretty much exclusively buy pepperidge farm breads now.

Campbell's soup:  I know, I know, all canned soups have loads of sodium, however, you just have to keep a few cans around.  We buy the healthy request campbell soups, mainly for Ed's Nana's Chicken casserole as well as a few cans of chicken noodle soup for the few times he gets sick (which seems to happen a lot when I don't have time to make soup from scratch).

Ritz:  Ritz now makes a "hint of salt" cracker.  We normally have 1 box on hand.

McIllenny's Tabasco:  Tabasco brand pepper sauce is the lowest sodium tabasco sauce that I've found.

Store brand:  Our local grocery store, Stop & Shop, has some good things in their store brand.  Their "no salt added" canned tomatos don't have any sodium or potassium added (they instead use calcium salt).  They also have several all natural store brands that tend to be lower in sodium than the competitors.

Low-sodium Baking

Both baking soda and baking powder are made using sodium carbonate, which adds sodium to your diet. For those of use who love baked goods, I have some good news. ENER-G produces a no sodium, no potassium, alternative to both the traditional baking soda and powder which uses calcium carbonate instead. You can get Ener-G baking powder/soda at Healthy Heart Market.

When you use Ener-G baking soda, you need to use about double of the regular baking soda in all of your recipes.

When using Ener-G baking powder, you need to use a little less than double what your recipe calls for and get into the oven a little quicker.

One thing to note, it does change the taste of food a bit. Personally, since Ed's blood pressure is under control, I've decided to just use regular baking soda/powder, and just omit the salt from most recipes.

For instructions on making low-sodium breads, I recommend purchasing a bread machine, and a low-sodium cookbook. The salt in normal bread recipes slows the fermentation of yeast, and so if you remove the salt the yeast also needs to be reduced. Therefore, unless you are feeling very adventurous, I recommend buying a low-sodium cookbook that includes bread recipes since they have already adjusted for the lack of salt

No-salt spices

There are 2 brands of no-salt spices that I've discovered. One is Mrs. Dash, however, most Mrs. Dash products do use potassium salt, so if you have a potassium restriction you should be careful with them. Recently, I discovered that McCormick also has no-salt spice mixes, and they don't use ANY salt subsitutes so they should be safe for everone. The McCormick mixes have most of the same flavors as the Mrs. Dash mixes.

The American Heart Association's Low Salt Cookbook  . contains recipes for making your own salt-free spice mixes including chili powder (yes, chili powder contains salt).

Cookbooks to live by

The first low-sodium cookbook that I bought (the day after Ed was released from the hospital) was the The No-Salt, Lowest-Sodium Cookbook. We both love it. Not only are the recipes all delicious and full of flavor, but it is also full of tips for those who are just adapting to a low-sodium diet. Additionally, the nutrition facts for each recipe (including potassium) is listed as well as the sodium content of the ingrediants (so if you have to substitute ingrediants you can calculate how it affects the sodium content).

I just recently picked up the American Heart Association's Low Salt Cookbook  . It is amazing. It is chockfull of ways to make the everyday things that Ed has been missing, including, breakfast sausage! This opens a whole new chapter in our cooking.