Low Sodium Foods

From LoveToKnow Diet

There are a number of reasons to incorporate low sodium foods into your diet. While sodium is an essential nutrient for several body functions, too much sodium can cause health difficulties. Fortunately, sodium occurs naturally in many foods, and a healthy diet is adequate in sodium without being too high; however, in today’s convenience food society, diets are often far too high in sodium. Excess sodium can contribute to health problems like high blood pressure. Therefore, knowing where to find foods low in sodium is essential in maintaining your overall health.

Sodium’s Role in the Body

Sodium is one of the body’s three electrolytes, along with potassium and chloride. Electrolytes play an important role in your body’s functioning. They control the body’s regulation of fluids going in and out of the organs and cells. Sodium also regulates blood volume and blood pressure, transmits impulses for muscle contraction and nerve function, and regulates the acid balance in the blood and body fluids.

Effects of too Much Sodium

Sodium is processed in your body by your kidneys. In the case of mild amounts of excess sodium, your kidneys flush the excess sodium to be excreted in urine; however, when sodium is too high, the kidneys lose their ability to process the sodium. When this happens, sodium is stored in the blood. Excess sodium in the blood causes more fluid in the blood, leading to increased blood volume. Increased blood volume causes your heart to have to work harder to move the blood through your body – and can result in chronic high blood pressure. High blood pressure can lead to kidney and heart disease. In those especially sensitive to the effects of sodium, excess sodium can also cause significant water retention throughout the body.

How Much Sodium is too Much Sodium?

For most people, a healthy intake of sodium is about 2400 mg of dietary sodium per day or less. When you consider that a Big Mac has almost 750 mg of sodium, and a large fries has between 350 and 1200 mg of sodium, it is easy to see how sodium intake can quickly be exceeded on a near daily basis in the typical American diet.

Low Sodium Foods

Planning your meals around low sodium foods can help you to control the amount of sodium in your diet. Low sodium foods are those that have under 150 mg of sodium per serving. Some foods that are lower in sodium include:

Beverages

Beer
Wine
Coffee
Tea
Juice

Grains

Whole grain bread
Shredded Wheat cereal
Puffed rice or puffed wheat cereal
Steel cut oats
Low salt whole grain crackers
Whole grain pastas cooked without salt in the water
Kaishi cereals
Most granolas
Health valley breakfast bars

Condiments

Unsalted butter
Oils
Grey Poupon Dijon style mustard
Herbs
Horseradish
Vinegar
Jams and jellies
Heinz or Hunts ketchup (between 0 to 6 mg)
Spectrum roasted garlic mayonnaise
Hain Eggless mayonnaise

Dairy

Low salt cheeses
Sour cream
Ice cream
Skim milk

Proteins

Unprocessed meats and poultry (chicken, beef, fish – avoid bacon, lunch meat and deli meats)
Eggs
Unsalted nuts
Rinsed low sodium canned meats
Unsalted nut butters