Low sodium meals?

Wilbur

Adventurer
I'm having to change my diet because of high blood pressure, and curious about some good recipes. I honestly didn't realize all the salt in most products, which amazes me.

I'm sure there are atleast a few ideas!
 

UK4X4

Expedition Leader
Low sodium- low cholesterol

mmmmmm basicly that means you need to walk by the packet and freezer isles

ignore everything in the tin isle too- oh and the chips isle.


I'm older to and fighting the usual........

So the wife has gone back to basics.......fruit vegatables, chicken fish and the once a week beef,if I'm lucky

Everything processed is filled with un natural crap.

On our return to latinolandia we'll be even buying our chickens live, from the market.

Ie we can buy ones that can actually walk and not loaded with antibiotics and minced lamb entrails

Food is such a dificult subject - recipes........there are loads of books
which do "natural" foods.

My food today is laced with huge varieties of herbs, weeds and bits of wood, but no salt in sight

Other than what comes in the fish sauce or soya "lite"

She does a mean Sri lanken curry, but you'd need to find an Indian shop to get the spices.

We have already put asside a whole box of spices and herbs for our next destination.

Issue is in the US packet food is cheaper than fresh produce...........

........ok so what else do they add to make it cheaper ? as its not fresh food !
 

Black Dog

Makin' Beer.
I use a soy based thing called Bragg's Liquid Aminos in a lot of meals, mostly I use it as a soy sauce substitute. It is a no sodium added liquid and tastes pretty good in pretty much everything, I think they call that umami. Rice, soups, steak marinades, spritzed on salads, you name it.
 

AxeAngel

Expedition Leader
Avoid cheese as well, loaded with salts.

I am on a high protein, low carb low fat diet, its tough but you can do it with time and patience. Greek yoghurt doesnt have a lot of salt, no fat and it is very high in protein. As the previous poster mentioned, Braggs adds flavor and has a good amount of protein as well.

Anything that requires emulsification will contain lots of salt, cheeses, processed meats, etc. Salt and corn syrup are a cheap way for food manufacturers to make foods taste good unfortunately.

To be honest there are a lot of healthy meals you can prepare, you just need to look for the right cookbooks, all the cookbooks oriented to the active lifestyle crowd taste pretty good and are super healthy for you. As weird as it sounds, I cut out and save all the recipes that come in Men's Health, Men's Fitness magazines and try to make those. Its an excellent start as they have done the leg work of finding tasty recipes that are good for you.

PM me if you want any specifics.

-Sam
 
I use a soy based thing called Bragg's Liquid Aminos in a lot of meals, mostly I use it as a soy sauce substitute. It is a no sodium added liquid and tastes pretty good in pretty much everything, I think they call that umami. Rice, soups, steak marinades, spritzed on salads, you name it.

Nooo... That stuff is nasty. There is a lot of discussion about it in the last ten years within the Natural Hygiene circle, which I have been a part of for nearly 20 years. The main issues are the use of hydrochloric acid to separate out the amino acids from the soy beans and the generation of sodium in the process. The FDA had the company remove the "No MSG" claim on the bottle.

"From: Madelyn Hill
Subject: LABELING LAWS DON'T 'BRAG' ABOUT HIDING MSG IN AMINO ACIDS

MSG is the sodium salt of the AMINO ACID glutamic acid and a form of glutamate. Read on and you will see how the labeling laws permit it to be hidden in everything from soap to vitamins to condiments to food. Hydrolyzed proteins or protein hydrolysates are acid treated or enzymatically treated which contain salts of free AMINO ACIDS.

MSG goes under many names including monosodium glutamate. Do you know what glutamate is? AN AMINO ACID.

MSG is only one type of free glutamate, so foods stating no MSG or no added MSG can be misleading, as hydrolyzed protein is a form of free glutamate.

Monosodium glutamate goes under the name of glutamate, AMINO ACID, monosodium glutamate, glutamic acid, calcium caseinate, sodium caseinate, gelatin, textured protein, hydrolyzed protein, yeast extract. Most of the time,
containing MSG are malt, barley malt, boullion, stock, carrageenan,
maltodextrin, whey protein, pectin (anything enzyme modified). NATURAL FLAVORS, protein fortified, soy protein.

The following can be used to create MSG: protease enzymes, fungal protease.

MSG can be used in soaps, shampoos, hair conditioners. The most common hiding places are in ingredients called 'hydrolyzed proteins and, amino acids.

Aspartic acid found in aspartame and nutra sweet causes MSG reactions.

Binders and fillers for medications, nutrients and supplements may contain MSG."

"A while back we were had chatted here and questioned whether above has msg or not and Patricia Bragg said NO.

We'll here's some info. that says yes, and FDA had her remove her NO MSG label. You can check on the documentation self. A friend sent this is who a
researcher. I don't have his permission to release his name, but this should
ans. the question on YES, above has MSG per FDA.

"MSG-sensitive people react to any glutamic acid that has been freed from
protein through a manufacturing process providing that they ingest an amount that exceeds their individual tolerance for the substance. Consequently, consumers refer to all processed free glutamic acid as MSG. This fact was acknowledged by the FDA in the "FDA Backgrounder" dated August 31, 1995.

Under Section 403 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act it is deceptive and misleading to say "No MSG" or "No MSG added" on a processed food label that contains free glutamic acid. It is for this reason that the FDA forced Live Products, manufacturer of Bragg Liquid Aminos, to remove the words "No MSG" from the product's label."

I stopped using this product for these reasons.
 
Low Fat Raw Vegan

I suppose no one's heard of Low Fat Raw Vegan (LFRV) as a way to optimize your dietary.

It is the end result you want to reach at some point in your life, especially if you are jet-set with money and retired. You want your body to last as long as possible so that you can see as much as you can before it's time to go bye-bye.

What is LFRV? It is the end result usually reached after years or even decades of transitioning gradually from a Standard American Diet (SAD) that is largely animal products and many inappropriate food combinations, to a vegetarian dietary that uses transitional foods such as tofu, Bragg's (though I don't recommend it, but have used it in the past), egg replacer, vegetarian/vegan cheese, home-ranged cheese/eggs, to veganism (no animal products), and eventually dropping off salt, all processed oils, and necessarily, all cooked foods. You end up only eating in the raw state only foods that is suited for the human physiology AND taste good. That is 90% fruit, 5%+ veggies like lettuce, celery, cukes, tomatoes, and preferably less than 5% fat from things like avocados, nuts, seeds, etc.

What we have found is that salt contributes to high blood pressure. What we also have found, which is unfortunately not common knowledge yet, is that eating a high-fat dietary interferes with the uptake of glucose by insulin out of the bloodstream into the cells that need it. High blood pressure and high sugar levels sustained over long periods results in a damaged circulation system, because the body is not intended to live under such a regimen over long periods, or even short periods.

I'll give you an interesting story here, because it explains why diabetes is completely out of control in developed parts of the world, because I know of entire families that have it. So far, I don't have it. A sister and a brother has it, and it looks like my other sister is up next. Mind you, they are a generation older than me. My Dad had it, but not my Mom. High blood fats from the Standard American Diet has about 30-40% fat in it, and this much fat blocks the action of insulin. Since the body constantly monitors the blood sugar level and instructs among other things the pancreas to produce insulin to bring the sugar level in line to a "ready-to-go" resting state, the pancreas will be instructed to produce insulin, but since the blood sugar doesn't drop, the pancreas will continue to produce more insulin. Basically, it is a feedback loop that stays running for years, usually decades until finally the pancreas' insulin-production capability is destroyed through lack of digestive rest and rebuilding over time. What is SUPPOSED to happen is that you eat, your sugar level spikes up, the pancreas kicks in, and shortly, your sugar level goes back to normal, and your pancreas is returned to sugar stabilization maintenance until the next meal. During this time, the pancreas should be rebuilding its generation faculties and resting as much as it needs to. Instead it's working like you are eating 24/7.

What we have found is that among those who are diabetic, when they drastically reduce the amount of fat to almost nothing (you don't want to eliminate it entirely, because your body needs it, but in much smaller amounts, and it's also found in fruits and veggies), at first the sugar spike can stay up for a few days because of the impaired insulin capacities, but as time goes on and the fat level in the blood stream is reduced, the sugar spike period is reduced over time and eventually the sugar spike period more closely resembles that of healthy people, if not entirely that. At least that reduces the amount of exogenous insulin needed in severely-impaired cases.

The trick to living long is reserves conservation within your body. Don't spend it trying to digest food that isn't appropriate for your dietary or makes nutrients inaccessible to your body in its natural state, and also makes OTHER nutrients unusable from cooking (several things like minerals and vitamins are heat-sensitive and become inactivated above certain temperatures - one more, certain amino acids can get bound together in heat, so that the human body cannot break the heat-fuse link between the trapped acids (which makes it unusable)).

I have found that even a cooked vegan dietary is problematic because of the cooking problems, salt, oil, and inappropriate foods.

Having said all this, it will be difficult for some individuals to make the transition from SAD to LFRV. I myself bump back and forth between cooked vegan and LFRV, and it is a battle for me right now, because it is a struggle to avoid diabetes, nerve damage, loss of eyesight and the rest of my hearing, a struggle to stay LFRV made worse by my job environment (I'm responsible for food at REI), addiction to salt, and cooked food taste and textures. It truly feels like a Pandora's box at times; once you've opened it, there's no going back. I have gone as long as 59 days this summer on LFRV, and more recently, it's more like 2-5 days at a time, and I'm trying to go longer.

I'm not going down the path that my older relatives have taken. I want to see as much of this country as I possibly can.
 

Black Dog

Makin' Beer.
Nooo... That stuff is nasty. There is a lot of discussion about it in the last ten years within the Natural Hygiene circle, which I have been a part of for nearly 20 years. The main issues are the use of hydrochloric acid to separate out the amino acids from the soy beans and the generation of sodium in the process. The FDA had the company remove the "No MSG" claim on the bottle.

I still like the stuff, real soy sauce just seems to strong and salty compared to it so I'll still keep using it.
 

4GRAINR

Adventurer
I went on a South Beach kick for a bit. While it focused on sugars and not sodium per se, it did get me reading labels and taking a more active role as to what I decide to put in my body. For the trail recipes, I tend to do the same thing I do at home - eat fresh!

The produce section of the grocery or any local market you visit should be your next best friend. There are an infinite number of meals to suit a variety of tastes, cooking styles, etc that can be found in a small square footage. I used to think of the traditional basics I grew up on as the only way things could be prepared. It wasn't until I was older and experienced things prepared in new ways that I realized there is an unlimited potential. Same goes with meats and grains.

I don't think anyone would argue that the lower the amount of processing, the better. It has been a very long learning curve for me and I'm still constantly learning new tips and tricks. Once you pull out at the junk (sugars, salt, preservatives, etc) food will taste different. In fact, I go back to some of my old favorites like mac n' cheese or a loaded backed potato from time to time, only to realize I don't enjoy them the same way I used to any more because my tastes have changed.

Hope that helps.
 

beemerchef

Explorer
SALT!!! How wonder how many billions of pound are used in this World today!

I do not use salt at all. I carry always some lemons and limes, for spices sinces we do not have much room (hack) I carry Mrs Dash and Frontier spices which have NO salt content at all. Of course as summer arrives much herbs are also used.
I do not eat any processed food meaning no cans or meats unless I come across a butcher and the chicken is organic and naturally fed, something that does not happen often off the beaten path!
I cooked with heavy creme and butter all my Life! 62 now, had already 5 bypasses at the age of 47! It is a choice... as of course my past diet tasted better but this one is so much more rewarding... I have a dog to take care off I always need to think also!!! :bike_rider:
Anyhow... that is what we do...
Be well... Ara & Spirit
 

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