New To Me - Low Sodium Diet

After being diagnosed with hypertension and still working on getting my numbers regulated I have discovered the painful truth of most of the food we put in our mouths. Processed food is evil!! There I said it. Most everything we consume unless it is whole foods are filled with sodium, sugar, and preservatives.

 

 

 

 

The worst culprits of being drenched with sodium are some items you would expect - like, chips, crackers, ramen noodles, flavored noodles and rice, but for me others like salad dressing and  sandwich meat (even the plain sandwich meat with no flavorings) still are loaded with sodium. Realistically you are mostly talking about plain meat, veggies, fruit, and low sodium products being on the menu from here out.

 

 

 

 

I have found a few snacks that are very low in sodium, but higher in sugar. Spice and sodium substitutes are available as well. I am still feeling my way through this new way of eating and drinking. Only decaf coffee and caffeine free soda (which is very little these days because I learned my lesson after getting dehydrated and replacing it with lots of water). 

 

 

 

 

 

This is definitely a work in progress and will be for quite a while. Once I found out that I was hypertensive it seems like other people (friends and family) are coming out of the wood work as also have high blood pressure. I went to my uncle's funeral yesterday and discovered two of my cousins have been recently diagnosed and one teenager's numbers are too high for his age. Living off of ramen noodles and soda will do a teenager in, so please be careful as to the amount of sodium you are taking in. It can truly be a killer.