Sodium Intake

Okay, I've been staying within my calories to support my weight loss, and I thought i was doing great! I get an A for nutrition nearly every day, sometimes an A-, but I'm doing good. What I haven't been accounting for is my daily sodium intake! WOAH! Wait a minute, I consume that much sodium!!! My average ammount of sodium intake is 2700mg. Basically I am looking for some ideas on how to reduce how much sodium I am taking in. One problem, I love salt on my veggies and garlic salt has been my best friend! Can someone help me with some alternatives????

Most of the salt in your diet will come from preserved, packaged, processed or restaurant foods rather than the salt you add in cooking or at the table.  The daily recommendation is 2400mg so 2700 isn't too far out. 

If you want an alternative to salt on vegetables try squeezing on some lemon-juice and freshly ground black pepper.  Or try vegetables completely salt-free for a while... your tastebuds will get used to it quite quickly.

You can also get the "Mrs. Dash" no-salt seasonings.  There's a variety of flavors, and they're quite good (I find).  I've even found a Montreal Steak (and Chicken) spice mix, which lets me season my BBQ stuff without salt.

You should probably look at what things in your menu are high in sodium, rather than your totals for the day.  That will tell you where to start.  As gi-jane says, it's the processed/pre-packaged/restaurant foods that will typically nail you.

Clint

Oh, and 2700 isn't ridiculously high.  I think the recommended daily amount is 2400, so you're only a bit above that.

Clint

Thanks for the advice guys, I went back and looked at meals where i consumed a ton of sodium and it was on mexican nights! Those darn taco seasonings have over 500mg of sodium per serving!!!!So... I have decided to look up a sodium free recipe for taco seasoning. I found one and made it! I am cooking tacos tonight with the new seasoning, we'll see how it tastes!The other high sodium thing I eat on mexican nights is fat free refried beans, but I really don't want to give those up :)

Here is a great book that can be bought at Amazom.com, 500 Low Sodium Recipes.

I am on a low cholesterol, low sodium and weight loss diet and this book has been very helpful for me to try to limit my sodium to 1500mg per day.

I have made several of the spice mixes and just love them but I was not a big salt adder but everyone is correct, prepackaged items are horrible.

Hope this helps in your journey.