Too much sodium, how do I stop?!!???!!?

It's sabotaging my weight loss efforts!! I'm trying to avoid it every chance I get, but I need more advice. Is water pills effective.., what to do??  

let us know exactly what you're eating and we'll help you out...

No, water pills are not a good idea for this.  They should only be taken if they've been prescribed for a medical condition.  Try the following:

1. Drink more water (much healthier and cheaper alternative to pills).

2. Cut down on canned foods - try fresh or frozen veggies instead of canned.  Try homemade soup instead of canned.  If you use canned beans, tuna, etc. rinse off the salty water before eating.  (Or, if you're lucky enough to find them, use no-salt-added canned goods.  I love no-salt-added canned tomatoes.)

3. Cut down on pre-made foods.  Industry uses large amounts of salt as a preservative in things like frozen dinners.  Even sweet processed foods (like pre-made brownies or muffins) tend to have a lot of sodium in them.

4. Shrink your serving sizes of salty foods like cheese, chips, crackers, pretzels.  Small amounts of cheese are good for you.  (I love to spread 1 tbsp. cream cheese on toast or sprinkle 1 oz. grated cheese on salad.)   But a little goes a long way.

5. Read labels.  Some cereals contain 200+ mg sodium per serving.  Others are as low as 10-20 mg per serving.  If you like both kinds, why not go for the lower sodium one.

6. Figure out which foods *need* the salt for you to enjoy them and which ones you don't notice it in.  Then try to cut out the "unnecessary" salt first.  For the foods you like salty, cut down the salt a tiny bit at a time.  You might notice going from three shakes of salt on your veggies to none - but would you really notice going from three shakes of salt to two?  (Just as an example.)

Do you eat a lot of:

Bread?
Cakes?
Processed meats?
Tinned soups that aren't low sodium/salt?
Tinned produce (eg beans) not in simply water?
Salted nuts?
Is your peanut butter/nut butter salted?

With bread and cakes: making your own thoroughly cuts down on salt because you control the content. Processed meats: if you get cuts from the deli that are straight off of the cut instead of something that's been mashed together to look like meat, or buy high quality sausages or what have you, the salt is often less. Tinned soups: make your own, again! Or look for low-sodium. Tinned produce: beans can be bought and soaked in bulk, the ones you don't use then frozen for later uses. Or, look for "in unsalted water". Salted nuts: go for unsalted! Same with the nut butters.

If it's not any of those, then just evaluate your diet. Salt is also very sneaky in cereals, so check any of your cereals don't have added salt.

What helped me to reduce my sodium intake was to eat less and less processed food.  As Jack LaLanne says, "If man made it, don't eat it."  Try and make more fresh foods so that you know exactly what is in it.  Use mixed spices without salt to season your food. Eventually you won't even crave the processed foods or the salt as much.