Patient was educated on measures to be considered for compliance with heart healthy diet recommendation as follows:
- Many sauces and salad dressings contain a lot of flavor additives that are rich in sodium. Among condiments, avoid or observe strict moderation with products very high in salt content, such as, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, and ketchup. You can rely more on lemon juice, vinegar, or vinaigrette for dressing and flavoring, which can reduce the need for adding salt. While picking sauce for seasoning and dressings, select from the list of sauces low on salt content, such as, tomato sauce, BBQ sauce, chili sauce, and lemon caper sauce. While choosing store-bought salad dressings, pick the products with the label, no salt added or reduced sodium or low sodium.
- When picking readymade spice mixes from over the counter, prefer low sodium alternatives or no salt added alternatives over regular spice mixes, to help cut down intake of any extra salt during cooking.
- Some cooking practices involve adding salt to the water used for cooking rice, pasta, and vegetables. Avoid adding any extra salt to the food during cooking or limit it to the minimum you possibly can.
- Using cooking sprays versus oil, butter, or margarine can help with lowering consumption of unhealthy fats during cooking. Also, using a nonstick pan can help reduce adding additional oil and fats during cooking.
