Nurse Teaching on Foods to Avoid on a Low Sodium Diet

Nurse educated the patient/caregiver on foods to avoid while following a low sodium diet-

  1. Salt can act as a preservative, increase the shelf life of food items significantly, and so, is liberally added to many frozen meals and canned foods. Avoid all frozen meals and canned vegetables due to their high added salt content on a low sodium diet. Choose to have your meals and vegetables fresh, to avoid loading yourself with extra salt from frozen meals and canned foods. Even while choosing to pick frozen meals and canned vegetables from the aisle, pick the products with the label, reduced sodium or no salt added, to be compliant with the low salt intake recommendation.
  2. Store bought broths and stocks used as the base for soups and stews or to flavor meat and vegetable dishes are very rich in added salt. While preparing them at home, by boiling bones or simmering meat, do not add any extra salt to the dish to be compliant with low sodium diet. While picking them at the store, pick the products with the label, reduced or low sodium, to be compliant with limited sodium intake recommendation.
  3. Avoid or observe moderation with all regular sauces, breakfast cereals, and bakery products that are bought ready to eat, as they can contain extra added salt to enhance the flavor. Check on the labels before doing the purchase and choose low salt or no salt added versions of these food items, in order to be consistent with low sodium diet recommendation.
  4. Many alternative forms of the regular salt are currently marketed as healthier versions, such as, rock salt, sea salt, and garlic salt. All these forms of salt basically have the same nutritive value, sodium content, and so, are equally harmful. Avoid or observe moderation with these alternative forms of salt, to be compliant with low sodium diet.
  5. Regular spice mixes from over the counter have high amounts of salt added to them. Always read the label over the spice mix packets and avoid picking any with the label as “Regular”. This can help cut down intake of any extra salt during cooking. Look for alternatives, such as the spice mixes with the label – low sodium or no salt added, to be compliant with the low sodium diet recommendation.
  6. Salt is heavily added in regular snack items, such as, chips, cheese popcorn, crackers, nuts, trail mixes, pretzels, and granola bars, to enhance the flavor. Avoid or observe moderation with consumption of these high salt content snacks, to improve compliance with low sodium diet recommendation.
  7. Usually store-bought pickles and jalapeno peppers are very high in added extra sodium, to help increase the shelf-life and enhance the flavor. Read through the label carefully and pick the low sodium or salt free labeled pickles and peppers, to be compliant with the limited salt intake recommendation.
  8. Many sauces and salad dressings contain a lot of flavor additives that are rich in sodium. Avoid or observe strict moderation with condiment products and flavor additives that are very high in salt content, such as, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, and ketchup while on low sodium diet. You can make choices from sauces low on salt content, such as, tomato sauce, BBQ sauce, chili sauce, and lemon caper sauce. For dressing and flavoring, you can rely more on lemon juice, vinegar, vinaigrette, or pick the products with the label, no salt added or reduced sodium or low sodium.
  9. Bread and bakery products like pizza, sandwich buns, dinner rolls, biscuits, bagels, pancakes, waffles, pretzels, and tortillas are very rich in sodium content, due to the additives added in the baking process. Also, more salt is added to these products as topping. In addition to this, a lot of ingredients that go with pizzas & sandwiches, such as, cheese, sauces, pepperoni, and processed meat, are very rich in salt content and contribute further to increased salt intake. Avoid or observe strict moderation by choosing smaller portions of these bread and bakery items can help compliance with low salt diet recommendation.
  10. Dairy products, such as, buttermilk, cottage cheese, and processed cheese are very high in salt content. Blue cheese, feta cheese, and halloumi cheese are varieties of cheese heavy in salt content. Avoid or observe strict moderation with consumption of these products, to be compliant with the recommendation for limited salt intake. Pick the products with the label, reduced or low sodium or no salt added, to be compliant with low sodium diet recommendation.

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