A low-sodium diet is a diet with a limited amount of sodium, and in practice - limiting the s alt added to meals and ready-made products containing s alt. Learn the most important principles of a low-sodium diet and try a sample menu!
Contents:
- Low sodium diet: sodium in your daily diet
- Low sodium diet: for whom?
- Low sodium diet: rules
- Low-sodium diet: sample menu
A low-sodium dietis about limiting s alt in your meals, and it's not that easy to do. After all, there are many sources of s alt. Table s alt, Himalayan s alt, sea s alt, herbal s alt, etc. is sodium chloride - NaCl. It is the primary source of sodium in the diet.
Others are monosodium glutamate and baking soda or baking powder. Sodium in unprocessed foods - such as vegetables, fruits, raw meat or grains - is present in a very small amount, from a few to a maximum of several dozen milligrams per 100 g of product.
The main sources of sodium in the diet that must be reduced or excluded are fast food, instant foods, s alty snacks, cold cuts, bread, cheese and canned vegetables.
Low sodium diet: sodium in your daily diet
Sodium plays an important role in the body. It is an electrolyte. It controls the amount of extracellular fluids (its excess causes swelling), the acid-base balance, is involved in the conduction of nerve impulses, the transport of nutrients to the cells and muscle contractions.
Due to the widespread use of s alt, the risk of its deficiency is practically non-existent. Excess sodium in the diet leads to arterial hypertension, strokes, gastric cancer, possibly esophageal cancer, may promote the development of osteoporosis and kidney stones, as well as obesity, as high sodium intake leads to impaired fat metabolism.
Long-term consumption of excess s alt is associated with increased morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease. Research shows that sodium causes strokes, damages blood vessels and the heart muscle regardless of the presence of high blood pressure. An excess of sodium in the diet promotes Helicobacter pylori infection, which is a significant risk factor for the development of gastric cancer.
Worth knowingThe maximum amount of s alt in the diet recommended by the WHO is 5 g per day, which isConverted to sodium, it gives 2 g. Based on s alt intake assessments, it is estimated that over 50% of young children, over 80% of adolescents, over 80% of women and nearly 100% of men consume too much s alt, and therefore too much sodium, every day. A typical Polish diet contains 2-3 times more s alt than recommended.
Daily sodium requirement depends on age, physical activity, and environmental temperature. The more you sweat, the greater the sodium excretion. An adult in a moderate climate should consume about 115 mg per day with exercise that does not induce perspiration. People who spend several hours a day at elevated temperatures, and therefore lose sodium through sweat, need about 1,500 mg per day.
The consumption norms for the Polish population are as follows:
- infants up to the 6th month - 120 mg / day,
- infants up to 1 year of age - 370 mg / day,
- children 1-3 years old - 750 mg / day,
- children 4-6 years old - 1000 mg / day,
- children 7-9 years old - 1200 mg / day,
- boys and girls 10-18 years old - 1,300 - 1,500 mg / day,
- men and women - 1500 - 1200 mg / day (decreases with age),
- pregnancy and lactation - 1500 mg / day.
Low sodium diet: for whom?
Dietary sodium restriction is recommended for everyone, because we consume it even 2-3 times more than the recommendations and even 10 times more than the demand of most people. Eating too much sodium for a long time is dangerous to your he alth. Among he althy people, young children are particularly exposed to excess sodium in the diet, whose daily requirement for this ingredient covers eating the proverbial one sausage.
A low-sodium diet is recommended for people with arterial hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. Reducing s alt intake allows you to reduce the doses of drugs, and even eliminate them in people suffering from hypertension. It leads to a reduction in the frequency of heart attacks by 18% and strokes by 24%. People with low bone density, who are prone to osteoporosis, should limit sodium, because the excess sodium consumed increases the excretion of calcium from the body. Excess sodium is not recommended in kidney diseases.
Low sodium diet: rules
The most common low-sodium diet is to limit sodium in meals to less than 2 g per day. The more advanced the disease states, the less s alt should be in the diet. The main assumptions of a low-sodium diet are to give up adding s alt to food during cooking and to choose processed foods that are as low in s alt as possible.
How to implement a low-sodium diet?
- Eliminate sodium chloride (s altkitchen, sea, Himalayan etc., s alt in spice mixes) added to food during cooking.
- Do not use stock cubes.
- Use potassium or magnesium s alt instead of table s alt.
- For more flavor, use garlic, herbs, vinegar, lemon etc.
- Eliminate soy sauce and fish sauce, ready-made sauces for salads and other dishes.
- Choose foods that are low in sodium. Low-sodium foods contain up to 140 mg of sodium per serving, which is the equivalent of 310 mg of s alt.
- Eliminate high-sodium foods that contain more than 400 mg of sodium per serving (1 g of s alt) - cold cuts, sausages and other meats, cheese, bread.
- Avoid delicatessen, canteen, ready-made meals - powdered soups and sauces, jars, ready-made meals to be reheated, e.g. lasagne, breaded wings, pizza, etc.
- Eliminate s alty snacks - chips, sticks, crackers, s alted peanuts, etc.
In all other respects, a low-sodium diet is based on the same principles as any he althy diet. It should contain 3 to 5 meals a day. You should eat breakfast up to an hour after waking up, and dinner at least 3 hours before going to bed.
Avoid frying in deep fat and breadcrumbs, and more often choose baked, boiled, steamed, and stewed dishes. Fruit in a he althy diet is recommended 1-2 times a day, preferably as a meal, not a snack. On the other hand, vegetables should be included in every meal. The minimum amount of vegetables and fruits recommended by the WHO is 400 g per day. It is very important to drink at least 1.5 liters of water a day.
Dairy is best eaten once a day and choose the low-sodium one. Cold cuts from the store should be replaced with self-baked meat (e.g. turkey breast, ham, pork loin) that has not been marinated with s alt. The stores offer Italian-type bread without s alt or low-sodium bread. You can also bake the bread yourself, without using s alt. S alty snacks and ready meals need to be completely eliminated.
Recommended and contraindicated products in a low-sodium diet
| Food | Low sodium | High in sodium |
| Meat, poultry, fish, pods, eggs, nuts |
All fresh and frozen types of meat, poultry and fish Eggs Raw (not canned) pulses, Nuts and uns alted almonds |
Smoked, dried, s alted, canned meat and fish Any meat products: cold cuts, sausages, frankfurters, etc. Peas, beans, chickpeas and other legume seeds in brine (canned or in a jar), Nuts and s alted almonds, peanut butter |
| Dairy | Milk, yoghurt, ice cream, ricotta, mozzarella, cottage cheese, butter, margarine | Yellow cheese, processed cheese, cottage cheese, Parmesan, s alted butter and margarine |
| Bread and cereals, snacks | Cereals, rice, groats, pasta, uns alted popcorn | Bread, rolls, rusks, wafers, crackers, pizza, crisps, s alted popcorn, breadsticks, pretzels |
| Fruits and vegetables | Fresh and frozen vegetables, fresh potatoes, frozen chips, low-sodium vegetable juices, fresh, frozen, dried, canned fruits | Canned vegetables, vegetable juices, olives, dried tomatoes, sauerkraut, pickled cucumbers, ready-made tomato sauces |
| Soups | Homemade soups without stock cubes and s alt | Powdered soups, ready-made soups, broth, stock cubes |
| Sauces, spices, oils | "Single" fresh and dried herbs and spices, vinegar, vegetable oils | Soy sauce, fish sauce, spice mixes, table s alt, Himalayan s alt, sea s alt, garlic s alt, etc., salad dressings, dressings |
Low-sodium diet: sample menu
Day I
Breakfast
- Pancakes with low-sugar jam or fresh fruit and almonds
Second breakfast
- Uns alted rice wafers with butter + homemade roasted turkey + cucumber, pepper
Lunch
- Fried salmon sprinkled with lemon, seasoned with herbs
- Mix of lettuces + cherry tomatoes + olive oil, balsamic vinegar, provence herbs, pepper, sweet and hot peppers
Dinner
- Pumpkin and carrot cream soup on vegetable stock without stock cube thickened with coconut milk + curry, ginger, pepper, garlic, sweet and hot peppers + roasted pumpkin seeds for sprinkling
Day II
Breakfast
- Scrambled eggs with onion, s alted with potassium s alt
Second breakfast
- Natural yogurt + pear + handful of walnuts
Lunch
- Buckwheat, cooked without s alt
- Pork ham stew with mushrooms, carrots and paprika, seasoned with thyme, rosemary, pepper, sweet paprika, bay leaf and allspice
Dinner
- Homemade roasted turkey sliced
- Mix of lettuces + cherry tomatoes + olive oil, balsamic vinegar, provence herbs, pepper, sweet and hot peppers
Day III
Breakfast
- Fried eggs
- Tomatoes with onion, olive oil and pepper
Second breakfast
- Carrots cut into sticks
- Homemade hummus with fresh chickpeas, olive oil, garlic, tahini paste and lemon juice
Lunch
- Baked zucchini halves stuffed with minced poultry with bulgur, seasoned with pepper, garlic, onion, basil, oregano, sweet and hot peppers
Dinner
- Cottage cheese with natural yoghurt, radish and chives, seasoned with pepper
- Rice wafers without s alt
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About the author
Aleksandra Żyłowska-Mharrab, dietician Food technologist, dietitian, educator. A graduate of Biotechnology at the Gdańsk University of Technology and Nutritional Services at the Maritime University. A supporter of simple, he althy cuisine and conscious choices in everyday nutrition. My main interests include building permanent changes in eating habits and individually composing a diet according to the body's needs. Because the same thing is not he althy for everyone! I believe that nutritional education is very important, both for children and adults. I focus my activities on spreading knowledge about nutrition, analyze new research results, and make my own conclusions. I adhere to the principle that a diet is a lifestyle, not strict adherence to meals on a sheet of paper. There is always room for delicious pleasures in he althy and conscious eating.
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