Stage 1 – Therapeutic Diet.

            The restrictions for a low salt diet are classified as follows:

1. Health Canada recommends that the maximum salt (sodium) intake per day is 2300 mgs/day;
2. A single fast food mean can contain as much as 1500 mgs;
3. Most processed foods are high in sodium count, even though they don’t always taste salty;
4. 75% of sodium intake comes from hidden sources, it is therefore essential to study the food contents on items purchased from the supermarket.

Allowances:

1. The following types of food are permissible on a low sodium diet:

• Fruit
• Fresh Vegetables
• Unsalted nuts, seeds and dried beans
• The DASH diet is good for lowering blood pressure www.dashdiet.org.

Stage 2 – The Shopping List

Low Salt Content List :

• 3 Green Granny Smiths Apples
• John Copes Toasted Dry Sweetcorn
• Eden NSA Great Northern Beans
• Sheltons no salt added Chicken Broth
• Tomatillo Garlic Salsa  15mg salt

High Salt Content List: 

Denny’s Honey Smoked Ham, grilled slice

·  1,700 mg sodium, 85 calorie

Atlanta Bread Company Raspberry Scone

·  1,750 mg sodium, 360 calories

Baja Fresh Chicken Tortilla Soup

·  2,760 mg sodium, 320 calories

Hardee’s 2/3 lb Monster Thickburger

·  2,770 mg sodium, 1,420 calories, 108 g fat

Fazoli’s Rigatoni Romano

·  3,180 mg sodium, 1,090 calories, 54 g fat, 101 g carbs

Stage 3 Food Analysis

The Good Food guide

• 3 Green Granny Smiths Apples – Apples like all fruit are low in sodium intake. Certain fruit like bananas are high in potassium a salt substitute;
• John Copes Toasted Dry Sweetcorn : This product is sodium free and tastes like creamed sweet corn.  All the flavour without the salt;
• Eden NSA Great Northern Beans :  Beans are high fibre food and salt free
• Sheltons no salt added Chicken Broth : As it says no salt but the taste of chicken soup
• Tomatillo Garlic Salsa  15mg salt :  A low sodium intake salsa

The Bad food guide

Denny’s Honey Smoked Ham, grilled slice

·  1,700 mg sodium, 85 calorie :  Bad choice  providing in excess of 2/3rd of your daily intake

Atlanta Bread Company Raspberry Scone

·  1,750 mg sodium, 360 calories : Bad Choice high in salt and calories so you put on weight too!

Baja Fresh Chicken Tortilla Soup

·  2,760 mg sodium, 320 calories Bad Choice : This one is the worst of all evils. It exceeds daily sodium intake and high in calories.

Hardee’s 2/3 lb Monster Thickburger

·  2,770 mg sodium, 1,420 calories, 108 g fat :  Extremely Bad Choice : The road to coronary disease – High Sodium, Huge amount of Calories, high fat ratio

Fazoli’s Rigatoni Romano

·  3,180 mg sodium, 1,090 calories, 54 g fat, 101 g carbs  Extremely Bad Choice : The road to coronary disease – High Sodium, Huge amount of Calories, high carb  ratio