Welcome to My Low Sodium Page

Updated 24 July 2014:

I have worked on recoding these pages several times. Hopefully it is looking pretty good on your end of things.

28 March 2011

Hearing loss and ringing sounds

I do not know if I address it below, but the ringing in my ear stopped when I lowered my sodium intake and my hearing returned to normal. I credit the sodium level to both of these conditions because it always just kind of felt as though my ears had been stuffy.

Weight

In order to lose and maintain the loss of weight, one must do one of two things; first, stop eating as many calories, second, move.

Almost any sort of exercise will move you along in a positive direction. I developed, for myself, a "walking in place" program that allows me to simply stand up, turn on some music with about 120 beats pre minute to it (like the military might place for marching) and then just work the largest muscles in my legs in a comfortable manner.

My program was originally designed for me to work it out until I wore myself out, then I would cut back to a more consistent time so that I would not get burned out.

The goal is to have something that works for you, that you can and will do, enough to stop gaining excess weight, and actually lose some.

Think of it in this way, I was already in the hole, it was time to stop digging and climb out. By doing anything at all, I was bettering my condition.

Foods

I eat as low a sodium diet as I can. I will be obtaining the minimum amount of sodium that my body requires (we do need some), from some foods no matter what I do, but by focusing on what I do eat, I can keep the sodium under control!

Some pasta has sodium, read the packages. All of those tasty sauces are LOADED with sodium - read the packages! Read all of the food packages, we will be getting sodium, they have seen to that!

I pretty much eat the same things, pasta, instant potatoes and Mrs. Dash for flavorings. I also use olive oil for flavor too.

I will be moving this page again in the future and post some new information... stay tuned.

Low Sodium:

In short, I had a condition in my right ear that did two things. I would hear a ringing in my ear for long periods of time that had been quite bothersome. The other problem was hearing loss in that ear. Oddly, hearing loss and constant ringing just made the ringing louder!

I went to a doctor who said I needed to cut down my sodium... I laughed. He assured me that if I did a check on my sodium, that I would see that is probably quite high. He asked me to count it up for a few days... I nodded my head and left his office.

When I returned for a follow up, he asked if I counted it up - I had not - and then he went through a longer dissertation of why it was so vital as to why I check it out and get a real picture of what my sodium levels had been. This time I listened.

When I counted up my daily intake of sodium, I could have had the heart attack right then and there. I never added salt to anything I ate, but the hidden sodium in my diet was loading me up with something in the area of 3500mg per day!

We "need" about 500mg per day, but you'll get that in almost anything you eat, and forget about ever adding salt to anything - the food makers have already done it for us.

Following advice from Margaret Wilde, I cut out all of the sodium that I could for a few weeks, and only allowed very minor sodium back into my diet in acceptable levels.

What I discovered was that my Cholesterol levels dropped from nearly 200 to 164 doing nothing but cutting the sodium. I lost some weight, and some of that quickly. I did not count calories, I just cut sodium. I also did not increase my exercise level either... just cutting sodium!

A few months after I began this, I began to feel better in general, and when I checked my blood pressure, I noted that it had dropped as well. Now, my blood pressure was always pretty good, but near the area where I would be concerned if it had gone any higher. So, this was another added bonus to cutting out most of the sodium in my diet!

I have to rework this page quite a bit, but in short, cut the sodium out of your diet, really llok at the amount of sodium that food makers pack into our foods, and take control of the sodium input in your life. I have lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure, better over all feeling in general and that hearing loss in my right ear is nearly gone (meaning I have very good hearing in that ear again) and the rigning problem went away completely!

I can also report that I feel less stress in general, and I would think that as an additional side effect of all of the above, I am actually happier with life in general. I was rather satisfied with life anyway, but it is good to actually note that I do indeed feel happier.

I cannot thank Margaret Wilde enough for all of the information that she has put out there for us... share her site and information with everyone you can... lower sodium is a very big part of a much happier and healthier life!

Best wishes for much success, always!

Ray Hayden

Foods That I Eat:

My apologies for not giving out this information when I moved the page!

Here is a list of the foods that I eat:

• Pasta, that's right, pasta. The pasta that I use has zero sodium - it was the sauce that had a LOT. The way I make it is by boiling the pasta, straining it out and just having it in a bowl. I add olive oil for flavor.


• Idahoan Original Mashed Potatoes. These are the dry ones that come in a large round container. I pour them into a large bowl and add water only. I flavor them with either black pepper or Mrs. Dash, depending on my mood. You can use milk. Even skim milk has a fair amount of sodium, so watch out. When I am making them for myself, I only use water. You can also add "No Sodium Added" corn for a texture and added flavor. Typically, I just use the potatoes and water, but it is an added option.


• Probably my most often eaten food item is Quaker Multi Grain Hot Cereal (multi grain oatmeal). This is sodium free, like the potatoes if you only use water. It is a food item that fills you up rather well, without too may calories.

The potatoes and multi grain oatmeal are made with a lot of water, which I feel is a bonus. I name the brands because they work, I don't get any cash from these companies (but I am willing to accept donations from them!).

Actually, the pasta soaks up a lot of water too...

Dropping sodium intake really fast:

First, make sure that you can handle any diet before you try anything. I am not a medical or nutritional expert and have no training in any of that. I can't be held liable for your actions, but I can tell you what I did... here we go...

Using the potatoes discussed above, I ate that for a couple of days, with some servings of the multi grain oatmeal. The typical person is going to get bored of that pretty fast, that's fine, add some of your "normal" foods to the mix, but make sure that you are aware of the sodium intake!

We need 500mg of sodium a day for health. If it is already stored in my body, I think I've got that covered while I eat sodium free for a few days.

I try to target between 500 and 1000mg of sodium a day. If I go over a little, it doesn't hurt me too much. What I discovered is that when I do eat "normal people" foods, I really taste the sodium, and it is not in a good way. Once you cut down, it is not that hard to remain at the lower sodium level (well, for me it isn't), because the levels of sodium in salty foods is too much, and you won't notice it until you cut back.

I do not eat out very often as the foods just don't do it for me. I prefer to actually cook at home because I like the taste better and I prepare only what I want, so I don't have left overs. As a nice little side effect, I save a lot of money on the cost of eating out!

So, I cut my sodium completely for a couple of days in a row. I then added back one meal a day that has some sodium to it. As I continued with my new diet (diet referring to what I eat, not trying to lose weight), I find it quite easy to eat a more sensible group of foods. I can also eat some foods that are light in sodium, or eat "normal" foods, but reduce the serving size to reduce sodium (like with pasta sauce, which is loaded with sodium!) intake.

Where I can, I replace foods. Where I need to, I eliminate foods and extras. I use Mrs. Dash or black pepper for flavoring, and when I eat things that just have a lot of sodium in them, I simply watch the intake very closely and adjust my other meals during the day.