Lunchmeat and salty snacks are obvious. You might even know about canned and frozed foods. But what about these seemingly innocent grocery items? I have been shopping all over the grocery stores in Arizona to get the scoop on the grocery items you’d least expect to be high in sodium.

1. Chicken breasts. This was the biggest surprise of all. All the flash frozen chicken breasts I checked have over 300mg sodium per half-breast. Even most non-frozen chicken breasts are full of it. Sanderson Farms here in Arizona limits the levels to about 70-100mg per. Seeing the American Heart Association seal on some packages of chicken breasts seems misleading

2. Salsa. Here in Arizona, salsa is a very important condiment. Because it’s a condiment, the serving size is typically 2 tablespoons. So when there is about 240-270 mg sodium per serving, you’re getting a lot of sodium with your snacks and recipes. You can make your own (yummy but hard to keep), or just look in the organic aisle, which probably displays a few brands that are much lower in sodium

3. Spaghetti sauce. Back when I first started paying attention to my carbohydrates, I was surprised to learn that spaghetti sauce in a jar is often higher in carb than cooks would expect. But the real alarming statistic is the sodium–from 300-600 mg per 1/2 cup serving. I haven’t been able to find any brand that isn’t high in sodium. So I stocked up on sodium-free canned tomatoes and tomato sauce, and purchased some Italian seasoning with no sodium

4. Breads. You are probably aware that bread uses salt as part of its leavening process. So nearly all bread contains some sodium. But purchased breads really exploit the sodium. I did find good sodium-free bread with a reasonable amount of fiber at Trader Joe’s. Watch out for the sodium in English muffins, bagels, tortillas, and all the other breads, especially wraps. It’s ridiculous

5. Eggs. I’ve been buying the Egg Beaters product again so that I can have a quick and easy protein for breakfast–despite the weird taste. The sodium is about 115mg per serving, so I thought I could do better by separating the whites and yolks of real eggs instead. Besides, the taste is better. But hold on. One large egg contains about 90mg of sodium. That’s over 180mg sodium for two eggs. So if you can stand it, the Egg Beaters are a better deal, sodium-wise

It’s been awhile. It’s been a rough health year for this diabetic. Some of the more notable events include a complicated hysterectomy,  a couple of freak accidents (two scorpion stings and one concussion), and then, at the beginning of October, what appeared to be a heart attack. I was close. The angina actually revealed two arterial blockages, which were stented right quick, with new-fangled stents intended specifically for diabetics. Now I’m a heart patient, with a newfound respect for low, low sodium foods. But I’m not complaining. As an emotional eater who brought on my T2 at age 40 with lots of breads and candies, I scoffed at the trite aphorism “nothing tastes as good as thin feels.” I knew it wasn’t true. However…I now present my own trite aphorism, and I really mean it: “Nothing tastes as good as being alive feels.” There. It’s true. And in the interest of full disclosure, if I never have another pizza or apple pie again, I’ve already had enough for a couple of lifetimes.

As part of my personal program of rehabilitation (getting the LDL down, the HDL up, the A1C even lower), I’ve been shopping. It clears my head, whether it’s shoes or makeup or the canned goods aisle at Safeway. I now not only look at carbs and protein; I’m also sizing up fats and sodium with a keener eye. Here are some foods and their stores that I have discovered in Arizona:

Fry’s (Kroger):
Private Label Italian Seasoning, with their no-salt tomato sauce and tomatoes (for spaghetti)
Private Label organic pinto/kidney/ bean medley – 100mg sodium per 1/2 cup (for chili and Mexican)
Desert Pepper Peach Mango Medium Hot Salsa (only 40mg per serving; check out the others)
Generic tomatoes, tomato sauce, and green beans, all no-sodium
Store brand frozen vegetables–cheap and a good variety

WalMart:
Kozy Shack sugar-free rice pudding (lower in carb and higher in fiber than Jello brand)
Generic tomatoes, tomato sauce, and green beans, all no-sodium

Any store:
Blue Bunny Sweet Freedom snack-size ice cream bars–all <4 net carb but still 7g fat, but delicious! Watch out for the sugar alcohols. My system can’t sustain more than one per day
Baby Swiss cheese–lower in fat and really lower in sodium than any other cheese
Plain yogurt: Mix with Splenda and cocoa for strawberry dip, blend with ice and strawberries and vanilla for a milkshake

And here are some of my failures so far. By failures, I mean that I’m going to have to make them the old fashioned way–from a recipe in a cookbook. Spaghetti sauce in a jar? Whoa! An average of 400 mg per 1/2 cup serving. Bottled salad dressings? Sure, there are a lot of low-fat and low-carb dressings. But find me one with less than 250 mg sodium that I can buy at the grocery store. And how about low-sodium bread with a decent amoung of fiber? I can’t find it, yet. Yikes, I might have to get out the bread machine! And I’m back to buying chicken breasts from the plastic packages (check out the sodium in those flash-frozen packs).

It’s summer and there are so many great tomatoes available, especially if you grow your own. One of the best ways to enjoy a summer tomato is part of a delicious BLT sandwich. If you haven’t had a BLT lately, you should. Every bite is a melange of flavors and textures like nothing else. Just use these ingredients, and you’ll have a highly nutritious yet sensuous feast. The only thing to watch is the sodium, because of the commercial bread and the bacon. One sandwich contains over half the total recommended sodium for someone on a low-sodium diet, and about one third for a regular diet.  Just make sure you’re lower sodium the rest of the day. This recipe makes 3 sandwiches (two for my husband and one for me).

1 package Oscar Mayer pre-cooked bacon
6 slices Orowheat double fiber bread (wheatberry is also a good choice)
2 beefsteak tomatoes, washed and sliced thinly (or substitute with whatever you have)
iceberg or Romaine lettuce leaves, washed and dried
3 tablespoons Best Foods (Hellmans) Canola Mayonnaise

Even though it’s fully cooked, I heat the bacon in the microwave for about 30 seconds, which crisps it a little. Toast the bread thoroughly so it’s hearty. Spread the mayonnaise on both sides. Layer the lettuce, then the tomatoes, then the bacon on top. Approximate nutritional breakdown per sandwich: 305 calories, 15g fat, 845mg sodium, 22g net carb, 14g fiber, 16g protein

I had a grilled stuff steak burrito (minus rice) at Taco Bell the other day. It was delicious and not too terrible an indulgence, with about 600 calories and 25 grams of fat. Even though it has 73 carbs, it also has 30 grams of protein. But then there’s the sodium: 1930mg. For one burrito! That’s almost an entire day of recommended sodium.

The American Diabetes Association recommends keeping daily sodium intake at 2400mg or lower: http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-cholesterol/faqs-sodium.jsp. OK, give it a try.

Fast food is notorious, but more for calories, carbs, and fat than sodium. Diabetics have to be careful about blood sugar levels and especially spikes, but we also have to carefully watch our sodium intake. High blood pressure precedes heart disease, stroke, and kidney failure. So we have to be wary not only of sweets, but of any packaged breads, canned foods, frozen convenience foods, restaurant food, or anything else that’s both convenient and tasty–including fast food. It’s all high in sodium.

I recently purchased a package of Mission multi-grain taco tortillas that contained 460mg of sodium…each. After I read all the nutrition information, I threw the package away. I will include more information about Mission tortillas (which I generally like) in a future entry.

For frozen meals, I’ve noticed that only the Healthy Choice and Lean Cuisine LInes seem to care about keeping sodium levels decent–about 600mg or less per serving. Lean Cuisine will go higher if you choose the larger entrees. I will provide a comparison table of frozen meals in a future entry. One meal I wholeheartedly endorse, and which might surprise you, is the family size serving of Stouffer’s Lasagne. The one in the red package. It serves 5 (about 1 cup each), and is fairly low in calories (270) and carbs. And even the sodium content (770mg) isn’t that bad. So when you need a quick and easy meal, serve it up with a salad and diet dressing, and you can feel pretty good about it.

The bottom line: If you want to keep sodium levels consistently reasonable, you’re going to have to cook. Here are a few items that help us keep cooking at home simple while keeping the sodium low.

-Sodium-free bouillon, both chicken and beef flavor (I like the packets versus the jars, but both are good)
-Small jars of dried or ground herbs (so they stay fresher): rosemary, bay leaves, bouquet garni, cumin
-McCormick Salt Free and Less Sodium Seasonings: we love Montreal Steak 25% less sodium for steaks and use Spicy or Lemon & Pepper on roasts or sauteed meats
-If you’re not drinkers and you can have alcohol, keep a few small bottles of wine (Cost Plus World Market sells the small bottles individually) around for adding to roasts, stews, soups
-Salt free or reduced sodium canned products: I’ve found tomatoes, green beans, and mushrooms

Partial takeout is another option. Grocery stores are full of convenience items these days, and most of them are really, really high in sodium. But some aren’t. I love Safeway’s deli meatloaf. Each 3 oz serving (which is a little small for us) contains 200 calories, 11g fat, 6g net carb, and 460mg sodium. That’s high sodium, but not so high for a convenience food. Serve with small white potatoes baked in the microwave and a few vegetables (we keep lots of bags of sodium-free vegetables in the freezer).

From splenda.com:

“SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener can lower carbohydrates and calories in recipes. For example, a cup of SPLENDA® Granular has 96 calories and 24 grams of carbohydrates, compared to the 770 calories and 192 grams of carbs found in a cup of sugar. Since SPLENDA® Granular measures and pours like sugar, you can use it like sugar in your favorite recipes. For your favorite beverages, SPLENDA® Packets are the perfect size to take with you anywhere you go.”

I tried baking with it. It just doesn’t seem to mitigate the carb count in baked goods enough to make it worth the effort, because baked goods usually contain wheat flour, which is also high in carb. Plus, baking with Splenda leads to uneven results. Sometimes the baked good ends up too sweet, and sometimes not sweet enough. By the way, you might want to try your favorite banana bread recipe without any sugar or Splenda. A friend told me that the bananas sweeten the bread naturally. I tried it with only 1/4 cup added Splenda, and it was plenty sweet. So if you previously added a cup of sugar, you would be saving quite a few carbs and calories by substituting Splenda and using much less of it.

Baked goods aside, I think Splenda is a fantastic product for a number of uses:
-Fresh squeezed lemonade
-Dressings and marinades
-Fruit crisps and cobblers (with low-glycemic fruit and oat flour)
-Drizzles to sweeten things with lowered sugar

Any sweetened liquid is like kryptonite to a diabetic, because the liquid is processed into the bloodstream so quickly, thereby spiking blood sugar. So lemonade, orange juice, apple juice, and regular soda are out. But with Splenda, we can have our juice and drink it, too. For this reason alone, Splenda is a miracle product.

When every single carb counts, I think it’s worth it to use Splenda. I love sweets, and I can have dessert as long as my dinner has been low carb and high protein. I’m lucky. My mother-in-law has been diabetic for 20 years but recently was able to go off insulin by changing her meds and going strictly low carb. So when we have her over for dinner, I can still serve dessert if I use Splenda and some care. I’ll be posting my rhubarb crisp recipe here soon.

I also think it’s worth it to use Splenda for marinades and dressings to keep carb count really low. For example, the Kung Pao chicken recipe featured in this blog is delicious and very low in carbs; substituting Splenda for sugar makes no difference in taste and saves 4g carb and 45 calories. I also mix our own tomato-based barbecue marinade and use Splenda for a little sweetening. Splenda doesn’t work as a part of a basting sauce, though. Real sugar crystalizes, and Splenda won’t.

When I was 3 years old, I got myself into the kitchen and painted the wall with butter. It was the first manifestation of both my artistic bent and my love of butter. For a diabetic, indulging in an extremely high-fat treat containing butter might not raise your blood sugar, if the ratio of fat to carb is much higher in favor of the fat. (We’re all different, so we just have to test.) But we have to watch the fat, too. My primary physician told me that if you’re diabetic, physicians automatically treat you as if you have heart disease. And she does.

So of course I can’t have butter. Of course. I can’t have it in the house, because I will eat way too much. So I did some research into substitutes and have found a workable option. A friend recommended Brummel & Brown, and I can use it. I can’t say I’m happy about the taste, but I use it. It’s low in fat and calories, and passable in flavor. And it really comes out favorably compared to other popular options. Here’s a table, but before you peruse it, let me just say that I list original brands only, and light spreads (yuck) aren’t included.

Chili is yummy, filling comfort food. And it’s surprisingly good for you with the high protein and fiber content, plus all the lycopene from long-simmering tomatoes. Watch out for canned chili: it’s extremely high in sodium. Try making your own in the crockpot. It tastes wonderful and smells great cooking all day. Plus it’s much lower in fat and sodium than the canned versions. This low-sodium, low-fat recipe makes about 6 servings.

Chili
1 pound round steak
2 15-ounce cans pinto beans, rinsed and drained
2 14.5-ounce cans no salt added diced tomatoes (we use Del Monte)
1 medium yellow or white onion
1 tablespoon chili powder

Canned pinto beans are always high sodium, so rinse them thoroughly in a colander and let drain while you’re preparing the meat. You should be able to cut about 30% of the sodium in the beans by rinsing them. Remember that many commercial brands of chili powder typically contain sodium; McCormick’s contains 240mg per tablespoon. The generic brand we use does not contain any, so they’re out there and worth the search. Prepare the steak by freezing it slightly so it’s easier to slice. Then trim and slice into bite-size pieces. In a non-stick frying pan, add 1 tablespoon olive oil and saute the meat until well done. Push to the side of the pan and saute the onion that’s been sliced fairly thinly. Spray the crockpot with olive oil and add the meat and onion mixture. Pour the drained pinto beans over the meat mixture, and then add the two cans of sodium-free tomatoes. Add chili powder and stir. Simmer all day and enjoy. The tomatoes count as a vegetable serving, and their lycopene is released by long simmering. Approximate nutritional content in this recipe per serving: 240 calores, 6g fat, 320mg sodium, 13g net carb, 8g fiber. If you used sodium-free chili powder: approximately 80mg sodium.

Crock-pot roasts are the easiest meals you could possibly make. They’re good for either summer (you don’t use the oven) or winter (smells good all day) meals.

Pot Roast
1 2-3 pound boneless round roast
1 medium white or yellow onion
small white potatoes
baby carrots
red wine
beef buillon (1 packet or about 1 tsp)
If you have chuck roast, you can just put it in the crock pot for 8 hours, and it turns out perfectly. But a serving of chuck roast, even trimmed, is still about twice the fat as a round roast. So…here’s a way to have delicious pot roast and keep it lean. Using medium-high heat and a non-stick pan, brown the roast on all sides quickly. Spray the crockpot with olive oil spray and put the roast in it. In the pan, add a tablespoon of olive oil and brown the onion slices until they just start to get tender. Mix in the bouillon and then pile the onion mixture on top of the roast. Pour in about 1/2 cup of red wine and throw in a bay leaf or two. Simmer on low all day. About two hours before serving, cut off any bad parts of the potatoes, and throw them and the carrots in the liquid. A 4-ounce serving of top round is about 240 calories and 10g fat.

Roast Pork Loin
1 2-3 pound boneless pork loin
Rosemary
Spray the crockpot with olive oil spray and place the roast in the crockpot. Sprinkle liberally with rosemary.  Cook all day. That’s it! Serve with a salad and fresh bread (I buy small sourdough flutes so we don’t eat too much bread). A 4-ounce serving of pork loin is about 240 calories and 10g fat.

Roast Turkey Breast
Our WalMart Supercenter now sells Butterball boneless all-white turkey breasts. I was so happy until I had already purchased 3 and read nutrition lablel. They’re infused with lots of sodium (and who knows what else). I’m still going to use them, because they’re so convenient for dinner and then sandwiches. But beware the sodium on these! We used to stock up on the bone-in kind around Thanksgiving, but that meant using the oven. Now I can just put one in the crock pot (spray with olive oil spray first), sprinkle with Mrs. Dash lemon pepper seasoning, and 8 hours later we have turkey! I make instant mashed potatoes and gravy (which are fairly low in sodium) and serve with no-salt-added canned green beans for a real comfort meal. And it’s so easy you can have it on a weekday, with enough turkey for sandwiches the rest of the week. A 4-oz serving of white turkey breast is about 180 calories and 3g fat.

Yea! Mimi’s now posts their own nutrition information off the online menu. My mom and I meet for lunch about once a week, and we love to meet at Mimi’s. Our favorite lunch is the petite salad. They serve it with a muffin! I manage to stop after eating about half of it. Yum. You’d think we were being good, right? Not necessarily. Here’s a breakdown, comparing my other favorite Mimi’s meal, the Classic Beef Dip sandwich. (I couldn’t find the coleslaw information on the Mimi’s site so I used other web sources.)

Well, the salad lunch is unbelievably high fat, but the sandwich lunch is REALLY unbelievably high sodium. I tell myself that the sodium count has to include all the au jus in the cup, and I only use a little, so it must be OK. If it is, then the sandwich is a much better all-around choice. I guess all I’m trying to say is that appearances and pre-conceived notions can be deceiving. But now that Mimi’s posts their nutritional information, they don’t have to be. Check it out.

People either love Hawaiian pizza or they hate it. I happen to love it: sweet, salty, cheesy, crispy. To me, it has everything. If you like thin crust pizza, you’ll like this one. It’s really cheesy and satisfying. It fits all my criteria: delicious, easy, and not too bad for you. Plus, you get a fruit serving. You can adapt this recipe to any toppings. Makes a single serving pizza.

1 Mission Carb Balance Soft Taco Tortilla
Olive Oil Spray
1 scant tablespoon spaghetti sauce
1/4 cup Libby’s crushed pineapple with Splenda
1 slice Canadian bacon, sliced into small pieces
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup shredded Italian cheese

Heat a non-stick frying pan and spray with olive oil spray. Using medium heat, crisp the tortilla on both sides. This gives it the sturdiness it requires to hold the sauce and toppings. Spread the spaghetti sauce thinly and then top with toppings and cheese. Bake on a greased pie crust or cookie sheet in regular oven at 410 for about 10 minutes, or you can even cook it in the microwave on a regular dinner plate for about 3-4 minutes on high.

Approximate nutritional content: 367 calories, 13 net carbs, 11g fiber, 18g fat, 850mg sodium