Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Useful ideas on low sodium meals

Even though you watch your sodium intake, things slip sometimes. You cook healthy meals, bring home-made meals to work and shop for low sodium versions of foods, but sometimes you find yourself at a restaurant, worse a fast-food chain eating that delicious but not so healthy sandwich!

What do you do then? If only I knew which meals have lower sodium so I make a more conscious choice while ordering my food. I guess it is all about preparation!

So I decided to go through nutrition facts of restaurants and filter out the meals with the lowest amounts of sodium. I place my findings at the following link: Low Sodium Meals

You need to click on a restaurant name (on the left hand side of the page) in order to see my meal ideas for that restaurant.

Some of the meals I found are fairly low in sodium. Examples:

At Subway: 6 inch Veggie Delite + a chocolate chip cookie = 430 mgs of sodium.

At Wendy's: 5-piece chicken nuggets + garden side salad (no croutons) + sour cream and chives baked potato + apple slices = 540 mgs of sodium.

At McDonald's: A medium-size McNuggets + premium southwest salad (without chicken) = 750 mgs of sodium.

At Chili's: Grilled salmon with garlic and herbs + house salad (no dressing) = 880 mgs of sodium.

At Arby's: Chopped farmhouse chicken salad (roast) + marinara sauce = 840 mgs of sodium.

At Panera Bread: A four cheese egg souffle + Caesar salad (no dressing) = 830 mgs of sodium.

At Taco Bell: One gordita supreme chicken + cheese nachos = 740 mgs of sodium.

If you are on a strict low sodium diet due to a health condition, my suggestions may NOT be good for you. Also my suggestions only consider sodium content. If you need to consume less cholesterol or gluten or are allergic to certain ingredients, please check nutrition facts provided at the websites of these restaurants as well.