by Eric Lannak

Created on: April 24, 2009

Low sodium diets are typically prescribed for those who cannot excrete enough sodium to maintain a normal balance. Your kidneys will normally "concentrate" your urine to get rid of excess sodium and lose as little water as possible, but when the amount of sodium in your body exceeds the kidneys' ability to do this, sodium backs up. Your body then hoards water to dilute the sodium, which leads to puffiness, elevated blood pressure, and other health consequences.

The idea behind a sodium-restricted diet is to minimize the sodium accumulation, allowing your body to flush out the excess and bring your balance back into line.

Unless your doctor prescribes a reduction in fluid intake (as happens in those with kidney disease), a simple assist is to drink more water every day. This may cause you to retain more fluid for the first few hours, but in the long run it makes it easier for your kidneys to excrete the excess sodium (because your body won't have to concentrate your urine anymore).

If you still need to reduce your sodium intake, it is not the end of flavor in food. Rather, it should be viewed as a reason to try out new foods, experiment with new flavors, and find new ways to love the foods you crave.

Unfortunately, however, you have to give up a few things you may have gotten used to. The "give up" is tough; it includes almost all packaged snacks (like chips, salted pretzels, salted nuts), most processed foods (like soups, mac-and-cheese, lunchmeats, and frozen dinners), and most restaurant foods. It means no salt on your potatoes, no Chinese, no deli meats.

No bacon

You also have to pay attention to labels. When the can/bag/box says "250 mg sodium per serving", you better check out what a serving is. If there are 3 servings in the can/bag/box, then you'll suck up 750 mg of sodium if you eat the whole thing... which is a big chunk of the 1-2 grams of sodium allowed in most salt-restricted diets.

You also have to take into accout non-food items. If you use nasal sprays or saline solution for any medical reason, you should know how much sodium you're ingesting. If you like diet drinks or sugar-free candy or gum, you need to take the amount of saccharine (sodium saccharine, to be precise) into account. And many seasoning blends you use should be checked for their sodium content. This can leave some big holes in the way you live.

There are many ways to make up for the food voids and leave you feeling satisfied, however. You just need to appreciate that flavor has many components,

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