This just made me laugh... a no salt shampoo!!

Roti- in place of flour tortillas

As you know, when on a low sodium diet you need to pretty much avoid regular flour tortillas. They usually have 300-450mg per tortilla. Crazy! Corn tortilla are an awesome option (as they have zero sodium) however they are a bit fiddlier to work with and usually only come in the small 6 inch size.

That is why I was so excited to find that Roti have only 95mg per wrap!! They act more like flour tortilla in that they are very flexible and do not crack but also, in my option, taste way better!

Ketchup

We have been very happy with Thrifty's Compliments brand low sodium ketchup. It is a bit lower in sodium than the Heinz variety 45mg/tbsp versus 60mg/tbsp.

 

 Regular Ketchup below. 140mg/tbsp

A summary of bacon

It is actually quite embarrassing documenting our bacon intake. The kids are a bit obsessed with it at the moment and ask for it every weekend. I think they are making up for lost time.  I picked up a few different low sodium name brands lately, so I thought I would compare...

 

3.8mg/g

5mg/g

Here is the summary from best to worst broken down into mg per gram as the serving size varies per name brand:

2.7mg/g  Kirkland brand photo here

3.8mg/g Western Family photo above

4mg/g Safeway Select photo here

5mg/g Maple Leaf photo above

Salt Salt Salt

To compare the true sodium content between different salts you have to look at the serving size in grams versus the measurement due to the size of the salt.  See below four different types of salt Kosher Salt, Sea Salt, Pink Himalayan and regular "household".  They are pretty much have the same sodium content despite first glance at their label.

 

600mg per 1.5 g

 

585mg per 1.5 g

 

615mg per 1.5 g

 

590mg per 1.5 g

 (Sorry about the bad photo, this box of salt has been around for a while).

Bacon (again)

 

We found another low sodium bacon!! This one is even better.. 54g for 150mg. It is Kirkland -Costco brand and it is great. It is nice to be able to have bacon in our house again. 

Dill Pickles

 

Even at 50% less salt, these are are not really a good option for people on a low sodium diet.. but they are the ones that we get for our pickle obsessed son.

Bacon

 

I picked this up today.. i didn't know they made low sodium bacon!

160mg for 2 slices isn't that bad.

Our low sodium journey

It is with a happy heart that I am announcing our venture back into the world of sodium.. although many of our lifestyle changes we plan to carry on.

A few weeks ago Matthew received a kidney transplant! 

We have been advised to always remain vigilant about our sodium intake, but we definitely do not need to be on such strict watch. I hope this (short) blog of products is helpful to other people starting  down the low sodium path. 

I will try to update this blog when I find new products but it likely won't be quite as often as I have updated it in the past. 

Chips

When I first tried these chips I thought they were so plain that I actually salted them for myself (without telling Matt). But I have to say that these chips have really grown on me, they taste like potatoes not salt.  I would actually purchase them over the salted variety now. 

Low Sodium bread machine pizza dough

I keep stalling at posting this recipe because I want to include a picture but I can't seem to remember to take a picture... so here is a the recipe for low sodium pizza dough for the bread machine.
We love to make pizza from scratch but struggled for a long time to find the right combination of salt and yeast. I think we finally have it:

1 cup water
1 Tbsp shortening
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 2/3 Cup flour
3/4 tsp yeast

There you go! You will have to trust me as I have no picture proof..

We usually top it with homemade low sodium pizza sauce, our favourite low sodium mozzarella cheese (here) and different combinations of low sodium toppings.

Mr. Spice- hot wings

 

Matt's favourite Mr. Spice is the Hot Wings. I think he has tried the whole line now.. here are some others.

We notice that most stores carry one or two different Mr. Spices but hardly any carry the whole line. We have to go to Whole Foods for this particular one.

Seasoned pepper

This isn't really a "no-sodium product", as pepper doesn't usually contain salt anyway but I thought it was worth a mention. It is a seasoned pepper, which is great as it gives extra flavour to the food. I find the grains a bit too large, but the flavour is very nice.

Chicken broth

 

We like to make our broth from scratch in order to keep the sodium level as low as possible.

We start with a bed of onions, lots of garlic, lemons, pepper and a whole chicken. After about 5 hours (on low) in the slow cooker we remove most of the chicken meat, leaving the bones, skin and other bits.. add some water, Kombu seaweed and spices and let it go for another 5 hours before straining.

Pop crisps, corn.. Mini taco bowls

I found these low sodium (and low fat) treats at Thrifty's today. They worked perfect as mini taco bowls. 

 

Low sodium bread- Thrifty's

The BEST bread option out there. 

We love our Thrifty's bread. 5mg per slice, 10mg per bun. This is amazing as there are not many options at all for low sodium bread. This bread tastes the same as any regular bakery bread. The only difference I have noted is that it tends to spoil faster.

Mayonnaise

Matt found this mayonnaise at Trader Joe's. It isn't super low in sodium (compared to plain mayonnaise- see below) but it is a bit lower and has a lot more flavour.

Sweet ginger chili dip

Soy sauce

Regular soy sauce is about 920 mg per 1 Tbsp, which means that it is out of Matt's diet.

 

The Braggs liquid Soy Seasoning is 960 mg per 1 Tbsp, so it is out too!

 

Low Sodium Soy Sauce is 580 mg per 1 Tbsp. Therefore Matt uses it sparingly with his sushi.

I have tried making homemade soy sauce.. which was OK..

Here is the receipe:

2 T Sodium Free Beef Bouillon
2 t Red Wine Vinegar
1 t Molasses
1/8 t Ground Ginger
dash Black Pepper
dash Garlic Powder
3/4 c Water
In small sauce pan, combine and boil gently uncovered about 5 minutes or til mixture is reduced to 1/2 cup. Store in refrigerator. Stir before using. 

Cereal

 

The amount of sodium really varies with cereal.  This is Matt's current low sodium favourite.. 50mg/ 3/4 Cup.

We get this at Costco, but I am sure I have seen it elsewhere.