If I showed you a restaurant menu, could you pick out the items with the highest salt content?
You might think so, but you may also be surprised to find sodium hiding in places you don’t expect.
For example, which of these restaurant menu items has the most sodium?
- Bowl of French Onion Soup
- Shrimp Caesar salad
- Parmesan Crusted Chicken
- T-bone Steak (18 oz)
The soup is an obvious choice, but in this case it actually has the least amount of sodium. The highest is the Parmesan Crusted Chicken; the steak and salad are nearly the same. All four of these items has over 1500mg of salt. That’s close to the daily recommended amount (2300mg) for healthy adults, and on par with the RDA for those with high blood pressure or at risk for hypertension.
Recently my grandfather (who is 93-years-old) was put on a low salt diet. He and grandma were very unsure about what was safe for him to eat, so I went through all their favorite restaurants, looked at the nutrition facts and picked out the lowest sodium items.
Although I knew restaurant food was often packed with sodium, what I found was pretty eye-opening.
The obvious suspects for high salt content are soups, deli meat, salad dressings and anything fried. But I also found many steaks, pastas, fish and even pancakes had more than 500mg per serving; many were over 1000mg.
Interestingly enough, the chain restaurants also varied quite a bit. I found a few items that were safe for grandpa to eat at Longhorn Steakhouse and Red Lobster (mostly grilled fish and plain potatoes) but absolutely nothing was ok at AppleBee’s or Bob Evans.
If you’ve never paid attention to sodium content before, here are the places you can expect to find it:
- Soups
- Canned foods
- Deli meats & packaged meats like bacon and sausage
- Frozen meals
- Packaged items such as protein bars, snack foods
- Dried fruit
- Restaurant and fast food
Healthy adults need sodium in their diet, and the more active you are the more you need. However too much sodium consumption can lead to Hypertension and Heart Disease.
A diet high in sodium also causes water retention and inflammation.
It is a good idea to avoid (or at least limit) those foods above which are high in sodium, especially if you have high blood pressure or a family history of heart problems.
When it comes to eating out, be your own advocate. You may need to do some detective work to find out whether your favorite restaurant items are loaded with salt. Most chain restaurants put their nutrition content online and you can easily see the worst and best items.
For grandpa, I advised him to order mostly grilled chicken and fish without seasoning, to stick to plain potatoes and steamed veggies or coleslaw as a side, and to skip any salads, soups or sauces.
He likes to eat out for breakfast in which case he will need to order plain eggs or egg whites, wheat toast and fresh fruit. He cannot have bacon, sausage, pancakes, waffles or french toast.
When it comes to a healthy diet, it isn’t just sugar we have to be wary of. Sodium can also be dangerous and contribute to health problems. Don’t assume you know where it is lurking; with a little bit of Google work you can find sodium hiding in places you may not expect.
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