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To Reduce Salt And Sodium Intake
When Eating Out:

Choose plain foods like grilled or roasted entrees, baked potatoes, and salad with oil and vinegar. Batter- fried foods tend to be high in salt, as do combination dishes like stews or pasta with sauce.

At The Pharmacy:

Read the labels on over-the-counter drugs. Check the ingredient list and warning statement to see if sodium is in the product. Some drugs contain large amounts of sodium. If you're not sure, ask your health care provider or pharmacist if the drug is okay for you.

To Prepare Lower Salt Meals
At Home:

Add less salt at the table and in cooking. Reduce the amount a little each day until none is used. Try using herbs, spices, and salt-free seasoning blends in cooking and at the table.

Go easy on condiments such as soy sauce, ketchup, mustard, pickles, and olives. They can add a lot of salt to your food.

Cook with low-salt ingredients. Remove salt from recipes whenever possible. Rice, pasta, and hot cereals can be cooked with little or no salt.

Use fewer sauces, mixes, and "instant" products, including flavored rice, pasta, and cereal, which often have salt added.

At The Grocery Store

Choose fresh poultry, fish, and lean meat, rather than canned or processed types.

Cut back on instant or flavored rice, pasta, and cereal mixes, which usually have added salt.

Choose "convenience" foods that are lower in sodium. Frozen dinners and packaged mixes often have a lot of sodium.

If you do buy prepared and packaged foods, read the labels. Look for the word "sodium" and for its symbol, "Na," as well as the word "soda" (soda refers to sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda). They indicate products that contain sodium compounds.

Check the % Daily Value for sodium on labeled foods, and try to select foods that provide 5% or less per serving. ("Low-sodium" foods generally contain about 5% of the Daily Value for sodium per serving.)

*As people decrease their salt and sodium intake, their tendency to think that foods need to be salty to be tasty decreases as well.*

	INSTEAD OF ...	TRY ...
	Smoked, cured, salted, and canned meat, fish & poultry	Unsalted fresh or frozen meat, fish & poultry
	Regular hard and processed cheese	Low-sodium cheese
	Regular canned and dehydrated soup, broth & bouillon	Low-sodium canned soup, broth & bouillon
	Regular peanut butter	Low-sodium peanut butter
	With salted tops crackers	Unsalted crackers
	Regular canned vegetables	Fresh, frozen and low-sodium canned vegetables
	Salted snack foods	Unsalted snack foods

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