Since you are starting with—or thinking about—low sodium diet, I would assume that it has something to do with hypertension or managing your blood pressure. If you are a senior or nearing the golden age, it is an already given fact that you will need adjustments with your diet as not every type of food can be accepted by your body anymore. Not everything can be digested and absorbed by your body properly anyway so it is, more or less, useless to fight what nature has in store for you.
In a nutshell, sodium per se, regulates the fluid balance inside the body therefore maintaining proper blood volume and pressure. If your salt intake has become too high for your body to handle, it causes, naturally, hypertension and fluid retention. Do take note too that these conditions are not for seniors to suffer alone. In fact, even kids can suffer from these conditions considering the kinds of food they eat nowadays.
While health implications are just too high to ignore, seniors are finding it hard to maintain proper salt intake since almost all edible things are prepared with salt. Just step into a grocery store and I bet, you’ll find one unsalted—and I mean, really really salt-free—for every 10 digestible-but-laden-with-salt items there. So, here’s a guide, simplified, for seniors who would like to lessen their salt intake:
* Never touch anything “processed”. Anything that is processed is also prepared with salt, in fact, they have the highest sodium levels of all edible things so you might want to avoid them like plague. Your best bet would be fresh, organic produce, even if they cost more.
* Inspect labels and assume the worst. Notice how many items are on the racks nowadays that bear the labels salt-free or less salt or whatever. You don’t just go believing what these manufacturers tell you. If you encounter “salt-free” assume that there is a little salt in it; if you encounter “less salt” then assume that there’s an acceptable amount of salt in there but never believe that there isn’t a grain of salt involved in the preparation, that’s just impossible.
* Plan your meals. Better yet, “rebalance” your diet, only this time, you have to load up on more fruits and veggies which are naturally low in salt. This way, your body will be able to adjust its sodium levels properly.
* Find other salt alternatives. I’m not talking about branded salt substitutes, instead look for natural spices which can give your dishes flavor but not put you at risk for hypertension.
* If you have to use salt, try natural sea salt. Truth be told, refined table salt causes hypertension, not your old, regular sea salt and it is saltier than the refined one so you’re most likely to use less than you normally would.
