Low Sodium High Protein Food Meal Plans

General Sodium Guidelines

If you’re looking for low sodium high protein food meal plans, you should first learn the basics of related nutrition. If your doctor has prescribed a particular plan of eating to you due to a condition such as high blood pressure, then his advice should always take precedence.

The Mayo Clinic recommends eating no more than 2,000 grams of sodium each day. Unless your doctor advises otherwise, you should not go extremely low sodium, according to the Cleveland Clinic. An ample amount of sodium is essential for your body’s fluid balance; this rule of thumb applies even to high blood pressure patients.

Foods to Avoid

Anyone embarking on a low sodium, high protein meal plan can probably accept that most processed foods as well as choices like pickles and V8 cannot be included.

However, did you also realize that some fish as well as egg substitutes are also surprisingly high in sodium?

For example, 1/4 cup of Egg Beaters consists of 115 milligrams of sodium. But many people on Livestrong.com report they usually eat three or four servings of egg substitute. So if you ate the entire cup, this one food choice would comprise almost 20 percent of your target daily sodium intake. Use this sparingly, especially if you know you can’t be satisfied with just a tiny portion of egg substitute.

The University of California, San Francisco Medical Center recommends that low sodium dieters avoid a number of food choices including cottage cheese, most canned fish, regular cheese and cheese spreads, buttermilk, pizza, croutons, and waffle and pancake mixes.

Foods to Include

Low sodium high protein food meal plans can still incorporate a number of healthy and tasty options, according to UCSF Medical Center.

For example, you could include milk, yogurt, ricotta cheese, low-sodium packaged cheeses, and mozzarella. These go along nicely with fresh vegetables such as tomatoes and lettuce. You could liberally add any vegetable oil or sodium-free salad dressing, unless your doctor also has you watching your fat intake. If you’re worried about saturated fat, consider using olive oil as a salad dressing or cooking ingredient.

Other low sodium, high protein options include fresh beef, pork, chicken, and lamb. If you love fish, look for low sodium canned tuna. Appropriate low salt canned chicken choices are also often available.

If you’re dining out, be especially cautious. Try to stick to salads with chicken breast and olive oil-based dressings. Even “low carb” menu options may be shockingly high in added sodium.

References

“Cleveland Clinic. Low Sodium Diet.” https://my.clevelandclinic.org/healthy_living/Nutrition/hic_Low-Sodium_Diet_Guidelines.aspx

“Livestrong: Calories in Egg Beaters.” https://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/nutrition-calories/food/generic/egg-beaters/

“Mayo Clinic: Are High Protein Diets Safe?” https://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-protein-diets/AN00847

“UCSF Health: Guidelines for a Low-Sodium Diet.” https://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/nutrition-calories/food/generic/egg-beaters/