The Vegetarian Useful resource Group Weblog

By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

A buddy just lately confided that she was making an attempt to cut back her sodium consumption. Her blood stress is elevated. She’s making an attempt, along with her physician’s approval, to see if she will decrease her blood stress by altering her weight-reduction plan. As we talked, I spotted that, regardless of being open to the concept of decreasing sodium, she wasn’t positive what modifications to make. She’s already heading in the right direction—she doesn’t use many processed meals, she eats loads of recent vegetables and fruit, and she or he enjoys cooking. Listed here are some concepts I shared along with her.

1. Learn the Diet Info part of the label. Completely different firms have merchandise that adjust in sodium content material. Even when the label doesn’t say “low-sodium”, you might discover a product that’s decrease in sodium than its rivals. For instance, a grocery store shelf of canned beans, I discovered a spread of 90-450 milligrams of sodium per 1/2 cup serving. Select the bottom sodium product, and also you’ve saved as a lot as 360 milligrams of sodium.
2. Drain and rinse canned beans. You could have observed that many recipes in Vegan Journal name for canned beans, drained and rinsed. The explanation we recommend that is that as much as 40% of the sodium in a canned product could be rinsed away. Due to this fact for those who select a can of beans with a label worth of 200 milligrams of sodium, you’ll be able to scale back the sodium by as a lot as 80 milligrams by draining and rinsing the beans.
3. Add no-salt added tomato sauce to jarred pasta sauce. Jarred vegan pasta sauce generally is a comfort whether or not you’re utilizing it on prime of pizza crust, in vegan lasagna, or tossed with pasta. You possibly can scale back sodium content material by mixing it with bought no-salt-added tomato sauce within the ratio of your alternative—1 cup tomato sauce to 1 cup pasta sauce, 2 cups tomato sauce to 1 cup pasta sauce, and so forth. Add a bit oregano and basil, for those who like. In the event you determine to make use of the 1:1 ratio of pasta sauce to tomato sauce, you’ve diminished the sodium in a 1/2 cup serving of pasta sauce from, say, 470 milligrams to 255 milligrams.
4. Combine salty snacks with unsalted snacks. In the event you prefer to snack on salted nuts or salted pretzels, purchase a bag of unsalted nuts or unsalted pretzels and make your individual reduced-sodium combine. You possibly can regulate the ratio of salted product to unsalted product, and as you get used to consuming meals with much less salt, you might discover that you just’re utilizing far more of the unsalted product and fewer of the salted one. In the event you begin with a 1:1 ratio, you may save 75 milligrams of sodium in a 1/4-cup serving of nuts or as a lot as 250 milligrams of sodium in a 1-ounce serving of pretzels.
5. Toss the flavoring packet. Merchandise like ramen noodles are handy, however they’re tremendous salty. A lot of their salt comes from the flavoring packet. You possibly can discard it and taste the noodles with a low-sodium spice mix. If that’s not an choice, begin by utilizing only a small little bit of the seasoning packet and style earlier than including extra. In the event you’re consuming a bundle of ramen noodles, you would scale back their sodium from 730 milligrams to 25 milligrams simply by discarding the unopened flavoring packet.
6. Make your individual condiments. Salad dressings, barbecue sauce, salsa, even ketchup could be sources of a lot of sodium. Whilst you might not need to make all of those merchandise, selecting a pair that you just use often and discovering recipes for them the place you management the added salt (and use reduced-sodium elements the place doable) can lower sodium markedly. As an illustration, a business barbecue sauce might need 300-400 milligrams of sodium per 2 Tablespoons. Making your individual with tomato paste might provide you with a product with 20 milligrams of sodium per 2 Tablespoons. There are some business vegan reduced-sodium barbecue sauces, however I might discover just one sort in space shops.
7. Discover or make a low-sodium vegetable broth. Many vegan recipes name for vegetable broth. Packaged vegan broths might have 600 milligrams or extra of sodium per cup. Vegan broth base or bouillon might lead to broth with as a lot as 800 milligrams of sodium per cup of broth. You may make your individual broth utilizing recent greens and including little or no salt, use a business low-sodium vegan broth, or substitute the broth in a recipe with 1 a part of common business broth and 1 a part of water (or much more water and fewer broth). In the event you’re working with a well-seasoned recipe, it’s possible that you just gained’t even discover that you just didn’t use as a lot broth as was referred to as for. Changing a cup of economic vegan broth with a cup of low-sodium vegan broth might save as a lot as 680 milligrams of sodium.
8. Taste meals creatively. Salt is commonly added to business merchandise as a cheap option to taste meals as a substitute of utilizing costlier herbs and spices for taste. In the event you do your individual cooking, you’ll be able to change that. Experiment with herbs, spices, vinegars, fruit juices, and different elements to allow you to chop the salt with out sacrificing taste.
9. When utilizing a recipe, don’t really feel certain to make use of the quantity of salt referred to as for. I’ve discovered that, in lots of recipes, I can use half and even much less of the salt with out noticing it. You possibly can all the time add salt, but it surely’s exhausting to take it out as soon as it’s been added to a dish. Lots of our recipes in Vegan Journal name for salt to style, encouraging the particular person making ready the recipe to make use of their very own judgment fairly than counting on another person’s thought of how salty a dish must be. In the event you don’t add loads of salt to a recipe, folks can add the quantity of salt that they like on the desk.
10. Pay attention to salty elements like miso, soy sauce, tamari, and liquid aminos. If the recipe has these elements, it in all probability doesn’t want further salt. And, simply as you may do with desk salt, style the dish earlier than including salty elements—it’s possible that you just gained’t want as a lot because the recipe requires.

Southwest Quinoa & Beans makes use of a home made no-salt spice mix. See each recipes on our weblog:
No-Salt Spice Mix: www.vrg.org/weblog/2022/04/20/mexican-inspired-no-salt-spice-blend/
Southwest Quina & Beans: www.vrg.org/weblog/2022/04/21/southwest-quinoa-beans