Sneaky Sodium

As we all know, sodium is part of a healthy diet in appropriate doses, but it's super easy to go well above our day's allotment of sodium. The recommended amount of sodium that we stay under is about 1, 500 mg per day & too much sodium can lead to a variety of health issues that include weight gain, water retention, and heart issues. Consuming too much sodium isn't always because we've over-salted our food, it's easily over-consumed when we purchase products that are not listed as "low-sodium". I want to show you guys just how much sodium is hiding in everyday pantry products that we use without considering just how much additional sodium we're adding to our dish.

Photo taken from Unico. I do not own the photo.
www.unico.ca

Diced Tomatoes

1/2 C (125ml) = 400mg / 17% DV
1 Can (796ml) = 2,520mg 

Whether we're making chili, tomato sauce, soup etc., we're easily adding over a day's worth of sodium into our dish when we purchase regular canned tomatoes. This is dangerous because they don't taste salty whatsoever which means we're also adding additional salt. This isn't even considering whether we're adding other canned goods that are high in sodium to our dish. 

Purchasing low-sodium tomatoes is an easy way to minimize sodium in every day dishes.
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Photo taken from Unico. I do not own the photo.
www.unico.ca

Canned Beans

1/2 C (125ml) = 430mg / 18% DV
1 Can (540ml) = 1,849mg

​Another sneaky sodium bomb here y'all. Canned beans are high in protein and fiber, both of which are very important for our overall health, but they are also incredibly high in sodium. One can of beans will add a whopping 1, 849mg of sodium to your dish. Once again, these beans don't taste salty so you're easily adding more salt which inevitably cranks up the sodium in your dish. You can rinse them which will reduce it slightly but you're best to buy low-sodium.

Photo taken from campbellssoup.ca. I do not own the photo

Vegetable Broth

150ml = 480mg / 20% DV
Full Box = 900ml / 2,880mg

Here's another easy way to go well above your necessary sodium in a dish. These broths contain nearly double your day's recommended allowance of sodium and believe me, you're still adding salt to your dish. When it comes to making soups, chilis, stews etc., you can see how quickly the sodium would add up if everything came from boxes / cans of products that were not low sodium. Always buy low-sodium broth to help manage the sodium content in your dish.

Photo taken from Greengiant.com I do not own the picture.

Canned Veg

1/2 C (125ml) = 260mg / 11%
1 Can = 910mg

Another sneaky sodium offender is canned veg. Innocent in theory but harbouring scary amounts of sodium. In just 1 serving, you're adding 260mg of sodium to your plate which adds up depending on what you're pairing it with. Always look for "low-sodium" or "no salt added" when shopping for canned veg. Might I also recommend frozen veg instead? It isn't required to be preserved in salty brine which significantly reduces the sodium.

Let's Make Chili Using These Four Products

If we were to make a batch of chili and use all of the above products, we would be encroaching on dangerous levels of sodium. Let's assume you did not add any other ingredients or even add salt, a full batch of chili using these products would have 8, 159 mg of sodium. If we split that in four servings, each person would be consuming a whopping 2, 039 mg of sodium. So our innocent, seemingly healthy home cooked chili is providing us well over the recommended amount of sodium. This doesn't even consider the amount of sodium consumed in other meals throughout the day.

As you can see, it's incredibly easy to consume far more sodium than we should be in a day but if we make simple swaps in the kitchen, we can really keep those numbers in check. Look for "low-sodium" or "no salt added" when buying pantry products and you'll save yourself thousands of milligrams of sodium every day.

HAPPY VEG