When you are a family with special diets due to health conditions you learn a few tricks. Below are some of the things we have learned to make low sodium. Overtime I plan to share recipes and pictures. If you would like to purchase some items locally please contact me at yahtovtov@gmail.com. Enjoy!
This is my son Ethan. At 8 months old we found ourselves in U of M for an entire week. The two months prior our doctor had been working with us to discover the cause of his loss of weight…I am so thankful he was a chubby boy to begin with or things would have been much worse. At U of M they confirmed that Ethan had a genetic condition that is now very prevenient in our family which is known as Nephrogenic Diabetes Insipidus or NDI. His form is very rare as it is due to the kidney and not a matter of brain hormone production. Being genetic also makes his condition rare. Anyways, we left U of M with diuretics and the knowledge that out baby boy would be drinking as much water as many adults. The crisis came as we moved him to solid foods and the sodium levels were higher than his water intake could balance. Eventually, U of M suggested a very reduced sodium diet to lower his water intake needs and prevent dehydration. So, here we are 18 years later and today he drinks 3 to 5 gallons a day depending on his activity level, temperature, and sodium. So you may understand why we work so hard to keep his diet lower in sodium and reduce the work his kidneys have to do processing fluid. I would say I am a pro and making low sodium meals.
Here are some of my tips:
- Homecooking controls ingredients. So make it yourself and from scratch when possible. Making this from scratch is incredibly empowering and helpful in times when items are scarce. Here I can share recipes for spaghetti sauce -it won’t take hours-, white sauce, stroganoff and cream of sauces for pastas or gravies for biscuits. I can teach you how to transform ground meat into low sodium sausage and smokey alternatives. We make breads, bagels, biscuits, pies, cookies, cakes, granola, brownies, tortillas, coffeecakes, muffins, and even pizzas in a low sodium way! In time I will share those here.
- Frozen vegetables are your best bet. They take fresher than fresh most of the time and are just better. Plus they are much lower in sodium! Be careful though, peas, carrots, and spinach will all have higher amounts of sodium and some brands add it, so always check the panels.
- Adding flavor is possible with vinegars, liquid smoke, herbs, spices, nutritional yeast, fats, extracts, and sweeteners!
- Pasts, rice, and frozen or fresh vegetables are great fillers for the low sodium diet… especially if you are also monitoring proteins and have a growing son
- Having a farm and dairy goats I have also taken advantage of making yogurt and farm cheese as treats as well.
- Egg white or yeast offer lift without too much sodium although egg white do hold a majority of the sodium in the egg.
- You CAN just leave salt out of recipes, but watch for it hidden in baking powders and baking soda. If using a sodium free version make sure to watch potassium levels if that is an area of concern for your diet health needs.
- Tomato paste…use it for everything where tomatoes are concerned. It can easily make tasty sauces for pasta, pizza, or anything. Before low sodium ketchup was a thing I made mine with tomato paste.
- Meats can hold more sodium then you realize as well. Check.
- When traveling I always bake a bunch before hand and FREEZE. Cooling without salt means things do not stay as fresh for as long so freezing them definitely helps. It also allows you to travel with them safely. If we are traveling all day I will usually make Ethan a “pizza pocket” which is really a calzone for him to eat on the way. He has always enjoyed this and fills him up far better then a 4 price chicken nugget and salad which used up all his sodium for the day. Sigh.
On an average week we have tacos with homemade tortillas, pizza, Mac and cheese, and spaghetti. Occasionally, we have sweet and sour chicken, orange chicken, pineapple chicken, and stir fry. For lunch last week Ethan had sushi. We have Jeweled rice, ravioli, and kreplach for special events. Eating is always apart of our special events and I never want to leave anyone out, so we have adapted. Almost every birthday cake on the site is low sodium. Ethan loves to eat and have variety, so I am glad from a young age his taste buds have been trained to enjoy and savor other flavors rather then salt. It has made cooking much easier for me. I’m not a measuring kind of girl…to many things to wash…but this way you can customize it and be creative. 😊
Tomato Sauce
12 oz can of tomato paste
Onion or onion powder
Garlic or Garlic powder
Italian seasoning or any number of herbs you may like in your sauce.
Sweetener or vinegar if desired.
For more discerning tastes gently saute onion and garlic in some extra virgin olive oil til tender add tomato paste to the pan and heat while moving around in pan for a few minutes then add as much water as you like for thickness and taste stirring til incorporated then add herbs and gently simmer for awhile. Taste here you may add any sweetener you are comfortable with to balance it out. I am a trial and error sort of girl so if you go too sweet a little vinegar usually brings it back.
Quick Need it Now: put tomato paste, garlic powder (start at 1/2 tsp), onion powder (1 tsp), Italian seasoning (1 tsp) and hot tea kettle water in blender and blend. Here sweetner is an option as well. This works well for quick pizzas or added to browned meat for spaghetti sauce.
Site Title 