Fruits with no Sodium is a comprehensive guide to fruits that have zero free sodium additives. The reason why they are important is because the body needs to have sufficient no sodium containing food which are low in fat and carbohydrate and rich in fiber as well as nutrients. Some of the fruits that do not contain any free sodium are oranges, grapefruits, kiwis, blueberries and cranberries among others.
Low-Sodium Foods to Improve Your Heart Health
The silent killer
You’ve probably heard that eating too much salt can be harmful. Sometimes it’s doing damage without you even realizing it. For example, too much salt in your diet can lead to high blood pressure, which is difficult for a person to detect, especially at first.
Dr. Morton Tavel, professor emeritus of Indiana School of Medicine, says that at least one-third of Americans have high blood pressure. This number is also consistent with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s reports on blood pressure. The CDCTrusted Source states that high blood pressure can increase your risk for heart disease and stroke, which are among the leading causes of death in the United States. That risk increases with age.
The risk factors for high blood pressure include having certain conditions, such as diabetes, family history and genetics, and lifestyle choices. You can modify lifestyle choices to help control and manage your blood pressure, however.
Tavel says you should limit yourself to no more than 2,300 milligrams (mg) of sodium per day, which is just about the amount of sodium found in one teaspoon of salt. However, he says even a modest reduction, to 1,500 mg per day, can lead to better health.
These recommendations are also backed by the American Heart AssociationTrusted Source.
Tavel recommends choosing foods that are labeled “reduced sodium” or “no salt added.” Be sure to read labels, and choose foods that contain less than 5 percent of the recommended daily salt allowance. Here are some healthy, low-sodium frozen meals to try.
Read on for info on six heart-healthy foods to add to your diet.
1. You can’t go wrong with veggies
Fresh and frozen vegetables are naturally low in sodium (usually less than 50 mg per serving) so “load up on these,” says Lise Gloede, a registered dietitian and nutritionist. “Be careful of canned vegetables and high-salt salad dressings,” she warns.
Instead, she recommends dressing up a salad with balsamic vinegar, and maybe adding shelled edamame, a low-sodium soybean. “It’s easy to throw on a salad and very nutritious.”
2. Potatoes and potassium
Baked potatoes and sweet potatoes are naturally low in sodium and high in potassium, Gloede says. Tavel adds that if your diet is high in potassium, you don’t need to trim as much sodium from your diet (although you probably should).
Want to jazz up your potatoes? Try adding low-sodium salsa to a baked potato, or sprinkling some cinnamon on a sweet potato.
3. Take your time enjoying some nuts
Unsalted nuts in the shell are an excellent snack option because they contain no sodium at all. The added bonus, Gloede adds, is that it “takes longer to eat when you have to get them out of the shell, so it helps with not overeating them.”
Popcorn can be a great low sodium treat as well if you’re enjoying an unsalted version. Pop it in an air popper yourself or on the stove with just a bit of olive oil.
4. Fruit is nature’s candy
Much like vegetables, fruits are naturally low in sodium. Apples, apricots, papayas, and pears are your best bets, along with bananas, which are also packed with heart-friendly potassium.
Try substituting fruit for the other sugars in your life. Have an apple instead of shortbread cookies, or some apricots instead of pork rinds.
5. Yogurt is your friend
Yogurt is very low in sodium. Try sticking to plain yogurt and avoiding flavored options, however, as they contain added sugar.
Remember, plain yogurt doesn’t have to be bland. Throw in some fruit and you have a healthy, low-sodium treat that’ll do far less damage than ice cream, sherbet, or pie.
6. Beans and grains
Beans and lentils, as well as grains, are all low in sodium. Grains such as oats can also help lower bad cholesterol and reduce your risk for type 2 diabetes. Just be sure to use dried beans, or buy the low-sodium variety of canned beans if you’re buying canned foods.
Start your day with a bowl of oatmeal, which you can top with fruits, berries, nuts, and some cinnamon for added flavor. Incorporate rice and beans into your lunches and dinners.
If you’re worried about blandness, you can try spicing up your meals with pepper, jalapeño extracts, hot sauces, onions, or lemon or lime juice. You can also add a variety of different herbs and spices to your meals that will provide flavor without adding extra sodium. Try turmeric, thyme, rosemary, paprika, garlic, or cayenne, for example.
Sodium-Controlled Diet
Sodium is a mineral that is important for maintaining normal fluid balance in the body. It is found naturally in foods and is also added to certain foods. The daily recommendation of sodium is 2,300 mg per day. However, some patients may be advised to eat lower amounts.
Sodium Guidelines
Sodium is a mineral found naturally in foods and also added to foods. Sodium plays an important role in maintaining normal fluid balance in the body. A low-sodium diet is important to follow in order to control your heart failure symptoms and prevent future heart problems.
- Limiting your sodium and fluid intake will help prevent and control the amount of fluid around your heart, lungs, or in your legs.
- When you carry extra fluid, it makes your heart work harder and may increase your blood pressure.
A low-sodium diet means more than eliminating the salt shaker from the table!
- One teaspoon of table salt = 2,300 mg of sodium
General Guidelines
- Eliminate the salt shaker.
- Avoid using garlic salt, onion salt, MSG, meat tenderizers, broth mixes, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, barbeque sauce, sauerkraut, olives, pickles, pickle relish, bacon bits, and croutons.
- Avoid most “fast foods” and processed foods. Check the company’s website for the nutritional information or read the package label for the sodium content.
- Use fresh ingredients and/or foods with no added salt.
- For favorite recipes, you may need to use other ingredients and delete the salt added. Salt can be removed from any recipe except for those containing yeast.
- Try orange, lemon, lime, pineapple juice, or vinegar as a base for meat marinades or to add tart flavor.
- Avoid convenience foods such as canned soups, entrees, vegetables, pasta and rice mixes, frozen dinners, instant cereal and puddings, and gravy sauce mixes.
- Select frozen meals that contain around 600 mg sodium or less.
- Use fresh, frozen, no-added-salt canned vegetables, low-sodium soups, and low-sodium lunchmeats.
- Look for seasoning or spice blends with no salt, or try fresh herbs, onions, or garlic.
- Do not use a salt substitute unless you check with your doctor or dietitian first, due to potential drug or nutrient interactions.
- Be aware of and try to limit the “Salty Six” (American Heart Association), which include:
- Breads, rolls, bagels, flour tortillas, and wraps.
- Cold cuts and cured meats.
- Pizza.
- Poultry (much poultry and other meats are injected with sodium. Check the Nutrition Facts for sodium content or read the package for a description of a solution, for example, “Fresh chicken in a 15% solution.”)
- Soup.
- Sandwiches.
Learn to read food labels. Use the label information on food packages to help you make the best low-sodium selections. Food labels are standardized by the U.S. government’s National Labeling and Education Act (NLEA). Nutrition labels and an ingredient list are required on most foods, so you can make the best selection for a healthy lifestyle.
Review the food label below. Determine the total amount of sodium in this product, or ask your dietitian or healthcare provider to show you how to read food labels and apply the information to your personal needs.
Maintain a healthy body weight. This includes losing weight if you are overweight. Limit your total daily calories, follow a low-fat diet, and include physical activity on most, if not all days in order to maintain a healthy weight. Eating a healthy diet to either maintain or lose weight often means making changes to your current eating habits.
In order to make sure you are meeting your specific calorie needs, as well as vitamin and mineral needs, a registered dietitian can help. A registered dietitian can provide personalized nutrition education, tailor these general guidelines to meet your needs, and help you implement a personal action plan.
Restaurant Dining Tips
- Choose a restaurant that will prepare items to your request and substitute items.
- Plan ahead by reducing your serving sizes of foods high in sodium.
- Order food a la carte or individually to get only the foods you want.
Appetizers
- Avoid soups and broths.
- Request fresh bread and rolls without salty, buttery crusts.
- Avoid breaded items.
Salads/vegetables
- Avoid pickles, canned or marinated vegetables, olives, cured meats, bacon and bacon bits, seasoned croutons, cheeses, salted seeds, and nuts.
- Order salad dressings on the side and dip your fork in them before taking a bite of the food item.
- Request steamed vegetables.
Main courses
- Select meat, poultry, fish, or shellfish choices that include the words broiled, baked, grilled, roasted, and without breading.
- Request plain noodles or vegetable dishes.
- Ask the server about the low-sodium menu choices, and ask how the food is prepared.
- Request food to be cooked without salt or monosodium glutamate (MSG).
- Avoid restaurants that do not allow for special food preparation, such as buffet-style restaurants, diners, or fast food chains.
- Avoid casseroles and mixed dishes. Ask for gravies and sauces on the side or omit them all together.
- At fast food restaurants, choose the salad entrees or non-fried and non-breaded entrees, and skip the special sauces, condiments, and cheese.*
- Avoid breaded items.
*Avoid salted condiments and garnishes such as olives, pickles, and relish.
Desserts
- Select fruit, sherbet, gelatin, and plain cakes.
Meat, Fish, Eggs, Poultry, Bean
- Choose – 2-3 Servings Per Day
- Fresh or frozen meat (beef, veal, lamb, pork), poultry, fish or shellfish.
- Low-sodium canned meat or fish.
- Eggs.
- Dried or frozen beans and peas.
- Go Easy
- Low-sodium processed meats like ham, corned beef, bacon, sausage, luncheon meats, hot dogs.
- Low-sodium frozen dinners (less than 600 mg sodium per meal).
- Avoid
- Frozen, salted meat or fish.
- Processed meats like ham, corned beef, bacon, sausage, luncheon meats, hot dogs, spare ribs, salt pork, ham hocks, meat spreads.
- Canned meat or fish.
- Breaded meats.
- Canned beans like kidney, pinto, black-eyed peas, lentils.
- Frozen dinners or side dishes with salt.
Dairy
- Choose
- Naturally low-sodium cheese (swiss, goat, brick, ricotta, fresh mozzarella).
- Cream cheese (light and skim).
- Go Easy
- Milk (1% or skim).
- Ice cream and frozen yogurt (light and skim).
- Yogurt (light and skim).
- Pudding, custard (light and skim).
- Sour cream (light and skim).
- Avoid
- Processed and hard cheeses (American, cheddar, muenster) and cheese spreads.
- Cottage cheese.
- Buttermilk.
Fruits & Vegetables
- Choose – 5 or More Servings Per Day
- Fresh, frozen, canned, or dried fruits.
- Fresh or frozen vegetables without added sauces.
- Low-sodium tomato juice or V-8 juice.
- Low-sodium tomato sauce.
- Go Easy
- Regular tomato sauce.
- Avoid
- Canned vegetables.
- Canned beans.
- Marinated vegetables such as sauerkraut, pickles, olives.
- Regular tomato juice or V-8 juice.
Breads & Grains
- Choose – 6 or More Servings Per Day
- Low-sodium breads.
- Low-sodium cereals (old-fashioned oats, quick cook oatmeal, grits, Cream of Wheat or Rice, shredded wheat).
- Pasta (noodles, spaghetti, macaroni).
- Rice.
- Low-sodium crackers.
- Low-sodium bread crumbs.
- Granola/li.
- Corn tortillas.
- Plain taco shells.
- Go Easy
- Regular bread.
- Bagels.
- English muffins.
- Rolls.
- Cold cereals.
- Pancakes, waffles.
- Avoid
- Croissants, sweet rolls, Danish, doughnuts.
- Regular crackers.
- Pasta and rice prepared with cream, butter, or cheese sauces.
- Scalloped potatoes.
- Instant cooked cereal packs.
- Bread, baking and stuffing mixes.
- Frozen or boxed mixes for rice, pasta and potatoes.
- Regular bread crumbs.
- Muffins, biscuits, cornbread.
- Flour tortilla.
Sweets & Snacks
- Choose – In Moderation
- Unsalted nuts.
- Low-sodium potato chips, pretzels, popcorn, and other snacks.
- Sherbet, sorbet, Italian ice, popsicles.
- Fig bars, gingersnaps.
- Jelly beans and hard candy.
- Go Easy
- Angel food cake.
- Home cakes, cookies, and pies.
- Brownies.
- Avoid
- Regular potato chips, pretzels, popcorn and other salted snacks.
- Salted nuts and seeds.
- Pork rinds.
- Breaded meats.
Low Sodium Foods for People with High Blood Pressure (Hypertension)
Sodium is an essential nutrient required by the body for maintaining blood volume and pressure and for transmitting nerve impulses.
Sodium, together with chloride forms table salt or sodium chloride. Processed foods are by far the largest contributor of sodium in the diet, accounting for about 80% of our total sodium intake.
Over-consumption of sodium increases the risk of developing high blood pressure (hypertension), which in turn increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. As such, it is wise to regulate the amount of sodium you eat, and if you have high blood pressure to restrict your consumption of sodium, while boosting your consumption of potassium.
The current daily value (DV) for sodium is 2300mg, however, the American Heart Association recommends that people with high blood pressure eat less than 1500mg per day or less than 3/4 of a tablespoon of salt.
Fortunately, almost all foods are naturally low in sodium and it is easy to avoid consuming sodium if you stick to eating whole unprocessed foods without adding any salt or sauces. So a low sodium diet could be seen as more of an exercise in avoiding high sodium foods, than eating low sodium foods.
Healthy low sodium foods include vegetables, fruits, beans, grains, legumes, nuts, meats, oils, and fish. Be sure foods are not canned, or otherwise prepared with salt, or sauces that contain salt. Below is an overview of the top 10 foods lowest in sodium for your blood pressure diet.
List of Low Sodium Foods
#1: Pecans
| Sodium per Oz | Sodium per 100g | Sodium per 200 Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 0mg (0% DV) | 0mg (0% DV) | 0mg (0% DV) |
Nutrition Facts for Pecans.
More Low Sodium Nuts
- 0% DV in 1 oz of almonds
- 0% DV in 1 oz of pistachios
- 0% DV in 1 oz of walnuts
Low sodium numbers only apply to unsalted nuts.
See the full list of nuts low in sodium.
#2: Olive Oil
| Sodium per Tablespoon | Sodium per 100g | Sodium per 200 Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 0.1mg (0% DV) | 2mg (0% DV) | 0.5mg (0% DV) |
Nutrition Facts for Olive Oil.
More Low Sodium Oils
- 0% DV in 1 tblsp of peanut oil
- 0% DV in 1 tblsp of sesame oil
- 0% DV in 1 tblsp of rice bran oil
See the full list of low sodium fats and oils.
#3: Basil
| Sodium 2 Tblsp | Sodium per 100g | Sodium per 200 Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 0.2mg (0% DV) | 4mg (0% DV) | 34.8mg (2% DV) |
Nutrition Facts for Basil
More Low Sodium Herbs
- 0% DV in 1 tsp of thyme
- 0% DV in 1 tsp of rosemary
- 0% DV in 1 tsp of dried oregano
See the full list of spices and herbs low in sodium.
#4: Cinnamon
| Sodium 1 Tblsp | Sodium per 100g | Sodium per 200 Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 0.8mg (0% DV) | 10mg (0% DV) | 8.1mg (0% DV) |
Nutrition Facts for Cinnamon.
More Low Sodium Spices
- 0% DV in 1 tsp of pepper
- 0% DV in 1 tsp of cayenne pepper
- 0% DV in 1 tsp of nutmeg
See the full list of spices and herbs low in sodium.
#5: Apples
| Sodium per Cup | Sodium per 100g | Sodium per 200 Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1.3mg (0% DV) | 1mg (0% DV) | 3.8mg (0% DV) |
Nutrition Facts for Apples.
More Fruits Low in Sodium
- 0% DV in 1 cup of cherries
- 0% DV in 1 cup of bananas
- 0% DV in 1 tsp of oranges
Almost all fruits are low in sodium. See the full list of 146 low sodium fruits.
#6: Green (Snap) Beans
| Sodium per Cup Cooked | Sodium per 100g | Sodium per 200 Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1.3mg (0% DV) | 1mg (0% DV) | 5.7mg (0% DV) |
Nutrition Facts for Cooked Green Snap Beans.
More Vegetables Low in Sodium
- 0% DV in 1 cup of cucumber
- 0% DV in 1 cup of peas
- 1% DV in 1 cup of spinach
Almost all vegetables are low in sodium. See the full list of 200 low sodium vegetables.