Eating Out and Salt

[Sillyme03]

I apologize if this is a repeat topic, I tried searching under different things and could not find much. I am just regaining my appetite after an ordeal and my family want to go out and eat. What do those of you who occasionally go out to eat do in a restaurant. Do you ask them not to salt or season your food? Does this work? I have never done this but can't imagine that they would not be able to cut down the salt somehow in a regular restaurant. Any ideas or what you have done would be appreciated.

[spirlhelix]

Hi!

When you are eating out, try to remember which foods have the highest salt content, and stay away from them as much as possible. For instance, soups are hardly ever made without plenty of salt, so skip the soup. Any salad dressings, sauces, or condiments (even spaghetti sauce) are best ordered "on the side" and used sparingly. Pizza can be ordered "white" (no tomato sauce), but remember that all dishes containing cheese will increase your sodium consumption. Lemon juice is a great salt substitute when you eat out, and they will bring slices of lemon right out to your table to you can add it "to taste".

Avoid all sodas, as they are usually high in both sodium and caffiene. Diet sodas have aspertame. A real witches' brew! Cutting all those out will often leave you with lemonade or fruit juice to drink. Or water with a slice of lemon can be refreshing, and save a little money, too!

Sometimes part of my strategy is to eat out no more than once a day, and to strictly avoid salt in all my home-prepared dishes. I am still careful when I go out, but I feel I have less chance of overdoing when I eat out when I cut out the salt at home.

When you order, ask the server for "low salt" preparation. Sometimes, like with soup, the salt is added to the dish as a part of early preparation and it's too late to remove it. I often ask servers if a certain dish has a lot of salt in it. If you have carefully controlled your sodium consumption at home, you can tell when you taste something that it has a lot of salt in it. If you meal is too salty, send it back. Order another option that is less salty, or just resign yourself to eating less of your entree than you would otherwise. Grilled meats, fruit plates, and most salads are easily prepared without salt. Pasta can be a great alternative when the sauce is served on the side. I like pasta with parmesean cheese instead of sauce. Ceasar dressing is usually exceptionally salty because (ordinarily) it is prepared with anchovies.

I hope you find some of these strategies helpful!

Hugs,

Pam

[Sillyme03]

Thanks Pam. I will try some of these strategies. I don't eat out much, but was wondering if people asked for low salt versions. I have never done that and did not know. I also did not realize soda had salt in it. I have been drinking water lately, but when I do drink soda its usually caffeine free Diet. I am going to have to read the label better.

Thanks again
Sil

[Beth36]

It's just insane how much salt there is in everything, isn't it? Was just diagnosed with high bp last month, and haven't eaten out a lot since then. The few times I have, I've just tried to order the healthiest items on the menu. As long as you don't eat out all the time, and watch your sodium the rest of the time, you shouldn't have too many problems.

I've read up on the DASH diet-are you familiar with that? There are days when it's hard to keep sodium below 1500 mgs, but I usually don't have a problem keeping it quite a bit lower than 2400 mgs.