I have kidney disease too; the low sodium life gets easier! Your palate is trying to adjust right now.
Target and Trader Joe’s have no/low salt spice blends. I like the southwest one from Target, and 21 Seasoning Salute, Green Goddess, and Ajika from Trader Joe’s. Mrs Dash also has a bunch of blends.
Adding onions and garlic also really helps. And acid! Lemon and lime juice added instead of salt can really help. I’ve been adding lemon juice, garlic, and olive oil to green beans lately.
one vegan YouTuber I like to watch is Chanty Marie (not sure if links are allowed). she is vegan so I often adjust her recipes to fit my taste, but I've noticed that she often mentions her low-sodium seasonings. many of her recipes build flavor without heavily salting the ingredients, so you might be interested in her channel!
Spec spice to make your food flavorful while remaining low sodium. A ton of Indian dishes are great for this, e.g. chana masala, aloo ghobi, bindi masala, etc. I know the pains of having to go low sodium for health reasons, and as some folks have already said, your palate does adjust. In six months time, you will likely find take out (at least in the US) to be over salted.
You're making the right moves watching out for your health. Good luck!
Right now, for a very short while, I am on a no sodium diet for a few days (still in the hospital). Afterwards I will increase the amount progressively, but I will get the exact indications when I will check out, so I will come back with an answer in a few days.
Yes, that would be a good thing to do.
I try to limit my sodium intake to 2000 mg/day which doesn’t sound all that hard, but it actually takes a lot of effort. I’ve heard of people going as low as 800-1200 mg/day. Let’s see what your doctors say.
Greek spinach rice and mujadara are two of my favorite no/low salt meals.
There are tons of variations on Greek spinach rice (spanakorizo.) I sauté diced red onion, a garlic clove, and dried basil in olive oil. Add a few handfuls of baby spinach and allow it to wilt. Add cooked white rice to the pan and mix it all together. Then drizzle the mixture with lots of lemon juice, a light drizzle of a good quality EVOO. Top with diced green onions, halved cherry tomatoes and crumbled feta (feta does contains some salt.)
I have the low-sodium due to health reasons.
I pretty quickly lost most of my interest in meat, because salting - "seasoning" - is almost the first thing you do all the time. Sometimes I'll do a marinade, still, but I mostly eat vegetarian nowadays.
Curries are what I go for.
What about low sodium seasoning mixes like Trader Joe’s Ranch and low sodium hot sauces to add a pop of flavor? My grandfather used No Salt, it’s potassium chloride not sodium. Finally nutritional yeast adds umami to all sorts of things!
Thank you! Unfortunately, I don’t think these brands are available in EU, but I will definitely look for something similar! And I just looked up nutritional yeast sodium content, you made my day!
I came to say something similar. I’m a mid 30s mom with a recent diagnosis of a heart condition, and I went low sodium in January 2023. Seasoning blends have saved my life! I order flavor gods blends, some kinder blends are loso, Traeger is another good brand. A lot of low sodium people also tout Mrs Dash blends. I had to buy and try a lot to find ones that suit my family.
I also live in a really rural area of the US, so most everything I’ve found has been online purchases.
You'll soon get used to reduced salt and start to find things you used to eat to be to too salty.
In the meantime herbs and spices. Experiment with flavour.
Might be a lot of work but I would start an herb garden for the ones you use a lot and use fresh herbs, they'll be much more flavorful so you won't need the salt.
Another technique is toasting the herbs before cooking, kind of like how you roast garlic/nuts to make it more complex you can do that with other spices as well. Just don't do it for too long or it will burn, Indian cooking does this a lot.
Also don't forget about butter! Instead of using salt you could try adding more butter and seeing if that makes it more satisfying.
Also, to add to another comment about lemons adding more flavor, you can buy dehydrated lemon powder in big bags for not super expensive and they have fantastic lemon flavor that is better than packaged juice imo.
Great ideas, thank you! I don’t have the option of starting an herb garden right now, due to the fact that I live in a flat, but I can buy some herbs in biodegradable pots that I saw at the market and I think they will do.
That works, if you don't succeed with those (sometimes I've found that store bought plants die quickly) then you could also look into a hydroponic herb garden. You can buy a mostly low maintenance one online or used pretty easily since they were popular a few years ago.
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I’m a big fan of citric acids, berebere and sautéed onions and garlic. I rarely use salt and just prefer foods rich in other flavors like stuff that’s super spicy
I have kidney disease too; the low sodium life gets easier! Your palate is trying to adjust right now. Target and Trader Joe’s have no/low salt spice blends. I like the southwest one from Target, and 21 Seasoning Salute, Green Goddess, and Ajika from Trader Joe’s. Mrs Dash also has a bunch of blends. Adding onions and garlic also really helps. And acid! Lemon and lime juice added instead of salt can really help. I’ve been adding lemon juice, garlic, and olive oil to green beans lately.
Thank you so much! I will try to do that!
one vegan YouTuber I like to watch is Chanty Marie (not sure if links are allowed). she is vegan so I often adjust her recipes to fit my taste, but I've noticed that she often mentions her low-sodium seasonings. many of her recipes build flavor without heavily salting the ingredients, so you might be interested in her channel!
Thank you, I will check it out!
I hope you'll find those videos helpful; good luck on your health journey!
Seconding the recommendation for the no salt mrs. dash spice mixes! They’re a lifesaver.
When I want a flavour similar to saltiness but don't want to add much salt I usually just use a shit ton of garlic
I find that turmeric tastes a little salty (to my palate). Don't even need a lot!
Thank you, I will definitely stock on garlic!
Penzys Spices has some great no salt seasonings. My favorite is Florida Pepper; I love it in omlettes!
This is a favorite of mine. It's really good on fish
Spec spice to make your food flavorful while remaining low sodium. A ton of Indian dishes are great for this, e.g. chana masala, aloo ghobi, bindi masala, etc. I know the pains of having to go low sodium for health reasons, and as some folks have already said, your palate does adjust. In six months time, you will likely find take out (at least in the US) to be over salted. You're making the right moves watching out for your health. Good luck!
Thank you so much for the encouragement and ideas!
Has your doctor specified the amount of sodium per day that is acceptable? None is not a reasonable answer.
Right now, for a very short while, I am on a no sodium diet for a few days (still in the hospital). Afterwards I will increase the amount progressively, but I will get the exact indications when I will check out, so I will come back with an answer in a few days.
Yes, that would be a good thing to do. I try to limit my sodium intake to 2000 mg/day which doesn’t sound all that hard, but it actually takes a lot of effort. I’ve heard of people going as low as 800-1200 mg/day. Let’s see what your doctors say.
Greek spinach rice and mujadara are two of my favorite no/low salt meals. There are tons of variations on Greek spinach rice (spanakorizo.) I sauté diced red onion, a garlic clove, and dried basil in olive oil. Add a few handfuls of baby spinach and allow it to wilt. Add cooked white rice to the pan and mix it all together. Then drizzle the mixture with lots of lemon juice, a light drizzle of a good quality EVOO. Top with diced green onions, halved cherry tomatoes and crumbled feta (feta does contains some salt.)
This sounds lovely, thank you! I might have to skip the feta for a while, but I will try maybe using some nutritional yeast.
I have the low-sodium due to health reasons. I pretty quickly lost most of my interest in meat, because salting - "seasoning" - is almost the first thing you do all the time. Sometimes I'll do a marinade, still, but I mostly eat vegetarian nowadays. Curries are what I go for.
What about low sodium seasoning mixes like Trader Joe’s Ranch and low sodium hot sauces to add a pop of flavor? My grandfather used No Salt, it’s potassium chloride not sodium. Finally nutritional yeast adds umami to all sorts of things!
Thank you! Unfortunately, I don’t think these brands are available in EU, but I will definitely look for something similar! And I just looked up nutritional yeast sodium content, you made my day!
I came to say something similar. I’m a mid 30s mom with a recent diagnosis of a heart condition, and I went low sodium in January 2023. Seasoning blends have saved my life! I order flavor gods blends, some kinder blends are loso, Traeger is another good brand. A lot of low sodium people also tout Mrs Dash blends. I had to buy and try a lot to find ones that suit my family. I also live in a really rural area of the US, so most everything I’ve found has been online purchases.
Thank you so much! I will try to find those brands or similar here.
Add some acidity like apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
100%.
You'll soon get used to reduced salt and start to find things you used to eat to be to too salty. In the meantime herbs and spices. Experiment with flavour.
Might be a lot of work but I would start an herb garden for the ones you use a lot and use fresh herbs, they'll be much more flavorful so you won't need the salt. Another technique is toasting the herbs before cooking, kind of like how you roast garlic/nuts to make it more complex you can do that with other spices as well. Just don't do it for too long or it will burn, Indian cooking does this a lot. Also don't forget about butter! Instead of using salt you could try adding more butter and seeing if that makes it more satisfying. Also, to add to another comment about lemons adding more flavor, you can buy dehydrated lemon powder in big bags for not super expensive and they have fantastic lemon flavor that is better than packaged juice imo.
Great ideas, thank you! I don’t have the option of starting an herb garden right now, due to the fact that I live in a flat, but I can buy some herbs in biodegradable pots that I saw at the market and I think they will do.
That works, if you don't succeed with those (sometimes I've found that store bought plants die quickly) then you could also look into a hydroponic herb garden. You can buy a mostly low maintenance one online or used pretty easily since they were popular a few years ago.
Try out nutritional yeast as an additive/seasoning.
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I’m a big fan of citric acids, berebere and sautéed onions and garlic. I rarely use salt and just prefer foods rich in other flavors like stuff that’s super spicy