February 2024

Food Choices and Cooking Habits

Staying healthy starts with the foods we fuel our bodies with. Understanding how we prepare our food is equally important.

When we talk about sodium, we do not just mean salt. We use sodium to encompass all forms of sodium, not just table sodium chloride (table salt).

Beware of Sodium!

Beware of sodium! Sodium can be hidden in processed foods that may be cause for concern for those with hypertension or Congestive Heart Failure (CHF).

1. When possible, buy fresh, whole foods as they are the least processed. Avoid frozen or canned items. Preserved, highly processed foods generally have a higher sodium content. Good examples of processed, higher sodium foods include frozen dinners, soups, and deli meats.

2. Read your food labels! Sodium can be hidden in preservatives in spice mixtures.

- Sodium is also often replaced with potassium which can be a concern for those with certain conditions and medications.

3. While foods marketed as "Salt/Sodium Free," "No Salt Added," or "Reduced Sodium" can look appealing, be sure to check the sodium contents on the back as it may be deceiving.

- Patients with hypertension or CHF should only consume between 1,500-2,000mg of sodium per day.

Cooking/Eating Habits

When we think about our diet, we may not always consider our cooking habits to be a part of that.

1. Cook at home as much as possible. Food from restaurants generally contains 50-100% of your daily sodium intake in ONE entree.

- Dr. Munjal recommends only eating half of the portion from the restaurant and eating light for the other meals throughout the day. The rest of the portion can be eaten on another day. Limit eating out whenever possible.

- Monitor for swelling and manage medications appropriately.

2. Use spices and salt-free seasonings when cooking. See our blog post, Replacing Salt When Cooking, for more ideas.

Recipe Resources

Websites

Listed below are trusted websites, like the National Kidney Foundation and Mayo Clinic, to help provide additional information.

NKF: Recipe Search

Mayo Clinic: Renal Diet

RSN: Recipes

Blog Posts

The Bean provides a variety of resources about all things kidney related.

Kidney Korner: Sodium

Replacing Salt When Cooking

Eating Healthy on a Budget

Apps and Calculators

There are a variety of nutrition apps and calculators to help you track your sodium intake.

RSN: Nutrition Information

My Fitness Pal

Head over to our Facebook page to check out a multitude of kidney-friendly recipes on our Tasty Tuesday segment.

How the HumHealth App Helps

Tracking Fluids

While tracking your fluid intake is not part of the RPM program, the HUM Health app has a feature that can help you track your intake for personal reference. As a reminder, fluid is not restricted to water, alone. Fluid can be broth, coffee, tea, juice, milk, and more.

Navigate to the menu button (3 horizontal lines) in the upper lefthand corner on the home screen.
Scroll to the "Goal Tracking" section and select "Water Intake"
Select the "+" in the purple circle in the bottom right corner of the screen to add your fluid. When done, select "save" in the top right corner.
You can also track other factors like urine color and how much you sweat. Based on your location, the app will provide the outside temperature as well.

Download in the Apple App Store

Download in the Google Play Store