Now that you’ve decided to adopt a low sodium diet, the first thing you need to do is throw away all the salt in your home. This means boxes of Kosher salt, sea salt and regular old table salt. Think of it as poison that must be disposed of, because it will literally poison your heart. Flush it down the toilet if it makes you feel better, but make sure not even a packet of salt remains.

If you’re on heart medication, don’t even think about trying a salt substitute. Salt substitute is typically potassium chloride, and heart patients often have issues with too much potassium as a side effect of their medication. There’s no need for you to increase the amount of potassium in your system — so salt substitute is out. Also, do you really want to put something in your body called “potassium chloride?”

Next you need to throw away all your ketchup, hot sauce, barbecue sauce, pickles, relish, spaghetti sauce, canned vegetables, canned and packaged meats, hot dogs, canned soups, boxed soups, bullion, salted butter, margarine, lunch meats, all frozen meals (except for Healthy Choice and Lean Cuisine), cheeses (except for swiss) and any other prepared foods you might have. You won’t need these, either — they are just as toxic to you as the table salt. You can, however, keep the ice cream if you stick to the serving size.

Oh yeah, and that salt shaker you keep on the counter — you can throw that away, too. I know you thought I’d miss that, but I don’t miss anything.

It is also strongly recommended that you stop drinking caffeinated beverages — this includes so-called de-caffeinated coffee and tea. Herbal tea may be okay, but check with your doctor, first — you don’t want it to interfere with your meds.

By now, your kitchen has been thoroughly emptied, and you are no doubt wondering what’s going to happen next. Don’t worry, all will become clear in due time. Stick with me, and please trust me. The hard part is over. Now on to the fun part.

Getting Equipped

Since you’re going to need to start cooking for yourself, you’re going to need to be properly equipped. Here are the essentials of any good kitchen:

  • At least 1 large pot
  • At least 2 sauce pans
  • At least 2 frying pans
  • At least 2 baking sheets
  • At least 1 pizza pan
  • At least 1 cheese grater
  • At least 1 broiling pan
  • At least 2 mixing bowls (a set containing many different sized bowls is recommended)
  • A set of good sharp kitchen knives
  • At least 2 large spoons for stirring
  • At least 2 spatulas
  • At least 1 vegetable peeler
  • At least 1 whisk
  • At least 1 garlic press
  • At least three pairs of tongs
  • A small cutting board
  • A large cutting board
  • Assorted large sealed containers for flour, sugar, rice and other supplies
  • Large and Medium Freezer Bags
  • Microwavable storage containers (such as Gladware)
  • 1 spicerack
  • 1 slow cooker (such as a Crock Pot)
  • 1 food processor
  • 1 mixer
  • 1 tri-color male beagle (for purposes of spill clean-up)

Spices

Spices are critical to cooking, especially now that you’ve eliminated salt. Here’s what I would recommend:

  • Black Pepper
  • Red Cayenne Pepper Powder
  • Chipotle Pepper Powder
  • Cumin
  • Sodium-Free Chili Power
  • Sodium-Free Italian Seasoning
  • Sodium-Free Garlic Powder
  • Dried Oregano
  • Dried Cilantro
  • Dried Basil
  • Dried Parsley
  • Fennel Seed
  • Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
  • Mrs. Dash (a blend of different peppers and spices often marketed to heart patients)

Obviously, you can add more to your taste — just make sure you check the label and are 100% confident that the spice contains no sodium. Many powders, including Chili Powders, contain salt, so be careful.

Basic Ingredients

The following items are the basic ingredients for many low-sodium recipes, and you should always have them close at hand:

  • Several cans of Hunts no salt added tomato sauce
  • Several cans of Hunts no salt added tomato paste
  • Several cans of Hunts no salt added stewed tomatoes
  • Several cans of Hunts no salt added diced tomatoes (they even make basil, garlic and oregano-seasoned varieties!)
  • Several cans of no-salt added black beans (or dried black beans)
  • Several cans of no-salt added garbonzo beans/chick peas (or dried garbonzo beans)
  • Vegetable Oil
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • Flour
  • Sugar
  • Corn Starch
  • No-salt added butter
  • Rice (whatever kind you prefer — I usually have long-grain white rice in my kitchen)
  • Low sodium chicken broth

Ketchup

There are two major brands of no-salt added ketchup: Heinz and Hunts. The Heinz ketchup tastes the most like “real” ketchup, but uses potassium chloride as a salt substitute. The Hunts ketchup does not include a salt substitute, and tastes a little strange if you’re used to regular ketchup. I personally use the Heinz brand because I like it better, but I try to be conservative with how much Heinz no-salt added ketchup I eat due to the potassium chloride.

Meats

Fresh meats contain trace amounts of sodium, but in general  are safe for you to eat. As long as the meat is fresh and not pre-marinaded, you should be all right. I regularly eat:

  • Chicken
  • Hamburger
  • Ground Pork (which I make into homemade sausage)
  • Steak
  • Fish (though I don’t really like fish that much)

Fruits and Vegetables

Fresh fruits and vegetables only contain trace amounts of sodium, so you can usually eat as much as you want. For fruits, I would recommend that you get whatever you like, but as fresh vegetables are used in most recipes, I would recommend keeping a supply in your fridge.

I generally keep my kitchen stocked with the following fresh vegetables:

  • Russet baking potatoes
  • Red onions
  • Fresh white garlic
  • Roma tomatoes
  • Vine ripe tomatoes
  • Serano chili peppers
  • Jalapeno chili peppers
  • Red hot chili peppers
  • Anaheim chili peppers
  • Green or red bell peppers
  • Fresh tomatillos
  • Fresh cilantro
  • Fresh mushrooms
  • Cucumbers

Breads

Breads are tricky, because they tend to contain a lot of sodium. Many people on a low sodium diet get bread makers to make their own bread, but I’ve found most of the low-sodium bread recipes to be pretty terrible overall. I generally keep hamburger buns around that are 150 mg of sodium per serving. For sliced bread, Ezekiel Bread (found in the freezer section) tastes great, and is fairly low sodium.

Lately, I’ve been baking my own sodium-free pita bread once a week.

Cheese

There’s no easy way to say this, so I’ll just come out with the truth. Most types of cheese have too much sodium for you to eat. There are low-sodium brands out there (particularly at Trader Joe’s), but they are very difficult to find. The only cheese you can safely eat is swiss, which usually comes down to 40mg of sodium per slice.

I keep around Kraft’s extra-thin sliced swiss, and Harris Teeter’s store brand aged shredded swiss. I don’t eat any other kind of cheese due to the high sodium content. Fortunately, I like swiss a lot, but it was tough for me to give up cheddar.

Fresh mozzarella (the kind that comes as balls in liquid) is also usually fairly low sodium. But other than that, you’re going to have avoid any other kind of cheese.

Condiments

If the serving size for a condiment is under 60mg of sodium, I will usually keep them around. For instance, I keep yellow mustard around, and usually add a teaspoon to burgers.  However, I never go over the serving size. If a condiment contains more than 60 mg, I usually don’t bother with it — it’s wasted sodium that I could spend on something more meaningful.

Spaghetti Sauce

Alas, low-sodium spaghetti sauce is generally terrible. Francesco Rinaldi and Amy’s Organic are the only two major brands that offer a truly low-sodium sauce, and I don’t care for either. Other brands offer a “heart healthy” variety, but usually contain the same level of sodium as the non-heart healthy varieties. I usually make my own spaghetti sauce — it’s easy to prepare and tastes great.

Getting Supplies

If your local grocery store doesn’t contain much of what I outline above, I would recommend making a monthly outing to the nearest Whole Foods to stock-up on low-sodium supplies. If that’s not an option for you, there are a number of online stores that offer low-sodium products. These tend to be overly expensive, but if they’re the only option you have, then you should use them: