Just avoiding prepared foods and not adding a lot of table salt will do it for you. All prepared foods are deadly!

Eliminate canned soups, canned sauces, pre prepared sauces and don't buy chips, pretzels etc.\
And remove the salt shaker.
I made a big pot of BBQ pork....and while it wasn't really "low sodium" as I used a rub with salt.....the rest had no salt added. chili peppers substitutes very well for salt!
Linda C

If you must buy some prepared foods, check Trader Joe's and Whole Foods for some good selections. Learn to read labels and take your magnifying glass to the grocery store with you.

Frozen foods are better than canned. Check the labels on canned veggies, for example, and the frozen varieties. You'll never buy anything in a can again after reading labels!

My advice, visit a nutritionist. Your insurance may cover it if the doc prescribes it for him.
My father is on an extremely low sodium diet. Remember everything has sodium, it's all a matter of degree. Set a target number of grams daily and try to stay near it. Use lemon, vinegars, fruit juices/jams, etc for sauces/seasonings. Careful of some dairy products, especially cheeses.

I just re-read my post. I'm really tired...

Check your local library. You'll find lots of cookbooks on the subject (low-sodium) to aid in finding appropriate recipes and guidelines for altering your favorites.

-Grainlady

I just checked the canned Artichokes I was going to use in a salad tonight...whoa! Way off the charts in sodium. I watch how many grams of sodium I take in a day and the Artichoks had the limit for 2 days. I guess we will be eating lettuce and tomatoes tonight.

It's true what the above posters say. Watch lables carefully.

Yes, watch labels carefully, even canned vegetables, canned dried beans, etc. have salt added. Packaged sauces, soups and the "rice a roni" and packaged dry pasta mixes are hugely high in sodium, as are many of the frozen packaged meals and foods. Don't even think about those bottles of salad dressing! I make my own with homemade yogurt and some Habanero Gold jelly stirred in, or with yogurt, mural of flavor, honey and a bit of dried mustard because I like creamy salad dressings better than viniagrettes.

A lot of cooking from scratch helps, using fresh or frozen vegetables without added sodium. I've found that I can leave salt out of many baked goods, like cookies and brownies, but not bread. Remember that baking soda also has sodium, though.

Penzey's has a salt free blend called "Mural of Flavor" that Elery just loves and uses by the bottle. I'm waiting for them to start selling it in bags, I'll buy a bunch.

Good luck, changing cooking and eating habits that have evolved over years or decades is difficult.

Annie

Aim for 2000 mg a day for a low sodium diet. Read food labels, count up the milligrams. A great reference for high blood pressure is the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) put out by the NIH. Search the NIH website and download or order their booklet or buy the book (maybe Amazon has it too). Educate yourself...to control HTN it's more than just limiting sodium intake. I am a registered, licensed dietitian (RD, LD), as well as a fellow foodie. You can do it!

Here is a link that might be useful: DASH diet

Mst, my husband was diagnosed with congestive heart failure three years ago and since then, I've been cooking low sodium. What everyone has said is true. I started a blog about a year ago in order to chronicle my adventures with low sodium cooking. I've listed it below. I do include some recipes, but my main focus is developing strategies to make good tasting food while limiting the use of salt. I also share any low sodium products I come across.

Also, there are some really good informational websites out there. I've got several listed on my blog, but I'll list a couple here too. The two below also have newsletters you can sign up for. They're great sources of information.

megaheart.com is a great site with recipes, information, and resources as is lowsodiumcooking.com

For products, I order frequently from healthyheartmarket.com or saltwatcher.com or heartwisefood.com

Here is a link that might be useful: Please DON't Pass the Salt!

Thanks everyone. I'll start by buying low sodium or no sodium foods. Too bad I can't find low sodium soy sauce. I found some lower sodium soy sauce but even that is high in sodium. I have started reading labels. I can't believe how much sodium is in packaged foods. Yesterday I went to the store and bought alot of fresh vegitables. I'm going to do more stir frys. Does anyone have a good substitute for soy sauce to use in stir frys? Tomorrow I'll be making kabobs. It's a start.
Shambo, I had already found your site and bookmarked it. It has alot of helpful information.
I'm going to get my Penzey's catalog out and order some stuff from it.
Thank's for all the information.
Teri

Teri, I just found this recipe for a substitute for soy sauce, and it doesn't sound half-bad either.

Here is a link that might be useful: soy sauce substitute

I've made up the recipe sushipup linked to. There's another recipe on the same website that I think is even better. I tweaked it a bit to make it taste more like what I was looking for.

http://www.lowsodiumcooking.com/free/DicksSoySauceSubstitute.htm

However, I've found low sodium soy sauces online and now use them instead. They're both much lower in sodium content then the low sodium soy sauces available in my local grocery stores.

"House of Tang Less Sodium Soy Sauce" has 300 mg. sodium per tablespoon. "Seal Sama Less Sodium Teriyaki Sauce" has only 160 mg. sodium per tablespoon. You can order both products from Saltwatcher.com. I just discovered these two products and ordered them last week, so I can't speak to their taste.

Healthy Heart Market sells a lower sodium soy sauce & teriyaki sauce too. I've been using those two products for years. They're both made by World Harbors Angostura. The soy sauce has 390 mg. sodium per tablespoon and the teriyaki has 350 mg. per tablespoon.

http://healthyheartmarket.com/asian.aspx

Here is a link that might be useful: Saltwatcher Soy Sauce + Teriyaki Sauce

My sister has congestive heart failure. When she first got it we all got in the habit of reading labels. I'm still amazed by alot of things. Trader Joe's has a list of their low salt dishes, Some of which are really good. DH/DC cannot be persuaded to abandon the salt shaker but the rest of us have. The pepper grinder and all your spices are your best friends. You don't miss the salt in very spicey dishes. It is true almost all prepared food is over salted. Remeber it's not no sodium. It's low sodium.

Thanks. I just ordered some spices from Penzey's. I also bought some Mrs. Dash the other day. I'm going to make the soy sauce substitute.

Don't worry so much about the salt that can be controlled at the dinner table or in cooking (unless you have an unrepentant salt-shaker-addict), but note that it's sodium that's the culprit! And it's in baking soda/powder and all manner of preservatives and miscellaneous ingredients.