I am 73 years old. Some 30 years ago, my BP started going up, and I was advised to reduce salt. I did it and monitored my BP every day, and watched it go down gradually but steadily. and it stayed down for a few years. Then it started climbing again, and I started taking anti-hypertensive medications. I now take two different such medications to keep my BP within normal range, and I watch my diet. Eliminating salt from your diet is very difficult because so many things contain salt. It's not just avoiding the salt shaker and avoiding salt in the food you cook. Most people do not know it, but milk, bread and most cold cuts and cheeses contain salt. Meats and fishes also contain some salt. The only things that contain no salt are potatoes, fruit and veggies, rice, grains, beans and unsalted nuts. You can accustom your taste buds to "like" unsalted food and, after a few weeks, you will find even lightly salted things too salty and wonder how you ever ate them. Depending on your personal situation, you might make life very complicated for the people you live with. If you decide to embark on this low sodium effort, make sure your BP elevation is not so high as to pose a serious risk, because you could do yourself harm if you do not get your BP under control promptly. Another thing to consider is that some people with high BP have a form of the disease that is particularly salt-sensitive. They respond especially well to reduced sodium intake. If your illness is not of that type, then you will probably eventually find that sodium restriction does not afford you the degree of BP control that you need, and you will have to start taking medication. Of you can try calcium supplements, but they can be constipating. The cheapest and for most people safest starting antihypertensive medication is hydochlorthiazide (HCZT), which is available as a generic and costs less than $20 per month. It's a very safe drug, and you will probably not experience any unpleasant side effects. Blood pressure control is one of the few areas where the drug industry has succeeded very well. The available treatments are highly effective and extremely safe. You will hardly know you are taking any medication, and the "silent killer" can be kept safely at bay.

Elisa, My DH has health problems and we actually have a slightly lower target than your brother's. It seems insurmountable at first, especially when it can't be eased into. If you've got a low-salt diet order, and judging by the ICD implantation, kidney issues, etc., I can guess what you're dealing with, you need to get it in place ASAP. Or your brother will be right back where he started from. The need for rapid change is one of the biggest challenges because it takes awhile for a lowered-salt diet to taste good again. It will get better as you will adjust, but most people eat four or five times that amount, daily. So even thogh 1500 mg/d doesn't sound much less than official ideal for non-impaired people, it's a huge functional and taste change for most people. I know, because we've BTDT. OK, here's some quick tips: almost all prepared food will put you in trouble, unless you only eat once per day. And if he's got diabetes that won't work. By prepared food I mean almost all restaurant food, especially fast food. Almost all canned and frozen prepared stuff, including most stuff marketed as "healthy" prepared food. (There are exceptions, you'll have to read label after label to find the keepers.) Often the lowered sodium product isn't either truly low (300 mg, or less, per portion) or they make it up by loading it with carbs. Here are a couple of good things that are mainstays in our house for fast eats: some of the Imagine Organic aseptic packaged LOWER IN SODIUM soups (corn or sweet potato=140 mg/cup). Other lower in sodium aseptic packaged soups may or may not work for you. (We like some tomato, some roasted pepper, etc. you have to read the labels.) Muir Glen makes a good line of no salt added canned tomato products which are great, esp. the fire roasted ones. Most commercial low or no salt bread sucks, to put it plainly. This is where making your own really is better. But salt has a functional role in bread-making, in addition to its taste role, so you will need to expect to have some trouble adapting "regular" recipes simply by leaving out the salt. Try some of the specifically low-sodium bread recipes for starters. Also if you buy unsliced bread, you can slice it thinner than normal and work the total sodium down that way, at least a bit. No-salt cheese is mostly bad; swiss is naturally low (60-80mg/oz) so it's a my go-to cheese. I do use (sparingly) higher sodium cheeses (e.g. Piave cheddar which can be as high as 500+ mg/oz when all I want is to grate some up as a topping. Then the portion is so small it's OK, and the sharp, rich taste really makes a difference.) You can make good grilled cheese sandwiches with Swiss cheese, too. Use a sharper mustard, for extra taste. For cottage cheese get some no-salt added tubs and cut it 50% with the higher salted product. That produces an acceptable level. Watch frozen veg. products, even some of the un-sauced ones often have baking soda (aka SODIUM bicarbonate) added to preserve the green color, which turns a nearly sodium-free item into something you have to "count". If you need to eat out, go to a restaurant and ask for plain grilled chicken, never seasoned and grilled on a scraped grill. Ask if the veg. were precooked, if so ask that they be rinsed in a hot water and then briefly re-nuked. Most pasta is out because it often has been parboiled in salted water. (You don't need to add salt to pasta if you cook it at home. Never mind what the cook books say.) For nation-wide family restuarant chains when ttraveling, we've had good luck with Ruby Tuesdays. They are usually quite accommodating, and the big salad bar is good, too. There are many, if not most, recipes that you will read in cooking mags and books that will have a sodium content that's way out of your range. But you can always bring that salt way down by not adding it, or adding a lot less. You will have some big recipe failures this way but you will learn what works for you. Your brother's Dr. probably told him this: DO NO USE LITE-SALT or SALT SUBSTITUTES. These usually contain potassium "salts" instead of sodium and they will mess things up on the other end (as well as possibly interfere with some of his meds - ACE/ARBS, diuretics, etc.) These products are meant for people who are just "cutting down" salt, not for people at risk of CHF. It's no picnic dealing with a low-salt, most likely very low-fat, diabetic diet (And maybe also low Vitamin K, as well?). It takes a huge , constant vigilance to put it in place successfully. Your brother will need a lot of help, especially if these are sudden changes, in order for it to not become overwhelming. As JohnLiu says most things that are "too salty" can be made at home. But it's a completely different culinary regimen, because even many certifiably homemade dishes contain ingredients that are very salty to begin with. And it takes a lot more time and effort. Can you give me some idea what you're trying to accomplish, right now? What sorts of meals are you trying to prepare? I may be able to make some specific suggestions. In the meantime, you can't go wrong with broiled chicken or fish, steamed veg, small baked sweet potato and salad for dinner. For lunch a truly lower-salt soup (or big salad), and an egg or tuna or chicken salad sandwich, and fruit for dessert. And maybe regular oatmeal and fruit for breakfast. This would leave you some pretty useful lee-way to add some other tasty, higher-salt add-ons: cheese, lightly salted pop-corn, regular (not homemade low salt for the time being) whole-wheat bread, etc. Possibly some diabetic-OK cookies or icecream; prepared chocolate soy-pudding is a nice snacky-thing, but I'm not sure if it fits with diabetic diets. I remember standing in my supermarket when this was a new thing for me and feeling that nothing I could make would be safe for my husband. I actually cried right in the aisle, I was so upset. We ate pretty simple, even primitive, meals for awhile early on - and I've thrown out a lot of tried-but-turned-out-to-be ghastly recipes. But it does get easier when you learn how to cheat out the excess salt and still go for the familiar flavors. While the prospect of learning a whole new taste-profile can be interesting, in the abstract, familiar tastes and dishes are very comforting and even necessary, IMO for healing. You just need to keep tweaking it until you've got it right. It does get better. L

My Dad has the same problems as your Dad. You should make your own bread. Bread has lots of sodium and you can make it sodium free. Milk has lots of sodium. You can buy soy or other grain milks but they have lots of sodium also. But, you can make rice milk real easy and not add salt and either drink or use it in your receipes and it is sodium free. If a salad dressing calls for oil, use water and thicken with cornstarch or arrowroot. I use Fetherweight Baking powder (no sodium), EnerG egg replacer (0 fat, 0 cholesterol, 5 mg. sodium), EnerG baking soda (no sodium). I create my own receipes for my Dad. I gave him a low sodium cookbook (uses less than 500 mg. sodium in a days meals). I cannot remember the name of it. E-mail me and I will let you know.

Yeah, no chance of getting him to go vegetarian or vegan -- though he does enjoy vegetables, he's not going to give up meat completely. I didn't want to get too personal but part of the issue here is that this young man has a number of developmental disabilities. This is not something he will easily embrace or that he can address for himself. His mom will prepare the evening meals and keep the house stocked but he is on his own for much of the day. He is fairly functional but not independent and not really capable of understanding the impact of diet. He's a creature of habit-- so that will help eventually but it's a hurdle to overcome now. It will be very easy to control his diet at home but much less so when he is out with non-family. It's just heartbreaking. This kid already has so many challenges in this life. It stinks that he has yet another. He isn't going to understand that, no, he can't just walk to subway for lunch as he's frequently done before. Again, I so appreciate all your suggestions!