Shaun, We try to keep our sodium between 1000 to 1500 mg/day, so I know where you're coming from! It's tough at first, but we found that after about 4-6 weeks your taste buds start to change and the lower salt food starts tasting much better. So if you've just been doing this for a month or so, there's light at the end of the tunnel. You asked about eating out: that's tough but not impossible, even if your budget doesn't run to higher end restaurants that will essentially cook anything you ask for, from scratch. We've had some luck with Macaroni Grill (but you have to be kind of emphatic with your server about your request.) They may sort of think you're just being picky, not that you have a serious medical need. In our case it is literally a matter of life or very serious consequences. My DH is the one with the restriction, but I follow it, too, for solidarity and simplicity. He usually makes the request, then I follow up with clear statement to the server about how important it is that nothing be pre-seasoned. Or if it has been already (vegetables are a big prob here as they are parcooked in salty water during prep) I ask that the food be rinsed very well in running water then briefly reheated. You also can usually expect that you're getting a bit of left-over seasoning from previous food cooked on the same hot top or grill. We just make allowances for that. We never eat restaurant bread as as it is very high in salt - often higher than other commercial breads. This is because most "restaurant-made" breads are actually from commercial mixes where salt has a role in ingredient shelf life and simplified gluten-handling at the restaurant. If we don't know about the bread, we just ask that it not come to the table. Baked potatoes, though naturally low in salt can be high if they are salt-baked, so ask about that. Pizza and pasta sauces ar pretty much out, too. (Except for homemade, of course.) And almost all sauced dishes are too complex to parse and usually loaded with fats, as well. We save those kind of dishes for at-home cooking where we can control the sodium. For instance, I make Pad Thai at home, but would never risk it in a restaurant. However, grilled chicken breast, or steak, or broiled fish are good bets. Plain salads (sans dressing and croutons) are usually do-able. Vegs. that are not parcooked are OK, too. We don't restaurant desserts for other reasons, so that's not an issue for us. If it was, i think we'd ask for it in a take-away container and eat it at home in smaller quantities. For chain restaurants when traveling, we've had excellent success at Ruby Tuesday's. They are invariably pretty accomodating about our needs and their salad bar is vast and allows one to chose. We also make a point of speaking to the manager after the meal to praise their flexibility; it's apparently a corporate policy to meet low-sodium requests with equanimity. And as a rule that works. Are you aware of the several excellent very low sodium cookbooks? I can post some names of ones I've found useful, if you need them. I'm sure you realize by now that what "normal" people consider low sodium is way over the top when you're on a medically necessary low sodium diet. I am on a nagging campaign to get the big cooking mags to lower their recipes' sodium content. Fine Cooking at least posts the sodium content in the back of their mag. Cook's Illustrated still has their head in the sand and some of the recipes are absurd (even for people with no sodium restrictions.) Are you listening, Cook's Illustrated? Get with the program! I noticed that there was mention of Morton's Lite Salt. Be sure your doc OK's that for you. People on medical salt restrictions often can't use that safely because of the higher potassium levels. Sorry! For household salt, I use Diamond Crystal Kosher salt. It's 290 mg for each quarter teaspoon. About half of what ordinary table or Morton's Kosher is. It's not that it's less salty -salt is salt - it's just that texture makes it fluffier, so less sodium when measured by volume. And the larger volume makes it easier to measure and control. I also use a tiny scooch of Maldon Sea Salt, as a finisher just before serving on some things. Again its crystalline structure makes it different, and I think adds a useful "hit" of saltiness, even at tiny quantities. After endlessly fiddling around with my regular set of measuring spoons trying measure teeny quantities accurately, I found a set of tiny scoops (with silly cute-sy names) that I have calibrated so I can add 25-50 mg of salt accurately. And accuracy is important when you're banging up against a firm limit that isn't just your taste buds. (And as an aside if I know we're planning to eat out in the evening, or while traveling I double down on the salt restriction earlier in the day to make sure we have room for a bit of a splurge later-or restaurant food that isn't what it seems.) Early on I was pretty intensely focused, but after a couple of years, I've relaxed a bit and some very salty things are regularly served here, just in very small quantities and/or well-balanced with other things. Our diet rules are also much more complex than simple salt restriction because of other medical/diet issues, so I have had to learn where to be flexible and where to find ways to make food inviting and tasty. After all you'll starve to death faster than hypertension will kill you if you got so bummed out about your food that you stopped eating it with relish. I was too scared to try this at first and probably too rigid about the rules and not in a good way, according to my DH! As for specific (tasty) prepared products with lower-than-expected salt levels: I can share some that I've found, but maybe we should start a new thread so others trying to find the info can access it easily. I spent so much time in my supermarket peering at label after label that I eventually attracted the manager who thought I was doing something nefarious. And I've found that even on familar products that you're used to using you need to re-check the label when you buy new containrs as the companies often reformulate the products and upping the salt level is a favorite trick. If you find that be sure to call and give 'em a piece of your mind about it! We do use some prepared/convenience foods, but we choose them very carefully and often divide an entree into two portions and add it to a big salad and home-cooked veg. to fill out the meal. Some days you just need the convenience factor. Some, but by no means all, of the Annie's brand of lower sodium products pass muster. A few prepared foods have separate sauces that you can add after cooking in the MW. If they've got the sodium levels broken out by with and without sauce, then you will likely find that adding half or less of the sauce brings you in at a "low-enough" level for use. There's one brand of exceptionally tasty canned tuna with only 25 mg of sodium/serving. (Without exception so far all of the no-salt-added tuna we've tried was ghastly.) The problem with our fave brand of tuna is that it's pricier, but then since we cook mostly from scratch I figure it evens out as scratch cooking is sooo much cheaper. Eden makes no-salt added canned beans in many varieties, which are quite good in a pinch (not as good as home-cooked, though.) Muir Glen has an ever-growing line of canned tomato products with no added salt that are great (love, love love the fire-roasted no-salt-added stuff!) Both Pacific and Imagine aseptic-packed soups have low(er) sodium versions that are quite good (still 300 mg/400mg per 1 cup, though). I keep some on hand, always. Try all your available broth and stock options to find one that you like. The quality of the low-salt versions varies, as does how low is low. Try ethnic chinese and oriental markets for the lowest-sodium soy and nouc mam (Vietnamese fish sauce) versions. They are always labeled in comprehensible ways, even if just in chinese or japanese. Don't get too discouraged by the "you can't make bread without salt" common knowledge. Yes, you can, but it usually takes some fiddling around with each recipe to hit the sweet spot. Sometimes a lot of fiddling, and wasted ingredients. I also find that low-salt cheese is not great, so we reserve some of our salt "allowance" for regular, even high salt cheese when it's called for. As an example I often grate Piave Vechio (a very high salt 560 mg/oz, extremely high flavor) cheese over a plain jane salad or soup or pasta. I use a microplane grater and find that a very small quantity makes a huge cheesy taste, often adding only 50-100 mg to the overall dish, but to great effect. Cottage cheese is problematic: the no salt added stuff is too bland, but the regular stuff too high. I solve that by buying both and mixing by volume. Half no-salt and half regular comes in right on the money. (BTW, Nancy's brand makes a fantastic cultured - very tangy - type of cottage cheese. That also can be added to the commoner no-salt stuff to jazz it up.) You also need to watch simple stuff like ordinary frozen without sauce vegetables. Some have silly amounts of sodium added. For instance one big brand (Birdseye???) has has peas with both 90 mg/serving and 0 mg/serving. The 0 mg version is just fine - not sure why you need the extra salt anyway. Finally, I found that it was always useful to keep a supply of tasty, reliable easy to fix things on hand so that a recipe adjustment that flops, or a long day with no thought to dinner isn't a catastrophe. That's my version of convenience foods. L

Janet - hop aboard! Welcome! There is a post just below on Fat Flush - same idea as Atkins from what I see. I post on Diet Pals - we do EVERYTHING, anything, our own thing and basically just keep each other going. I have a friend who has been doing Atkins and has lost a lot of weight. Saw a very good health show of someone who has a lifetime of yo yo dieting and found Atkins suits her and her weight is now staying off - she loves meats, has learned to use the right types of fat (which you need) and still keeps her carbs at bay. My success has been with a more balanced diet - weight watchers. Whatever you decide to follow, feel free to make new friends, join any thread you like and ask questions. You could even start a new thread on whatever diet you choose. We love new faces around here and have lots of encouragement. I use this forum as a journal, every day to reinforce my commitment to myself, write about the bad days too - moods, foods and all - I dust myself off and try again. Whatever you decide to follow, please post no matter what. Hi ya, from Scotland! (I'm waving and yelling - youuu hooooo!) McPeg

Here is how I made my low FODMAP dish this week. Lots of flavor. If you assess it on its own merits rather than comparing to a dear favorite, it's a good dish. I think one of the hardest parts of this diet is that it precludes so many favorite foods. There's no way this is going to be Mom's Sunday Gravy, and if that's what you have a hankering for, it's better just to have something entirely different. OTOH, if you're just wanting flavor, give it a try. Meatballs Marinara Meatballs (yield: 3 dozen): 2 lbs. Ground Bison (10% fat) or any meat you like (not poultry, which cooks differently) 1.5 c. White Jasmine Rice (or any rice you favor) 3/4 c. Rolled Whole Oats 3 small Parsnips, minced well 1 lb. Carrots, minced well 4 whole Eggs 2 handfuls Dried Parsley Salt & Pepper to taste Set the oven to convection, at 360° F. If you don't have convection, use bake, but put the trays in one at a time. Line a couple of baking trays with parchment paper and give a light spritz of oil (not necessary, but browns the bottom). In a food processor, whirr the rice into small pieces, but not completely down to flour. Some whole grains are okay, though you can go finer if you prefer. Whirr the oats lightly, as well. Dump into a large mixing bowl (I use a 5 qt. stainless). Do these first (before the wet of the roots). No need to clean the FP, just mince the carrots and parsnips and dump them into the mixing bowl. Crack the eggs separately to make sure they're okay and catch any little bits of shell and dump them in the bowl along with the meat, parsley and S&P. Mix well with your hands. Food service gloves are great for this. Don't overwork it, but get everything well distributed. Hands are much better than a spoon for this job. Use a medium food scoop or large spoon to help make handball sized meatballs (or whatever size you prefer). Roll between your hands lightly to compact the surface but not squeeze the middle. Place on the baking sheets. They can be fairly near each other. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until nicely browned. Marinara Sauce (yield: 2 quarts, concentrated): 3.5 lbs. Crushed and Pureed Tomatoes (2 large cans or equivalent homemade--any combination of the two) 3 small fist sized Turnips, minced 1/2 lb. Carrots, chopped 1/4-1/2 c. Extra Virgin Olive Oil 5 Roasted Serrano Chili Peppers, stemmed and seeded, or canned or dried equivalent, or substitute as you please. This isn't enough to make the sauce hot--just tasty. Mild chili pepper would be fine, or if you like hot, throw in the seeds, but don't skip this unless you have digestive issues with peppers. 1 handful each, fresh, destemmed and chopped, or dried: Thyme, Oregano, Basil and Parsley 1 Dried Bay Leaf, to be fished out at the end 1 standard jar Capers Pepper to taste You'll need a good pot, at least 3 qts. in capacity. Drain the capers well in a strainer. When they're well drained, rinse them well to remove excess salt. Mince the turnips in the food processor. Heat the pot to the temperature you usually sauté' at, or low end of medium, and add the smaller amount of oil. Cooking with EVOO is very tricky. It scorches easily, so go lower rather than higher, and don't turn your back on it. When a little piece of turnip will just bubble, add all the turnip and stir well, distributing the oil throughout. If you don't have enough oil to that, clear a space in the pan and add more, letting it heat just a bit before stirring it into the turnip. Reduce the temperature and keep stirring every so often until it cooks down into a clumpy, paste like thing, and a taste proves that it's beginning to soften. Flatten it out and leave it go longer without stirring so it will start to brown. Stir occasionally and reflatten. This will take some time. Chop the carrots in the food processor. Pulse so they don't go to small. The point is to release their water into the sauce rather than the FP, and let them lend their texture. If you want a smoother texture, you can mince them, but get all the good carrot juice. When the turnip is beginning to brown on the bottom, stir in the carrots and chili peppers. When they're well heated, add the tomatoes and herbs. Stir well and taste for seasoning. Add pepper to taste. Don't add salt at this stage. Bring up to the high end of medium heat and wait for big bubbles. When you see several, reduce the heat to the high end of low, to simmer. You should still see a few small bubbles. Add 3/4 of the capers, reserving 1/4 for garnish. Stir in and allow them to cook into the sauce, at least half an hour, still on simmer. Taste for seasoning again. If you're using canned tomatoes, you probably don't need salt, especially with the saltiness of the capers. Remember, this sauce is reducing and that intensifies saltiness. If it actually tastes bland to you, go ahead and add a little salt. Adjust the herbs as you wish. Simmer another half an hour and remove from heat. This is a concentrated sauce, which is almost stewlike, and should freeze well.. You can puree it if you want a smoother sauce--do this before adding any water. Before using, add water a few tablespoonsful at a time, to get it to your desired consistency. Combine: In a covered casserole or pot, or baking dish with a foil cover, put a ladle of sauce in the bottom and spread it around. Line it with meatballs, touching, but not smooshed together. Cover generously with sauce. Optional toppings: a blanket of arugula, a sprinkling of tasty cheese (romano or asiago, or parm, if you prefer), a dusting of chopped pine nuts (not too many for low FODMAP). Cover and bake for 35-45 minutes at 350° F. until piping hot. Alternatives: If you prefer a richer meatball, with more fat, that's fine. You can cook down the turnips in the drippings if there's enough to completely coat. Add some oil if not, but not EVOO which would be too flavorful. Adjust the proportions of veg and binders to suit yourself. This meatball recipe is based on one which uses equivalent amounts of onion to parsnip and bread crumbs to rice/oats. You can go meatier if that's your preference, but take it out of the carrots. The parsnips provide the pungency that's missing from having no onions or garlic. Edited to add yields. This post was edited by plllog on Sat, Nov 8, 14 at 19:20

share_oh, OMG, i am so happy for you!!!! it has truly changed my life and i see it is for you!! That is so AWESOME!!!! you are so welcome and i would Love a trimtastic cake!!! i would work out, walk and eat what i thought was good and could NOT get that scale to move. this way of eating is having such a great effect on me in so many ways!! i am finally losing weight, weighed myself yesterday-down 12lbs., tons more energy, happier, i am in jeans that i haven't fit into in 2 years, its just been a life changer for me!! i do think the cookbook is a must. i use it daily! just had a Thin Thick, YUM!!! pinterest is great too but u have to be sure its THM approved. Gwen's nest, brianna thomas, darcie's dishes are really good ones., there are more. when u go on brianna thomas, she has a list of other bloggers that are a good resource.... keep in mind, some people lose inches, some lose weight, some both, so don't get discouraged. i am in menopause also and have a hypo thyroid and i am still losing, so stay the path!! i agree that if u have a lot to lose, it will be more initially. i was about 1-1.5 lbs a week. first thing i noticed was my stomach wasn't bloated and then it took off from there. don't exercise right away till your body gets used to the food plan. i didn't do anything for a least 6 weeks and i am just walking now, no weights/gym yet. i'll start in the summer when its too hot to walk outside. its more important to eat according to plan in the beginning. share_oh, i think i have my settings so i can receive email, if u want to email me for something specific, but i will try to check in frequently. Again, Congrats, really so happy for you!!!!! P.S. measure yourself and check weekly, its such a lift when those #'s go down, then treat yourself to a new shirt or whatever, you deserve it!!!!!!