This article was in The Independent. independent.co.uk/news/heal...
Does anyone have any views on this? Is it really a case of everything in moderation or is no salt added to anything as my husband, who has dilated cardiomyopathy, was told, still the way to go?
The massive quantities of salt, sugar, and unhealthy fats added to processed foods are one of the chief reasons (if not THE chief reason) for the epidemic of heart disease, type two diabetes, and other "life style" illnesses sweeping the modern world.
Sure, a severe deficit of salt can be a problem, but a healthy balanced diet will give you all the salt you need. The real risk is that someone reads an article like this and uses it as an excuse to stuff themselves with burgers and crisps!
My problem is that I've been told NO salt which I have dutifully done since diagnosed. It's hard because it means cooking separate meals and a lot of food is tasteless. Now I need to look at this information because I might be doing harm to my body but if I eat something salty like bacon my heart doesn't cope with it and my feet start swelling straight away because my heart can't cope with it. A conundrum!!!!!
Cannot believe it!
Typed a whole message and deleted it by mistake??!
The short of it is this - confirm and double confirm with the doctors or HF nurse if u REALLY need to go completely saltless. My father when he developed HF, was told to go on a low sodium diet.
I can tell u for a fact, going completely without salt is not a good idea. U can search it. No salt intake can over time lead to catastrophic consequences like a stroke for example. But having a heart condition, you should confirm this with the doctors and get a second opinion if need be
Thanks for advice. I'm seeing h.f. nurses on Wednesday.
Great!
Wish u all the best : )
We spoke to our cardiologist yesterday who said you will never have a completely salt free diet as there is already salt/sodium in so much of what we eat.
That would depend on what you're eating.
I've seen people who cook from scratch, and no processed foods, just to avoid getting salt in their diet
I understand that and we always cook from scratch, no processed food these days but for example, raw celeriac, artichokes, carrots, turnips, beet greens, celery and chard contain 75 milligrams of sodium or more per serving. When cooked without salt, sweet potatoes, spinach and collards contain 75 milligrams of sodium or more per serving. So you are always getting some salt into your system. I don't think you could avoid it altogether.
Yes that's true
Its a definite plus u are cooking from scratch
Are these small sodium amounts observed to be ok for the heart condition?
I cut my salt so much as per instructions (which was not hard as I don’t like the taste of it!) that I was told to go back to normal levels because my sodium levels were dangerously low. So we include it in cooking as normal as my husband was a very heavy smoker, and I add a soupçon to some items - SW chips,salad and rice. That seems to be enough to keep them happy. We eat very little processed food so it’s usually what we add in cooking. Luckily I don’t like bacon or salty ham so I don’t have your problem.
Is there less salt in good quality processed sliced ham? If so you could try that with poached eggs,tomatoes and mushrooms. I poach the toms & mushrooms in a tiny bit water to cook them rather than fry them. Or dry fry the tomatoes and cook the mushrooms in the microwave in a bit of water.
Fiona
I was told to eat more salt in hospital as my blood pressure was very low.
salt dilemma
It's new! Well at least to me.
Blood pressure 
Food with low/no salt
