Breathing Zone iPhone App

espresso shot
Originally uploaded by andy.s.

We recently found the Breathing Zone app, which does an approximation of what Resperate does, and Mr. C has successfully used it on the (very packed) train on the way into work without people thinking he is crazy. He tells me it's good, and he would recommend it for travelling although it certainly won't be replacing our Resperate machine as it doesn't have all of the features or flexibility.

A good way to cancel out the effect of your morning coffee then? :-)

Salt Awareness Week

Salt Awareness Week 2010 kicks off on Monday. It is run in the UK by CASH - expect to see items in the news about sodium and health.

Manjula's Kitchen

Manjula's wonderful Indian vegetarian cookery site is full of inspiration for great home-cooked food. One section I really like is the breads; it's so easy to spend time making a low sodium curry from scratch, but then mess up the meal by eating it with salty supermarket naans.

Making fresh Indian breads is really easy - especially the roti, which I can now knock up in about 10 minutes, having watched the easy step-by-step video on Manjula's site, and a bit of trial-and-error. I don't have a US cup measure, but use a little rammekin instead. Of course I leave out the salt :-), and they are fine without, but I found some black onion seeds at the market which are great for making salt-free naans more interesting.

Salt in Pasta Sauces

No shock here, as shop-bought pasta sauces are revealed to be high in salt. You can read the full report, from CASH, here. Worst of the lot was Jamie Oliver's range, with 5.3g salt per portion for his Spicy Olive, Garlic and Tomato sauce (no excuse for all that salt if it's spicy!). There are a couple of good Weight Watchers options there though, and it's worth noting that, although the pestos were generally high in salt per 100g, you would of course eat far less of it per serving than a sauce.

Pret a Manger - Update

Just been onto the Pret website to get some details so I can post some of the lower sodium sandwiches at Pret for my other half, for the days I don't manage to do him a packed lunch!

Egg Mayo & Bacon Breakfast Baguette 0.4445 g sodium per pack (this is lower than the egg & tomato version)
Posh Cheddar & Pickle Baguette 0.5048 g sodium per pack
Mature cheddar & pickle sandwiches 0.5906 g sodium per pack

500 Low Sodium Recipes

"500 Low Sodium recipes" is a book that I have heard of before, but hesitated to buy it as it's written by an American author, and I have often found that online recipes from the US contain ingredients not available here. However I found an extract available online, for free, today and it's really very good, so I have ordered a copy from eBay.

You can find the extract, which is 60 pages long, on Google Books here - there's a very readable introduction, and pages of salt-free seasoning mixes, sauces and marinades.

Nina and the Neurons Go Low Sodium

It seems as though my obsession has become more widespread, with even pre-school science experts Nina and the Neurons getting in on the act. Thanks to the BBC for the undoubtedly copyrighted image.

Getting Help and Advice - the BPA

Just wanted to highlight the great work by Fiona and Liz, the Blood pressure Association nurses who are there to answer questions about BP on the BPA Forum. If you have a question about any aspect of hypertension, lifestyle or diet that's the place to go.

They have a helpline too, the number is 0845 241 0989 and it's open 11am-3pm, Monday to Friday.

Saltrite

A product I've missed while I've been offline...Saltrite table salt substitute contains only 0.08% sodium, and (according to the manufacturer) tastes great.

Kill or Cure?

Damn you, Daily Mail
Originally uploaded by floongle

I spend a fair bit of time reading health-related news items, so this website tickled me. It aims to "help to make sense of the Daily Mail’s ongoing effort to classify every inanimate object into those that cause cancer and those that prevent it". The number of things which are claimed do both (e.g. alcohol, milk), according to various studies, should remind us just how much research there needs to be before a definitive answer is found.

Which reminds me of the site Sense about Science, which I urge anybody using the internet to read up on health issues to take a look at.

News Roundup from CASH and the BPA

While I've been offline, CASH have of course been continuing their excellent work (for which they've received an award from the Chief Medical Officer), highlighting the sodium levels in foods targetted at those on special diets (I have one of those nasty nut allergies, so a subject close to my heart).

Also, the Blood Pressure Association has confirmed what your gran always told you, that porridge is the best possible breakfast, and that there may be an explanation for how vegetables help to lower your BP. Know Your Numbers Week was last month, and a survey showed that black cab drivers throughout the country, like many of us, have high blood pressure, and don't know it.

Also in the news - I have heard that restaurants and retailers are continuing to lower their sodium levels. More on this soon...

FSA Salt Calculator

Hello again! Thinking of disinterring this blog...and wanted to share this with you.

The FSA have launched a salt calculator here (scroll down a bit), which you can use to more easily compare salt contents of foods. They've also launched an app for the iPhone called FSA Salt, which is free. I've tried it and it's really good. But then I am a bit of a geek.

A great way of fathoming out what the various different labels are trying to tell you.

Bye!

If this is your first visit to this blog, and you are looking to reduce your sodium intake, then do take a look at my Top Ten Tips as a starting point. That post links through to lots of other parts of the blog.

A low sodium diet has now become a way of life for us at home, although we still allow ourselves to lapse on holiday and when eating out (we're not angels, so perfect behaviour would be an unrealistic goal!). Together with regular use of Resperate, and a switch to low/alcohol-free beer, it has brought down Mr. C's blood pressure from the dizzy heights of 174/112 to a level that is at the top end of the normal range (under 140/90). It's a fantastic result after slightly under a year, and without resorting to drugs, and just goes to show how much diet and lifestyle really do have a direct impact on your health. I think that he is also a calmer person now, and suspect that this may be down to having lower blood pressure (not that he was overly stressed-out before).

I also think our kids are benefiting. Our eldest is nearly 7 and now shows much more of an interest in eating mummy's home cooking (and in watching and helping me cook), and our youngest was weaned after our low salt diet started, so has never got into our bad habits. I hope they stick with a healthy lifestyle as they get older. I'm delighted with the positive effects on Mr. C's health, but the potential effect on our daughters' future eating habits is even more important, especially if they have inherited their dad's tendency to high blood pressure.

Now that we've achieved our goal, I have decided to stop posting to this blog, and to direct my energy and time elsewhere (although of course we need to continue with our good habits!). I hope the information here has helped someone. Any comments posted below will still come through to my email inbox, and I'll reply when I can. Good luck with your own journeys towards a healthier lifestyle - I hope you see the same positive effects that we have seen.

Alcohol Free Week 2009

Celebrate Alcohol Free Week 2009 with offers from the excellent Alcohol Free Shop. It coincides with Lent, so what's your excuse not to skip the booze?...

Salt Awareness Week 2009 - 2nd to 8th February

Next week is CASH's annual Salt Awareness Week. Their website has lots of guidance, and information on recent research, and is well worth a visit.

Or why not take a look at my top ten tips for reducing your sodium intake? If you can only manage to take one step, the single easiest and most effective way to reduce your salt intake is to change your breakfast cereal.

Know Your Numbers - Results

The results of the Blood Pressure Association's "Know Your Numbers" week are in, and it makes sobering reading.

At least 246,000 adults across the UK had a free blood pressure check. Only 24% of people tested had an 'optimal' reading. This means 76% (187,000) of those tested should be taking positive action to lower their blood pressure.

Across the UK, 38% (more than 93,000 people) had high blood pressure readings (at least 140/90mmHg) which needed further investigation.

Even 'average' readings across the UK fell into the 'high normal' definition (130/85 - 139/89mmHg). The final report is here. See page 6 for the headlines.

How to Make Lovely Salt-Free Bread with a Bread Machine

I have been using my bread machine two or three times a week now for the last 9 months, and have only just got to the point where my bread is good enough for my discerning 6 year old daughter. I’m absolutely delighted to be able to stop buying her white sliced, because it is full of salt and goodness knows what other rubbish, and also because she never used to get through the whole loaf before it went mouldy (it was only her that ate it), meaning we had lots of waste. Now that she eats my bread I know exactly what she’s getting and it’s a huge improvement.

Here's what I have learned about baking salt-free bread.

1. Flour – use the best you can – we are lucky enough to have a mill down the road from us at Redbournbury - although it's not cheap, it's great flour and I like the fact that it's so local.

2. Salt - plenty of people will tell you that salt is an essential ingredient in bread. That’s a load of rubbish - I use no salt at all and make delicious bread. However, you may find you need to experiment a little to get the quantities right. Without salt, I generally find that I need less sugar and perhaps a little less yeast than the recipe recommends (sugar stimulates the action of the yeast; salt damps it down). I am told that salt-free bread goes stale quicker than shop-bought bread (but it will be so delicious that it probably won't be around long enough to get to that point).

3. Water – I generally use a splash more than the recommended quantity. I then go back to the bread machine when it’s 10 minutes into its cycle (I use the cooker timer to remind me) and take a look to see if I need any more.

4. Flavour – in just a few weeks, you will get used to the taste of salt-free bread. If you do miss the salt however, adding a little bitterness seems to compensate - try finely chopped rosemary added to the dough, or poppy seeds sprinkled on top.

5. Bake it in the oven instead of the machine - my bread machine produces a decent enough loaf, but it's a cube shape, with a hole in the end where the blade was, and doesn't always have the best texture. To get much better results...
- use the "dough" option on the machine to make the dough (on my machine, this takes 90 mins)
- shape it and pop it into a loaf tin (I don't "knock it back" too much), put a cut lengthways along the top (glaze and add seeds at this point if you want)
- leave in a warm place for half an hour
- bake it in the oven for half an hour. I use the small top oven of my cooker (sitting on the bottom of the oven rather than on a shelf). This gives a really good, crusty loaf.

The "Bag of Crisps" Measurement

In the same spirit that people describe the size of a country by how many times Wales would fit into it (why is it always Wales?), I have been trying out a new way unit of measurement for sodium levels - the "bag of crisps". The bag of crisps I am using is Walker's Ready Salted, which contains 0.5g of salt (per 34.5g bag), a nice round number.

So, here are a few "bag of crisps" measurements:

1 bag of crisps:
=1 bowl of Kelloggs Cornflakes

2 bags of crisps:
=1 slice of toast, buttered, with Marmite
=50g Edam

4 bags of crisps:
=1 small (200g) tin Heinz baked beans with sausages

8 bags of crisps:
=Half a medium-sized Dominos Pepperoni Passion

Kids' Salt Intake

I have two kids so this is a subject close to my heart. Our youngest only moved onto solids after we had started our low sodium diet, but it is taking our 6 year old a while to adapt (she has only now decided that she will eat mummy's bread rather than shop-bought white sliced).

The recommended daily sodium intake for children is obviously lower than that for adults, you can find lots of good information and advice in this leaflet on the CASH website.

The main sources of salt in children's diets are as follows (from here):

40% from cereal & cereal products e.g. bread, breakfast cereals, 'morning goods'
21% from meat & meat products e.g. bacon & ham, burgers, sausages
9% from potatoes e.g. coated oven chips, croquettes
9% from milk & milk products e.g. yoghurts, cheese

Low Salt Carrot and Coriander Soup

Another recipe for leftovers. I made this with some carrots which were looking a bit tired in the bottom of the fridge, and some droopy coriander left over from a curry I made last week. Use olive oil/yoghurt instead of butter/cream to make it a bit healthier.

I made some croutons to go with this with some stale bread (it goes off quickly with no salt in it) by cutting it into cubes, drizzling in olive oil and putting it in a hot oven for 8 minutes (turn halfway through, and season with black pepper at the end).

Serves 2

Ingredients
25g unsalted butter
4 carrots, peeled and diced
400ml low sodium chicken stock (from a stock cube, or ideally home made)
1 large handful fresh coriander, roughly chopped
Red chilli to taste (I used about 1tsp from one of those jars of pre-prepared stuff)
110ml double cream
black pepper

Method
1. Sauté the carrot for 5-6 minutes in the butter to soften.
2. Slowly add the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 10-12 minutes.
3. Add the coriander, chilli and cream and season to taste.
4. Blend the soup with a hand blender until smooth.
5. Return the soup to the saucepan and over a low heat stir to heat through.
6. Season and serve

The NaC-hell Retailer Award 2008

I'm going to make this an annual award - this year's focuses on the major UK retailers/supermarkets. I did a survey, to see which is the best place to shop for a low sodium diet. I got in touch with them all at the beginning of December, via email (except for Morrisons, for whom I used snail mail as there was no email address available).

	Please could you provide a listing of low sodium products?	Do you have a reduced sodium own brand ready meal range?	Do you have an initiative to reduce sodium in your products?	Do you have clear labelling?
Tesco	No response	Yes - Healthy Living	No response	No response
Asda	No	Yes	No	Yes
Sainsbury's	No	Yes, Super Naturals	Yes	Yes
Morrisons	No	No	No response	Yes
M&S	Yes	Yes - Eat Well	Yes	Yes
Waitrose	Yes	Yes - Perfectly Balanced	Yes	Yes

I must admit I was a little disappointed not to receive a response from Tesco, as the biggest retailer here. They do however have a decent website, and an online nutritionist. See here for their guidance on salt, and product labelling.

Asda also have a good website. See here for their guidance on salt and product labelling.

Sainsbury's tell me that they were at the forefront of the push for better product labelling. See here for their guidance on salt and labelling.

Morrisons have a page on "switching the salt" on their website.

Marks and Spencer and Waitrose get points for being the only two retailers to send me a listing of low sodium products. Waitrose sent me a huge list of everything that they sell that is low in sodium in the post. Marks and Spencer sent me a listing on a spreadsheet via email - I must say their nutritionist was very helpful, and having the list in Excel is fantastic, as it means I can sort on the sodium content column, to find the lowest.

Waitrose's guidance on salt and labelling are here.

See here for M&S' guidance on salt and labelling. They seem to be taking salt reduction seriously, and have made it part of their "Plan A" campaign. And for that, M&S are the winner of the NaC-Hell Retailer Award for 2008!

Low Salt Corn Chowder

We've just been given a kitchen bin from the Council for recycling kitchen scraps, and I have been shocked at the amount of food we throw away, so I'm trying to get into the habit of using up odds and ends instead of throwing them away. I had almost a whole tin of sweetcorn left over from doing something for the kids today, so quickly knocked up one portion of this soup with it and put it in the freezer. The spices mean you don't notice the lack of salt. It's adapted from a Lesley Waters recipe - for a healthier version you can use olive oil and yoghurt instead of butter and cream.

Serves 2

Ingredients
Half an onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
25g butter
12 baby sweetcorn, chopped, or 2 small tins of sweetcorn, rinsed of salt
4 cherry tomatoes, halved
300ml low sodium vegetable stock
Half a baking-sized potato, diced
Splash white wine
1 tsp cumin
Seeds from 2 cardamom pods
1 tsp turmeric
150ml cream

Method
1. In a large saucepan sauté the onion and garlic in the butter (adding the garlic for the last minute only)
2. Add the corn and potato and cook for 1 minute
3. Add the spices and stir
4. Add the wine and stock and cook for 5 minutes
5. Add the cream and cook for a further 5 minutes, adding the tomatoes
6. Whizz up with a hand blender, leaving plenty of chunks
7. Season to taste with black pepper

Low Sodium Bloody Mary

Blood Marys are something we used to like to have occasionally as a treat, so I'm really pleased to have come up with a low sodium version. The tomato juice and worcester sauce normally make it a really salty drink. In particular, tomato juice comes out at around 0.3g per 100 ml (see here for the levels in pub favourite Britvic; other juices are about the same)

Here's the ingredient list for my low sodium version - just mix it together. Links are to the Ocado site as I was busy doing my shopping there (they have a Tesco price match thing going at the moment), but the products are available all over the place...

Basics:
2 ice cubes
2 shots of vodka
200 ml Sunraysia Tomato Juice (just tomatoes, no added salt)

Adjust quantities to taste:
Lemon juice
Dash Life Worcestershire Sauce (made with LoSalt)
A couple of drops of Tabasco Sauce
Black pepper

Optional Garnish (makes it prettier and adds some vitamins):
Celery stick stirrer
Cherry tomato

Beetroot Lowers Blood Pressure, Apparently

Beetroots
Originally uploaded by Anushruti RK

Recent research suggests that beetroot may lower blood pressure.

"HeartBeet", a new, palatable beetroot juice (it has apple juice added to it) has now come onto the market and is available from Holland & Barrett.

Resperate - Update

Just wanted to post a quick update on Resperate, which Mr C has had some success with.

It's a small unit with headphones, which plays musical notes at you - the idea is that you breathe in time with them, and that it gradually slows your breathing down by slowing down the music. Really what it is doing is getting you to meditate. Although Resperate doesn't seem to have been checked out by NICE yet, it's been approved by the FDA in the US, and also the principle has certainly been proven - regular meditation lowers your blood pressure. It's been demoed on This Morning, the item is on YouTube here.

Reducing our dietary sodium (and also alcohol consumption) brought Mr C's blood pressure down from 174/112 to 141/99 in 6 months - but this was obviously still too high. 6 weeks of regular Resperate use has brought it down, I am pleased to say, to 140/88, which is within the normal range (just!). It seems he is the perfect candidate for it, as he is otherwise very healthy, and has no underlying condition which is causing the high BP.

Resperate is £199, and is for sale online here (I'm sure you could find it cheaper elsewhere, but this site has a 30 day money back guarantee), although we got ours from our local Lloyds Chemist.

Christmas Dinner "Loaded with Salt"

Lyndsey's Christmas feast
Originally uploaded by claracluc

It's just once a year, so probably not worth getting too worked up about (unless you're this chap), but look at the figures on the bread sauce and stuffing.

Merry Christmas!

Top Tips - Measuring Your Blood Pressure at Home

Here are my top tips for measuring your blood pressure at home. See here for the Blood Pressure Association guidance.

1. Remember that home measurement is not for everyone. For some people it may prove helpful to them (and indeed their GP) to take some measurements outside of a clinical setting (which can make some people anxious). For others it may just make them more worried about their BP.

2. Find the right monitor for you. There is a list of clinically approved monitors here. Martin Roth has a good selection of reviews on his site.

3. Find out what's normal here (note this is only a guide - your GP is always the best source for advice).

4. Read the instructions, and follow them (it's so tempting with a new gadget just to start using it straightaway). If you don't, you may get inaccurate measurements. There are some tips on using a home monitor on the Blood Pressure Association site, here.

5. Take measurements at the same time of the day. Blood pressure varies - this isn't just because external stresses change, but is also a natural body rhythm thing - see here for a line graph.

Sandwich Fillings

Some ideas for low sodium sandwich fillings, to be updated on an irregular basis. My husband loves salad, but not in sarnies, so there is an unashamed meat bias here. My top tips are to make sure your Sunday roast is big enough to leave leftovers, and to buy fillets to cook and slice yourself - those "delicatessen" meats in the supermarket are chock full of salt.

- Pork & apple sauce

- Chicken breast with chilli and lime (marinade in chilli and lime juice, then char grill - slice the chicken before or after, depending how much crispy edge you like)

- Emmental and sliced tomato or chutney (much lower in sodium than pickle)

- Roast beef and mustard (make your own mustard - the powder has no sodium in it compared to ready-made mustard which has 3g per 100g)

- Lamb and mint sauce

Another (albeit slightly obscure) reason to cut down on salt...

fingerprint
Originally uploaded by Toodlesnot

It seems criminals would be well-advised to follow a low sodium diet, according to recent research from the University of Leicester.

A diet high in salty foods results in saltier sweat, which can produce mild, fingerprint-shaped corrosion on metals such as bullet casings, which can then be spotted by new fingerprinting techniques.

No Added/Reduced/Low/Free?

A quick explanation of the various standard terms in use in food labelling, which I found on the British Nutrition Foundation website.

• "Low salt" or "low sodium" – no more than 40 mg sodium per 100 grams or 100 ml (in the case of a food naturally low in salt/sodium, the claim must be made in the form "a low salt/sodium food").

• "Reduced salt" or "reduced sodium" - foods should contain at least 25% less than the standard product.

• "No added salt" – no salt or sodium added to the food or any of its ingredients.

• "Salt free" or "sodium free" – no more than 5 mg sodium per 100 grams or 100 ml.

Breakfast...again

Day 165 - Fry up
Originally uploaded by DragonDrop

I love breakfast, so do keep returning to this subject. The CASH website carries a recent report which raises concerns about the salt content in typical breakfasts. A traditional fry-up can contain your full daily allowance, 6g.

The spreadsheet is well worth a look - it lists sodium contents for breakfast cereals, takeaway breakfasts, toast, coffee...everything you could possibly want, and because it's in a spreadsheet, you can sort it and be suitably shocked at some of the measurements, but also find some good low sodium options.

So...has it worked?

I've noticed a number of visits to this blog from the Blood Pressure Association website, and one reader has asked whether the low sodium/low alcohol diet has lowered Mr. C's blood pressure. We're 6 months into it, so now does seem a good time to ask that question.

Of course we can't really know without doing the proper scientific thing and hooking him up to a monitor for 24 hours, but the new diet certainly seems to have helped. He can certainly feel the difference, and has lost over a stone in weight too. The average of 8 "spot" measurements which he took with our home monitor 6 months ago was an alarming 174/112. The great news though is that a spot measurement by the GP last week was 141/99, which is still high, but is an excellent reduction without taking any medication (especially as it includes the white coat effect).

So the low sodium diet stays (it has become a habit now), and perhaps we will try Resperate too?

Sodium Levels in Shop Bought Bread

Thanks to matatabby for the photo

A recent report in the Independent raised concerns about salt levels in shop-bought bread; they particularly picked on Warburtons, but the stats at the end of the article show that levels are high in loaves from most manufacturers.

Yet another reason to bake your own. My bread machine is churning away as I type...

Low Sodium Convenience Foods

Processed foods tend to be high in salt. Not just microwave meals, but anything that has been processed at all, even sausages and baked beans. Some "healthy" options which are low in saturated fat are high in sodium, and even some desserts. Since we started on this low sodium thing, I've been cooking from scratch every night, but with a full time job, two kids, packed lunches to do and (occasionally) a social life as well I simply can't do that every night for ever.

So I've been looking for low salt "convenience"/processed food options, for those occasions when a nice sit down and a glass of wine appeals more than spending an hour cooking. This isn't going to be a very long list, but I hope it will be a useful one, and I will add to it when I discover more.

1. Frozen fish things - I have found a few low and low-ish sodium options in this section of the supermarket freezers, for example Birds Eye Fish Finger Megas.

2. Emmental - this has become the "everyday" cheese in our house. It's the lowest sodium cheese I can find of the sort that works melted on toast, or in an omlette.

3. John West tuna pate - only 0.1g sodium per 100g (about a third of that in tinned tuna), and gives you a portion of oily fish too.

4. M&S Teacakes - (the fruity bread, not the chocolate marshmallow things) are lovely toasted for breakfast

Burts Salt-Free Kids Crisps

Burts have brought out a selection of salt-free crisps for kids. Even better, some of the profits go towards Great Ormond Street Hospital. Available in plain, cheese, honey, ketchup and (likely to be a hit in our house) vinegar.

Update: I got a multipack bag of these, which contained plain, vinegar and ketchup. The first two sorts were great, but we are not keen on the ketchup version, which have a real taste of the 1970s to me.

Low Sodium Table Salts

A little list of low sodium "table salts"...for when you really need salt on your chips...

LoSalt - contains one third of the sodium of common salt. Just comes as a fine grain version.

SOLO - an Icelandic product, which contains 40% of the sodium of normal table salt. The rest is magnesium salts. Has a coarse, sea-salt version, and a fine grain version. Has more sodium than LoSalt, but I quite like the idea of the coarse, crystalline version, as I find I use less salt when it's like that (it seems to taste more salty).

AlsoSalt - this is sodium-free.

Waitrose Low Alcohol Cider

A quick mention of the delicious Waitrose Low Alcohol Cider, which we have enjoyed several times over the summer. It's actually a blend of cider and apple juice, and is virtually alcohol-free so you can swig it at lunchtime without feeling naughty.

The Evidence Builds in Favour of Chocolate...

The evidence that eating a little dark chocolate every day reduces blood pressure continues to mount.

At this rate I may start a campaign to get chocolate available on prescription.

Know Your Numbers - Free Blood Pressure Checks

Next week (8th-14th September) is the Blood Pressure Association's "Know Your Numbers" week.



They are setting up 3000 blood pressure measurement stations around the country, where you can get your BP measured quickly and for free. Click here to find your nearest station.

A thought - I wonder if having your BP measured in this sort of non-clinical setting would mean you would be less likely to experience white coat syndrome?

Oh dear.

West Norfolk Council are sending salt shakers with fewer holes to chippies in the hope that it will reduce the salt intake of the customers. And no, this isn't an urban myth, it's on the BBC website, complete with a quote from the Council.

Low Salt Soup Recipes

Thanks to cap10xb1s for the pic

It's alarmingly early in the year for my thoughts to be turning to soup, but what with the miserable weather and a bit of a cold coming on, here I am.

The high levels of sodium in soup come largely from the stock that's used to make it. I'm going to look into levels in shop-bought soup in the next few weeks to try to find some low sodium options, but wanted to be good and look into making some myself this weekend.

So here are my top tips for making low sodium soup at home:

- Use low salt stock cubes (or of course, always best, home made stock)

- Go for something with a bit of a kick to it so you won't notice the lack of salt, like this spicy parsnip soup, or corn chowder.

- I've been surprised to find that there are plenty of recipes which don't call for stock. Here's a small selection:
roasted tomato soup
fish soup
Oriental soup with crab dumplings
spiced split pea soup

My favourite quick soup recipe has always been pea soup (frozen peas, a bit of potato, veg stock, mint, simmer and then zap with a hand blender). However my first effort is going to be this Delia recipe for french onion soup - with low salt beef stock cubes, and emmental instead of gruyere.

Well, it's either that or put the central heating on...

It's a Low Alcohol Beer Festival!

Many thanks to Ørjan Frøvik for the photo

As part of tackling Mr C's high blood pressure, and also for other health reasons, we've been trying to cut down on alcohol. During my last pregnancy, I got used to (very) low alcohol Becks, so that's mostly what we've been drinking at home over the last few months. There are, however, lots more brands on the supermarket shelves so, in the absence of any guidance from beer god Roger Protz, who I am sure would be horrified this posting, we've decided to give them all a go.

A good place for low alcohol/alcohol-free drinks is The Alcohol Free Shop, who stock a huge range of beers including the mixed case that we have treated ourselves to. They also do a mixed case of wheat beers if that's more your thing. So you now too can have your own alcohol-free beer festival in the comfort of your own lounge. Fun AND healthy!

I will update this posting with tasting notes as we work our way though the beers. Here's the list...of course, these are all "continental"/lager-type beers - I shudder to think what proper bitter/ale would taste like if it was tinkered with to remove the alcohol...

Bavaria
Becks - still my favourite
Bitburger Drive - I first had this back in 2001 while pregnant, and thought it was horrible. I'm prepared to give it another go though.
Cheers
Cheers Dark
Clausthaler - apparently the most popular low-alcohol beer in Europe
Cobra - has a slightly sweet edge to it which I am not keen on, but is fine when drunk very cold with an Indian meal
Holsten
Jansen
Jupiler - as this is Belgian, I have high hopes for it
Krombacher
Sagres Zero
Stella Artois
Super Bock Twin - a Portugese beer, which went down well
Super Bock Dark
Veltins
Warsteiner Fresh

Low Sodium Stock Cubes

Low salt stock cubes are hard to find. I've been using Kallo's for a while, but they only do a vegetable low salt cube, which is far from ideal for gravy or a casserole based on red meat. However while shopping for the baby today, I found the Boots "Baby Organic" range stock cubes - they contain 0.02g sodium in 100ml of made-up stock, compared to about 0.4g per 100ml of OXO or Kallo cubes, and are available as veg, beef and chicken.

I've been Googling too and have found that Heinz do a "Cook at Home" baby range which includes low sodium stock, although I haven't tried it.

Which I guess means we can have 20 times as much gravy now!

Vive le Sel!

The lack of recent posts has been because we have been away on holiday in the Dordogne region of France. Very nice it was too (especially because the weather in the UK was so bad!) but we did have to abandon our healthy diet temporarily. OK, we didn't have to, but you can't go on holiday and not eat out, and I wasn't about to spend hours slaving in the kitchen.

Although more people seem to cook from scratch there, there also seems to be more of a reliance on ham, cheese and bread, and so reports from government research body INSERM show that the French end up consuming 10g of salt a day - more than in the average UK diet, which is now 8.4g per day (although the "everyday" cheese there is Emmental which is much lower in sodium that the cheddar which we Brits use for everything).

It seems that they have no immediate plans to change anything - a recently proposed VAT rise on unhealthy foods to 19.6% has been abandoned due to the credit crunch. So let's hope that all those unhealthy eating habits are cancelled out by red wine.

Dispatches: Sandwiches Unwrapped

This week's Dispatches on Channel 4 took a look at sandwiches. Much of the programme focussed on a sandwich factory which had rats, however they also took a look at nutrition.

Boots came out top for nutritional value, most often reaching the FSA guidelines for low sodium/fat/saturated fat. Subway and Pret a Manger both did poorly, as did the posh sarnies from Marks & Spencer.

Looking at the Subway website, it's not straightforward to fathom out what you get in any given sandwich, as they list all the ingredients separately, however here are the highest and lowest options I could put together, avoiding dressings...

Highest sodium option - Wrap with Meatball Marinara - 2.6g sodium per sandwich, more than the daily recommended intake for an adult

Lowest sodium option - Honey Oat 6 inch Veggie Delite - 0.5g sodium per sandwich

UK Salt Intake Has Fallen by 3000 Elephants

Elephants
Many thanks to kjdrill for the beautiful photo

Great news for our health - the BBC reports that the average salt intake in the UK has fallen by almost a gramme in the last seven years - from 9.5g to 8.6g a day. This means that more people will be reaching the goal of not more than 6g a day.

You can read the full report here, and CASH's (Consensus Action on Salt and Health) response here. They have calculated, usefully, that this has removed 19,700 tonnes of salt from the UK diet, equivalent to 3000 male elephants.

Olio e Farina

A quick mention of Olio e Farina, for their delicious oils and vinegars (balsamic is essential for low sodium cooking). They have shops in St Albans and Chester, and you can buy online too.

Eat

I found this great site today too - the Sandwich Guide which has reviews of high street sandwiches, and also the British Sandwich Association who, on their home page, helpfully provide a definition of a sandwich for us (burgers do not count as sandwiches, apparently). Who would have thought there would have been so much information out there on the humble sandwich?

Anyway, here are some sodium levels for the sandwiches and soups at Eat. All figures are g of sodium per pack/portion. bear in mind that the government recommended daily intake for an adult is 2.4 g - some of these options come very close to giving you that in one part of one meal. In summary - avoid the baguettes and soups, and go for the chicken sandwiches instead.

Sandwiches...
Lowest:
Cajun Spiced Chicken 0.4g
Thai Citrus Chicken 0.4g
Chicken Salad 0.4g
Herb Cream Cheese and Roast Vegetables 0.42g

Highest:
Hot Smoked Salmon and Cucumber 1g
Chilli Crayfish 1.1g
Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato 1.2g
Prawns with Garlic Mayonnaise Wheat Free 1.2g
Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Wheat Free 1.2g
Tuna and Cheddar Melt 1.21g
Chorizo and Peppers Baguette 1.27g
EAT Club 1.43g
Roast Ham, Brie and Cranberry Baguette 1.8g
Ham and Jarlsberg Baguette 1.97g

Soups...
Lowest:
New England Clam Chowder 0.4g

Highest:
Hungarian Goulash 1.1g
French Onion 1.13g
Corn Chowder 1.18g
Cream of Corn 1.5g

Grains2Mill

More salt-free success at the farmer's market today. The lovely (although not very local...I do wonder about our farmer's market's rules) people from Grains2Mill were there with their "Quick 'N' Easy" wheat free Spelt and Oat bread mix. No kneading required - you pretty much add water, mix, and bung in the oven.

Bento - Laptop Lunches

Since we started on this low-sodium thing, I have been trying (and, with a couple of excusable exceptions, managing), to make Mr C a low sodium sandwich for his lunch every day. However, as there are only so many things you can put into a sarnie, it has started to get a little boring for him. I'm also keen to wean our eldest off her salty sandwiches which she has at the childminder's three afternoons a week, and so have invested in bento lunchboxes.

After the Muji website let us down (our order disappeared down a black hole), and a search of eBay turned up some cute boxes which were perhaps not entirely appropriate for a grown man working at an investment bank (although I found it hard to resist this lion), I stumbled across Laptop Lunches, from California, stocked by Becky and Lolo in the UK. I've bought a pink one for the little one, and a sensible manly navy blue one for the husband.

Although Japanese food is often salty (all that soy sauce...), I have lots of other ideas, and our daughter enjoyed plain rice, chicken, carrot sticks and hummous, and some fruit today. The boxes come with a little book of ideas and recipes which, although a little American, is already providing inspiration.

Desalinating the Fridge

I should probably have tidied
and cleaned it before taking
this picture - oh well. Over
the last few weeks, I have
"desalinated" our fridge -
replacing the products we used
to buy with low sodium
alternatives. Here's what I've
done, together with the sodium
"savings" in g per 100g.

Sauces
Mustard - this has gone, as we make our own from mustard powder now *saving over 3g
Ketchup - switched from to Heinz's lower salt version (and we use less of this now too!) *saving 0.4g
Mayo - switched brand to Tesco Organic *saving 0.5g
Tartare sauce - switched brand to Tesco Finest *saving 1.1g
Pickle - switched to chutney instead *saving 1.6g

Cheese
There's still cheddar in here for the kids, and mozzarella for pizzas, but mostly we just have Emmental *saving 0.5g

Butter - switched from salted to unsalted, which is widely available
*saving 0.5g

Bacon, smoked and processed foods - all gone - and replaced with fresh meat and veg *saving LOTS

Other changes...

Yeast - always a fixture in the fridge now that I make bread on alternate days.

Beer has been replaced with alcohol-free Becks (which, together with alcohol-free Cobra, is the least offensive alcohol-free beer, as I discovered after extensive research during my last pregnancy). We have also discovered a very low alcohol cider from Waitrose, which is blended with apple juice. By buying these, we're booze-free on weekdays - no bad thing.

Which? Report on Takeaways

Which? have just done a report on the nutritional value of takeaways, with few surprises in the results.

There is some useful info there too though, on how to choose a healthier takeaway. One thing I would add, is that we have found that, although our local curry house uses pre-prepared sauces, they add more salt when they cook the dishes, and are happy to refrain from doing so when we ask.

What you need in your cupboard...

A list of what you'll need as staples in your cupboard/fridge in order to cook a low sodium diet. There are lots of other products on the market, but these are only available in the US, unfortunately.

- Chilli - the pre-chopped stuff that comes in a jar (no chilli finger!)
- Lemon and lime juice - you can get this in little bottles
- Lo Salt
- Pepper - as many variants on this as you can get your hands on
- Spices and herbs
- Low salt stock cubes - Kallo do a vegetarian version, and you can now get low salt meat stocks which are designed for babies

For when nothing else will hit the spot, you can get lower sodium versions of:
- HP
- Heinz Ketchup
- Heinz Baked Beans

Low Sodium Options at Starbucks

Sodium levels in some treats from Starbucks. All figures are g of sodium per 100g. I haven't included the yoghurts and salads because that's not why I go to Starbucks, frankly. But there are a couple of sandwich options here too.

Low Sodium Cake
Fairtrade chocolate chunk shortbread 0.02g
Mixed berry loaf with mascarpone icing 0.02g
Belgian chocolate brownie 0.03g
Marshmallow twizzle 0.03g
Granola 0.06g
Lemon drizzle cake 0.09g
Summer valencia orange cake (wheat and dairy free) 0.09g
Chocolate caramel shortbread 0.13g
Faitrade chocolate cake 0.13g
Low fat carrot and valencia orange cake 0.13g
Low fat wholemeal banana, date and raisin cake 0.13g

Coffee
Now here's a shock - some coffees are high in sodium. My favourite frapps are high, and having soy milk instead of dairy pushes the figures up too.

Sandwiches:
In general - avoid the panini, and go for a wrap instead.
Highest
Cheese & Marmite panini 0.8g
Oak smoked salmon 0.8g
Lowest
Smoked salmon & edamame bean flatbread 0.2g
Roasted chicken salad with mange tout wrap 0.2g
Roasted chicken & green herb mayo 0.2g

Dark Chocolate Can "Ease" Blood Pressure

Green & Black's Espresso Chocolate
Originally uploaded by faerieenigma

This is an article from ages ago, but one I hadn't seen until I saw it stuck on the chocolate display in the chemists yesterday. Our local pharmacist Derek always has the health of the community at heart :-)

Thanks to faerieenigma, a fellow chocolate lover, for the photo.

Wonderful Waitrose

Big thanks are in order to the Waitrose Nutritionists, from whom I have received a 57 page listing of products defined as low in sodium (less than 0.12g sodium per 100g). A lot of it is obvious stuff (chicken breasts, coffee) but there are even some ready meal options there - I have been really enjoying cooking from scratch, but with 2 kids, a full time job and (occasionally) a social life too, there is going to be the occasional night where I don't manage it.

I'm not going to reproduce all of the 57 pages here. However here are a few items from the list which I was pleased to see. Figures are g of sodium per 100g - the recommended limit is 2.4g a day:

Vegetable Crisps 0.10g
Sweet pickled beetroot 0.12g
Tandoori chicken and pepper kebabs 0.09g
Thai red chicken curry with wild rice 0.06g
Chef's special green chutney salmon 0.12g
Spinach & ricotta quiche 0.12g
Mushroom stroganoff with rice 0.05g
Chicken with apricots 0.09g
Tuscan unsalted bread 0.02g

Pret a Manger

Pret a Manger is somewhere I often buy my lunch. They show their sodium contents on their website as g of sodium per pack, here. I've used these same figures below, because it's a good way of doing it, and saves me doing any division. It seems baguettes are the best option, and the hot wraps best avoided. Government guidance is to have no more than 2.4g of sodium a day.

Sandwiches (not including Slim Pret, and weekly specials)
Lowest: Devonshire Red Chicken and Rocket 0.61g
Highest: Summer Ham Salad 1.31g

Baguettes & Salad Wraps
Lowest: Brie, Tomato and Whole-leaf Baguette 0.38g
Next Best: Dry-cured Ham & Greve Baguette, and Dolphin-friendly Tuna Baguette, both 0.5g
Highest: Hoisin Duck Wrap 1.1g

Breakfast Baguettes
Lowest: Free Range Egg Mayo and Roasted Tomato 0.12g
Highest: Smoked Salmon, Free-range Egg Mayo and Cress 0.43g

Hot Wraps
Lowest: Jalapeno Chicken 1.08g
Highest: Spicy Falafel Melt 1.53g

Salads
Lowest: Chicken Avocado Salad 0.4g
Highest: Smoked Salmon, Wild Crayfish & Dijon Dressing Salad 1.29g

Soup
Lowest: Lentil, Tomato and Turmeric Soup 0.35g
Highest: Italian Meatball Soup 1.23g

Sushi
Lowest: Salmon Nigiri 1.8g
Highest: Deluxe Sushi 2g

Bakery
Highest: Egg & Bacon Croissant 0.98g
Lowest: Almond Croissant 0.0003g

Edible Ornamentals

Well done to the wonderfully named Edible Ornamentals for making delicious salt-free Citrus Relish and "Sweet Heat" (an apple sauce with chilli), both of which are going down well now that the barbecue season is upon us. I got them at our farmer's market, but you can order their products online too, here.

Sausage Success

I posted previously about not being able to find sausages which are low in sodium. Well, we seem to have solved the problem, thanks to Susan Adams.

Wild boar is a healthier option than pork. Its cholesterol level is similar to that of chicken, and it is much lower in fat (and saturated fat) than pork. There are nutrition figures here, towards the end of the page. Sausages will of course be made from the fattier cuts of the animal, but they will still be a much healthier option than pork sausages.

Susan kindly made up a 5lb batch of wild boar sausage meat especially for us, using spices but no salt or rusk in the mix. It's delicious, and I have all sorts of plans for it - sausage patties for breakfast, kebabs, mini pies, fresh stuffing, meatballs and spaghetti to name but a few. I just need to clear some space in the freezer now!

Top Tips for Cutting Your Salt Intake

1. Find out about the recommended daily sodium intake for your family. It's much lower for children than adults. Sodium is the bit that causes the harm - and it's not just in salt, but other food additives too, such as MSG and sodium bicarb.

2. Read the sodium contents on food labels. You don't need to do this on everything you buy in your next shop, that would take hours! Take it one step at a time, focussing on a different aisle in the supermarket each week. Click here to get some techie help with labels from the FSA. And see here for information on what the major supermarkets are doing to help you.

3. Don't add salt to your food. Or if you must, make it a low sodium table salt.

4. Change your breakfast cereal. This can make a massive difference - some have the same salt as a bag of crisps.

5. Buy lower salt bread. Or even better, make your own.

6. Cook from scratch as often as possible. Use low salt stock cubes, and don't add salt! There are loads of healthy recipes online for you to choose from. Make double and freeze what's left over for when you're tired. You'll be getting less salt, less saturated fat, and fewer additives too, and it sets your kids a good example. If you do this, you can afford to lapse when you eat out, or get a takeaway.

7. Restock your spice cabinet. And start a herb patch in the garden, or if you don't have the room, a pot of herbs (rosemary and mint are satisfyingly easy to grow). Always have garlic, lemon juice, lime juice and chillis in the fridge (buy those little "cheating" jars and bottles), and look online for ideas for spice blends. Then you'll never be short of flavour in your food.

8. Go for "reduced salt" versions of products. For example Heinz do reduced salt baked beans, which taste exactly like the normal beans (I think they should rename the normal beans "Added Salt").

9. Watch out for high salt sauces.

10. Go easy on cheese and cooked meats. Foods which you find regularly as sandwich fillings, or as party food, are often high in salt.

There are more tips here.

Salt in Children's Diets

The Sunday Times ran an item today on the salt in children's diets:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article4079712.ece

Good to see this issue getting some publicity.

Veggie Burgers and Sausages

I went into Holland & Barrett a week ago to buy some tofu for a Thai dish I was making (recipe to follow, once I manage to reduce the amount of soy sauce in it), and took a look at some of the veggie burgers there - reading labels being my latest obsession.

I was surprised by the high levels of sodium in these "healthy" options. CASH have recently carried out a survey on just this topic, the results are here. Note that their figures are g salt per 100g, rather than sodium, which is the figure I normally give (divide salt by 2.5 to get the sodium level). One big surprise was the "Fry's Special Vegetarian Traditional Sausages", which will give you your day's intake in 2 sausages!

Yum!

My bread machine is fantastic, but after a few weeks of using it on a daily basis, I had the urge to go off-piste and make some really fantastic bread by hand. I used the recipe here, minus the salt (note that there's no oil or fat in the original recipe either):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hlk/389341090/

I didn't have a big bowl to bake it in, so just used my pizza stone, and it still ended up delicious, although a little less crusty. Very pleased with myself - this is the first time I have ever photographed food I have made!

Many thanks to fuzuoko for the recipe.

Pizza

Links to sodium content listings for a couple of popular pizza restaurants. Well done to those who publish them online - I have emailed a few other companies to get their details. Zizzis/Ask inform me that they do not have sodium content details for their foods.

All of the options are pretty high, but it seems that by avoiding cheese and meat you can reduce your sodium intake. All figures are g sodium per 100g. 1 slice of pizza could be more or less than 100g, depending on the size of pizza.

Pizza Hut
Lowest: Large Pan base Vegetarian Supreme 0.32g
Highest: Individual sized Hot N Spicy Italian base 0.92g

Take a look at the "Salt per Food Portion" column of the kids menu. Shocking figures when you think that the recommended daily intake of salt for a 6 year old is 3g.

Dominos
Lowest: Hawaiian 0.2g - and most vegetarian pizzas came in at about 0.4g
Highest: New Yorker 1.6g

Low Sodium Lamb Rogan Josh

Another yummy curry. This is a lamb recipe, although I have also done it with chicken (and once with chickpeas, which didn't quite work for some reason!). The lemon juice gives it a nice underlying sourness. Adapted from a Sainsburys recipe.

Serves 4-6

juice of 1 lemon
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoonspoons olive or sunflower oil
875g Tenderlean boneless lamb joint, cut into 2.5cm cubes
1 large onion, sliced
2.5cm piece of fresh root ginger, grated (or 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger)
2 teaspoons garam masala, or to taste
1-2 teaspoons chilli powder, or to taste
4 cardamom pods
1 tablespoon tomato puree
400g can of chopped tomatoes
150ml low salt veg stock
150g carton of low fat natural yogurt
freshly ground black pepper

1. Mix the lemon juice, garlic and together in a bowl and stir in the lamb. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator overnight if possible, but if not then for at least a couple of hours.
2. Place the lamb and marinade in a large pan, add the onion and ginger and cook gently for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the garam masala, chilli powder, cardamom pods and seasoning. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring continuously.
4. Stir in the tomato puree, tomatoes and stock. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for at least 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Carefully stir in the yogurt.
6. Check the seasoning and serve straight away, garnished with chopped coriander.

Low Sodium Lamb Tagine

A rich, tasty, salt-free tagine. Despite the long list of ingredients, there's actually very little effort involved in this. Adapted from an Antony Worrall Thompson recipe - in particular I replaced tomato juice (0.2g sodium per 100g) with home-made passata (heat fresh or tinned tomatoes, then blend with a hand blender). If you can't wait 2 hours to eat it, turn up the oven and it will be ready earlier. Serve with couscous.

Serves 4

1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp ground black pepper
1½ tbsp paprika
1½ tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp turmeric
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 x shoulder of lamb, trimmed and cut into 5cm/2in chunks (about
1.1kg/2½lb meat in total)
2 large onions, finely chopped
4 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, some crushed and some sliced
570ml/1 pint home-made passata
2 x 400g tinned chopped tomatoes
115g/4oz dried apricots, cut in half
55g/2oz dates, cut in half (or more apricots if you don't have dates)
55g/2oz sultanas or raisins
1 tsp saffron stamens, soaked in cold water
600ml/1 pint low salt veggie stock
1 tbsp clear honey
2 tbsp coriander, roughly chopped
2 tbsp flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas2.
2. Place the cayenne, black pepper, paprika, ginger, turmeric and cinnamon into a small bowl and mix to combine. Place the lamb in a large bowl and toss together with half of the spice mix. Cover and leave overnight in the fridge, or for as long as you can.
3. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large casserole dish. Add the onion and the remaining spice mix and cook over a gentle heat for 10 minutes so that the onions are soft but not coloured. Add the garlic for the final 2 minutes.
4. In a separate frying pan, heat the remaining oil and brown the cubes of lamb on all sides then add the browned meat to the casserole dish. De-glaze the frying pan with ¼ pint of passata and add these juices to the pan.
5. Add the remaining passata, chopped tomatoes, apricots, dates, raisins or sultanas, saffron, stock and honey to the casserole dish. Bring to the boil, cover with a fitted lid, place in the oven and cook for 2-2½ hours or until the meat is meltingly tender.
6. Sprinkle over the chopped herbs and serve.

Mushroom Kebabs

Our first box turned up from Abel and Cole today, together with some extra mushrooms which I ordered. I forgot these were coming, and already have mushrooms in the fridge, so it's mushrooms with everything for a few days! We're starting with mushroom kebabs, as a side dish to go with dinner. I expect my eldest will want a couple of these for tea too, on their own with a chunk of bread. They would also make a great lunch.

Makes 8 kebabs

3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Lots of mushrooms - about the same as you would get in 2 supermarket-sized packs.

Mix oil, vinegar and garlic together in a large bowl. Cut any very large mushrooms into halves or quarters. Add mushrooms to marinade and stir so they are evenly coated. Leave to marinate for at least two hours. Thread mushrooms onto skewers. Cook on a barbecue or under the grill for about five minutes, turning regularly, and brushing with any remaining marinade.

Pan-fried Herring

We eat lots of fish, so this will be the first in a series. It's a quick midweek meal, and is oily fish too, so we'll be getting our omega-3. A "desalinated" Gordon Ramsay recipe.

Serves 4

600g new potatoes, scrubbed
Squeeze of lemon juice
1/2 tsp mustard, made from mustard powder
5 tbsp crème fraîche
1 1/2 tbsp horseradish
2 spring onions, finely sliced
Handful of chives, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
4 herring fillets, pin-boned

1 Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender. Drain and cool slightly.

2 Mix the lemon juice with the mustard, crème fraîche and horseradish; season with pepper.

3 Slice the potatoes thickly and return to the pan. Mix with the dressing, spring onions and chives. Cover and keep warm.

4 Heat a nonstick frying pan with a little oil. Pat the fish dry, season, then fry, skin-side down, for 2-3 minutes to crisp. Cook the other side for 30 seconds.

5 Pile the warm potato salad on to plates and top with the fish.

Raita

A quick raita recipe:

250ml natural yoghurt
Half a cucumber, chopped into smallish pieces
A handful of mint, chopped (this is dead easy to grow)

Simply mix it all together. Add some finely chopped green chilli if you want more of a kick.

Pizza Stones

La vegan pizza del diavolo
Originally uploaded by sonicwalker

I got a pizza stone a few weeks and haven't regretted it. It's basically a big slab of stone-like stuff that goes into your oven, and gives you a crispy base like a proper pizza oven. Ours was £10 which isn't bad considering how much you would spend on one takeaway pizza. It also doesn't need washing up which is a bonus - you just scrape it clean.

Of course, the other great thing about pizzas is you can put anything you find in the fridge on them, so they're great for using up leftovers. The only tip I'd give is to use the little mozzarella balls, as they won't have a watery middle like the large ones.

The one I got comes with a metal stand and a pizza slice - I think it's this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kitchen-Craft-Pizza-Stone-12in/dp/B000SM0AS2

We have used it lots for pizza, but also for naan bread too. I need a few more tries until I get the naan right (I'm trying to do it without sodium bicarb) - fresh homemade bread is always delicious, even when it goes a bit wrong, but the recipe could do with more work before I post it here!

Redbournbury Mill

Just wanted to mention Redbournbury Watermill, and their delicious organic spelt flour, which makes me feel like such an earth mother!

http://www.redbournmill.co.uk/

Low Sodium Quick Chicken Saag

This is quick enough to do midweek after work, and sounds like it'll be low in fat as well as low in sodium. You'll need all sorts of spices in your cupboard to do it, but once you have them you'll be able to do lots of other recipes too (and to be honest, you can get away without one of them, I did it without coriander last night and it still tasted great). Serve with basmati rice.

Serves 2

2 skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, sliced (or more if you really like garlic)
400g ish of frozen spinach, or fresh
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 can of crushed tomatoes
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp
1 whole clove
1 cardamom pod
red chilli to taste
a little milk, or yoghurt
black pepper

Saute chicken cubes in a little oil until slightly browned. Set aside. If you're using frozen spinach, cook it as per instructions - fresh spinach won't need pre-cooking.

Saute onions in a little oil until clear, add the garlic for the last minute or so. Add tomatoes, turmeric, ginger, coriander, clove, cardamom pod, pepper and cook for a few more minutes. Add spinach, a splash of water and milk, garam masala, chillies and cook for 10 minutes until nearly all the fluid has gone (or simmer with a lid on until you're ready to eat, I left it on for half an hour and it was fine). If it's too hot for you, add a little yoghurt. If not hot enough, add more chilli :-)

Bread of Heaven...

No-knead bread
Originally uploaded by fuzuoko

...bread of heaven...feed me til I want no moooooooore...

Ah, blurry memories of Welsh weddings come flooding back.

Bread seems generally to be high in sodium - and a lot of it is stealth-salt, that you can't really taste. There's a wide range of sodium contents though, and by shopping carefully you can cut back on your intake drastically. If you eat bread, it's likely to be in biggish quantities, so this is something where you do want the sodium level to be low.

Government guidance on sodium is 2.4g per day. See here for more on this.

Of course bread is something that varies hugely between brands and shops...but a quick scan of the shelves locally shows the following sodium contents per 100g...

High:
Honey seeded wheaten bread (which from the name you would expect to be healthy) - 0.96g
Mini brown rolls - 0.6g

Middling:
Soft white rolls - 0.48g
Cholla - 0.48g
Every day white sliced loaf - 0.47g - this is 0.21g per slice
Part-baked baguettes - 0.45g
Baguette - 0.44g
Ciabatta - 0.4g
Tortilla Wrap - 0.36g
Muffins - 0.34g - that's 0.22g in each muffin
Pitta bread - 0.3g

Low-ish:
Teacakes - 0.17g per 100g - my favourites, good to know

Even better, you can make your own salt-free bread! No really, if I can do it, you can too.

Thanks to fuzuoko for the great photo!

Sources of Potassium

Avocado
Originally uploaded by **Shutterbug Gal**

Potassium counteracts the effects of sodium. It's something to do with the Sodium-Potassium pump, which I can vaguely recall from A level Biology. The FSA page on potassium is here - it seems that increasing your potassium intake can help with lowering blood pressure, as well as decreasing your sodium.

Some foods which are good sources of potassium are:

- fruit and veg (apricots, grapefruit, melon, spinach, kiwi, bananas, peaches and avocados are all good)
- pulses
- nuts and seeds
- milk
- fish and shellfish
- beef, chicken and turkey
- bread

Sausages

once were sausages
Originally uploaded by harri b

Sausages, according to the FSA, are chock full of sodium, and have got worse over the last few years, despite the trend towards healthy eating. Looking around our local supermarkets confirmed this, and Googling "low sodium sausages" etc. came back with nothing in the UK, as per usual.

So today I headed to my local farmer's market in search of low sodium sausages. I spoke to four producers, three of whom admitted to using salt-laden "ready made mixes" of spices and seasonings to make their sausages.

One stallholder admitted that the sausages he was selling were too salty for his taste. One lady selling boar products said she made her own sausage seasoning mix, but it still contained high-sounding levels of salt (although it was a quarter of what was recommended in the recipe she uses). She said, however, that she was happy to provide unseasoned sausage meat for me to use to make my own sausages, should we choose to commit ourselves to shelling out for a sausage maker, or make "patties".

The search continues...

Sauces

Shop-bought sauces tend to contain a lot of sodium...you can see below though that levels vary hugely (by making up your own mustard from powder you can almost totally avoid sodium altogether).

All numbers are g of sodium per 100g.

Mayonnaise:
Tesco Organic 0.4g
Hellmans 0.6g
Tesco 0.6g
M&S Reduced Fat 0.65g
Hellmans Light 0.9g

Mint Sauce:
Tesco Finest with Balsamic Vinegar "Trace"
Sainsbury 0.5g
Colmans 1g

Brown Sauce:
HP Reduced Sugar & Salt 0.6g
Branston 0.9g
Tesco 1.1g
HP 1.0g

Ketchup:
Heinz Reduced Sugar & Salt 0.8g
Branston 1.0g
Tesco 1.2g
Heinz Organic 1.2g

English Mustard:
Colmans Mustard Powder "Trace"
Colmans 3.1g
Tesco 3.3g
Sainsbury 3.3g

Horseradish Sauce:
English Provender 0.1g
Tesco Finest 0.3g
Colmans 0.4g
Tesco Hot 2.8g

Tartare Sauce:
Tesco Finest 0.5g
Stokes 0.6g
Sainsburys 0.8g
Tesco 1.0g
Simply Delicious Organic 1.05g
M&S 1.18g
Colmans 1.3g
Waitrose 1.6g

Dips

Some low/no sodium dips to liven up those salt-free crisps (Tyrells and Kettle Chips both do unsalted versions now; and there's always Salt n Shake too).

Simple Tomato Salsa:
400g tin chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons lime juice
Red chilli to taste (I keep one of those cheating jars of pre-chopped chilli in the fridge)

Simply mix it all together!

Guacamole:
4 mild chillies, finely chopped
Bunch coriander, chopped
2 tomatoes, finely chopped
1-2 tbsp water
½ lime, juice only
3 ripe avocados

In a pestle and mortar, pound the chillies, coriander and tomatoes to a fine paste. Add a little water and lime juice to make a looser mixture. Mash in the avocados.

Houmous:
Here I'm simply going to link to Joanna's delicious recipe.

Making Bread

Bread is pretty high in sodium, and it's something we eat a lot of in this country. So one way of reducing your dietary sodium is to make your own, salt-free bread. It is a bit of an acquired taste, but once you're used to it, I have been assured that you'll find normal bread way too salty.

The first bit of advice I would give on this is to get yourself a bread machine. I got mine for a few quid from a friend (the lovely Cathie at BecomingDomestic) who was upgrading hers to a larger version, and it has been fab. It's not something that needs to be expensive - I have seen a few on Freecycle and in charity shops. I think it's the sort of thing people get as a wedding present, or in an earth-mother moment, and then never use.

It should come with a recipe book (if you get a second hand one that doesn't, then take a look at the manufacturer's website, as most have lists of instructions for their products nowadays). You can buy ready-made mixes for bread machines, but you will probably end up with bread just as high in sodium as "bought" bread. And to be honest, I don't think that getting the ingredients together is that much more hassle.

Some advice:
- Leave out the salt (obviously). This may affect how your bread rises, so you might need to experiment a bit with quantities of the other ingredients to get it right.
- Use unsalted butter or olive oil.
- If you use use the dough setting (on mine this is 90 mins long), then you can make pizza bases/rolls etc.
- Add extra ingredients - if you find the bread too bland, add some raisins, chilli, garlic or herbs. Be careful not to add them too early though or they will get chopped up too much.
- Fathom out how the timer works, and use it. That way you can wake on a Sunday morning to the smell of baking bread, or if you're making bread rolls in the week then the dough can be ready when you get in from work, ready to put into the oven at the same time as dinner.

This week, I have managed to make Mr. C packed lunches made with sodium-free home-made rolls, and to also knock up some very tasty garlic bread, with roasted garlic. And very virtuous I feel too.

Update: Based of 9 months of experience, I have added some new tips here.