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.
Monday 29 December 2008
Tuesday 23 December 2008
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.
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"
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!
Merry Christmas!
Tuesday 9 December 2008
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.
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.
Monday 17 November 2008
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
Saturday 8 November 2008
Another (albeit slightly obscure) reason to cut down on salt...
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.
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.
Friday 7 November 2008
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.
• "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.
Wednesday 5 November 2008
Breakfast...again
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.
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.
Tuesday 4 November 2008
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?
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?
Saturday 1 November 2008
Sodium Levels in Shop Bought Bread
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...
Yet another reason to bake your own. My bread machine is churning away as I type...
Saturday 4 October 2008
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.
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
Sunday 28 September 2008
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.
Saturday 27 September 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday 9 September 2008
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.
At this rate I may start a campaign to get chocolate available on prescription.
Saturday 6 September 2008
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?
Friday 5 September 2008
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.
Thursday 4 September 2008
Low Salt Soup Recipes
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...
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...
Friday 29 August 2008
It's a Low Alcohol Beer Festival!
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
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
Wednesday 20 August 2008
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!
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!
Tuesday 19 August 2008
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.
Monday 28 July 2008
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
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
Thursday 24 July 2008
UK Salt Intake Has Fallen by 3000 Elephants
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.
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.
Thursday 17 July 2008
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.
Tuesday 15 July 2008
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
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
Sunday 13 July 2008
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.
Tuesday 1 July 2008
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.
Friday 27 June 2008
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.
Thursday 26 June 2008
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.
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.
Sunday 22 June 2008
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
- 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
Friday 20 June 2008
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
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
Tuesday 17 June 2008
Dark Chocolate Can "Ease" Blood Pressure
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.
Thanks to faerieenigma, a fellow chocolate lover, for the photo.
Monday 16 June 2008
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
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
Wednesday 11 June 2008
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
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
Monday 9 June 2008
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!
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!
Sunday 8 June 2008
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.
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.
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!
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!
Saturday 7 June 2008
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
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.
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.
Friday 6 June 2008
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.
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.
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.
Thursday 5 June 2008
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.
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.
Saturday 31 May 2008
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.
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
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!
Thursday 29 May 2008
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/
http://www.redbournmill.co.uk/
Wednesday 28 May 2008
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 :-)
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 :-)
Tuesday 27 May 2008
Bread of Heaven...
...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
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
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
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...
Friday 23 May 2008
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
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
Sunday 11 May 2008
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.
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.
Friday 25 April 2008
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.
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.
Breakfast Cereals
I've been looking into this quite a lot. Breakfast is one area where, for at least 5 days a week, you want to grab a bowl of something and just dash out of the house. In our house we certainly don't have the time to be making our own muesli from bags and pots of interesting-sounding things from Holland and Barrett in the morning, because we are too busy getting children and bags ready, and timing our departure so we reach school and nursery at exactly the very moment that their doors open, in order to then catch the earliest possible train into work.
So we rely on bought cereals. And why not? We stick to the healthier end of the spectrum, avoiding the particularly sugary/chocolatey/delicious ones. Many breakfast cereals make health claims, and it's good to know that for at least that one meal a day, we are guaranteed to get good percentages of various GDAs and vitamins, and a decent dose of fibre. So surely they will be low in sodium too? Disappointingly, the answer is no.
Here's a quick run-down of some of the popular cereals...all figures are g of sodium per 100g. See here for more on recommended sodium/salt levels.
Saltier than Walkers Crisps:
Kelloggs Corn Flakes 0.7g
Kelloggs Rice Krispies 0.65g
Kelloggs All Bran 0.6g
High:
Kelloggs Fruit n Fibre 0.55g
Kelloggs Bran Flakes 0.5g
Cheerios 0.5g
Kelloggs Coco Pops 0.45g
Kelloggs Crunchy Nut 0.45g
Kelloggs Frosties 0.45g
Kelloggs Special K 0.45g
Weetaflakes 0.4g
Middling:
Shreddies 0.3g
Weetabix 0.26g
Low:
Alpen 0.15g
Ready Brek <0.1g
Oatibix 0.15g
Quaker Oatso Simple "Trace"
Quaker Granola "Trace"
Shredded Wheat "Trace"
Shredded Wheat Bitesize "Trace"
Some of those figures are pretty high. In a "serving" of Kelloggs Corn Flakes you'd get half a gram of salt - that's the same as a normal-sized bag of crisps. Generally, the Kelloggs cereals came out high; those at the bottom of the list above are largely made by Weetabix (although you can get an even lower sodium Weetabix-type cereal from Doves Farm at 0.2g).
I took a look at some own-brand versions of the Kelloggs cereals to see if they were any better.
Bran Flakes - Sainsburys 0.6g, Tesco 0.6g
Choco Snaps - Sainsburys ?, Tesco 0.4g
Corn Flakes - Sainsburys 0.6g, Tesco 0.6g
Frosted Flakes - Sainsburys 0.6g, Tesco 0.6g
Um, no, not really! So it's Shredded Wheat and porridge from now on until Kelloggs sort out their act.
So we rely on bought cereals. And why not? We stick to the healthier end of the spectrum, avoiding the particularly sugary/chocolatey/delicious ones. Many breakfast cereals make health claims, and it's good to know that for at least that one meal a day, we are guaranteed to get good percentages of various GDAs and vitamins, and a decent dose of fibre. So surely they will be low in sodium too? Disappointingly, the answer is no.
Here's a quick run-down of some of the popular cereals...all figures are g of sodium per 100g. See here for more on recommended sodium/salt levels.
Saltier than Walkers Crisps:
Kelloggs Corn Flakes 0.7g
Kelloggs Rice Krispies 0.65g
Kelloggs All Bran 0.6g
High:
Kelloggs Fruit n Fibre 0.55g
Kelloggs Bran Flakes 0.5g
Cheerios 0.5g
Kelloggs Coco Pops 0.45g
Kelloggs Crunchy Nut 0.45g
Kelloggs Frosties 0.45g
Kelloggs Special K 0.45g
Weetaflakes 0.4g
Middling:
Shreddies 0.3g
Weetabix 0.26g
Low:
Alpen 0.15g
Ready Brek <0.1g
Oatibix 0.15g
Quaker Oatso Simple "Trace"
Quaker Granola "Trace"
Shredded Wheat "Trace"
Shredded Wheat Bitesize "Trace"
Some of those figures are pretty high. In a "serving" of Kelloggs Corn Flakes you'd get half a gram of salt - that's the same as a normal-sized bag of crisps. Generally, the Kelloggs cereals came out high; those at the bottom of the list above are largely made by Weetabix (although you can get an even lower sodium Weetabix-type cereal from Doves Farm at 0.2g).
I took a look at some own-brand versions of the Kelloggs cereals to see if they were any better.
Bran Flakes - Sainsburys 0.6g, Tesco 0.6g
Choco Snaps - Sainsburys ?, Tesco 0.4g
Corn Flakes - Sainsburys 0.6g, Tesco 0.6g
Frosted Flakes - Sainsburys 0.6g, Tesco 0.6g
Um, no, not really! So it's Shredded Wheat and porridge from now on until Kelloggs sort out their act.
Thursday 24 April 2008
Gromit, that's it! Cheese! We'll go somewhere where there's cheese!
A quick look at the labels on the lumps of cheese in our fridge turns up some alarming results. It seems that cheese, as a rule, is very high in sodium, with 0.7g per 100g being typical. The Dairy Council state that salt is necessary in cheese, as a preservative. Do we really need levels that high given that most of us have fridges now?
So, off I trek to the supermarket to check some labels. The values below are all sodium per 100g. To put it into context, 100g of cheese would be about right to fill a chunky sub-sized roll for lunch. Government guidance on sodium is 2.4g per day. See here for more on this.There was only one cheese I could find that would be classed as "low" in sodium! It was:
Mascarpone - 0.05g
Good to know I can still make cheesecake should the desire ever take me. The next best options were:
Emmental - 0.17g
Cottage cheese with pineapple - 0.2g
Goats cheese - 0.28g
Wensleydale with blueberries - 0.3g
Obviously the bits of fruit in the wensleydale and cottage cheese reduce the amount of cheese you're getting, and so therefore the sodium too. Maybe we can all learn a lesson from that and simply buy our usual cheese, hollow bits of it out and stick fruit in.
The worst offenders were the blue and smoked cheeses, which were generally over 1g. More surprising was that Edam came in at 1.04g, about the same as feta. The worst was a pecorino at 2.36g.
The big problem I found, however, is that the cheddar-style cheeses were up at 0.6 - 0.8g (about the same as the parmesan I found). I love posh cheese, but let's be honest, it's cheddar that we eat most often, especially our eldest daughter. So it looks like we'll be splashing out grating emmental onto our baked spuds until I can find a low salt version.
There's some more guidance on sodium levels on the British Cheese website, which largely agrees with my findings, although I'm a bit confused by their numbers on cheese spreads, which doesn't seem to be backed up by the Philadelphia website.
So, off I trek to the supermarket to check some labels. The values below are all sodium per 100g. To put it into context, 100g of cheese would be about right to fill a chunky sub-sized roll for lunch. Government guidance on sodium is 2.4g per day. See here for more on this.There was only one cheese I could find that would be classed as "low" in sodium! It was:
Mascarpone - 0.05g
Good to know I can still make cheesecake should the desire ever take me. The next best options were:
Emmental - 0.17g
Cottage cheese with pineapple - 0.2g
Goats cheese - 0.28g
Wensleydale with blueberries - 0.3g
Obviously the bits of fruit in the wensleydale and cottage cheese reduce the amount of cheese you're getting, and so therefore the sodium too. Maybe we can all learn a lesson from that and simply buy our usual cheese, hollow bits of it out and stick fruit in.
The worst offenders were the blue and smoked cheeses, which were generally over 1g. More surprising was that Edam came in at 1.04g, about the same as feta. The worst was a pecorino at 2.36g.
The big problem I found, however, is that the cheddar-style cheeses were up at 0.6 - 0.8g (about the same as the parmesan I found). I love posh cheese, but let's be honest, it's cheddar that we eat most often, especially our eldest daughter. So it looks like we'll be splashing out grating emmental onto our baked spuds until I can find a low salt version.
There's some more guidance on sodium levels on the British Cheese website, which largely agrees with my findings, although I'm a bit confused by their numbers on cheese spreads, which doesn't seem to be backed up by the Philadelphia website.
What the Government Say
Now there's a post title to get you excited.
I really do need to include this as a starting point though, so bear with me. There's an excellent Food Standards Agency salt/sodium site here, which I will leave you to read. Honestly, it's worth a look. There is a lot of useful, well-explained information on there, and also a picture of the wonderful Jenny Eclair.
In summary, you should have no more than 6g of salt a day for a normal diet. That's not a lot - it's about a teaspoon-full, and equates to 2.4g of sodium. Most people eat a lot more than that, on average over 9g. The advice for children varies by age - my 6 year old daughter should be getting half that recommended for an adult, at 1.2g sodium a day. A "low sodium" diet is often referred to as either less than 1.5g or 1g of sodium a day - GPs will give different advice to different people.
Quick Reference:
Salt = Sodium x 2.5
1 to 3 years - 2 g salt a day (0.8g sodium)
4 to 6 years - 3g salt a day (1.2g sodium)
7 to 10 years - 5g salt a day (2g sodium)
11 and over (including adults) - 6g salt a day (2.4g sodium)
On this blog I refer to sodium levels rather than salt, as sodium is the significant bit for health, and can come from sources other than salt (such as sodium bicarbonate in scones). We're aiming for less than 1g sodium a day, to allow us to have the occasional lapse by eating out, and to be low enough so we can eat with the kids (something we don't really do enough of).
The Food Standards Agency categorises foods as follows:
High is more than 1.5g salt per 100g (or 0.6g sodium)
Low is 0.3g salt or less per 100g (or 0.1g sodium)
So that also gives us a "Medium" category with a huge range of 0.1ish to 0.6ish sodium per 100g.
At the risk of stating the obvious, how much salt you actually get depends on how much of that particular food you eat. Naturally, it's more of a concern when things that you eat a lot of (such as bread) are very high in sodium, than things that you only have a small amount of (such as anchovies). Unless of course you eat an awful lot of anchovies.
I really do need to include this as a starting point though, so bear with me. There's an excellent Food Standards Agency salt/sodium site here, which I will leave you to read. Honestly, it's worth a look. There is a lot of useful, well-explained information on there, and also a picture of the wonderful Jenny Eclair.
In summary, you should have no more than 6g of salt a day for a normal diet. That's not a lot - it's about a teaspoon-full, and equates to 2.4g of sodium. Most people eat a lot more than that, on average over 9g. The advice for children varies by age - my 6 year old daughter should be getting half that recommended for an adult, at 1.2g sodium a day. A "low sodium" diet is often referred to as either less than 1.5g or 1g of sodium a day - GPs will give different advice to different people.
Quick Reference:
Salt = Sodium x 2.5
1 to 3 years - 2 g salt a day (0.8g sodium)
4 to 6 years - 3g salt a day (1.2g sodium)
7 to 10 years - 5g salt a day (2g sodium)
11 and over (including adults) - 6g salt a day (2.4g sodium)
On this blog I refer to sodium levels rather than salt, as sodium is the significant bit for health, and can come from sources other than salt (such as sodium bicarbonate in scones). We're aiming for less than 1g sodium a day, to allow us to have the occasional lapse by eating out, and to be low enough so we can eat with the kids (something we don't really do enough of).
The Food Standards Agency categorises foods as follows:
High is more than 1.5g salt per 100g (or 0.6g sodium)
Low is 0.3g salt or less per 100g (or 0.1g sodium)
So that also gives us a "Medium" category with a huge range of 0.1ish to 0.6ish sodium per 100g.
At the risk of stating the obvious, how much salt you actually get depends on how much of that particular food you eat. Naturally, it's more of a concern when things that you eat a lot of (such as bread) are very high in sodium, than things that you only have a small amount of (such as anchovies). Unless of course you eat an awful lot of anchovies.
About This Blog
First of all, a bit about me and why I've started this blog. I'm Ann C, I'm in my mid-thirties, and am married with two small children. I work full-time in the City, and live just outside of London. My husband has recently been diagnosed with high blood pressure (hypertension). At the moment, we don't know if there's a root cause, and really it's all a bit mystifying - he's young, gets plenty of exercise, eats well, doesn't drink to excess, and, although he works in the City too, it's a job he enjoys and doesn't find particularly stressful.
Anyway, having Googled "hypertension" (isn't this how everyone gets health advice nowadays?) it seems it can have some pretty serious consequences, which I am trying hard not to think about too much. However, I also found that there is a large body of evidence that reducing the sodium in your diet can bring your blood pressure down considerably - some people suggest that you can even reduce it far enough to avoid having to take the (rather nasty-sounding) drugs that are usually prescribed for hypertension (although, unsurprisingly, the Salt Manufacturers Association disagree).
Our diet is already a good one - we eat a good range of foods with plenty of fruit, veg, fish etc. - but one area really needs addressing, and that's the sodium content. I have found very little practical guidance out there on how to do this (everything seems to be US-biased). So, welcome to my humble blog, where I will post my experiences of trying to reduce our sodium intake, and hopefully improve our health.
Please see here for details on the government guidance on salt intake, a good place to start.
Anyway, having Googled "hypertension" (isn't this how everyone gets health advice nowadays?) it seems it can have some pretty serious consequences, which I am trying hard not to think about too much. However, I also found that there is a large body of evidence that reducing the sodium in your diet can bring your blood pressure down considerably - some people suggest that you can even reduce it far enough to avoid having to take the (rather nasty-sounding) drugs that are usually prescribed for hypertension (although, unsurprisingly, the Salt Manufacturers Association disagree).
Our diet is already a good one - we eat a good range of foods with plenty of fruit, veg, fish etc. - but one area really needs addressing, and that's the sodium content. I have found very little practical guidance out there on how to do this (everything seems to be US-biased). So, welcome to my humble blog, where I will post my experiences of trying to reduce our sodium intake, and hopefully improve our health.
Please see here for details on the government guidance on salt intake, a good place to start.
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