How to Cook a Low Sodium Diet Without a Lot of Potassium

Regardless of whether you are following a low sodium, low potassium diet for personal reasons or under your physician's orders, understand that these two diet types are not incompatible. While eating a lowsodium approach might make it more likely that you incur additional potassium in your diet, you can make some simple food substitutions to minimize that threat, allowing you to fulfill both dietary obligations in tandem.

Instructions

• 1

  Choose fresh foods over frozen, processed, or canned items to reduce the total amount of sodium in your diet. Sodium is often used as a preservative in the latter items, so avoid them whenever possible to keep your sodium intake low. If you absolutely must use frozen, processed, or canned items, wash them completely first to rinse away a lot of sodium before cooking.

• 2

  Read the label ingredients on other foods to determine how much sodium is contained in each item. A traditional low sodium diet is around 2,000mg of salt per day, so attempt to spread that out across all of your daily meals to naturally balance the amount of salt in your diet.

• 3

  Avoid cooking with potassium rich foods. Potassium rich foods include the following items: broccoli, bananas, chocolate, oranges, coffee, potatoes, salt substitutes, cantaloupe, mushrooms, prunes, tomatoes, bran, greens, raisins, and apricots. Instead, use low potassium alternatives such as beans, apples, rice, cherries, berries, grapes, noodles, cucumber, lettuce, watermelon, breads, and pears.

• 4

  Check online to determine the potassium content of other suspect foods. Consult the link in Resources to determine whether your chosen meal item is indeed within your potassium "budget."