I never realised that bread has so much sodium in it until I started checking sodium content in packaged food. The local Woolies – as disappointing as they usually are – do have some options when it comes to low sodium bread. I picked Bill’s Certified Organic Sourdough Medium Rye to try because everything else was sold out. I did say the local Woolies was disappointing, didn’t I?

Bill’s Sourdough Medium rye has 68mg of sodium per 35g slice (195mg sodium/100 g). This is a damn sight better than Baker’s Delight sourdough  which has 592mg of sodium/100g. Even my I’m-feeling-virtuous standby, Burgen’s Soy-Lin loses out in the sodium stake with 400mg of sodium/100g. But wait, there’s more! Bill’s breads have no added yeast, no dairy products, no herbicides or pesticides, no preservatives or artificial colouring, no GM ingredients and no sugar. The sourdough also has a decent amount of fibre at 2.6 g per slice. Just reading the packaging (it’s plastic – we can’t all be perfect) makes me feel smug.

That’s all well and good, I hear my lone reader say, but is it delicious? I’m pleased to report that it is! It’s a little bit more sour than what I’m used to, but I’m guessing that the salt in “normal” bread balances the sourness out (or maybe it’s because of my uncultured palate). It’s not unpleasant by any means though. The bread is quite dense – this plus the high fibre content makes it pretty filling. It toasts beautifully for my favourite breakfast: honey on sourdough toast with a sense of impending doom on a workday morning.

The only downside here is the price. It’s $4.99 in the aforementioned Disappointing Woolies. It’s only a few cents more expensive than other specialty breads (e.g. Burgen) and I don’t have bread very often, so I don’t mind it too much.

Verdict: Sorry Baker’s Delight… our love affair ends here. 3.5 salt shakers

Bill’s Certified Organic Sourdough Medium Rye nutritional information

Bill’s Organic website.

This weekend and today I had a serious relapse with my diet. I’m pretty sure I managed to get my daily sodium to just under the recommended daily intake, but I’m aiming for a maximum of 1200 mg of sodium a day – that’s heaps less than the RDI of 2400 mg. I have to admit it’s a little disheartening since I’m doing so well, but I have to think positive:

1. I HAVE been doing really well.
2. I can’t expect to change my habits overnight.
3. A setback doesn’t mean that I’ll fail.

I’ve figured out that one of the biggest reasons my sodium intake was completely out of whack was because I had bread in the house. I don’t eat bread often, but I absolutely love it and will binge on bread when it’s available. I didn’t realise until today how much sodium there is in bread. The other reason I had so much sodium this weekend is eating out. It’s very hard to balance a social life and a low sodium diet, especially when my crowd (and myself!) are foodies.

I’ve come up with a game plan to get myself on track. I like to think that this will help anyone on a low sodium diet to recover after a big weekend too.

1. Track everything, and be honest. I started slacking off with my food journal and that made me less accountable for what I eat.
2. If you know you’re going out, plan the rest of the day’s meal around very low sodium foods. It doesn’t mean that you can binge on salt crusted bacon for dinner, but it will give you more sodium quota to play with especially if your food contains salt that can’t be easily omitted, e.g. the salt from canned tomatoes.
3. Don’t forget to drink lots of water with salty food.
4. Swap “normal” bread for a lower sodium bread or just have it as a special treat. Don’t buy a large loaf if you’re a bread fiend like me because you’ll find a way to justify another piece of toast. I found low sodium bread in my local supermarket – I’ll be buying it and writing a review soon.
5. Clean the fridge and get rid of high sodium sauces where possible. I’ve already bought low salt tomato sauce and soy sauce and will work on the rest of the fridge this weekend.

Wish me luck!

Ugh, had a massive food and alcohol binge last night. Really feeling the after effects of it this morning. Why do I do this to myself?

Anyway, this egg bake recipe (inspired by dishes like this one) is great for long weekend brunches. It takes a bit of effort to prepare, but you can make the mushroom and capsicum sauce in advance. This also makes lots of leftover sauce – you can reuse it for pasta or as a cold dish to have with toasted sourdough.

Look, I never said I was any good at taking photos.

Baked Eggs with Mushrooms and Capsicum
Serves 3 – 4

1 large red capsicum, roasted
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, finely chopped
Mushrooms, diced large (I don’t have an exact measurement, but I think I ended up with about 2 cups… just put in as much as you like)
400 g can no added salt diced tomatoes
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp sweet paprika
Dash chilli flakes
Optional: Lemon juice

To make roasted capsicum:

Preheat grill to high, shove under grill for about 10 minutes, turning often. The skin will blister and char. Take off heat, cool slightly and place it in a zip lock bag or cover with cling wrap for capsicum to sweat. After about 5 minutes (and cool enough to handle), the skin should just slide off. Here’s a step by step guide because I forgot to take pictures of the process.

Peel skin off capsicum, remove stalk and seeds. They never tell you that there’s going to be liquid in the capsicum if you cook it when it’s still cold from the fridge, so you might want to cut the top off and drain any accumulated juices before spilling it all over the kitchen bench like muggins here. Chop the flesh coarsely and set aside.

Sauce & eggs:

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Heat 2 tsp of olive oil in a wide pan or wok. Sauté garlic and onion over medium heat until onion is soft. Add mushrooms and spices, cook until mushrooms are slightly tender. Add chopped capsicums and tomatoes. Bring to boil, then simmer until thickened. Cool slightly. Season with ground pepper if you like. I didn’t have any lemons on hand, but I think the sauce will taste better with a dash of lemon juice stirred in at this point.

Spoon about 3/4 cup of sauce into a 1 cup capacity ramekin. Make a well in the middle of the mixture (not too deep, about halfway down mixture) and carefully break an egg into each ramekin. I find it easier to break the egg into a cup first and then pour it in. Place ramekins in the oven and bake for about 10 minutes or until cooked to your liking. Serve with toasted low sodium bread and spinach or sliced avocado.

My bread is nowhere near low sodium. Don't tell anyone.

Nutritional information per serve

Approx. sodium count: 76 mg
Approx. calories: 197

I found a great page today on processed low sodium products that are easily available in most supermarkets: The Hunt for Low Salt Food. Fuck yeah, Nutella is low in sodium!

Great site – I just wish I found it sooner. It’s pretty difficult finding low sodium/reduced salt stuff in my local Woolies.

I had a good day with my sodium count today – 730 mg despite a shit day that normally triggers emotional eating. Today was in fact so shitacular that I can’t be bothered with cooking anything that requires more effort than putting stuff in a pan and waiting until it gets hot. I also needed to use up all the chicken mince from the other post, hence yet another chicken mince recipe. This recipe is an adaptation of the Kheema Matar recipe from 101 Things.

I need to learn to take better photos.

Spicy chicken mince thing
Serves 2 with leftovers for lunch

1 French shallot, minced (better with brown onion, but I only had shallots)
2 cloves garlic, minced
Thumb size ginger, minced (or grated, but can’t be arsed getting grater out)
400 g chicken mince that you have to use up today or risk food poisoning
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 cardamom pods
As much chilli flakes as you like
2 large tomatoes, diced
3/4 cup frozen peas
1 tsp garam masala

1. Heat 1 tsp canola oil in a deep frying pan over high heat. Briefly sautee shallot, ginger and garlic until fragrant.
2. Add chicken mince and fry until lightly browned. Break up lumps as you go (I didn’t really bother breaking up the mince too much).
3. Add cumin, coriander, turmeric, cardamom and chilli flakes. Stir the whole thing a bit until the kitchen smells nice.
4. Throw in tomatoes with a bit of water. Let simmer for about 15 – 20 minutes, adding more water if it gets too dry. Or you can be like me and only simmer it for 10 because I wanted to watch TV. The chicken will be chewy if you do this, so don’t.
5. Chuck in frozen peas and simmer for about 5 minutes or until thawed and heated through.
6. Stir in garam masala and turn off the heat. Serve with rice or bread.

Would be nicer with chopped fresh coriander leaves and a bit of lemon juice, but I didn’t have any on hand.

Nutritional information (per serve)

Approx. sodium count: 209 mg
Approx. calories (without rice): 357

If you’re a meat-eater, chicken is a great source of protein for a low sodium diet. Chicken naturally contains some sodium (65 mg for 100 g of skinless chicken breast), so you won’t miss the salt too much in an unsalted chicken dish.

I miss stir fries, but I have to admit that my recipes are usually pretty heavy on the salt – I normally use light AND dark soy sauce plus fermented bean paste (teochew/taucu). This is something that I made up that’s still relatively tasty even without my beloved soy sauce. I did fuck up my good work with the sodium by adding oyster sauce, but if you can always substitute with low sodium soy sauce or leave it out altogether.

Chicken mince stir fry
Serves 2

1 French shallot, thinly sliced
1 – 2 cloves of garlic, minced
Thumb size ginger, minced
1 large chilli, sliced thin
1 1/2 cups button mushrooms, sliced
200 g minced chicken breast
1/2 cup salt-reduced chicken stock
Optional: 2 tsp evil oyster sauce (or low-sodium soy sauce)
Optional: dash Chinese rice wine
Corn starch slurry (1 tsp corn starch + some water)
3 stalks spring onion, green bits only, cut in inch lengths on the diagonal (you can use the thinly sliced white bits to sub for French shallot)

1. Heat 1 tsp vegetable or canola oil in a wok over high heat.
2. Stir fry chicken mince until it browns slightly, set aside. Lower heat to medium-high (you may need to add a bit more oil at this point).
3. Bung in shallot, garlic and ginger until fragrant and golden brown. Throw in chilli slices and stir fry for a few seconds.
4. Add mushrooms, stir fry until mushrooms are just cooked.
5. Add cooked mince, chicken stock, oyster/soy sauce and chinese wine. Bring to a simmer.
6. Stir in corn starch slurry, bring to boil and simmer until sauce is nice and thick.
7. Stir in spring onion until just wilted. Serve with rice.

Hopefully it will look like this, but better.

Nutritional information (per serve)

Approx. sodium count: 446 mg
Approx. sodium count without evil oyster sauce: 227 mg WTFFFF
Approx. calories (without rice): 250

Let that be a lesson to you: oyster sauce is evil and must be avoided or used very sparingly in a low sodium diet.

I’ve set myself some goals to help get my blood pressure and general health in check. I’ll be keeping track of my progress in the next few weeks.

• Have about 600 – 1200 mg of sodium a day
• Less fat (will try to anyway)
• More fibre
• Less fuck-the-diet days (weekends in particular are bad for this)
• Cook more
• Convert more Malaysian recipes to low salt version for own sanity

I’m already doing these:

• Exercising 3 – 4 times a week
• Eating more vegetarian meals daily
• Drinking at least 8 cups of water a day
• Taking calcium supplements
• No coffee for the last three weeks*

*I’m this close to getting a decaf. But then will have to ask barista for a decaf skim latte and risk sounding like North Shore yuppie type.

Starting blood pressure: 137/77

Goal blood pressure: A systolic blood pressure of 110 – 130mmHg

Wish me luck!

My name is Rose, and I’m an alcoholic this is my brand new health blog. You can read more about me here. If you can’t be arsed clicking through to another page (which, let’s face it, will be copied and pasted from this post anyway) here’s a bit about this blog:

In a nutshell, I was diagnosed with prehypertension early this year. Because I use the Pill to control my Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) symptoms, the doctor warned that I have to get my blood pressure down or I won’t be able to use it anymore. Thus my low-salt adventure started.

I wasn’t prepared for how difficult it was going to be and find myself cheating a lot. It doesn’t help that I’m a bit of a foodie (OK, OK… food snob). The day after my last big salt binge I decided that I need to take this low salt diet more seriously and Unsalted Nut was born.

My mission is to give this low salt thing a go for the next four – six weeks and schedule an appointment for another test to see if I get any positive results. This blog was created as a tool to help me be more accountable for my diet and to help low sodium newbies get started. I didn’t have anything to help me get started aside from Google, so this diet was (and still is) a steep learning curve.

This blog is created to be starting point for beginners – a repository of useful information, recipes, product reviews and practical tips on eating less salt and more of the good stuff. If you’re already eating less salt you probably won’t find anything new, but I can always use more tips and recipes!

A little bit about me: I’m 28 and I live in sunny Australia. I love good food, cats, trash TV, surreal comedies and fashion. I’m originally from East Malaysia so the best way to get to my heart is definitely through my stomach. You can e-mail me at unsaltednut at gmail dot com. Thanks for stopping by!