After reading some of the post on this board I decided to check out the sodium levels on the things I was eating. Wow shocked to find that sara lee oven roasted turkey breast is listed at 490mg per 4 slices! Even the gatorade I was drinking was 110mg per 240ml. Is there low sodium deli meats out there. Proabally a silly question but my DF does the shopping. And are you able to buy them at a reg. grocery store? ??? Good Eats to all! Venus
I've been looking for years and haven't found anything. I stopped eating at Subway because of the sodium levels in deli meats. Then I discovered an awesome low sodium bacon, which I cook up ahead of time and freeze in small packets, grab a few slices from the freezer and make a delicious BLT or fried egg and bacon sandwich with my excellent low sodium bread find (Alvarado St. Flax Seed Bread - 2 slices at 120 mg. sodium), or... I heat the bacon, wrap it up good and zip on down to Subway and get a 6" veggie sandwich and put my own bacon on it, delicious! Don't know if anything I rambled about here can help you at all, but it's all I got for deli type sandwiches on a low sodium diet, unless you want to cook up your own turkey or chicken for sandwiches. You can get some good no-salt-added tuna too.
Thanks anyway, today while at the market I found birds-eye brown rice only 5mg. of sodium, inone of those steam bags for the microwave. Combine that with the steam vegies in a bag not to bad..... 8)
I did find a ham-type product that is really good and quite low in sodium called Beelors Uncured English Style Bacon, at only 220 mg. sodium per slice, and each slice is pretty good size and not paper thin like alot of deli meats. It tastes more like ham than bacon, and it's been wonderful on a hamburger, or with a fried egg sandwich, and I added it to a Subway veggie delight. It's a great option. I haven't made a cold cut sandwich with it yet though, but it should be good. Thing is, you'll need to go to a healthy food store to find it.
At some delis, the roast beef is house made, uncured... just cooked meat! At my local Whole foods, the roast beef is house made and contains a fraction of the sodium of other deli meats. The packaged stuff is not the same, contains more sodium because of preservatives and the curing process, so check with your local deli or health food store! Another option, and one that I do myself frequently, is to marinate and cook a bunch of chicken breasts or fresh turkey meat and then freeze most of them, and keep a few out to use on sandwiches. Take one or two out and defrost them every couple of days, or when you plan to be making sandwiches. Also, you can find low-sodium tuna or canned chicken, and make a sandwich with that. Vegetarian sandwiches are another good option, like tomato/avocado, grilled eggplant, etc.
If you look carefully, ther ear eactually a lot of deli meats now, including cheese that come low sodium- and remember ,everything in moderation. A lot of the store made lunch meats have no preservativs - they may be a little more expensive, but remember, the less processed something is, the better it will be.
I purchased an expensive meat slicer and make my own roast beef, turkey and chicken and then slice them thin when cold. Makes a great sandwich. I'll also use avacado instead of cheese but there are some low sodium cheeses out there.
Boar's Head makes low sodium turkey and ham. It is sold in the deli. Your deli should have a booklet listing all of the nutritional information on all of the Boar's Head products. I am sorry that I dont remember the count on these products but it was a doable number for a sandwich a couple of times per week. Sargento Swiss Cheese - low fat is also not too terrible with their salt. Same with the Baby Swiss. I havent been able to find the low sodium tuna or chicken in the can.
At Whole foods they sell no-salt-added tuna in a can. It's still got sodium, but I think fish in general (and meat) has naturally occuring sodium. Also, "Columbus" makes low sodium turkey and ham, and it's sold at Trader Joe's (they sell it other places too, but that's the one I know of for sure). I meant to mention this earlier! DizzyMel reminded me with the Boar's Head post!
I wish Trader Joe's would open here in Tampa! We have one Whole Foods - on the other side of town from us!!! I love their store. We also have a Wild Oats - which is similar to Whole Foods (the two actually have merged), but it too isn't close enough to get to for me!!! Grrrrrr! So I am stuck with the Natural Foods section in the other grocery stores.
Here is Boar's Head's sodium info from their "Worried About Sodium" section: PREMIUM DELICATESSEN MEATS SODIUM % DV 2 oz (56g) serving unless noted 42% Lower Sodium Branded Deluxe Ham 460 mg1 19% 28% Lower Sodium Bologna 410 mg1 17% Our Premium Oven Roasted Lower Sodium Turkey Breast 47% Lower Sodium - Skinless 340 mg1 14% 50% Lower Sodium - Skin-On 320 mg1 14% Deli Dinners® Ovengold® Roast Breast of Turkey 25% Lower Sodium - per 3oz (84g) 540 mg2 22% Ovengold® Roast Breast of Turkey 46% Lower Sodium - Skinless 350 mg1 15% 44% Lower Sodium - Skin-On 360 mg1 15% Hickory Smoked Black Forest Turkey Breast 43% Lower Sodium 360 mg1 15% Low Sodium Deluxe Oven Roasted Beef5 80 mg3 3% No Salt Added Oven Roasted Beef5 40 mg4 2% LITE Braunschweiger Liverwurst - 29% Lower Sodium 450 mg1 19% LITE Beef Frankfurters - 40% Lower Sodium (per 45g Frank) 270 mg1 11% Mesquite Wood SmokedTM Breast of Turkey 42% Lower Sodium - Skinless 440 mg1 18% PREMIUM DELICATESSEN CHEESES SODIUM % DV 1 oz (28g) serving 42% Lower Sodium Provolone 140 mg6 6% Lacey Swiss Cheese - Low Sodium 35 mg3 1% Low Sodium Muenster 75 mg3 3% Low Sodium Imported Gold Label Swiss 70 mg3 3% No Salt Added Swiss 10 mg4 0% 25% Lower Sodium - 25% Lower Fat American Cheese 300mg7 12% 28% Lower Sodium Blue Cheese 280mg8 12% Boar's Head's nutritional info can be found here: http://www.boarshead.com/BHNutritionGuide_3510NutBook6_07.pdf
