Less salt diet for heart disease patients

It’s determined that the amount of sodium chloride should be less than <6 grams/day equaling to 1 teaspoon in all food for a whole day. Monitoring the amount of salt accurately is difficult to comply until following the practical advice below:

List of foods that heart disease patient must avoid:

• Processed foods including fast foods like fried chicken, pizza, chips, etc
• Dry dishes such as canned food, dried meat, dried fish, floss
• Fermented foods as fish sauce, shrimp

(1 slice of Pizza provides 3g salt which is 50% of the permitted salt in the cardiovascular diet)

Custom sauces

Vietnamese habit is using sauces like fish sauce, soy sauce, or salt and pepper which contain a lot of salt.  However, it’s just a habit and the meal still tastes.  Practice not adding extra sauces to control salt intake daily.

Gradually reducing salt when cooking

Try herbs and natural spices such as pepper, chili, garlic, ginger, onion, spring onion, cilantro, celery, cinnamon, cloves, turmeric, curry powder, cocoa, dill, blind Potatoes, bell peppers, tomatoes, vinegar to help the dish tastier.

In general, shouldn't make sudden or extreme changes but slowly to change the new taste. Start with the foods you like, change in some ingredients and spices to reduce the amount of salt.

Advice from Dr. Phung Ngoc Minh Tan - Cardiology Specialist Of CarePlus