Any ideas for natural salt replacer's?

Why are you on a salt free diet?

I have very low albumin and am struggling with ascities (fluid retention) due to decompensated liver failure.

I find I am still manageable and can keep the fluid down to almost nothing by limiting to an extent water intake and if I cut out salt to the extent I can. Also eating and exercise make a difference. But yeah like I said it is not completely salt free. It is just as low as I can reasonably achieve.

@rosehips Then yes, you need a low salt diet. I think that potassium chloride is an adequate salt substitute if you don’t have renal failure as well. Usually people with ascites are on diuretics which can dump potassium anyway so that may work.

Have you tried any of Mrs. Dash’s seasoning blends? The lemon pepper is really good in my opinion. Also, spicy food can help replace the desire for the taste of salt in food. You might try adding some dried pepper to some dishes or look into some mexican dishes or salsas. Thai food is spicy too.

How long have you been cutting salt intake? Supposedly it gets easier over time.

@rosehips Have you tried sea salt? And as @JLeslie said Mrs Dash’s stuff is really good.

@Adirondackwannabe Why are you recommending sea salt? The OP is avoiding salt.

@JLeslie Sea salt is much lower in sodium.

@rosehips, I’m probably going to get a lot of flak for this, but have you tried MSG? It got a bad rap because cheap restaurants use far too much of it as an excuse to not season their food properly. But it’s an amino acid that increases the sensation of savory/umami in your mouth. If you use it in proper, very small amounts, it can be very useful for savory foods.

Also, I will second @JLeslie about spices! If you can, cultivate a taste for black pepper and red hot chili pepper (and there are great variations in how spicy different kinds of chili peppers are)... If you can’t find any where you live, try ordering from Penzeys. Absolutely wonderful spice company, and while I haven’t ordered from them in years, I am almost certain that they will have some good salt substitutes, because they keep on top of trends like that.

I use Dulse Flakes

I love it. Great ocean taste when raw, works just like salt when it’s cooked, with an eensy-weensy fraction of the sodium. I use it in pot roasts and such, when my husband won’t see it. The man eats WAY too much salt. And it provides natural iodine.

@Adirondackwannabe Not that I know of. Do you have a link? I think that is some sort of old wives tale, but I am happy to be corrected. I think sea salt just has some different minerals in there, but still the same basic amount of sodium.

@JLeslie I’ll check the labels tonight but I think the sea salt was lower in sodium. I’ll let you know.

Salt=1 atom of chlorine and 1 atom of sodium. NaCl. How could any salt be “lower” in sodium? Is there one atom less? Can’t be. Then it would just be chlorine. Which would be very BAD! Unless you are a swimming pool.

@Dutchess_III There are flavor enhancers that contain little to no sodium, such as potassium chloride.

Wiki says potassium chloride ”...is used primarily for making liquid starter fertilizers.” :) OK, we need salt for our bodies to function properly. Will potassium chloride adequately replace sodium chloride for purposes of keeping the body functioning?

No, but it appears the OP has an issue with her body functioning with the addition of extra sodium, but still wants her food to taste salty. There are products that perform this function.

Thanks @Seek_Kolinahr. That was just a general curiosity. It wasn’t directed at the OP.

@Adirondackwannabe Sea salt is not lower in sodium, and would make the situation much worse.

BTW, for general knowledge, this is EXACTLY why getting advice in the internet is a BAD thing to do. You get bad advice.

Try a little black pepper.

Thank you @Rarebear! If it was lower in sodium it wouldn’t be salt!

I stand corrected. You learn something every day.
http://www.ehow.com/about_5389797_sodium-salt-vs-table-salt.html

@RareBear I have diuretics but at this point with my lifestyle myt doc and I agreed to only use them when I need them. I’ve only had to use them twice though I still have a tiny bit of fluid as I can see it around my eyes in the morning and feet at night.

My doc mentioned potasium chloride too, but as of yet I haven’t run into any.

My electrolytes are pretty balanced with vitamins I take. Though for a while I was struggling.

@JLeslie I have tried Mrs Dash, it is better then nothing but doesn’t quite cut it for me. I have been since January and it was actually easy to begin with.

@Adirondackwannabe My sea salt is tempting me I haven’t shoved it far enough to the back of the shelf yet.

Now that I think about it I was eating a lot more mushrooms and peppers and onions though.

@bookish1 Thanks for braving the mob. I have not tried MSG I have tried Bragg’s Liquid Amino Acids an equivalent and that was a no go. I am missing the umami.

But I will check out Penzey’s I was thinking about expanding my spice cabinet lately.

@Seek_Kolinahr That looks great I found a site that carries them and ships in bulk but I think I will try a small quantity first.

To the rest of you thanks so much. You helped me realize some mistakes I was making and gave me some good ideas.

My taste buds thank you.

@rosehips If you have a Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s in your area, you should be able to find Dulse Flakes there.

@rosehips You don’t want MSG. The “S” in MSG is sodium.

MSG…MonoSodum Glutamate? Checking on google. Yep. Monosodium glutamate What is Glutamate? An amino acid. OK. Carry on.

@rosehips: Maybe you should ask your doctor about MSG if you get a chance. People seem to have pretty strong feelings about it on the internet, haha. I forgot to mention before, nutritional yeast is another good source of umami. Vegans swear by it.

WTH is a umami? Who’s mamie?

While we’re on the topic of spelling, there’s no apostrophe necessary in the word “replacers.”

Has anyone looked at Rosehips’ profile? She has the greatest quotes on there!

@rosehips I feel for you. I love salt. I once cut way back because my mom thught I should and my blood test said I was low sodium, first time ever, so I decided it was a bad idea. It might have easily been a fluke, because really I would think my body would balance me, I had not cut it to nothing, but still enough for me to be happy to go back to salting. My electrolytes are always perfect before that incident and after and I have mine done about 4 times a year, even have had it done right after exercise.

I would think you have to be careful with products that contain potassium too, but I know nothing about your condition. Just a guess because of the whole balance between all the electrolytes, but I am sure your doctor discussed this if it is a concern. I love the internet for advice on medical things, but I agree with @Rarebear that the advice can be terrible and dangerous. Always run an idea past your doctor, read labels yourself, check things out before you take it as truth. I’m sure you do.

@Dutchess_III : One of the 5 fundamental flavors that our taste buds perceive. Sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and savory/umami. Think tomatoes, anchovies, soy sauce, etc.

@jca Lol I think the mods are on strike. I noticed several of my own questions as well as some other’s with spelling or grammar errors that normally wouldn’t fly.

@Duchess_III Thanks I love them too! Umami is richness enhanced flavor. It satiates. It also is a fun word that rolls off the tongue. : )

@Rarebear Wow, of course. I am used to saying the word but I never thought of the seperate components meaning anything funny. And yes @JLeslie and you have a very good point. Though it is nice to have ideas coming in so I can present them to a more knowledged source I plan to proceed with caution. I work very hard to make the right decisions for my body.

My body is telling me I NEED a brownie now….

@rosehips : I love your profile quotations too… And umami is also a good scrabble word!!

Sorry @Dutchess_III all I have are fruity granola bars and buckwheat banana pancakes for sweets today. But I will share : )

@bookish1 I love scrabble or used to. I haven’t played even my scrabble apps in a year. When was the last time you were in front of an actual board?

@rosehips: Aww, one of many things that remind me of being in my parents’ house. My mom has a great Scrabble board. It’s been years since I’ve played… Is there a way for us to have a face-off online?!

FYI: Soy sauce has a tremendous amount of sodium. There is low sodium soy sauce, but still rather high for someone who needs to watch their sodium.

@bookish1 I used to have apps on my phone and there was one through fb. But I downgraded my phone and you don’t use fb. I will have to look into it. I am sure there is.

@JLeslie : ( Yeah the low sodium soy sauce would never work for me. I am down so much salt, the only packaged things I eat are what I mentioned and things like frozen vegies etc because everything has sodium as a preservative.

@rosehips I don’t know if this will help, but a more drastic change in diet might actually make it easier. I don’t know how you usually eat, but going more “whole foods” might help reduce your craving for salt and maybe improve your health overall. I’m not trying to preach it or anything, but over time I think the body starts to adjust to getting nutrition differently. I don’t think it has to do with just taste cravings, but essential nutrient cravings. For instance, in the book Eat To Live, which I read part of recently, the author points out you can get as amuch as or more protein from vegetables if you consider the protien per calorie eaten. In the end we fill up on calories for the most part. I think our bodies crave meat because we teach it that it is densely full of protein in a few bites, but we can teach it to crave leafy greens and other veggies for the protein as well. I never follow any of these “diets” 100% so I certainly am not saying run out, read his book, and follow it to the letter, or anything like that. But, the more veggies and fruit you eat, probably the less sodium you will crave. I rarely add a lot of salt to fruit and veggies, but to meat, soups, potatoes, I certainly do. Eating those things without is tough.

Also, while you have been very low sat for a while now, have you had follow up bloodwork? Again, I don’t know much of anything about your condition, but I wil tell you this, if I just listened to doctor’s recommendations and what I read or hear I would not understand well what affects my cholesterol numbers. The reason I know is because I get tested after experimenting for a while. You know how everyone said eat butter not margarine, it’s better. Well, if I eat butter my cholesterol goes up in fact, when I consume cholesterol my cholesterol goes up period. My body does not know what to do with it and I figure my body keeps pumping it into my system even when I am taking it in with food. My regulating device doesn’t seem to work. I can drop my cholesterol 50 points in a few weeks if I cut my cholesterol intake in half. If I didn’t test it I wouldn’t know. So, whatever diet is prescribed, I say follow it u with tests. Like a diabetic does. I always say they are lucky (of curse lucky is an odd word to use the) to be able to get instant feedback. They are trusted to treat themselves and can test at will. Most of us have to wait to see the doctor, wait for the doctor to tell us the results, etc.

I started a low salt diet at the beginning of 2012, and it has become the new ‘normal’ for me, finally. In the beginning, I tried every non-salt seasoning mix on the grocers’ shelves, and I have a dozen different bottled hot sauces that I tried and didn’t finish. (The hot sauces have salt, but the volume used was small enough for me to deal with.)

Currently, my go-to seasonings are pepper (there are 4 different color peppercorns to experiment with), garlic, cumin, pepper vinegar, and smoked paprika. I smoke, package, and freeze various meats that I throw into soups, stews, and grain dishes that need a flavor and aroma boost. The smoke aroma really satisfies some need in me.

It sounds like your restriction is more severe than mine. I know it’s not easy; hang in there; you can do it!

I complained about how salty soy sauce was once. I think it was even on here. I got one response and that was….“Um soy sauce.” That’s…what it is. Salty.

@JLeslie I agree with you a hundred percent. I have had to do a lot of research myself and really should have done and be doing more. I haven’t read the book you mentioned, but I have read the UltraMind Solution, Ultrametabolism Diet both done by Mark Hymen. I didn’t follow these 100% but I have eating whole foods for some time now. Also being a celiac with multiple food allergies has pushed my creativity and have read a number of books on that topic as well. I know we disagree on the GMO issue. But I have cut GMO’s from diet and feel like I would be in a much worse place then I am today without them.

The anemia is caused by the progression of my disease, I have had splenomegaly since before I was diagnosed with my autoimmune condition. I do eat foods that help my iron and b12 and I am within range on those. Lately I have been getting blood tests twice a month. It does help for me to eat vegetables. I make that a large part of my diet. And I have one pulverized green smoothie a day in place of a meal. One friend has suggested the Fat Sick and Nearly Dead. Maybe I will just read your book instead. I am not ready to go completely meatless yet. I still think I need it.

As to cholestrol I was just reading about the benefits of lentils. “Consuming approximately (½) c dry beans or peas resulted in higher intakes of fiber, protein, folate, zinc, iron, and magnesium with lower intakes of saturated fat and total fat.” They come in multiple colors and actually I just tried the red are quite tasty. Chia are another food source I value as I was struggling with hypoglycemia for a while I was able to self correct. But it is a known hepaprotection food source.

Now I don’t mean to sound preachy. : ) I know it is terrible for me to even think I have any answers with my health condition. The onset of my autoimmune came after years of eating pure junk. I waited a long time past the onset to get diagnosed. And I am not perfect. But after seeing the conditions of some of other people with liver disease I think I am better off then a lot of them.

@bossob Thanks for the encouragement. I wasn’t aware of the smoked paprika. The smoke thing I was wondering about in general. I have been making my own sauces when I have the time. Some of them are keepers. But a lot of them need a ton of work. Maybe it is just a learning curve.

@Dutchess_III Lol. I know right. They definitely should put less salt in soy sauce : )