Sodium in New Recipe

Donna_cps3

I created a recipe for homemade Turkey soup. I add no sodium. Vegetables and seasoning without salt. How is the sodium calculated then to be over 133?

jefmcg

Sodium is present in all living creatures. It's essential to life. There is sodium in both turkey and the vegetables.

If you want to see where exactly it is coming from, add the soup to a blank diary page, then explode the recipe. If you then look at nutrition, and tap sodium, you can see what contributes it.

Sodium is essential to you, too. If you could eat a zero sodium diet, you would have cramps, then confusion, seizures, coma and death.

Donna_cps3

Thanks. I have HIgh blood pressure as well as another condition so have to limit to less than 2000 per day.

jefmcg

So that soup is less than 7% of your daily allowance, so you should be fine.

Hyponatremia is a serious condition. If there wasn't sodium in whole food, we would see people on low salt diets getting it all the time.

If you are mainly eating home made food, cooked from scratch and not adding salt, I would think (I am not a doctor!) you were more at risk of too low sodium than too high. If you start getting cramps or feel any mental confusion or fatigue, it would getting in touch with your doctor to check your sodium (and magnesium, potassium, calcium) intake is right for you.

Anecdote: For me, salt wasn't the biggest factor in my blood pressure. Cutting out sugars, grains and starchy carbs got my blood pressure back in the optimal range. I now have to add salt to everything (even coffee!!) to avoid cramps.

Susan_RD_101

@Donna_cps3

I'd also double check the turkey... sodium or sodium nitrate is often added as a preservative or for flavour.

Kind regards,

Donna_cps3

Thanks. So frozen 16 pound turkeys have sodium added? Did not know that, but I guess chicken and turkey have some natural sodium I guess. Will try the website for the turkey manufacturers.

Susan_RD_101

@Donna_cps3 It's not uncommon for frozen whole turkeys to have added sodium. The best way to find out is to contact the company selling the chicken/turkey to find out.

Donna_cps3

Thanks.