[Larry H]

I count Calories and my daily current goal is 1,650

For the last few days I have been eating differently. I usually skip breakfast although I had one carefully measured cup of Raisin Bran with 1/2 cup measured 2% milk this morning. Partly because my calorie count at 810 was way way too low yesterday. I was not hungry and did not want to eat more due to the high sodium level already consumed. (Heart Issues)

My lunches are pretty normal, usually meat, starch and vegetable. I try to limit my lunch, which by the way is our main meal of the day, to 600 calories or less.

Dinner is where I have been trying something different, Several years ago I read a diet book on Volumetrics. The basic Idea is if you eat a lower calorie dense food, you can eat more of it. I decided to try this by buying low calorie canned soup and adding no salt canned vegetables along with some spices often hot sauces. This gives me a lot of food that is very filling and is very low calorie. For example last night I had Progresso Light Chicken and Dumplings (the whole can) 160 calories. To this I added two cans of Del Monte - Canned Cut Green Beans No Salt Added (drained) 140 calories and Huy Fong - Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce, 1 tsp 5 calories. Cooked it and ate a large filling meal that contained only 305 calories yet it was packed with a lot of nutrition and volume.

The problem with this is the high sodium, My cardiologist says I am very sodium sensitive, I retain water like gangbusters with too much sodium and this is not good for my heart. Last night's dinner that I described above contained a whopping 1,550 mg of sodium, almost all was in the soup. I am going to start cooking my own low sodium soups to resolve this, however I don't want to waste the canned soups that I stocked up on. I am going to try dilution to reduce the sodium. Most soups are either Chicken, Beef or Vegetable broth based. Herb OX makes a sodium free instant broth and seasoning. Chicken and Beef flavors and possibly vegetable. I believe that by adding 2 cups of the Herb OX to the 2 cup soup can, then dividing it and freezing half prior to adding my vegetables I would cut the sodium in half. I may or may not have to add some low sodium spices to raise the flavor after dilution. I will find out as I experiment.

[Ubee]

Hi Larry,
Lots of others will have better answers but maybe try doing fresh for 2 days and canned the way you described on the 3rd day. You will use up your supply eventually and give yourself a break in the kitchen every 3rd day. It also let's you get started now and ease your way into it.
Good Luck! Ubee

[mountain walker]

Just a thought....you could use the canned soup as a base for adding fresh ingredients. You will then have "diluted" the high salt content without wasting your tinned soups. Good luck, I am calorie counting and find I tend to be under rather than over so I have to keep a record of what I eat in case I don't eat enough! Being too far under,although tempting for rapid weight loss, makes me lethargic after a few days.

[Dreamgyrl]

Try adding frozen veggies to the can of soup instead of the canned ones.