Canned veggies and sodium
 

I know a lot of the sodium sinks into the actual veggies themselves, but for example, if you rinse out green beans really well before you cook them, does that reduce the sodium from what the label says? I mean, at least they're not in all that salty juice stuff anymore...

I would think it would reduce the sodium somewhat. Because I try to avoid additives and preservatives, I switched over to no salt added canned veggies and double check the ingredients label to make sure it just contains the veggie and water. I found these to be a good substitute when fresh or frozen aren't available or sometimes just for convenience. I usually add some herbs/spices when heating and sometimes a pinch of sea salt. Much better than the regular high-sodium canned veggies. :)

it does somewhat. I'd recommend overall to eat frozen veggies, I think they taste better and have a higher nutritional content.

I was wondering about this myself, in the case of beans, because as far as I know you can't get frozen beans, like kidney beans or black beans I mean. My local grocery store doesn't sell the no sodium cans, but I think that rinsing does help.

futuresurferchick - Agreed, beans you rinse. Although I have seem some beans frozen, veggies are best frozen because they are usually frozen quickly after being picked as opposed to canned which aren't necessarily.

I also prefer frozen over canned, but I do buy some canned veggies.

You can reduce the sodium by rinsing, and you can reduce it further by soaking. Canned green beans, for example, taste WAY too salty to me, but the no salt added are just so overpriced (and my doctor tells me that I shouldn't go out of my way to eat too salt-free, because I tend towards low blood levels of sodium - not something most people have to worry about, but I've actually had to take sodium supplements before - it's a combination of the blood pressure medication I'm on, and the fact that I'm not overly fond of the taste of salt - freakish, I know)..... but anyway, I actually soak canned green beans and other overly salted canned veggies in water for 15 minutes or so, to remove more salt (the longer you soak, especially if you change the rinse water, the more salt you can remove).

Thanks guys, I'll try soaking.

I do prefer fresh or frozen, but I bring cans to work so I can heat them up on the stove at work, and I work a different job in the mornings so usually frozen doesn't work for me because of refrigeration issues.

My hubby is on a salt free diet, and so we only buy the frozen. But IF we have to use canned, giving it a quick soak and rinse in clean water really gets rid of some of the salt.