There are certain health conditions where the doctor may ask your loved one to reduce her sodium intake to help her manage the condition better. It could be high blood pressure, heart failure, or kidney disease just to name a few. The doctor knows that if your loved one can lower her sodium intake, she might be able to stop the damage from the condition and perhaps even reduce the need for medications.

Whatever the reason, your aging loved one may need a little help from you and her personal care at home attendant when making this adjustment to her shopping list and her eating habits. If she has never considered sodium intake in the past, she’ll need to learn a bit more about what are good foods and what are items she should try to avoid or greatly limit to keep her sodium levels at a point that the doctor recommends.

While how she prepares her meals at home matters (no more oversalting each item), the real change begins when she arrives at the grocery store. A personal care at home provider can help your loved one with shopping and preparing meals to support her progress toward a more heart-healthy diet.

Let’s look at some items that your loved one should probably take off her shopping list or at the very least, look for lower-salt substitutes.

• Prepackaged seasonings that contain a lot of salt
• Pickles and other pickled foods and veggies
• Many sauces such as teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, Worchester sauce, barbecue sauce, and many salad dressings.
• Ketchup and mustard are also included.
• Canned soups and other canned meals like pasta or chilis.
• Bread, bagels, tortillas, and biscuits
• Salty snacks. If you can see the salt on the snack, your loved one should avoid it but also check the sodium content of snacks where you don’t see the salt, like cheese puffs.
• Processed meats like hot dogs, sandwich meat, or bacon.
• Pizza of almost all types as the sodium comes from just about every ingredient on a pizza.
• Frozen, processed foods.

While that list may make it look like your loved one can hardly eat anything, there are a lot of other healthy items that you can substitute for the items that traditionally have a lot of sodium in them. Learning to read labels and look for ones that specifically say “no salt” or “low salt” can help your loved one add some of her favorites back into her diet.

The other key to a healthy lower salt diet is to make sure the majority of your loved one’s diet is comprised of low-sodium foods. Some great ones to choose from are:

• Fresh fruit like bananas, watermelon, and apples
• Fresh vegetables like root vegetables, leafy greens, tomatoes, and more
• Whole grains like brown rice, quinoa, couscous, and whole grain pasta.
• Unsalted or lower-salt snacks including popcorn and nuts
• Unseasoned protein such as eggs, fish, and poultry

Finally, when a personal care at home provider is helping to prepare meals, there are a lot of flavorful seasoning mixes that are sodium-free that they can use to boost flavors and make meals delicious.

The staff at Home Care Matters is available to talk with you and your family about all of your needs. Home Care Matters is a home care agency providing quality and affordable personal care at home in Buford, GA, and the surrounding areas. Call (770) 965-4004 for more information.

We provide elder care in Braselton, Buford, Dacula, Duluth, Flowery Branch, Gainesville, Johns Creek, Lawrenceville, Oakwood, Sugar Hill, Suwanee, Barrow County, Forsyth County, Gwinnett County, Hall County, Jackson County, North Fulton County.

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Valerie Darling

Founder, Owner at Home Care Matters

Valerie was born in Miami, FL and after a few family moves, grew up locally in the Marietta, GA area.Valerie is the oldest of 4 (3 younger brothers).She is married and has one child.Valerie is the Founder, Owner and CEO of Home Care Matters.Valerie’s mom, Dee, is the inspiration and primary driver as the how and why the business was born.Valerie says, “My mom is never far from our thoughts.Mom was an integral part of developing and starting HCM before she passed away.Our goal is to stay true to her memory and continue to honor her with the love, values, and ethics she taught us.”

Valerie has the unique experience with home care as she has experienced it from both ends of the spectrum, as a caregiver and as needing care herself as a cancer survivor. Valerie says, “Taking care of someone you love is a physically, mentally and demanding labor of love.Taking care of my mom was the hardest thing I have ever done. It has given me an insight and perspective not many people understand unless you are doing it or have done it.I loved taking care of my mom.I love helping others take care of their love ones too.And now that I’ve been sick, it’s given me a whole new level of empathy and understanding for those who are sick and need help.”

Valerie’s schedule varies daily, but she loves visiting with our clients, families, caregivers, our network partners and being in the office.Says Valerie, “Every day is different, but I wake up excited about what we do, inspired by our team, clients and caregivers.I strive to be a resource to the community.I love my team and I love what we do every day. I like to think my mom would be proud.”

You can reach Valerie by email (Valerie@homecarematters.com) or in our office (770.965.4004).

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