Having gone on this low sodium diet, it has really started to annoy me to see how so many products seem to replace low sodium with high fructose corn syrup. Personally if I want low sodium, I don't want High Fructose Corn Syrup.
A great example is Heinz Ketchup. Kelly and I had gotten used to the excellent Reduced Sugar Heinz (which has not high fructose Corn Syrup). It not so sweet, and is quite good.

Now after my surgery I have had to move to the No Salt Heinz, but it is again super sweet, as it has high fructose corns syrup. I love that it has no salt, but can't they combine the two?


And so many low fat or heart healthy foods also have so much high fructose corn syrup. Do they use the sugar to cover the chemicals they put in? Well I would rather have more vinegar, or something natural! Sweet is not the answer!

After realizing just how much sodium is in basically every commercial bread you can buy, we decided to get a breadmaker so we could make no sodium bread. Of course I wanted a Breville as their blender and toaster we have are the best I have ever seen! And of course their $250 Bread Machine is no exception!

The BRM800XL Custom Loaf if a kick ass which makes bread making as easy as can be. You can even put in spices or nuts or fruit and it adds them at the proper time while making the dough for proper distribution.

The bread is light and fluffy and quite tasty, even without sodium (though the plain french bread recipe I have from the 500 Low Sodium Recipes book could use some salt, but when I added some fresh basil and rosemary it became perfect).

In about 3 and a half hours you have a fully cooked loaf of bread, and can even set it up and set it on a timer, so you can wake up to fresh bread!

Honestly this thing is great, and far easier than I ever would have expected. Sure the bread can be a little flaky at times, but I need to try different recipes (looking forward to making sourdough) and even using it to make dough for pizza or bagels (which are very high in sodium).

My favorite new cookbook is 500 Low Sodium Recipes: Lose the Salt not the Flavor in Meals the whole Family will Love by Dick Logue. It is an easy read, and has some really great recipes that taste great.

I have been very impressed with the no sodium soy sauce alternative, and have been using the no salt bread making recipes with my new breadmaker (they are great, though of course could use a tad of salt for flavor).

He has some really delicious recipes and writes in a great style. This really is a must have low sodium cookbook! Very heart healthy.

Had my heart surgery, and you can read about it at the front of this site at JonahLee.com and click on Surgery. I am 6 weeks out and doing very well.

Have been put on a low sodium diet following the surgery, and I can't believe how hard it is. Amazing how much salt is in everything at the grocery store. Had to get some low sodium cook books and have had to basically stop eating out for the time being (though I want nothing more than a Reuben from Brent's).

Will be blogging about some new kitchen appliances, new stores I have found and cookbooks I am using to keep a low sodium diet, with a category of Low Sodium.

Interestingly though my chiropractor is against the low sodium diet (and want met to eat egg yolks which isn't great for my cholesterol), though if the at home cholesterol kit is right my cholesterol has dropped from 315 to 168! That is a huge change, and obviously the beta blocker and calcium blocker was part of that!