Meniere’s Support Group of NSW Inc.
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How to shop for low salt foods

If you have been convinced by Dr. Trevor Beard of the importance of good salt control for Meniere’s (see the page on his Salt Skip Program), then the next step is to shop for foods that are low in salt.

Nearly all FRESH FOODS are naturally low in salt, so not much guidance is needed for fresh foods.

However, very many PROCESSED FOODS are not low in salt – over 75% of our salt intake comes from the salt (or other forms of sodium such as baking powder) that is added to processed foods.

Below, you will find links to web pages (on external web sites) that contain documents that will help you shop for processed foods that are low in salt.

(The documents are in PDF format. To read or print them, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can download it free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html)

Shopping Guide

This is a four-page guide to shopping for low salt foods – especially at the major supermarkets.

Page 1 is "A Quick Guide" which explains how to tell if an item is low salt from information on the Nutrition Information Panel.

Pages 2 and 3 make up the "Low Salt Foods Shopping List". They have information (and colour photos) of nearly 100 products that are low in salt. You can use these two pages to plan what you want to buy. You can also take the pages with you to the supermarket, to make it easier to spot the low salt products on the shelves.

Page 4 looks mainly at the importance of low salt bread in controlling salt intake. It gives basic tips on baking your own bread (it is not as hard as you might think, especially if you use a bread maker, or "baker's oven").

The four pages of the Shopping Guide can be downloaded free, from Dr. Trevor Beard's web site: http://www.saltmatters.org/ (Click on "Shopping Guide" in the menu)

The SMANZ Low Salt Prescription

This is a longer document – 30 pages – and it goes into more detail. It includes the SMANZ guide to reducing salt (8 pages of useful information and tips), the low salt foods shopping list, a section on eating out while avoiding salt, a list of suppliers of low salt foods, links to useful websites, and an order form for relevant publications.

SMANZ, by the way, stands for Salt Matters (Australia & New Zealand) and is a self-help group whose members work towards reducing their own salt intake, and who publish information to help others do the same.

You can download the free SMANZ Low Salt Prescription from: http://www.smanz.info/

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