In search of low sodium LA

[broncosaurus]

For some of us it's a life or death issue.
So post your low-salt food sources. Frankly, I don't know of any aside from Whole Foods, and no restos.

[raytamsgv]

I recommend avoid pre-made sauces, marinaded items, breads, tomato sauces, and soups. In general, you need to know how the dishes are made in restaurants. That way, you can avoid the pre-made stuff and get the freshly made dishes where cook can use less sodium/soy sauce/MSG/etc. Much of the sodium in prepared foods come from MSG and sodium benzoate, which are generally not in fresh foods.

I mainly go to Chinese restaurants, and I always order with less sodium, soy sauce, and oil. I also avoid certain dishes that I know I high in sodium.

Many major supermarkets have low-sodium foods. Trader Joe's also has them.

[ipsedixit]

Colonial Kitchen
1110 Huntington Dr
San Marino
[phone]

[Vaya Con Carne]

Ipse, are you serious? The one time I went there for breakfast (it's been years), I was faced with a ton of processed ingredients on my plate - frozen hash browns, cheese that seemed more like "cheese food," and I wasn't even sure the eggs were real eggs. I can't imagine that anything that far removed from nature would be low sodium.

[Emme]

Some restaurants that are friendly esp when you tell them:

A Votre Sante

Jack Spratt's Grill

Greenleaf Chop Shop

HealthyCA

Hugo's

Eat Well

Jinky's

[Ben7643]

I find Akasha in culver city to be more helpful then almost any other restaurant i've been to in LA. I frequently ask for my entrees cooked without any oil which they do. One time we ordered the quinoa not sure if i spelled that right with tofo with no salt and no oil "i prefer to add my own salt so i know how much i'm adding." Other then that you might want to try Mr. Winstons on Ocean park for a salad or sandwich during lunch, and you can use balsamic vinegar for your dressing to avoid the sodium in it.

[broncosaurus]

hmmm, now you have me wondering how a little balsamic vin plus olive or sesame oil would do in a tuna sandwich...

[Servorg]

http://www.followyourheart.com/market...

[MarlaPR]

http://www.healthyheartmarket.com
is a wonderful resource! It even has garlic dill pickles! The trick to eating out is to tell your server you can't have any salt as it's a health matter. Then order things that haven't been pre prepared. I also carry homemade sauces to elevate taste. The website has tons of herbs, mustards, hot sauce and dressings that are salt free. I've been doing this for over 25 years, and it's very doable.

[MarlaPR]

I bring a high quality balsamic vinegar with a little sherry and a touch of sesame oil for my dipping sauce.

[MarlaPR]

Great ideas, but you need to make sure it's very low sodium tuna.

[bulavinaka]

Bronc, we've been cooking more at home as we've found salting to be an issue as well. Salt and fat are the two "secret" weapons at so many eateries (really no secret at all - I think our tastebuds have just gotten used to it at lots of places). We're trying to be proactive about it at this point - here's a few somewhat recent entries that might help but I guess it helps to choose places where one can find places that will accommodate salt-restricted diet as well (where, I really don't know - sorry):

A Curious Palate in Mar Vista is a small mid-priced gourmet shop/deli/cafe where the food is conspicuously undersalted and offer salt & pepper shakers to their guests. We found the quality of food and prep to be very good. I think they feel that the ingredients should speak for themselves - no using salt as a crutch for them.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/579532
http://www.chow.com/los_angeles_area_digest/6943

Rustic Canyon in Santa Monica follows the same credo as A Curious Palate. Folks seem to either like it or curse it for this issue.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/518133

I hope more folks can chime in on this topic. I would guess that since so many hounds eat out so often, their vitals are being pushed from the majority of their meals. Having "spacers" of good healthy omnivore food shouldn't be the exception...

[broncosaurus]

Thanks a bunch Bul, these two joints are a great start.

[Ben7643]

I can second rustic canyon.

[sumo3175]

I cannot eat foods in high sodium either and I eat out alot so I usually ask the chef to put no salt and they would just put less. I also opt for sushi or Japanese food since they tend to have very low sodium in their food.

[broncosaurus]

Unfortunately soy sauce tends to be very salty, as does americanized versions of chicken teriyaki and so forth.

[jaykayen]

You can eat sushi that doesn't require soy sauce.

[broncosaurus]

Sure, and you can eat all sorts of other foods that don't require salt.

[goodhealthgourmet]

please don't tell me you think the prepared foods at WFM are low in sodium! i hope - for your sake - that you just mean you can find packaged salt-free grocery items there...

[broncosaurus]

I didn't say anything about their prepared foods. I meant they are a reasonable source, one of the few I know of, for no or low-salt canned products and so forth. Sorry for the confusion. Perhaps goodhealthgourmet has good info on this subject and will address the OP.

[mstinawu]

The hot foods they cook up at Whole Foods are extremely salty.. Maybe the OP was talking about the food products they sell there--not the stuff they make themselves?

[goodhealthgourmet]

that's what i was hoping/wondering...

[MarlaPR]

You can buy low sodium turkey there. And sometimes they have an unsalted roasted chicken which is tasty. I find the brown rice spicy tuna roll by itself not salty at all.