QuestionHello! I am trying to learn more about AHA diets. What is the difference between low salt and low sodium diets? Does low salt mean following a 2gm diet, or is it 4gm? What about Low sodium. I don't know if that means 4gm or 2 gm. In regards to a "cardiac diet", is caffeine allowed? And would it be 2gm or 4gm? Thanks!g
AnswerYou must have been doing some research because those are very detailed questions! Low salt and low sodium are used interchangably; when someone follows a low salt diet their real goal is to lower their sodium intake. When you start talking about grams, it is grams of sodium. 4gm and 2gm are both considered low sodium diets. 2gm is the most restrictive; the salt shaker is not used, dairy and baked goods (including bread) are limited (usually to one serving dairy and two servings bread daily and no baked goods such as cake or pie), and all processed foods (canned, frozen, meat, etc) must be low sodium...and sodium is hiding everywhere! (A good example of hidden sodium is in plain old frozen, boneless, skinless, chicken breast; sodium is added to make the meat more moist. Checking labels will really suprise you sometimes.) 4gm is less restrictive; processed foods should be low sodium when available, but the restriction mostly cuts out the salt shaker and high sodium foods (regular potato chips and fries, higher sodium cheese, canned tomato products, ham, breakfast meats, canned soups, etc). As long as most meals are prepared at home, it should be pretty easy to stay under 4gm sodium without many "special" foods, it gets trickier if a lot of meals are eaten in restaurants or are bought pre-prepared (especially frozen tv dinner type meals, even the "healthy" ones). Be careful not to use salt substitutes without checking with your doctor first; many salt substitutes contain potassium, which can be a problem if you also need to watch potassium intake. A cardiac diet is usually 4gm sodium, 300mg cholesterol, and caffeine restricted (which means decaf items are allowed...in a caffeine free diet even decaf is not allowed because small amounts of caffeine remain); calories are also usually restricted to 1500 or 1800 calories.
I hope that answers your questions. If you have any more, please let me know.
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