Sodium-Free Foods

High intake of sodium leads to hypertension, heart problems and stroke. Sodium is a major component of table salt and MSG added to enhance the taste of food. Sodium also forms the main component in fried, salted, processed snacks and many processed-food items. Overall good health sometimes requires a low-sodium diet. Patients who suffer hypertension or heart problems require a sodium-free diet. Add this to my Recipe Box.

Fresh Vegetables and Fruit

All fresh vegetables are sodium free. Avoid adding salt to vegetables if you want them to remain sodium free. Canned vegetables, vegetables preserved in brine, pickled vegetables or processed vegetables usually contain a lot of salt, and therefore a lot of sodium. Unprocessed vegetables without any type of additive usually have almost no sodium. Fresh fruit and fresh fruit juice also are usually free of sodium.

Nuts, Seeds, Oils and Fats

Salt-free roasted nuts make good snack alternatives to salted fries or pretzels for patients on a sodium-free diet. Hazelnuts, Brazil nuts, walnuts, pecans, cashews and pistachios roasted without salt make tasty sodium-free snacks. So do salt-free roasted seeds, including pumpkin and sunflower seeds and popcorn.

Patients on sodium-free diets can eat a variety of fats and oils. Vegetable oils, peanut oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil and olive oil are generally sodium free. Unsalted butter and vegetable shortening do not also contain sodium.

Unprocessed Grain

Whole grains and the flours made from them, including wheat flour, brown rice, millet flour, oats, wild rice, corn flour, bulgur wheat and barley contain little to no sodium.

Beans

All forms of beans without the addition of salt have virtually no sodium. A sodium-free diet can include an array of bean types including peanuts, lentils, lima beans, kidney beans and soybeans. Homemade peanut butter without salt has almost no sodium. Peanut butter purchased in stores usually contains sodium, but you should be able to find salt-free peanut butter made only from roasted peanuts. Salt-free roasted peanuts or soy nuts are sodium-free snacks. Salt-free tofu provides a healthy, protein-rich component in a sodium-free diet.