Ask Dr. Gourmet

Are there ways to adjust your recipes to make them lower in sodium?

I discovered your website relatively recently and am very impressed by it. Thank you for all you do for us on special diets!

I have been put on a low sodium diet. Many of your recipes (and I'm thinking particularly of the Crab Salad with Dill & Mango) sound delicious and healthy but are not low sodium. Do you have any suggestions for altering them to make them low sodium (i.e., in the crab salad recipe, not using the salt, or maybe leaving out the capers)?

Dr. Gourmet Says...

When I finished the crab salad I did notice that this went over the 500 mg of sodium that I prefer for a main course serving. I have used that number as a guideline for years.

There's a number of ways to cut the salt to a lower level and possibly not have too much of an effect on flavor. With most Dr. Gourmet recipes simply leave out the added salt. Each 1/4 tsp. has about 600 mg of sodium, so in this recipe that serves 4 that cuts about 150 mg of sodium from each serving. That alone will get you to the 500 mg range per serving.

Thanks for writing.

Timothy S. Harlan, MD, FACP, CCMS
Dr. Gourmet