anything in a package is going to have salt and sugar added.

Except for gose.

most booze is salt-free

but not like in processed "food"

I started watching my sodium content a few years ago, which means reading labels frequently. I was specifically shocked at how much sodium they put in soup. You think of soup as healthy, right? Not so much.

it is just a food type that "needs" a certain amount of added salt. but yeah, canned is REALLY bad.

Herb Ox

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/HRu8XgDMfTiQS8OBdmC7tZ-DaXGcClnZjETiFZ_79XnKEnh_MHsCDfcUWIjfACfedXqgFg=s85

Seriously, I didn't know half of that! great post girl!

they aren't necessarily healthy either. Grocers tend to dump all this stuff together in the gluten free, etc aisles.

Look carefully at the broth you can find 15-20 mg per cup servings. Its all I use

1. I start my grocery shopping in the produce aisle and try to do most of my shopping there. I eat a LOT of vegetables and fruits.

2. I bought a HUGE slow cooker at Walmart for around $20 and make my own bean and vegetable soup once a week. I put the extra in empty deli containers and refrigerate or freeze it.

3. I don't buy frozen prepared foods. I do buy bags of frozen corn, which is great for adding to soups or combining with cans of low sodium black beans.

4. I start every day with a bowl of steel-cut oats with 1/4 cup of walnuts, raisins, cinnamon, and 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar. That, combined with a piece of fresh fruit and a black coffee, gets my day started in a healthy fashion.

5. I never even go down the cookie and cracker aisles. Saves money and saves pounds around the middle. If I need a snack in the day, it's either baby-cut carrots, microwaved popcorn (I fix it myself with a glass microwave popper, so it doesn't have any oils added to it), or a bowl of rolled oats with raisins and soy milk.

If you buy brown lunch bags, you can put a cup of popcorn seed into a bag, throw it into the microwave for about 3 1/2 minutes, (When the popping slows down and you get that nice popcorn smell, best time to remove it from the microwave oven.)

No oil is needed. You can add chilli powder, or Garlic powder, or Mrs. Dash to the popcorn to give it more flavor!

Recently I picked up a glass popcorn popper for a good price, which does a great job.
https://amzn.to/31Fm7RU

We're on the same page with spices, for sure. I usually use Tajin with Lime.
https://amzn.to/2HorgEJ

....borderline high cholesterol (both commonly found in older people) that's important to me.

I've had to watch my salt for some years now, and it is just appalling at how MUCH salt the corporations put in their processed products.

Always have to read that label!

only today I said to my doctor that I could never hire someone to do my shopping for me since I always read the labels (calories, fat, etc). and compare prices. It is 2nd nature to me since I have been doing it for 40 years.

My body tells me when something I ate has an unusually higher than normal amount of salt since I will gain 1-2 lbs in water weight over night. My body knows what is right for it and I try to listen.