I don't have edema, but I do know that sodium intake is of concern so I usually try to keep it down.  Yesterday I managed to have 745mg on a 2,000 calorie diet.  Here's what I ate:

Breakfast: (blend 1 cup naked juice mango, 1 cup non fat yogurt, 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder), coffee with unsweetend soy milk

Lunch: (1/2 cup flax noodles, 1 cup shredded cabbage, 1 cup shredded carrots, chicken)

Dinner: Chicken breast

Snacks: Sweet bell peppers, cashews, cranberry trail mix

Thanks for answering my post. You said you didnt like vegetables too much, well, that's me too. Oh I do like some but can't seem to make myself eat so much of them everyday. I have been trying to eat more though. Before I was hardly eating any at all. I always did like to have salads but not daily. I haven't bought any books but I sure have been hunting up healthy recipes. I have been searching the web several hours a day looking for ideas for good recipes, and tips for no sodium. Oh, I'm not letting my goofs get me down. It's just my swollen feet and legs that are. I just have been having alot of moments of frustration but all in all I'd determined to get myself on the right track.

Wow smwhipple, 745 is good. I don't think what you ate would suit me though. I would be more apt to binge eating like that. I have eaten under 600 a day but the next morning my weight is up higher than after eating more sodium then day before. It all just seems crazy to me. It's making me CRAZZZZZY.  LOL  thanks to you both for the tips. I will take any advice to heart. Thanks again.

Thanks gi-jane for the good advice. When I was talking 600 a day I meant my sodium intake not calories. Yeah, I am trying to make more veggies, but its taking me awhile to get used to eating them because I dislike alot of them. Like I said earlier....I just need to experiment on how to make them taste better to me so I will eat them. I have made an extreme change in my eating and working on eating alot more healthy. I have never cooked with herbs and think they will make alot of difference. Instead of cutting out foods I love, I have been trying to change the ingredients in them to make them more acceptable for me to eat. Its just hard to make that adjustment.

For and example, I love chili so I changed the way I make it. Now, I make it with v8 juice ( low sodium) and use ground turkey instead of ground beef. It tastes just as good as before with an allowable amount of sodium.

I am determined to change how I eat so I can lose weight. I have over 100 lbs to lose. I was just getting frustrated and needed to vent. I have tried so hard to make a huge change and not seeing much change in my edema or in losing weight. I am not going to quit trying though. Thanks for the support.

The 745 was accidental, typically I'm under 2000, but occasionally my day just doesn't have a lot of sodium.  I've been deliberately cutting back on the sodium for several years by not adding it into anything or if I do salt something I use just a sprinkle of sea salt.  It takes a while to get used to actually tasting the food without salt but now I prefer it that way.  I happen to like pepper a lot so I use that most of the time.

I have noticed that cooking with frozen vegetables is often an ideal way to get the veggies in without the salt.  You have the convenience of ready to go vegetables without having to do a lot of prep work and they never spoil and are usually cheaper and are frequently of better quality.

Frozen broccoli, microwave the entire bag for 7 minutes and you're done.

Frozen green beans, I use them a lot in my leftover meals because you just toss them in with the chicken and rice/noodles and they're done perfectly with the reheating.

Frozen asparagus, artichoke hearts, microwave them for a few minutes.

I like to make a stir fry with shrimp or salmon or ahi and aspargus or artichoke hearts or snap peas, it's really yummy over wild or brown rice and makes great left overs.  For flavoring, I use garlic and pepper.

I have tried to use some frozed vegetables.  My boyfriend bought me a steamer to help me out. I tried to cook a bag of frozen vegetables. Needless to say they didn't taste to good to either of us. I even tried to use fat free butter spray and Mrs dash to give them some flavor. It did taste a little better but not great. Like I said though, I am determined to keep trying until I get it right. Somewhere along the line some flavoring will work or I will eventually come to like them. I had some canned green beans and I read somewhere if you rinse them off then you will lose alot of the salt. Well, they did taste bland but we still liked them. Neither on of us care for frozen green beans.  I just have to get used to eating veggies more often.

That's the opposite of me...I won't touch canned veggies unless I'm starving!

Is it the salt that makes them taste good or do you like them less crisp?  Way back when I was a kid, my mom always made broccoli on the stove and overcooked it with salt, when she switched to microwaving it I hated it.  I still think slightly mushy broccoli is great I just don't add the salt anymore.

Other ways to get a bit more flavor without salt...sautee with garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, pepper, almond slivers, sunflower seeds (any combination helps).  You could use unsalted butter or I think some of the Mrs. Dash or other salt substitutes might help too but I'd use it in combination with something else so you're not getting that thing where it almost tastes like the thing you like but not quite.

Rinsing them does get rid a lot of the salt which helps, but not all of it.

Another vegetable option is roasted squash...a lot of folks like it (so do I if I don't have to actually do the cooking).

I like fresh bell peppers or frozen bell peppers when cooked in an omlette.  In fact I'll put almost any veggie in an omlette/scramble quite happily.

I think it the crispness of the green beans we don't care for. Its the same for peas. Our favorite is canned peas and carrots. Since I have gotten my steamer I do love steamed carrots. Broccili I have yet come to find a way I like it. I do like beets also.I have always used garlic in my cooking and love that. I have went out and bought alot of different herbs and seasonings to try. Also, I have bought olive oil and olive oil spray. The hardest thing is eating those good for you food on a daily basis. I hope in time it will grow on me.  This is all really new to me so it will take some time to adjust and find the right seasonings for things so I like them. I have been pouring hour after hour searching the web for good ways to fix things healthy. Like I said I went and got alot of seasonings and herbs but when I look up recipes I always find other things that I didn't get. My daughter says I have becoime obsessive, but is happy that I'm doing it. Both my daughters are also overweight and I am hoping when I do lose weight they will be modivated to follow my example.

I thought it might be the crispness because that's what I hated when my mom changed it.  In order to take care of that, you usually have to overcook them.  In the microwave it usually takes a few minutes.  I cook a pound of broccoli on high for 7 minutes normally which is just slightly mushy, but 9 minutes ought to really get it.  On the stove, just cook them until they're the right consistency for the fork.  I'm not sure how it works with a steamer.  Again with the peas and beans, I'd overcook them by a few minutes to get them just right.  You can use a steaming insert in a regular pan which I know works.

thanks again, I will have to try that. I bought some balsemic dressing (fat free) and found that I really like that. I then went out and bought some balsemic vinegar, white and red wine vinegar to try but haven't yet. I feel like its opening up a whole new eating world.  LOL

Oh, a great dressing is olive oil with red wine vinegar.

Oh thanks muttlover! I do know that water pills use the potassium out of your body, so Dr. put me on a potassium pill. I didn't know about the electrolytes in the body. That was very helpful. thanks again

Hi - Is the edema in certain areas of your body or all over?  The reason that I ask is that there are other things you can do to treat edema such as massage, compression, elevation, and exercise such as walking.  I assume your doctor has discussed these things with you?   Good luck and I hope that the tips these other folks have given you about diet help too.  Take care,

Meg

Original Post by blossom0046:

Oh thanks muttlover! I do know that water pills use the potassium out of your body, so Dr. put me on a potassium pill. I didn't know about the electrolytes in the body. That was very helpful. thanks again

 I think HCTZ is a potassium sparing diuretic - you may want to ask him about that; that is in my blood pressure medicine.  I don't normally have edema problems though.  Do have high blood pressure [working on that and the sodium as well, which I struggle to keep around 2500]

The edema is in my legs and feet. My dr. had me on a diuretic and potassium pill, but that didn't help. It is somewhat better when I wake up but then I'm not even up an hour and its worse again. Walking doesn't help at all, in fact, makes it much worse. If I sit in the recliner and put my feet up my legs and feet feel worse. My ankles get really tight they look white but my feet get red when they are at their worse. My legs also have red splotches. About the only thing that helps is laying in bed. I sure don't wanna be there all day and night.

Thanks megndave and longwaytogo for your responses.

I had edema when I weighed 284.  Now, after 45+ lbs. weight loss, the edema is gone.

Try eating lots of steamed fresh asparagus w/o sodium.  Eat lots of protein.  See if that doesn't reduce the edema.

Salt is an acquired taste, that most of us have acquired a taste for.  It's hard to get off the salt ... in the beginning everything tastes blah.  But after a week or so off of sodium/salt, foods really start tasting good and you taste the flavors more intensely than before.  And when you do eat something salty somewhere down the road, it tends to taste overly salty. 

Restaurant food and fast food are usually quite high in sodium

Today I found a site all about low sodium. It had lists of foods in categories of amounts of sodium. That was very informative. Pasta, rice, fresh or frozen veggies, fruit, fruit juices, hot cereals, shredded wheat and puffed rice, fresh meats are all quite low.

I have already quit cooking with salt. I have been buying sodium free or low sodium items. Actually, that hasn't been too hard for me. I never hardly cooked with salt anyhow. I did have to give up my salted potato chips that I dearly loved, which has been the hardest for me to give up. I have given up all processed food, frozen foods, except for frozen veggies. I have slowly been learning to cook with more non sodium spices, seasonings. I am now steaming my vegetables (the ones I like as of now), but experientmenting with some I don't eat. I have never been a vegetable eater, except for a few. I stopped eating out or ordering in.

When I see myself losing weight instead of yo yo-ing I will be so happy. I am determined to kick this edema, but at times I was getting quite frustrated. It sure helps talking to people here! Hopefully, I'm headed on the right track now.

Thanks to you all!