By Katy Wilkens, MS, RD

Dining salt-free isn’t always easy, especially when you eat out. Just one meal at a restaurant can quickly put you over your daily requirement of 1,500 to 2,000 milligrams of salt (a good, healthy level for everyone). That’s because most restaurant food is highly processed, using heavy doses of sodium.

At my day job, I recently talked with a kidney patient who eats all of his meals out. Aside from costing an amazing amount of money (about $30 a day), all that over-salted food literally pushed him into kidney failure and onto dialysis. That’s a lifesaving treatment he now requires three days a week, four to five hours a day. Think of it like flying to Chicago three times a week. Now he is struggling with serious health complications - a high price indeed for repeated restaurant meals.

I try to spread the “salt-free” message everywhere I go: if you want to stay healthy and do the things you love, cut salt out of your diet.

With a little planning, you can avoid toxic salt, and have meals that are fresh, wholesome and tasty.

Here’s a good example, recently served at Northwest Kidney Centers’ annual Breakfast of Hope, where more than 600 attendees came out to support people on kidney disease.

Salt Free and Easy Huevos Rancheros
By adding sour and bitter flavored components, and marinating and slow roasting the meat, you enhance the umami flavors in this great dish.

Ingredients:
2 pound chuck steak
6-8 eggs
1 can low sodium black beans
3 garlic cloves
2-3 teaspoons fresh thyme
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
¼-1 teaspoon chili powder (to your taste)
1 cup red wine

 
Corn tortillas (Corn tortillas have only 5-10 milligrams of sodium while flour tortillas have up to 500 milligrams.)
Sautéed red peppers
Cotija cheese or sour cream
Guacamole

Marinate beef overnight with garlic, thyme, cumin, coriander, chili powder and red wine. The next day, oven roast at 300 degrees for several hours, until meat falls apart. Shred the beef with a fork. Mix pan drippings with the shredded meat.

Fix plates of fresh cilantro, sautéed red peppers, shredded meat, black beans, Cotija cheese, pico de gallo, guacamole and fresh lime wedges.

Just before serving, put meat on tortillas, fry eggs, place on top of meat and serve with condiments.
Serves 6-8

Nutritional Information:
Calories: 283; Carbohydrates: 11 g; Protein: 32 g; Sodium: 217 mg.
This information does not include the options of peppers, cheese, sour cream or tortillas.

Suggestion: Cook the meat on the weekend, freeze in small packets, and you’ll have several healthy, fresh, low sodium dinners on hand for busy weeknights.

The information in this column is meant for people who want to keep their kidneys healthy and blood pressure down by following a low-sodium diet. In most cases, except for dialysis patients, a diet high in potassium is thought to help lower high blood pressure. These recipes are not intended for people on dialysis without the supervision of a registered dietitian.

[Katy G. Wilkens is a registered dietitian and department head at Northwest Kidney Centers. A recipient of the Susan Knapp Excellence in Education Award from the National Kidney Foundation Council on Renal Nutrition, she has a Master of Science degree in nutritional sciences from the University of Washington. See more of her recipes at www.nwkidney.org.]