Consumer columnist and West Hartford resident Harlan Levy has more than 20 years of experience writing stories about everyday experiences that anyone could encounter.

By Harlan Levy

Got a major shock two weeks ago:

It was Thursday May 23, and I woke up and was shocked to see my ankles, feet, and legs were extremely swollen. I weighed myself and was alarmed to see I had gained 20 pounds in the weeks since returning from our Japan vacation April 17.

So I immediately called my doctor for advice and reached his nurse.

“Go right to the ER,” she told me on hearing my symptoms, including shortness of breath and general fatigue. So I rushed off to Hartford Hospital that afternoon. After every imaginable blood test, CAT scan, EKG, and echocardiogram I went home Saturday afternoon with my cardiologist Dr. Dan Kramer’s diagnosis: congestive heart failure (CHF). During my stay I was plied with diuretics which drained the fluid so much that my weight dropped from 193 to 165.

I left the hospital on Saturday May 25. This Monday Dr. Kramer went over the CHF details: My heart is pumping normally, but it has become stiff, inhibiting the relax part of the pump-and-relax cycle, and, thus, less able to adequately draw up and “fill” the heart muscle with oxygen-rich blood. The veins then become congested (backed up) with excess blood, water, and other liquids that the kidneys can’t filter out, raising their blood pressure, risking a stroke, and leaking out into my feet, ankles, lower legs, and lungs, (edema).

Kramer gave me a serious warning: Cut my massive salt use — because sodium causes the body to retain more fluid. Keep it below 2,000 mg a day, he said.

My revelation: I’ve been suffering from this without knowing exactly why for years, but I had never checked it out.

Meanwhile, my wife began scouring our local Big Y supermarket for low- or no-sodium items to replace my normal high-salt foods. She also found 11 different no-salt seasonings, which I tested and rated.

I tasted 11 non-salt seasonings on my chicken, broccoli, rice dinner and rated them (in the column), searching for the tastiest salt substitutes to satisfy my voracious salt craving. Courtesy of Harlan Levy

And I have stopped adding salt to anything I eat.

My list of low-salt, no-salt, and high-salt foods I usually ate or now eat

• Vermont cheddar cheese: 200 mg/1 oz.
• American cheese: 350 mg/1 oz.; 36% lower sodium cheddar: 300 mg/1 oz.
• Swiss cheese: 60 mg/1 oz.
• Lacey Swiss Cheese: 60 mg/1 oz.
• Monterey Jack cheese: 180 mg/1 oz.
• Sharp Wisconsin Cheddar: 190 mg/1 oz.
• Freshzilla Guacamole (mild): 115 mg/2 Tbsp
• Sabra Olive Tapenade Hummus: 160 mg/2Tbsp
• Hazelnut International Delight Coffee Creamer: 10 mg/Tbsp, Sugar: 10 gm/Tbsp.
• The Original Oatly Caramel Oatmilk Creamer: 5 mg/Tbsp, Sugar: 4 gm/Tbsp
• Fairlife Whole ultra-filtered, lactose-free milk: 120 mg/cup, Sugar: 6 mg/cup
• Pennsylvania Dutch Fine Egg Noodles: 10 mg/cup
• Good Thins gluten-free rice snacks: 85 mg/18 crackers
• Teddie Super Chunky Unsalted Peanut Butter (the best): 0 mg
• Skippy Crunchy Peanut Butter: 169 mg/2 Tbsp
• 365 Gluten-free Spaghetti: 0 mg
• Rao’s Homemade Tomato Basil Sauce and Marinara Sauce: 420 mg/½ cup
• San Mariano Low Sodium Marinara Pasta Sauce: 140 mg/½ cup
• Grated Parmesan Cheese: 90 mg/ 2 tsp
• Heinz Tomato Ketchup: 170 mg/1 Tbsp
• Arnold Whole Wheat (hamburger) Buns: 330 mg/bun
• Sandwich Bread: 110 mg/slice
• Big Y Just Like Mom’s potato Salad: 370 mg/3/4 cup
• Tostitos Lightly Salted chips: 50 mg/7 chips
• Tostitos Scoops!: 105 mg/11 chips
• Tostitos Original Tortilla Chips: 115 mg/7 chips
• Hebrew National Beef Franks: 480 gm/frank
• Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard: 115 mg/tsp
• Colman’s Mustard (for addicts like me): 180 gm/1 tsp
• Howard’s Sweet Relish: 170 mg/Tbsp
• Bacon: 180 gm/1 medium slice
• Boathouse Farms Creamy Caesar Yogurt Dressing: 240/2 Tbsp
• Swanson Unsalted Chicken Broth: 35 mg/cup
• Colavita Polenta Cornmeal: 0 mg
• Jane’s Krazy Mixed-Up Salt: 260 mg/1/4 tsp

Best 7 seasonings rated 1-10, (10 best)

• Flavor Mate Seasoning Original Blend: 8
• Flavor Mate Seasoning Garlic & Herb: 7
• Flavor Mate Seasoning Southwest Chipotle: 10 (spicy)
• Flavor Mate Seasoning Lemon Pepper: 10
• Original NoSalt Sodium-free Salt Alternative: 10 (tasted saltiest)
• Salt-free Dash Original Seasoning Blend: 6
• Salt-free Dash Seasoning – Everything But The Salt: 9

You may want to print this list.

Two weeks ago I wrote about keeping cheese fresh by wrapping it in a damp paper towel. I did it, and today I found my Comte cheese still as tasty as before. Photo credit: Harlan Levy

NOTE: On May 8 I described a cheese “hack” to preserve your cheese longer than usual – wrapping a block of (Comte) cheese in a paper towel dampened with vinegar and sticking it in the fridge. Today I took it out (see photo) and ate a slice. It tasted fresh as before.

My wife disagrees. “It was foul and sour,” she said with a sneer, “a good way to ruin an expensive cheese.” I’ll just say my wife has an extraordinary sense of taste and smell.

NOTE: If you have a consumer problem, contact me at [email protected] (“Consumer” in subject line), and, with the power of the press, maybe I can help.

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