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.
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.
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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