Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

While the amount of sodium (not just salt, but also MSG, baking powder, baking soda, etc., etc.) in processed foods is a serious problem, the fact remains that most adults should get no more than 2400mg of sodium per day, and no more than 1500mg per day if they're over 50. (See, for example, the article from The Mayo Clinic, which also points out that 77% of most people's sodium intake comes from processed foods.)

And it remains true that one teaspoon of table salt (two teaspoons of Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt, one and a half teaspoons of Morton Kosher Salt) contains 2400mg of sodium. Did you make a recipe with a tablespoon of salt and eat a third of it? There's your limit right there. Add onto it the 500mg per cup of prepared "low sodium" chicken stock, 400mg of sodium per ounce in domestic "Parmesan" cheese, 250-400mg per slice of almost every commercial bread, 890mg of sodium per ounce of ham...well, it adds up fast, even if you largely avoid boxed foods.

Yes, I'm one of those who now has to avoid sodium because of medical restrictions (which came out of nowhere, so I had few warning signs), but it's a lot harder to "salt your food naturally," as Ruhlman recommends, when it's all but impossible to make standard recipes and still stay within USRDA requirements, much less any lower requirements that heart or hypertension patients may have.

Most of the recipes on here aren't so bad, if you don't eat them all yourself (of course). The recent entry for Kale, Onion, and Cheddar Frittata works out to about 1000mg of sodium for the entire recipe, so 250mg for a quarter of it is not bad at all (provided you don't add more cheddar cheese, or use more than 1/10 tsp of salt for the "couple pinches," or don't have 16 fl oz of milk with it for an extra 250mg of sodium). Blake Royer's recipe for Caesar Salad isn't so great, largely because he calls for (as the classic recipe would) 2-3 anchovies that come out to about 700mg of sodium each, and half a cup of parmesan (which comes to about 750mg of sodium for most domestic brands; real Parmigiano Reggiano has significantly less sodium). Add to that a "generous amount of salt" for the croutons, say 1/2 teaspoon, and the average for commercial breads, and you have a bowl of salad with about 4400mg of sodium in it. If you truly only eat one of the four servings of it, you only get 1100mg of sodium from it—but that's nearly half your USRDA in one meal's salad.

Most people will exceed that without even thinking about it. Soy sauce? 1100mg per tablespoon. Baking soda? 1260mg of sodium per teaspoon. I mentioned "low-sodium" chicken stock at 500mg per cup, or 2000mg per quart. Vacuum-packed tuna pouches? 700mg each. It goes on and on - chipotle peppers in adobo, canned tomatoes (one 14oz can usually has about 900mg of sodium!), canned beans and vegetables of any kind.

Did you brine the chicken? Was your chicken or pork "pre-brined" for you before you purchased it (check the label to see if it was "enhanced" with "chicken broth" or other stuff—if a 4oz serving of chicken has more than 70mg to 95mg of sodium, they pre-brined it, and most of them sold around here have 350mg of sodium or more per 4oz serving). How much bread did you eat with it? (Can't make bread without salt, and commercial bakers use more than you would because it keeps the bread from spoiling longer.) Anchovies? Pickles? "Fat-free" foods often contain more sodium than the real ones to make up for lost taste. (Egg Beaters contain twice as much sodium as real eggs!)

Sadly, it's not just about avoiding Big Macs or the Bloomin' Onion or the latest Big Fried Plate O'Crap With Cheese. Even if you want to cook for yourself, the sodium is hidden everywhere in your food. It is a real, significant, ongoing effort to eat under 2400mg of sodium per day. It is impossible if you eat out a lot, and it's not a lot easier if you cook "natural" foods for yourself, even if you never add salt to anything, even if you reduce the salt in recipes.

You can balance it out, of course. Some days I go over my restrictions, and I make up for it by staying well under the next day (or staying under the previous day, if I know I have to eat at some unknown place). I'm lucky that chocolate is still low in sodium, and luckier still that my particular health problems didn't come with fat restrictions, though I try to avoid the all-oil diet.

But this bit about "just cook naturally and you'll stay within the guidelines?" Untrue, and perhaps dangerous if you're not aware of it. Only you get to decide how much sodium you can or should eat, but you deserve to know that keeping within the current, well-established, peer-review sodium limits is almost impossible in today's United States food culture—even if you cook every meal you eat for yourself.