Adhering to a Low-Sodium Diet By Increasing My Fiber

For those who are on a low-sodium diet, one helpful tidbit that I wanted to share is to embrace fiber! Per the Mayo Clinic, not only is (soluble) fiber a good tool for lowering LDL cholesterol, but it also helps keep me full.¹

Eating more high-fiber foods helps me to eat less other foods that may contain a high amount of salt. Additionally, for anyone who is also losing a few pounds, fiber can also be helpful in a weight loss journey.

When starting, it can be challenging to figure out how to incorporate whole grain ingredients in your diet because, in my opinion, these items are not typically on our radar.

My favorite high-fiber foods

Certain foods may have fiber, like pasta, potatoes, etc., but they are not whole grain high-fiber. So, I have listed a few of my favorite ingredients below and ways I use them.

Keep in mind that this is not an exhaustive list. These are my personal favorites both in taste and versatility of use.

Whole oats

Whole oats are the stuff in a bag; this is NOT the quick cooking oats in a packet. We typically go to oatmeal in thinking about whole oats. However, oats can be added to a blender when making a smoothie, whole wheat/oat muffins or even incorporating oats into pancakes. You can put oats in a blender to help with the texture as well.

Lastly, oatmeal bars are enough good option if you want a snack, and the benefit to that is that you can incorporate fruit for a natural sweetener. Once you start researching, I promise you there are more options then oatmeal or granola. Both of which are good though!

Whole wheat flour

Try swapping out regular flour for whole wheat flour whenever you can.

Brown rice

At my house we always use brown rice instead of white rice. The texture is slightly different, but it's an easy swap in my opinion.

Faro

Faro is a whole grain and is not nearly as finicky as brown rice, which can become mushy if overcooked. Faro is a terrific addition soups and stews, but you also also make a terrific faro salad.

I also make a faro, apple, walnut, shredded carrot salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing. I whip the balsamic vinaigrette dressing in the blender so it's thick and creamy, and use high quality olive oil.

Lastly, faro can be added to an orzo pasta salad to bump up the fiber. Faro is truly a staple ingredient in our house.

Quinoa

I also make quinoa salads or quinoa side(s) instead of couscous or rice. Quinoa has more protein then brown rice.

Black beans

These can be added to taco salads in addition to tacos, nachos, etc. This was the first bean I started trying to consistently incorporate into our meals.

Garbanzo beans

These can be terrific added to salads, both green and pasta salads.

Lentils

These can be added to soups and stews, but also a brown rice/lentil dish. Lentils provide a large portion of protein per serving.

You can also add to a Bolognese sauce to bump up the fiber and decrease the meat, or take the meat out entirely. If you Google lentils, there are a wide array of ways to use and eat this bean.

High-fiber foods for people with heart failure

Whether you are new to this journey with heart failure or making a diet change for your heart health, think about ways to incorporate different foods instead of jumping into the deep end. Hopefully some of my personal favorites will help you to come up with a high-fiber meal that works for you and your heart health needs!

Remember sometimes it's about small steps instead of one giant leap!