Instant Pot 101
The Instant Pot is one of the kitchen arsenals that people who are on the go can use. As a multicooker, it can be used to cook different types of food from casseroles even to desserts. If you are following a specific diet, then the Instant Pot will allow you to create wholesome and delicious meals that will fit your dietary requirements.
Why Instant Pot?
The Instant Pot, being one of the most popular multicookers out in the market, is a nifty device that will allow you to cook different kinds of meals. And since it is also a pressure cooker, you can cook food in half the time than you would when you use conventional cooking methods. But why is Instant Pot cooking great with the low sodium diet or for many types of diet regimen for that matter?
The problem with most people is that they fail to stick with their diet for a long time because they think that cooking food takes time and preparation. Moreover, some recipes require people to own two or more equipment to create them. Since Instant Pot is a multicooker with different preset cooking functions, you can make just about anything thereby saving time, effort, and money as you don't need to buy other kitchen implements to make your food.
With the Instant Pot, you will be motivated to cook your food, and you will not be tempted to buy your food from fast-food restaurants because you will be inspired to make your meals using any ingredients that you have. What the Instant Pot does is that it makes you feel comfortable in the kitchen so you can cook even if you are a kitchen neophyte.
The Features of Instant Pot
The Instant Pot is a pressure cooker that comes with many buttons. The buttons will allow you to cook different kinds of food. Unlike conventional pressure cooker, the Instant Pot is a digital pressure cooker that you can use as a steamer, rice cooker, browning pan, and slow cooker all rolled into one. So, what makes it stand out from the rest of the pressure cookers? Below are the features of the Instant Pot:
- Multi-functional pre-programmed settings: The Instant Pot comes with a multi-functional programmable setting that allows you to cook certain types of food. The preset buttons that it comes with include Soup, Bean/Chili, Meat/Stew, Rice, Poultry, Porridge, Multigrain, and Steam. You can also use it as a Slow Cooker and Yoghurt.
- Safety mechanisms: There is no risk of the Instant Pot blowing up as it comes with intuitive safety mechanisms. It has a pressure sensor mechanism that can detect if there is pressure buildup inside the pot. Once there is too much pressure, the steam vent automatically releases it.
- Accessories: To maximize the use of the Instant Pot, it comes with different accessories so that you can extend its use. These include a steam rack, rice paddles, measuring cup, soup spoon, and condensation collector.
- 1000W heating element for faster heating: The Instant Pot comes with a 1000W heating element so that you can cook your food faster than other pressure cookers.
Instant Pot Do's and Don'ts
There are many tips that you can follow when using your Instant Pot. But there are only a few things that you need to remember so that you can optimize using your Instant Pot.
- When cooking meats, do not use the delay timer because there is a possibility that it will go rancid before cooking even starts. For all types of meat dishes, you must cook immediately and at high heat using the Slow Cooker setting.
- Except for the Slow Cooker function of the Instant Pot, make sure that you always put ½ cup of water in every recipe that you make. This allows the pressure cooker to generate steam and eventually enough pressure to cook your food. Plus, it avoids burning your food, especially if you are going to cook it for a long time.
- Never use your Instant Pot for making apple sauce or any kinds of thick sauces and gravies, especially when you are using the pressure cooker function. If you do, the thick sauce may clog the vent, and you might end up making a big mess in your kitchen.
- Do not use your Instant Pot to cook fried foods with it. What you can do is to use it as a browning pan using the Sauté function.
- Do not fill your Instant Pot with too much water because it can lead to the liquid flowing out from the vents. So, whether you are cooking beans, rice, stew, or other kinds of food, make sure that you fill it only up to the max line. Now, if you are cooking beans and grains, you need to fill it will fewer ingredients as these ingredients tend to expand once cooked.
- Do not use force to open the Instant Pot lid. What you can do is wait for the pressure inside the pot to normalize. Then that's the time to attempt to open it. If you cannot wait, you can do a quick pressure release.
- Do not use a damaged sealing ring. Otherwise, the Instant Pot will be unable to build enough pressure to cook your food.
Managing your hypertension with diet can be challenging but can be easily achieved. All it takes is to reduce your sodium intake, consume more fiber, and moderately take in protein. However, some people may find the period of adjustment to eating foods with reduced salt a bit challenging. It may sound complicated, but there are specific diet regimens that can help improve your hypertensive condition. One of which is the Low Sodium Diet.
The Low Sodium Diet is all about encouraging the reduced consumption of salt. Although pretty self-explanatory, there is more to this diet than just eating low levels of salt. The low-sodium diet is helpful to people who want to stay healthy.
But while a low sodium diet is an excellent way to stabilize blood pressure levels, there are people out there who have misgivings about this diet. The thing is that people want to eat flavorful food and just thinking about the low sodium diet is enough to discourage many people, especially those who love food.
Low-Sodium Lifestyle
Before you start making low sodium recipes, it is crucial to arm yourself with the right knowledge on what low Sodium is all about so that you can keep up with this regimen. After all, this is not only a low sodium diet, but it is also a low sodium lifestyle.
Salt and Health Connection
In ancient history, salt is commonly mined as crystals from far-flung places. The laborious way of obtaining salt in the past is the reason why salt used to be rare, expensive, and carries a certain prestige. Because of the difficulties of obtaining salt, it was once considered amongst the most valuable kitchen commodities.
Lastly, only wealthy families can afford to flavor their food with salt.
As people learned to make salt from seawater, there is now a way for people to manufacture and access salt, thus making it the most abundant as well as the cheapest way to flavor food. For this reason, it is also the most utilized condiment in the modern world. Following the Industrial Revolution, Salt played a role in food processing and preservation. During this time, the average consumption of salt rose to 7,000 milligrams per individual with Americans averaging their daily consumption to 3,436mg daily.
The chemical symbol of Salt is NaCl, wherein an atom of Sodium (Na) is compounded to an atom of Chloride (Cl). When it comes to health, it is the Sodium that counts so you don't get them only from table salt but other sources such as MSG (Monosodium glutamate) and baking soda (Sodium bicarbonate). Having said this, it is important to know how much Sodium you are taking based on knowing how to interpret values. So, take a look at the conversions below:
1 g of Sodium = 1,000 mg Sodium
1 mmol of Sodium = 23 mg Sodium
2.5 g of salt = 1 g Sodium
But make no mistakes as salt is still essential to health as the average adult is comprised of 25 grams of Sodium. In fact, it is the most ubiquitous element in the body. Sodium is distributed to many parts of the body, notably fluids, including sweat, tears, blood, urine, and semen. When a person consumes food with Salt, Sodium is absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract together with water as it attracts water molecule to it.
Without Sodium, the cell will lose all its water, thereby causing dehydration, low blood pressure, and eventually death. While this may sound very scary, it only takes a tiny amount of Sodium to prevent such a biological catastrophe. The body also has its way to conserve Sodium on days when the body is not consuming adequate amounts of it. Notably, the kidneys retain Sodium and prevent excreting it.
While the body has its way of utilizing Sodium through different checks and balances, human behavior can thwart the ability of the body by consuming more Sodium than what the body needs. When you eat salt, it raises the amount of Sodium in the bloodstream affecting the homeostasis in the body.
When Sodium is high, it reduces the ability of the kidneys to remove water resulting in higher blood pressure because there is extra fluid in the body. However, this puts a strain not only the kidneys but also the blood vessels. If high blood pressure is not managed, it affects other parts of the body, thus making it one of the deadliest diseases that are supposed to be easily treated with lifestyle changes.
Salt and High Blood Pressure
Hypertension or high blood pressure is linked to various factors like dietary Potassium, calcium, excessive use of alcohol, significant body weight, and stress. But what makes Sodium one of the most well-known culprit?
The link between Sodium and high blood pressure was accounted first 5,000 years ago by Emperor Huangdi in China who noted that putting too much salt on food hardens the arteries. However, scientific discourse on the link between Sodium and hypertension was put forth by Dr. Lewis Dahl whose hypothesis that it [Sodium] is linked to hypertension has been received negatively in the past.
Countless studies have shown that Sodium can influence blood pressure. Consumption of too much Sodium can expand the blood volume to a certain degree. Once the blood volume expands, this signals the kidneys to trigger a cascade of vascular and hormonal effects that can raise the blood pressure. Although the mechanism is not yet clear, scientists noted that reducing the intake of Sodium can reduce the systolic blood pressure to 22.7 mmHg and the diastolic pressure by 9.1 mmHg.
Salt and Heart Disease
Epidemiological studies suggest a strong link between salt and heart diseases. The extra blood pressure on the arteries can put a strain on the entire cardiovascular health. The high blood pressure may result in a reduction in the volume of blood that reaches the heart. As a result, this overworks the heart causing it to enlarge over time. Because the heart does not work as well as it should due to the lack of oxygen, symptoms can be felt in the form of angina or sharp pains in the chest, especially when doing physical activities.
The part of the heart that does not get enough blood and nutrients eventually dies, resulting in irreversible heart attack and stroke. Moreover, it is vital to take note that salt does not only affect the heart but even the entire network of blood vessels. Eventually, the arteries may burst or gets completely clogged if not addressed immediately.
Salt and Overall Health
Consumption of too much Salt can negatively impact the health in so many ways. Other than high blood pressure and high risk for cardiovascular disease, too much Sodium in one's diet can also lead to the following conditions:
- Kidney problems: Consumption of too much salt changes the Sodium balance in the body, thereby causing the kidneys to have reduced function. Because the function of the kidneys is compromised, it is now unable to remove water efficiently. This puts a strain to the kidneys leading to many types of diseases. On the other hand, a high Sodium diet can also trigger the formation of kidney stones because the Sodium imbalance increases the number of Calcium deposits, thereby increasing the chances of forming into kidney stones.
- Edema: Edema is characterized by fluid retention in different parts of the body, particularly the extremities. It occurs because the body retains too much salt, thereby retaining too much water. The water then leaks into the interstitial tissues causing swelling.
- Osteoporosis: Too much salt can lead to the weakening of bones or osteoporosis. It is essential to take note that Sodium does not only attract water, but it also draws out calcium from the bones.
- Stroke: Even the slightest reduction of the amount of blood that reaches the brain can be detrimental. The part of the brain that does not receive enough blood dies, leading to cognitive decline or, worse, stroke.
Salt and Potassium:
Potassium: and Sodium play vital roles in the fluid balance in the body as they considered crucial electrolytes. But while Sodium can negatively affect the blood pressure and other significant organs in the body, Potassium: has more positive benefits to the body as it helps balance out the adverse effects of Sodium. This is the reason why many health practitioners advocate the intake of foods rich in Potassium: to lower blood pressure levels.
Possible mechanisms of the benefits of dietary Potassium: have been explored in many studies. Experts suggest that people should consume more Potassium: than Sodium in their diet. By consuming more fruits and vegetables, it increases the number of Potassium: levels thereby restoring the delicate balance in the body. Unfortunately, this is not happening in reality as more people consume more Salt than Potassium.
Without Salt, Where Do Flavors Come From?
Below is the list of things that you can use to add flavor to your food without using extra salt:
Fish
Beef
Poultry
Pork
Bread
Vegetables
Pasta
Bay leaf
Cumin
Dill
Curry
Green pepper
Lemon juice
Paprika
Onion
Marjoram
Basil
Bay leaf
Cloves
Dill
Pepper
Marjoram
Nutmeg
Onion
Rosemary
Savory
Thyme
Basil
Dill
Pepper
Lemon juice
Marjoram
Oregano
Paprika
Paprika
Rosemary
Saffron
Savory
Sage
Tarragon
Thyme
Allspice
Applesauce
Cinnamon
Curry
Cumin
Dry mustard
Garlic
Ginger
Onion
Thyme
Sage
Savory
Cinnamon
Cloves
Dill
Poppy seed
Curry
Dill
Mustard
Marjoram
Sage
Thyme
Basil
Garlic
Oregano
Aside from these spices, there are also other things that you can do to make your food flavorful even if you use less salt.
- Fruit juices: Use fruit juices as marinades, glazes, or sauces. You can add cornstarch to thicken fruit juices.
- Jams, honey, and maple syrup: Use them to glaze meats as well as roasted vegetables.
- Brown sugar: Brown sugar can be used as a dry rub for meat.
To make it flavorful, you can add in spices to give your dry rub some kick.
- Vinegar: Whether it is apple cider, wine vinegar, or Balsamic vinegar, adding a little bit of acidity on your food can improve its flavor.
- Hot spices: Adding hot spices such as cayenne pepper, chipotle, or jalapenos can add a kick to your food.
- Herb infused oil: Oil that comes with flavors such as sesame oil and other herb-infused oil can be used to flavor meats, slices of bread, pasta, rice, and just about anything.
Tips on Cooking Low-Sodium Meals
Cooking foods that are low in salt can be tricky. But once you know the trick, it will be easier for you to enjoy your meals. This section will provide you with tips on how you can limit the salt in your meals but still have great-tasting food that you can share with friends and family.
1. Opt for Natural Raw Foods
When choosing meals low in Sodium, you must choose natural raw foods. Choose fresh fish, meat, and poultry instead of processed meat products as the latter contains more salt. It is vital to take note that processed foods contain high amounts of Sodium as it is used as a preservative.
Having said this, it is also essential to opt for fresh fruits and vegetables instead of canned ones. Even low-sodium canned foods should be limited because even food products that are marked as low Sodium still contain salt. However, if you don't have any choice but to use canned vegetables, make sure that you rinse the contents first to wash away the Sodium.
2. Check Ingredients for Anything Suspiciously Sodium
When buying food ingredients that are processed, look for products labeled as "sodium-free" and "very low sodium." The thing is that even if they advertise it as "sodium-free," it still contains 5 mg of Sodium per serving. Those labeled with "very low sodium" contains 35 mg at the most per serving. This is especially true for broths, soy sauces, dressing, and dressings. Moreover, even condiments such as ketchup, barbecue sauce, and mustard may also be victims of false labeling.
3. Improvise Using Herbs and Spices
When a recipe requires a pinch of salt, replace it with another spice or herb. You can use any of the herbs and spices found on the table above. You can also make your seasoning blend. The American Heart Association created a recipe for a universal seasoning blend, especially for people who are following the low sodium diet. This recipe can be used to make sauces, dry rub, and many others. All there is to it is to mix the following herbs and spices:
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon mace powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper powder
- 1 teaspoon dried basil powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon sage powder
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
- 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
4. Be Creative in The Kitchen
When cooking low sodium recipes, you will need to be creative in the kitchen. This means that you need to make a lot of substitutions, especially if the recipe calls for ingredients high in Sodium. Below are some of the things that you can do to improve your cooking:
- Sprinkle sesame seeds or lemon juice to fish before cooking.
- Marinate pork or chicken breasts in fruit juices for extra flavor.
- Simmer vegetables such as carrots in cinnamon or nutmeg.
- Sprinkle parsley or dill for added flavor before roasting.
The thing is that there are so many things that you can do to improve your cooking and make eating fun and adventurous, even if you are following the low sodium diet.
21-Day Low Sodium Meal Plan
Week 1
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Snack
Monday
Overnight chai and toasted oatmeal
Low sodium chili
Red lentil potato soup
Dried pumpkin seeds
Tuesday
Easy potato cakes
Low sodium black beans and rice Roasted salmon
Dried tomato hummus
Wednesday
Instant Pot granola
Butternut Squash Soup
Baked chicken and wild rice Baked beet chips
Thursday
Zucchini and eggs
Low Sodium Beef Stew
Quinoa and Mushroom
Quick and easy granola bar
Friday
Brown rice breakfast porridge
Balsamic roast chicken
Low Sodium Beef Stroganoff
Sweet potato steak fries
Saturday
Sunshine morning muesli
Low Sodium Baked Beans
Chicken and Asparagus Tossed with Penne
Fruit salad with lemon yogurt jelly
Sunday
Easy potato cakes
Low Sodium Spanish Rice
Herb Crusted Pork Chops
Low sodium peanut butter
Week 2
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Snack
Monday
Mushroom Meatballs
Clams and garlic
Pressure cooker poached pears
Tuesday
Quick and easy granola bar
Scalloped Sweet Potatoes in Cauliflower Sauce
Chicken Stir Fry with Eggplant
Almond and apricot biscotti
Wednesday
Zucchini and eggs
Grilled Asian Salmon
Broccoli Beef Stir Fry
Low sodium fruit cake
Thursday
Brown rice breakfast porridge
Low Sodium Black Beans
Roasted Lamb with Rosemary and Garlic
Peach crumble
Friday
Zucchini and eggs
Low Sodium Chicken Risotto
Roasted Salmon
Low sodium apple pie
Saturday
Instant Pot granola
White sea bass with dill
Onion Soup with Apple
Low Sodium Peanut Butter Bars
Sunday
Quick and easy granola bar
Low Sodium Baked Beans
Spinach stuffed sole
Sweet potato steak fries
Week 3
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Snack
Monday
Overnight chai and toasted oatmeal
Smoky Sweet Potato Bisque
Lime marinated mahi-mahi
Low Sodium Peanut Butter Bars
Tuesday
Quick and easy granola bar
Low Sodium Chicken Risotto
French Country Chicken
Low sodium fruit cake
Wednesday
Quick and easy granola bar
Scalloped Sweet Potatoes in Cauliflower Sauce
Lemon Honey Pork Chops
Fruit salad with lemon yogurt jelly
Thursday
Brown rice breakfast porridge
Onion Soup with Apple
Grilled Chicken Noodle Soup
Low Sodium Peanut Butter Bars
Friday
Zucchini and eggs
Low Sodium Spanish Rice
Sweet Potato with Cashew Alfredo
Sweet potato steak fries
Saturday
Low sodium peanut butter
Mushroom Meatballs
Low Sodium Pork Chops with Tomatoes and Basil
Quick and easy granola bar
Sunday
Instant Pot granola
Chicken Stir Fry with Eggplant
Spinach stuffed sole
Low sodium apple pie
However, you can include other foods, particularly snacks, as long as they are whole foods. These can include fruits, vegetables, salt-free nuts, and seeds.