ENJOY TURKEY BUT DON'T HAM IT UP

Hello everyone! It’s Serena, ReMend Nutrition Counselor. I’ll be posting a series of articles about the challenges of being on a renal diet around the holidays and offer some tips for keeping your body safe and healthy while still enjoying Thanksgiving.

ENJOY TURKEY! A turkey has great flavor and doesn’t need to be seasoned.  If you insist on seasoning it, consider Mrs. Dash, or McCormick brand spices. They do not put salt in any of their spices. Turkey is considered one of the ‘safe foods.’ In fact, when I was on dialysis I was told I could go nuts on this and eat as much turkey as I wanted because I needed the protein. It is a great lower sodium option compared to other meats like ham.

AVOID HAM!!! Every year my dietitian would tell me this, and every year I would still have a slice or two, and I’d still come back at least 4 kilos over my dry weight.  I thought I was being good by limiting my portion size, but I don’t think it was emphasized enough just how much sodium ham really has. To put it into perspective, let’s compare it to turkey… An 8oz portion from a whole Butterball turkey breast has 260mg of sodium. Let’s say you do what I used to do, and cut your portion of ham and think that was fine. Well, a 4oz portion of Honeybaked ham has a whopping 1450mg of sodium. That’s almost the entire daily limit! It’s better to just avoid it altogether.

Enjoy the holiday!

Much love,

Serena

Honeybaked Ham Nutrition Info: https://bit.ly/35r1EB4