Low Salt Diet
A low salt diet of 1000 mg of sodium or less per day is the generally accepted dietary method for controlling Meniere's Disease. Keeping a constant, low sodium level can be very effective in helping to relieve dizziness. Ingesting very little salt during most of the day then having 1000 mg during one meal or snack will make your balance symptoms worse, so its important to distribute salt intake as evenly as possible during the day. It is also important to keep your water intake constant throughout the day, drinking 64 oz. (8 - 8 oz. glasses) or more per day. Water consumption should be increased to keep pace with sweating caused by hot weather or exercise.

A low salt diet essentially means giving up or limiting your intake of several food types including:

  • Frozen TV Dinners and prepared foods. Even so called healthy dinners contain frighteningly high quantities of sodium. Check the labels.
  • Snack Foods. They contain very large amounts of salt and should be avoided anyway as they are extremely unhealthy and have no nutritional value.
  • Cheese. Although hard to believe, cheese contains enormous amounts of salt. In cheese making, the cheese is dumped into salt vats to stop (kill) the bacteria used in its production. (Alpine Lace low salt cheese is fine in small amounts).
  • Chinese, Japanese and other regional food types are commonly prepared with large amounts of salt. Although you can ask the restaurant to not add any salt, they will still cook with traditional sauces that are rich in sodium. Steamed is about the best you can do at a Chinese restaurant, although some do have a low sodium menu.
  • Fast food is typically very high in sodium although there are some exceptions. Fast food restaurants are required to post the contents of their food in the restaurant, so be sure to check. For what its worth Roy Rogers, then Wendy's probably have better quality and lower sodium foods than most other fast food restaurants.
  • Added Salt. Avoid adding salt to foods like french fries, pop-corn, etc. Many brands of frozen fries (frequently used by restaurants) already contain salt.
  • Codiments and Sauces. Worcestershire sauce, Teriyaki sauce, salad dressings and many other condiments contain large quantities of salt. Check the labels.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) publishes documents and a web database that contain very comprehensive listings of the ingredients/ chemicals (composition) of various types of foods, including fast foods, breakfast foods, etc. See the Links page.