Husband in denial - refuses to stop salting everything

Hi @ldrlaw, I used to be that have to have more salt husband until my high blood pressure put the kiboosh on it. My wife started buying lite salt which I don't like but it did help some at first. Then I just got to where I don't add salt to anything. I did find an article from a dietician with some helpful advice on the topic.

-- I think my husband salts his food too much. How can I stop him from using salt?: https://www.dietitian.com/heart-disease/high-blood-pressure-stroke-salt/i-think-my-husband-salts-his-food-too-much-how-can-i-stop-him-from-using-salt/

Have you tried using salt substitutes or asked his doctors or a dietician for advice?

@ldrlaw Can you remove the salt containers from your house? If your husband's kidney issue is due to high blood pressure, and the doctors have not been able to convince him to stop using the salt, you face quite the uphill challenge! Like sugar, salt can become quite a habit, and takes effort and time to change.

Introducing no salt seasonings might help, but be sure to check the contents for sugar.
How close is he to dialysis? Do you have friends, family , or acquaintances who have had a salt habit, that he can talk to?
Ginger

John, Ginger - thanks for your response. My husband's GFR is 13 as of yesterday. He has talked with Dr. and nutritionist yet yesterday I watched him salt a reuben sandwich at lunch. If I thought taking away the salt containers away would help, I would do it but I've been fighting with him for years over taking NSAIDs and when I hid the aspirin, he went out and bought another bottle. He says he's not worried because worrying isn't going to help but I said "no but changing lifestyle would"....he says he's cut down on salt but he's still using more than the average person. I was a salter myself and now try to do no added salt....I've switched to no salt butter and almond milk but those are the only changes that he's accepted .

A simple answer: Use "No Salt" or some other substitute. It is potassium chloride instead of sodium chloride. I can't tell any difference in taste. Potassium is OK - not dangerous.

@ldrlaw Oh, dear! This might sound pretty harsh, but please read it in the light it is offered. You can only do what you can, make the resources/lifestyle changes available to switch to, and offer all-out support. Your husband ultimately decides what he will do, and when you have done all you can, keeping after him may not move him to change.

My husband was on dialysis for 5.5 years before his transplant, due to high blood pressure. It took a lot for him to see what he was doing to his own body, and he vowed to make changes. He did, even though I see some slipping back to old habits now.

We are always here for you to vent, and if I can think of more ways to help you get through to your husband, I'll certainly post! Do you or he know anyone who changed their eating habits around and became healthier, that he could talk with?
Ginger

I'm to avoid potassium as well so that doesn't work for us but thanks Robert.

I understand, Ginger...I just have a hard time understanding and accepting it. I have just started seeing a counselor myself to help me work through all of this. When my sister was dying with pancreatic cancer the pancan online site was my lifeline.Knowing you all are here is helpful as well. Thanks. Vicki

Is potassium preferable - less dangerous - than sodium for you? Another brand name is Salt Free (by Windsor). They are probably sold next to the regular salt. Half-salt is half sodium chloride and half potassium chloride. Maybe that is an option.

Hi Robert: I know I am supposed to avoid potassium. I assume that he should as well but I won’t know until we reconnect with a nutritionist.

I remember going to a Nutritionist talk at a health club. She emphasized how over time your taste buds adapt to having less salt. Essentially you go on a salt taper that allows for one's taste buds to gradually acclimate and adjust. Based on my experience with my father (with Congestive Heart Failure, & the need to limit salt) it seems the only way forward for him would have been a CHF support group. Unfortunately I could not locate one for him. This was before 2017. Perhaps online Renal Support Groups are available via Zoom now. It might be worth looking into.

I tried to explain to my father how diabetics when they eat too much sugar can get immediate feedback with a glucometer, but that wasn't the case in his stage of CHF. That salt was just as detrimental to his overall health as sugar is to a diabetic. It went in one ear and out the other, that is why a support group might be better. Just like at a airport where they have both women and men making the exact same announcements, hearing the same things from others might get through!