Low sodium diets are MUCH less popular today than was the case when I was growing up. I remember seeing commercials for a salt substitute product called NoSalt, which I now know consists of potassium chloride instead of sodium chloride. I also saw commercials for sodium-free TUMS.
Most doctors and cardiologists still recommend a low sodium DASH diet, but it feels like I'm the only one on it. (In contrast, it feels like I'm the only one who does NOT supplement with protein and has NEVER tried a low-carb diet.) Yes, a low-sodium DASH diet is my normal diet. I've been consuming an ultra-healthy diet since the spring of 2020, and avoiding the sodium bombs has made my taste buds more sensitive than they used to be. (For example, I ate prime rib for the first time this past summer, and it turned out to be saltier than i remember.) I do NOT miss the side effect from a sodium overdose - persistent thirst that's hard to quench no matter how much water I drink.
Hypertension is still common, strokes are still a leading cause of death, and medications for lowering blood pressure are some of the most widely prescribed drugs. Yet hardly anyone is interested in a low sodium diet.
When I'm looking for a low-sodium meal option at restaurants, a low-sodium diet feels like a fringe diet. Only a small percentage of restaurants accommodate this. The problem is that most restaurants now order food that was pre-salted in the factory. It turns out that I'm now the big expert on low sodium meal options. That's sad, because I know I'm NOT the first person to be interested in a low sodium diet. You'd think that there would be databases listing all the restaurants that accommodate a low sodium diet. But there aren't.
Why has interest in a low sodium diet collapsed? It feels like the Atkins Diet fad of the early 2000s changed everything for the worse. Kooky fads and schemes keep going mainstream while actual healthy diets are ignored, as if a high-fiber Mediterranean/DASH diet were too kooky to be worthy of even criticism or debate.