Everything on this site hangs off two numbers and one habit. The numbers: keep sodium under 2,300 mg a day (the 2025 ACC/AHA ceiling, with 1,500 mg as the ideal target for most adults with hypertension) and push potassium toward 3,400–4,800 mg a day, the DASH-pattern range. The habit: judge every food by its own two columns — sodium and potassium — instead of by its marketing. This guide is the map; the Food Verdicts and case files are the terrain.
Sodium is the pressure-up number. The evidence is among the strongest in nutrition science: the DASH-Sodium trial showed that cutting sodium from the typical American ~3,400 mg/day toward 1,500 mg/day lowered systolic pressure meaningfully at every level of diet quality — and the 2025 ACC/AHA guideline edition keeps 2,300 mg as the standard ceiling with the lower target for most people who already have elevated pressure.
Potassium is the pressure-down number, and it works partly by making the kidneys dump sodium. The DASH pattern targets roughly 4,700 mg/day from food — not supplements — and the food-first rule matters: potassium pills are a medical decision; bananas, beans, and greens are groceries. Population data put the payoff at close to five systolic points for every extra 2,300 mg of daily potassium in hypertensive adults. The potassium versus sodium guide goes deeper on the mechanism.
Every food verdict on this site derives from one fixed rule set, published on the methodology page: green under 140 mg sodium per serving, amber from 140–340 mg, red above 340 mg — plus a handful of override triggers that flag a food red outright, no matter how friendly its raw number looks. The overrides catch what the raw number hides: brine-cured products (the pickle paradox), very-high-sodium items above 800 mg (the canned soup case file), cured meats, hard liquor.
Potassium never rescues a red food, but it can lift a borderline amber food toward green — which is why a banana (2 mg sodium, 806 mg potassium) and a dill pickle (283 mg sodium, 41 mg potassium) land at opposite ends of the scale despite both being "plant-adjacent." The system is mechanical on purpose: two columns, fixed thresholds, no vibes. The 6,689-food database behind it means the same question asked twice gets the same answer.
The DASH pattern is usually presented as a serving table — 4–5 vegetables, 4–5 fruits, 7–8 grains, 2–3 dairy, up to 6 oz lean protein, 4–5 nuts/seeds/legumes per week. The table is fine, but the practical version is simpler: build every plate around a potassium-heavy anchor (greens, beans, potatoes, bananas), pick a protein that keeps the sodium column quiet (fish, poultry, legumes cooked without salt), and spend sodium deliberately on the one thing at the meal that actually needs it — usually the bread or the sauce, not both.
That "spend it where it counts" rule is what makes the pattern survivable in a real kitchen. Sodium hidden in bread, cheese, and processed meat — not the salt shaker — is where most of the American intake sits, as the hidden sodium guide documents. A week of this plate-building in practice, with actual meals, lives in the DASH made-real guide.
Restaurant food is the hardest terrain because the columns are invisible: nothing on a menu carries a sodium number. Three rules do most of the work. Ask for sauces on the side — they are usually the single largest sodium vehicle on the plate. Prefer grilled, roasted, or steamed preparations over anything described as cured, smoked, glazed, blackened, or "crispy" (a frequent breadcrumb-code for salt). And treat bread baskets and drink garnishes as counted sodium, not freebies — one breadstick with garlic butter can run 400 mg before the meal arrives.
The same three rules work on delivery apps, where the description text is the label: the 30-second label routine trains the pattern on packages, and it transfers to menu language almost word for word.
The Food Verdicts section answers the "can I eat X" question per food, with the numbers, cooking advice, a recipe, and food-culture trivia — start with bananas or the pickle paradox. Star Eats tests celebrity food habits against the data, starting with Victoria Beckham's daily salmon. Aisle Detective opens packaged foods and weighs the crime scene, starting with canned chicken noodle soup. And if you take only one page from this site, take the two numbers — it is the engine under everything else.
Cutting sodium toward 1,500–2,300 mg/day while raising potassium toward 3,400–4,800 mg/day from food. The two together — the DASH logic — outperform either alone, and the effect shows up in trial data within weeks.
No — the goal is a ceiling, not abstinence. Keeping sodium under 2,300 mg/day leaves room for deliberate salt use on foods that deserve it, once you stop paying the hidden-sodium tax on bread, canned goods, and cured products.
The DASH-Sodium trial measured meaningful systolic reductions within 30 days of the pattern starting. Blood pressure responds to the current week's intake more than to last year's — which is the encouraging part.
SodiumScore is an independent data project — not a medical practice.
Ratings derive from USDA FoodData Central nutrient data and the 2025 ACC/AHA Hypertension Guidelines (DASH pattern).
Dietary reference information only. Always consult your healthcare provider before making dietary changes.
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