Low Sodium Italian Sausage Homemade - Tasty, Healthy Heart Recipes (2024)

FAQs

Is Italian sausage heart healthy? ›

Processed Meats

Hot dogs, sausage, salami, and lunch meat are the worst types of meats for your heart. They have high amounts of salt, and most are high in saturated fat. When it comes to deli meats, turkey is better for you than salami because it doesn't have the saturated fat.

Extra-lean chicken or kangaroo sausages tend to be the healthiest sausage option. Leaner sausages are also often lower in calories and salt. Follow these guidelines to choose healthier sausages: Less than 5g saturated fat per 100g.

For those seeking a leaner option, turkey sausage is a fantastic choice for a non-pork substitute for Italian sausage. This alternative, made from ground turkey and typically seasoned with sage, thyme, and rosemary, brings a unique taste while maintaining a similar texture to Italian sausage.

Meadow Creek Mild Italian Sausage contains 260 mg less sodium (10% of the recommended daily value) than Johnsonville Mild Italian.

Shop smart at the grocery store. Low-fat turkey sausage instead of pork or beef sausage will do your heart good. Simmer it with fiber-rich beans and veggies. At breakfast, three links of lean turkey sausage adds up to just 1.5 grams of saturated fat.

Overall, bacon is lower in calories and saturated fat and by trimming visible fat you can lower this again, so from a nutritional stand bacon wins.

On the plus side, Italian sausage is an excellent source of complete protein and some B vitamins (especially B12). An essential nutrient for building and maintaining tissues and cells, protein also makes up the enzymes that power many chemical reactions in our body.

There are many benefits to making your own sausage at home...in additional to being healthier and reducing your processed meat intake, you also get to enjoy better taste, higher quality and even lower cost!

If you want to eat sausage often, however, consider choosing healthier types of sausage, such as those made with chicken or turkey. You can also make your own to get the freshest variety with none of the harmful additives or high-fat meat.

Is Italian sausage anti inflammatory? ›

You've been hearing it for years, but we're breaking it down: The worst meats for your diet includes hot dogs, ham, bacon, sausage and other meats that have undergone salting, curing, or smoking. "These meats are a five-alarm fire when it comes to inflammation," shares Kirshner in The Whole Body Cure.

From a nutritional standpoint, chicken sausage is definitely healthier than pork sausage. Red meat like pork can increase one's likelihood of developing cardiovascular conditions or colon cancer, so the white meat that comprises chicken sausage is a less dangerous option.

I discovered by boiling the sausages and pouring off the water and boiling in new water if necessary, really reduces the saltiness in processed sausages, which are notoriously high in sodium. It's a matter of osmosis.

Chicken or turkey breast without skin or marinade. Lean cuts of beef or pork. Unsalted nuts and seeds. Dried beans, peas, and lentils — like black beans and garbanzo beans (chickpeas)

Italian sausage calories and nutrition (shown) indicate that even though the food provides protein, it is high in calories, high in fat, and very high in sodium.

Hot dogs, sausage, and bacon use the fattiest cuts of red meat, and therefore tend to be high in cholesterol and saturated fat. Bacon and sausage made with turkey or chicken might seem healthier, and they are somewhat lower in cholesterol than the red meat versions, but they're not cholesterol-free.

Bacon and sausage are arguably the most popular breakfast meat options. Bacon is the lower-calorie and lower-fat option of the two. A serving of sausage links contains the most protein, but the protein content of sausage patties and bacon strips is comparable.

AICR/WCRF expert report defines processed meat as “meat preserved by smoking, curing or salting, or addition of chemical preservatives.” Ham, bacon, pastrami, sausages, hot dogs and luncheon meats are all considered processed meat. It's not yet clear exactly why these meats increase risk for colorectal cancer.