Final answer:
The nurse should teach the client to season foods with herbs and spices, choose foods with lower sodium levels by comparing food labels, and limit the intake of processed foods and sugary drinks to manage hypertension effectively.
Step-by-step explanation:
A nurse teaching a client with hypertension about decreasing sodium intake should include recommendations to season foods with herbs and spices instead of salt or high-sodium products. Advising the client to compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals can be crucial, suggesting that they choose options with lower levels of sodium. The nurse should emphasize the need to limit processed food consumption, which often contains high levels of sodium, as well as reducing the intake of sugary drinks, recommending water as the best choice.
Total sodium intake should be less than 2300 mg/day, thus drinking and eating foods with less sodium, saturated fat, and added sugars is ideal. Other tips include avoiding the use of processed cheeses, which are often high in sodium, turning away from heavily salted condiments like soy sauce, and not choosing frozen dinners for quick meals as they too can be very high in sodium.