Pass ON the salt please...

SALT should be a four-letter word! I feel so absolutely BLOATED right now, and do you want to know why? I am so glad that you do because I am about to tell you. BECAUSE OF MY SODIUM INTAKE! UUUUGGHH!

First, let me say that I am not a big "salter." Unlike my husband, I don't get a plate of food and salt it as soon as I see it, especially before I even taste it (except for eggs - I like to season them!). Here at our house we switched from salt to No Salt a long time ago. No Salt is nothing but potassium - 600 mg per serving. It takes a little bit more to get the taste you're looking for, but hey - it's potassium. So, we think we are doing so well because of using this.

...............well, maybe not so good. Yesterday I ate really well. I was at my friend's house watching her kids and was getting desperate for some food, so I had a few bites of snack food that were not exactly health food. But, it was only a few bites. The rest of my day consisted of the following... I ate popcorn (DO NOT BUY POP SECRET POPCORN - IT IS LOADED WITH TRANS FAT!!!), and of course, I seasoned it - extra salt there. It's not a "salt" that I'm putting on there, but it has salt in it. It's actually a seasoning for Mexican food - and is outstanding on popcorn. Anyway, I had half of a whole wheat bread sandwich with one slice of ham - loaded with sodium...I had a bowl of homemade vegetable soup - LOADED with sodium...I had a tuna fillet with teriyaki sauce on the side which was (you guessed it) loaded with sodium.

So, this is how my day went. I thought I was doing okay, but maybe not so much. I am typing this at 3:02 am (taking a break from my work), and my fingers feel puffy, my whole body feels fit to bust!

My plan for today is to allow some of this sodium to get out of me, some of this extra water weight I'm carrying right now. I will be skipping the popcorn today. For those of you who have been following for a while you know that I could eat spaghetti EVERY DAY!!! It is whole wheat spaghetti with sauce containing no meat, but do you know what dirty little secret spaghetti sauce is hiding - LOADS OF SODIUM!!! UUUUUGGGHHH!!! So, no spaghetti for me today. I am going to the store to get some frozen veggies, as they are not loaded with salt, and most of the canned ones are. I have already had about 16 oz of water so far and a cup of coffee. I know that sounds backwards if you're trying to get rid of water weight, but when your body is in surplus of water, it knows it can get rid of some. If you deprive yourself of water, your body retains it. So, I hope to feel much better by the end of this day, much less puffy.

As you go to fix supper or as you go to the store to get your groceries, be conscious of the fact that you may get what looks like healthy food, but it may be loaded with sodium. Not only is sodium good at making you retain water, but it is also good at causing your blood pressure to go up. Don't just grab something off of the shelf because it looks like a healthy option, be sure and check out the ingredients and nutritional info. There are so many alternatives out there now of foods that say "unsalted" or "reduced sodium", etc. So next time you sit down to eat, instead of saying "pass the salt please", say "I think I will pass on the salt, thanks!"