Wellness Wednesday Shake The Salt

First let me say that I feel way better than I did last Wednesday. I just knew that I had the flu or something. However, living better now, Coogi sweater....... My bad. Sometimes I get off topic.

Today's topic is about sodium. When I was in the hospital, my doctor had me on a " cardio diet", which is a low sodium diet. For the most part I maintain a low sodium lifestyle at home. I do mess up sometimes but I try to stay consistent. That means that I consume 1500 mg or less of sodium a day. That equals to less than one teaspoon of salt. So what does that look like for me on a daily basis?

Breakfast - steel cut oatmeal (with chopped pecans and raisins) unsweetened applesauce and light orange juice.

Lunch - Small salad with apple cider vinaigrette and water or unsweetened tea and unsweetened applesauce (or a fruit salad). 

Dinner - Bean burger, sweet potato and unsweetened applesauce (I even baked four sweet potatoes at a time so that I can have them ready throughout the week.) 

Listen! Unsweetened Applesauce is a thing for me. Think about it, when you eat an apple there's no sugar added. Then why do we want applesauce with added sugar? Makes you go.. Hmmmmmm?

You may be asking, "How do you keep track of your sodium?" Well, there's an app for that. I use MyFitnessPal, thanks to my friend Destiny. Now, if I can't track it, I don't eat it. The app tracks information of the food you eat by scanning the products barcode and uploading the information. It also allows you to set limits to parts of your diet that you are targeting. Of course my sodium is limited to 1500 mg.

There are a couple of things that I've learned eating this way. One I love bean burgers and two my body responds well when I eat in this manner. I feel better physically, I rest better and I can often tell when my blood pressure is high after eating a larger amount of sodium. Those headaches are the worst. The first time I had one, I went straight to the phone to call my mommy. Trust me, you're never too old to call your mommy. She always has a remedy, drink some tea, drink some water and go to sleep. Welp, that works for me. 

After I was released from the hospital and taken off of the "cardio diet" I decided with my special self that I would go to a fast food restaurant and have a fish sandwich. In one bite I felt as if I had eaten a whole cup of salt. It was a feeling of disgust and from that point on I decided to make great attempt to eat like I did in the hospital because my body had adjusted to intaking a lower amount of sodium.

When people ask me about my eating lifestyle they often say, "Oh, I couldn't do that." I'd probably had said the same thing months ago but hey, it just works for me.