So it’s been a long, long time since I’ve had a chance to write anything. You know what happened? Life … fancy that!
Living in Canada means that my kids don’t get out of school until the end of June. So the school year’s end is a truly hectic time with all those closing events, then we roll into summer and all kinds of different events. You would think we would be used to this over the summer and other times throughout the year. I mean over the last few years I’ve had to bow out of writing during the holiday season due to having absolutely no time for anything other than work, sleep and trying to figure out how to fit in all of the extra stuff beyond kids’ activities.
And that’s another thing that kills me, this summer should have been easier to deal with because we didn’t have school activities three nights a week. Nope, not the case. Why? Life and more importantly – life with medical issues. I am not going to bore you with the details because of privacy for myself and my family. But there is one thing that has come out of this summer that has meant a major change in my eating habits.
I am now supposed to be eliminating all sodium. SHOOT ME NOW!
Seriously, life without cheese?! I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I like cheese. I mean, really, really LIKE cheese. Let’s see if we can add insult to injury – how about no eggs? WTF! Hmmm, bacon’s gone. OMG! Who did this to me?! I will hunt you down and … oh wait no doctor’s orders due to some of those medical things, what are they called? Conditions!
I can’t do it.
For one, I will not give up meat or cheese. For me, I realized it was going to be all about moderation once I started looking at my salt intake. And for me it’s not really salt intake, it really is the sodium in food, particularly cheese. I figured out I was eating about 4-5 times the normal daily amount when most people eat about twice as much. Yeah ok, I’m a big guy, but I guess that really doesn’t give me a pass on that.
This new directive came about within the last two weeks along with a 30-minute walk a day. The things you do when you are pre-diabetic, pre-heart disease. So now not only do I have to be really picky about what I eat due to Gluten, but now I get to be really picky if I don’t know what I’m getting when I eat something I don’t prepare.
Over the last two weeks, I have taken stock of all the foods in my house that I typically eat and I have a bit to work through before I can really start doing more and more changes. What that means for me at this point is really portion control and ensuring that I am not overloading something, say a salad, with bacon bits, cheese and salad dressing, because they all have so much sodium. I have to really look at what I eat throughout the day while knowing what I am eating at night so I don’t blow that daily allowance.
Of course the biggest question as you’re reading this will likely be, what about your recipes? What that means is that over the next while, I will likely be looking at them to see how I can alter them for a low-sodium alternative, such as my Cajun Rice Stuffing. I was able to alter it and change it so that I didn’t lose the flavour since Gluten Free does not mean Taste Free. Some that I won’t be able to alter include any of the ones that include baking – so most desserts and even some of the stuff like the pizza dough.
Again portion control. And I know I will be giving myself a cheat day, because I have to. I have an addiction to cheese and I will try to reign it in, but I want a day to really enjoy my food.
And I will be looking at creating some dishes that will be as close to zero sodium as possible. Thoughts for recipe include a homemade salad dressing without the added salt. I’ve seriously got to look at some recipes for broth now that is truly low sodium not the stuff that’s store bought that still gives you 40% of your daily allowance with one serving.
As I start trying to do those alters, I will re-post them and I will definitely post those new recipes as well. I still have some older recipes that I have been working on and want to still get those out. As with all of my recipes, you should be able to filter them for most allergies now including sodium!
Until next time, have a plate of nachos with extra bacon, cheese and Doritos!