Sunday, August 7, 2011

Sodium - The Final Frontier!

I have conquered workouts; swam laps again this morning.....AWESOME!

I have faced sugar, stared it down, and now manage it quite effectively, save for the occassional treat like last night's vanilla ice cream and piece of See's candy at Dad's birthday celebration!  Notice I did not say "conquered" sugar.  I have successfully identified it as a trigger and focus on managing it.

I have conquered fat and fully understand good fats and bad fats and really do limit bad fats to maybe two times a month.

I have become friends with calories.  They do count.  I don't think you have to carry a scale and calculator to every meal, but it is a really good idea to select a week and carefully monitor everything you ingest to calibrate from time to time, perhaps quarterly?

I have even come to terms with the scale and weighing in on a regular basis.  My mantra is that the number on the scale is not judgment, it is simply what it is, an indicator of where my body weight is on any given day. 

So, now I am going to focus on sodium.  It is pretty widely known that too much of it is not a good thing! Using too much salt can affect fluid retention, blood pressure, heart health, circulation, healthy liver function and just about all aspects of our health. 

I am not going to lie.....I love me some salty snacks!!!  I had my wake up call when I looked at the nutrition informaiton on the sliced deli turkey that I had been buying.  I could already tell you that it was 99% fat free with only 30 calories per slice.  Three little slices tucked into my zip lock baggie were an easy 100 calorie snack.  HOWEVER, those 3 little slices of low calorie low fat deli turkey meat have a whopping 730 mg of sodium!!!  That is more than a 1/3 teaspoon of salt.  YIKES!  WebMD says to keep your sodium levels to 2300 mg (about a teaspoon) or less per day.  I am sure that individual doctors would have differing opinions based on a a person's health profile.  So, check with your health advisor for what is right for you.

The thing is that I buy precious little processed foods, where a lot of sodium is hiding out.  It is not so much what you shake out of your salt shaker when preparing food or at the table.  That adds up too. Just be careful when buying anything processed and check to see how laden with salt it really is!

So, now I am off to the store to buy a turkey breast, cook it and slice it myself so I can still have my snack but it will have a lot less sodium in it!

Desire to conquer it all!  Dedication to incremental growth and learning.  Discipline to cleaner food preparation at home!

2 comments:

  1. You've always been a great laps' mermaid...yay! I love your "A-Ha" about how processed foods include friendly-looking turkey deli slices. Home turkey breast roasting will make the whole house smell good! Nice extra!

    ReplyDelete