As I have mentioned before, I’ve had some struggles with my blood pressure lately. After trying several medications, it turns out that I have anxiety issues and white coat hypertension. I’m anxious lately due to the lack of a second income in our family (this is not my husband’s fault, there just isn’t anything out there). Still, my blood pressure when I monitor it at home is showing pre-hypertension numbers which is probably because I’m a tad bit on the heavy side. The only ways to lower it in this circumstance would be to cut my sodium intake down to 2300 mg, exercise and do yoga/breathing exercises.
So, I started researching lowering my sodium intake and started tracking my eating on mydailyplate.com. I was shocked to find out that my standby lunch staple, a Subway sandwich, contained at least 75% of my daily sodium intake. Yikes! I also noticed that a lot of recipes from Everydayfoodmag.com contained the calorie/fat information but not the sodium intake. I began to start studying labels big time. Nutella had a limited amount of sodium. A whole can of tomatoes – 500 mg of sodium. I found great websites with gourmet, full of flavor recipes and I pulled out my South Beach Diet cookbook. In order to lower my sodium, drastic changes were in store. I got a little depressed.
THEN I actually started watching my sodium last week. I started with eating a banana, orange and latte for breakfast. Lunch consisted of healthy leftovers or a low sodium lean cuisine . Snacks included an avocado/wasu crackers or granola type bar (though this week I discovered that my beloved Take 5 was only 180mg – ha! I can still have some sweets). The most important meal was dinner. I had to make dinner bearable for the toddler and husband as well as on the quick side. This week my husband has been pleasantly please by the new dishes we are trying. We even had broccoli mac and cheese and he lived as well as loved it.
I do allow myself one day to eat something off limits. I believe that allowing that can help me focus on the other times.
I must confess, I haven’t been to the gym in over two weeks. I told myself that after this week’s cold snap I would be back at it, trying to train for a triathlon (we should call that tryathlon) in July. And since I’m not a fan of yoga, I have looked into breathing exercises.
I do feel better since watching my sodium. Let’s see if it helps the waistline.
9 comments:
It's always something, isn't it? (wink) Seriously, though, I think it's the best thing you can do. Have you tried the salt substitutes? The three I recommend are "AlsoSalt" which tastes like butter (great for popcorn or steamed veggies), the Morton salt substitue, and my FAVORITE is salt-free Mrs. Dash table blend. I put that stuff on everything.
Those are good suggestions. Thank you!
Watching sodium and a healhty lifestyle are way better than medication! Good for you and I am going to check out that dailyplate website. I really need to clean out my intake as well.
I totally believe you can do a "tryathlon" (cute). Keep at it!
When's the last time you tried a yoga class? If it's been a while, you might find you enjoy it better if you try it again. I love the classes at Juniper because they always seem very accessible. I need to get back into it.
Alissa, I HATE yoga. I can not sit still and be quiet for that long.
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