• Tuesday Weigh-in: 184.4 •
I was raised on a salt lick. Well, okay, not really. But I was raised by a woman who would put salt on a dill pickle. I don’t think she’d mind me telling you all that. If she does, she’s welcome to come right in here and deny it. Right, didn’t think so.
As for my own bad eating habits, some I cultivated on my own and some I got from my parents. I developed the chocolate passion all on my own. Chocolate is…well, if I have to explain the chocolate to you, you should probably just count yourself lucky and move along.
My paternal grandmother’s nickname was Mrs. Cheese due to my dad’s love of that delicious food. I, myself, have pretty much never met a food that couldn’t be improved by cheese, so I guess you can see the food behavior I inherited from him. I also got his sweet tooth, but it’s really the cheese that has been harder for me to kick. I haven’t really given it up on previous diets, in large part because I couldn’t stomach light cheese – never really saw the point. I mean, if I was going to eat cheese (and let’s face it, I was), it needed to taste like cheese. This time around, however, we’ve discovered a brand of sharp cheddar that’s actually passable. And I can still have fat-free feta, which I actually always liked. Feta’s really always been about the salt for me.
Which brings me back to my mom. She loves vegetables, especially tomatoes. I really don’t understand why I couldn’t have inherited that. But, no, from her I got my love of fried foods and salt. I haven’t had anything fried in months and I’m learning to enjoy vegetables (Mom will be thrilled to know that I actually enjoyed the diced tomatoes on top of a pizza last weekend), but I’m having a tough time with the salt thing. At first, I didn’t think it was a problem because my blood pressure, aside from skyrocketing during pregnancy, has always been low. Sparky’s blood pressure is high, so I’ve reduced the salt in my cooking, but that doesn’t mean I’ve reduced my intake. I just add it to my own food in other places.
The first week I was in the program I had an episode (okay, two episodes) where I drank some soy sauce. Yes, you read that right. It was a marinade, so it had some other stuff in it (lime juice and Worcester sauce, which, HELLO is also high in salt), but it was basically drinking soy sauce. I retained A LOT of water and it was obvious to me that I shouldn’t do that. But I haven’t been paying any attention to my sodium intake since then, aside from avoiding large quantities of soy sauce.
This week I’ve been having low-grade headaches. Actually, it’s been pretty much one continuous headache that waxes and wanes. I played racquetball with my trainer last week and, in enthusiastically going after one ball, stopped my progress toward the wall with my face. My left temple, specifically. Continued playing, though. I’m such a trooper. Anyway, since the headaches started around that time, I’ve been wondering if that caused them. There was never any swelling or bruising, which totally pisses me off because it hurts to the touch and I have nothing to show for it.
But yesterday afternoon, not long after lunch, my headache got much worse. It suddenly occurred to me that I’ve had a lot more sodium lately than I’d been consuming for a while. See, I discovered that Orowheat has started to make sandwich thins that are shaped for submarine sandwiches. I’ve been having them with roast beef for lunch every day. I like my roast beef sandwiches with cheese and pickles. Yep, that’s more than a whole day’s worth of sodium right there. Oops. I’ve also been pretty good at exercising and watching the diet this week, yet I only lost about one pound. Yep, I’m retaining me some water, folks.
I talked to my dietician about it this morning and she agrees. The plan for this week is to cut way down on the sodium. Wish me luck with that, this habit’s been with me a long time.
Oh wow, yeah good luck. It’s great that your program includes all of this aid though. I am with you, have been known to put salt on a ham sandwich (didn’t say I was proud of the fact, just said I had done it). And yes, I too have my issues with chocolate, as in, cannot live without it apparently, diet or no diet. (I did discover that slimfast has some very tasty power/snack bar things that are way close to a real live candy bar.) You are doing well, keep it up. And rest your head.
Julie
Cheese has always been my downfall too. What is the brand name of the “passable” cheddar?
First fo all that roast beef sandwich description made my mouth water yummmm.
Second, I love me some cheese, especially Fontina, you know that cheese so high in fat that even weight watchers has a separate entry for it in the points book? Heaven, pure and simple.
Third, good for you hope the headache goes away!
@Julie – Mmmmmmmmm…chocolate. Yeah, some of the bar things are surprisingly good. I’ve also found that the Program’s protein shake becomes creamy and delicious and almost like a chocolate shake if you put unsweetened chocolate almond milk, almond extract, and cinnamon in it. I imagine that would work with most protein shake mixes. Oh, and I’ve discovered that Oikos makes a chocolate Greek yogurt that is wonderful. I have it every night and it feels almost like I’m cheating, but I’m not. It’s high in protein, so it’s already balanced and I don’t have to go hunting for a protein to eat with it. Dieting is definitely easier with some of that on hand.
@Cindy – It’s Trader Joe’s Lite Celtic Cheddar. I’m pretty sure you don’t have a Trader Joe’s in your neck of the woods, but we’ll bring some with us when we visit in a few weeks (can’t wait to see you!). If you like it, we’ll figure out how to get some to you on a regular basis.
Sorry I haven’t been answering comments for the past few weeks. I’ve been thinking about it, but just haven’t gotten around to the typing.
The recipe I tried out with the peach cherry salsa was a bust. The spinach and goat cheese filling was great with the chicken and the salsa was great with the chicken, but the combination of all three was just kind of weird. I think I’ll try them separately with other stuff, but not for a while. I have a few other recipes that are already ready to enter in the contest. I think what I’ll do here is post the recipe after the deadline for that month has passed, whether it wins anything or not.
Sorry about the salt thing but you are absolutely correct in that I gave you the love of “it”. I do believe that one reason I love fresh tomatoes is that I cover them with salt and they are so yummy that way. Congrats on eating some on pizza. I must admit that I might have given you the sweet tooth also..I know that I am guilty of the fried foods! I am glad that you are enjoying vegetables, they can make an otherwise blah meal a little better. Had a veggie sandwich yesterday with friends and it had just about everything imaginable (greens, cucumbers, grated carrots, celery, tomato, etc) on it, along with sunflower seeds and seeded bread and it was wonderful..i just used lemon juice as a dressing, but there were a lot of other choices too.
In my big “healthful eating” mode, I found that after I had severely curtailed certain things for a while (sugar, salt, butter), I noticed their flavors much more when I started to bring them back into my diet. I wonder if going hardcore low sodium for a few weeks might make you a little more sensitive to it and make it easier to use less and taste more when you return to it? Or maybe it would just make you crave it like made and eat a whole bag of chips – what do I know 🙂
I’ve found it helpful to find other “go to” flavors that I can add instead of salt, but it can be hard to find blends that aren’t secretly loaded with salt. Like garlic pepper. You’d think it would have garlic and pepper, right? Nope, most of them are also full of salt. But since you’re way more kitchen-savvy than I am, I’m sure you’re already ahead of the game on other seasonings…
Fresh tomatoes + balsamic vinegar = yummy.
Feel better, and keep sharing!
p.s. I don’t remember this, but family lore has it that I put salt on everything as a child, until my father finally snapped and yelled at me for putting salt on a piece of cheesecake.