Sunday, March 30, 2014

I'm Back!

So, where have I been and what have I been up to?  Well that's a long story.  The short story is that in Feb. I had a major health issue rear up before me - I was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and heart failure.  As a result, I have to be on a low sodium diet and also I must restrict my fluids to 1.5-2L of fluid per day.  Easier said than done!

I have to convalesce from this for a while - I was in hospital for a month. I am bored, and I need a hobby.  Why take up something new when something I've had previously fill my recovery time with is right here, waiting to be revived?  Yep, I'm going to attempt to get back into food blogging.  Plus I have a new added dimension: low sodium cooking.

So far, I haven't enjoyed low sodium eating.  No salt = no flavour, right?  Well, pretty much!  I have recently become more obsessed with food labeling than usual, and I've had to make some pretty significant adjustments.  No salt also = no chips.  Ugh!  I have not had a potato chip in nearly two whole months!

Yesterday I ate out and had a case of the food fuck-its.  I gained 2lbs.  Today, I went to the grocery store and got some low sodium pantry items, feeling a little bit defeated.  I thought I could do low sodium my way, without any big substitutions.  But I was wrong.  My daily intake of salt should be no more than 2mg, which is about a teaspoon.  Dear God, how am I going to live with this?

Roast beef, seasoned with Costco's Mrs. Dash knockoff.
Tonight I made a low sodium meal with some of my new ingredients: roast beef and roast potatoes.  I don't know exactly how much sodium was in this meal, but the only ingredients that contained sodium were the packet of low sodium beef boullion (25% less salt than the regular stuff) which I cooked the roast in, and the 1/2 teaspoon of Club House's Garlic Plus seasoning mix I put on the potatoes (55mg/serving).  I seasoned the beef with Costco's brand of salt free seasoning, which wasn't bad at all. I sprinkled the dinner with Windsor's Salt Free "salt."

What a waste of $3.49!  The Salt Free = flavour free!  I also had the saltless salt on popcorn earlier today and though I thought I gave the stuff a decent shake over the popcorn, I didn't taste any saltiness.

The dinner as a whole, though, was quite palatable.  I have enough for leftovers and a few sandwiches.

 Man, this is going to be a long road.
Low sodium roast beef with roast potatoes.


Where are the veggies you ask?  Hmph!  I bought a salad kit the other day but it's gone off already.  Whatever!


2 comments:

DEZMOND said...

I've noticed that when I forget to put salt in my tomato soup it still tastes great because I put tones of garlic, tomato juice, dill, celery and other stuff in it :)

I almost never put salt in my dishes. Here in Serbia our national spice is Vegeta, it is certain percentage of salt mixed with a much bigger percentage of ground dried onions, celery, carrot and parsley. It adds amazing depth to all dishes.

Tina said...

First off, let me say, YEA YOU'RE BACK!!!!!! (doing happy dance)

Ok, got that outta the way without hurting myself jumping. :-)
After a while, your palate will adapt and you'll be surprised, you will notice things with salt being too salty. I found that when I ditched sodas and cut waaaay back on sugars.

My new foodie research is on gluten free foods. We will have a food journey together.

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