Friday, November 15, 2019

Eating Heart Healthy

All my spare time has been dedicated to hunting down recipes that are low in sodium and saturated fat. I suppose I should be happy that they did not include sugar in the prohibited list. 

Sugar is pretty easy. You can find a plethora of products without sugar. Salt ….. well I am here to tell you that is not so easy. You can pretty much eliminate any prepared foods and packaged stuff. Even canned goods have sodium. Hunts does provide salt free tomato sauce and tomato paste. He is allowed 1200 grams per day. That is not a lot. He could wipe that out in one meal. HeWho had a habit of salting all the food on his plate BEFORE even tasting it. 

The sale shakers have all been removed from sight and he is into Mrs. Dash. I confess that I am not a fan. The other habit he has had to eliminate from his life is smoking. Despite my nagging, begging and cajoling he refused to even try any of the medications available to help. No patches or gum for him. As a result, he had to quit quite abruptly when his heart refused to allow it anymore. Being in the hospital for 10 days took care of the initial withdrawal. Did not hurt that he had morphine for any twinge of chest pain.

Now that we are home, he has become addicted to Jolly Ranchers. Oh, and gum. His favorite is bubble gum. Smells a lot better than cigarettes! Not that he smoked inside, but I could smell it on his clothes. 

Food is my biggest obstacle. I am eating what he eats and let me just say, it is not tasty. I confess to sneaking a little salt on mine. I found a recipe for Taco seasoning with no salt. I will be trying it out tomorrow. I found some tortillas relatively low is sodium and can manage to let him have two tacos and stay within his sodium limits.

After losing 12 lbs. in the hospital, he continues to lose weight. He did not need to lose any weight. Low fat, low cholesterol, low sodium food is not helping with the dropped pounds. He is drinking Ensure twice a day. If he finds that palatable, then having no salt should not be an issue. He offered me a taste, but my gag reflex took over with just the smell. I just couldn't bring myself to put my lips on the bottle.

When asked what he would like for any meal, the answer is the same, "A nice juicy ribeye and French fries." He can have red meat ONCE a week. He is not happy about that. Thanksgiving dinner should be fun.


11 comments:

Joanne Noragon said...

How I sympathize with you. You will be cooking from scratch to meet the sodium requirements. But, it's really not so bad, especially for two. No worse than for one. The good news is, once the taste buds adjust to eating like a pioneer, going back to "the old days" will produce a blinding headache, or be too rich to swallow.

Amanda said...

No salt does not mean no flavor, Hetbs and spices add all kinds of flavors, as do citrus, fruit, garlic, and onion. Check Penzy Spices site. They have some some great no-salt blends. I got set onto them by friends on resticted diets. I'm not, and I use a lot of their blends, they're just that good.

Val said...

I'm afraid to ask about his Diet Coke habit.

RunNRose said...

I am glad to know that he will drink Ensure! My Old Man ( affectionate nickname!) also has weight problems. He isn't tall, but he looked good at 135-140 lbs. For several years now, he can't even keep to 120 lbs. Twice he has decided that he will go the Ensure route. Twice I "saved money" by buying a case of it at Sam's. And, twice, I have thrown out way more than half because he would not drink them, and they aged out. I agree that the smell is not inviting, and he always said that he felt bloated and uncomfortable after drinking one. Daily ice cream has helped maintain his skinny self. One of my friends is coping with the low salt diet for her husband. Their eating out routine has been drastically curtailed. Thanks for keeping us up to date. I think of you every day and wonder how it's going for you. And hope for good.

River said...

Similar problems here in Australia. Lots of items on supermarkets shelves have 'reduced salt' but hardly and have 'no salt'.
Is Ensure some sort of protein drink?

luksky said...

Oh, I know all about food challenges. My husband is allergic to all wheat products so when he (we) had to cut wheat out of our diet it was hard to figure out what we COULD eat instead of what we couldn't. I miss the days of ordering pizza or swinging by McDonalds for some dollar burgers after a long day out. No rest from the kitchen for a wife who has a hubby with food restrictions.

Kathy G said...

The easiest way to cater to a low-salt diet is to cook from scratch. I've got it down to a science...most recipes make four servings, so every other day I just have to nuke leftovers in the microwave.

I kicked the salt habit a couple of years ago (although I do add Frank's hot sauce to many things, which is something I should discontinue). When I eat 'conventional' food for more than one meal in a row my body tells me about it.

ellen abbott said...

yeah, the no salt thing is a bear. I tried the Mrs Dash and didn't like it. eventually your taste buds recover from the overload of salt and you start to taste other more subtle flavors. we don't cook with salt, don't eat packaged food (or rarely), and after my 3 weeks in Portugal last year where they don't put salt and pepper on the table, I now rarely add salt to my food. except for Sunday eggs. I salt fried eggs.

when my dad quit smoking he used sweet sour candies and was addicted to those for a while. he always had a bowl of them by his chair.

dkzody said...

After Terry's open heart surgery, we too were told to cut back on the salt. I tried, and because I do cook from scratch, I can really control the salt factor. However, that low number for salt was too low for both of us. After a few days I was weak and dizzy. I remembered I had been hospitalized for low sodium years ago and had a doctor tell me, eat salt, your body needs it. So, I went back to the way I had been cooking and we both felt better. We don't eat at restaurants and don't eat processed foods, so our salt intake isn't too bad.

Jo-Anne's Ramblings said...

My sister's father in-law had to cut out salt from his diet but found he couldn't stand the taste of the food without it. After a couple of months he gave up trying to have little to no salt. He doesn't add salt to his food but doesn't have the salt free versions

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