Tuesday, June 8, 2010

More tea! Less Salt!

Over the pleasantly long weekend, I read a few books on salt-free living and diets that manage to avoid GERD problems. I grew up in a a family that practised eating low-salt, low-fat, low cholesterol diets and surprise, surprise, we were all thin and healthy. Skip ahead a few years and guess who's forgotten how to cook and eat that way? And who now has blood pressure and weight issues? And guess who's now getting back on track? The best thing about the low-salt books is that they pointed out the biggest sources of hidden sodium (canned soups are unbelievably high) and what foods are OK since there's next to no sodium. And if you cut back on sodium, weight will probably come down too. Armed with this knowledge, I visited a few grocery stores yesterday, planning to buy low sodium bread, low sodium cheese and various other products to keep me on the straight and narrow.
Guess what? I could find hardly anything low sodium or sodium free in our stores. I live in an area that has one of the worst cardiovascular rates in Canada and that usually starts with high blood pressure .... which can be caused by too much sodium over time...
I can't say I'm surprised. Stores only stock what they can sell and what's in demand. But still, I really thought there would be more products available. I did manage to find some sodium free cereals by Kashi so at least breakfast will be OK. And some salt-free peanut butter for a lunch sandwich. Both products were great and I had both today. I fell off the tracks at supper with macaroni and cheese - which I found really salty after my salt-free foods earlier. And that's a good thing - I really don't like the taste of salt so if it's noticeable, I'll make more of an effort to cut it out.
I was a little more lucky at the K-Cups store and managed to snag a box of Timothy's Chai and Timothy's Cranberry Green. The Chai is delish - just the right amount of spice and excellent for morning. The Cranberry Green was so-so - it could have been better but now I'm stuck with a box of so-so.

1 comment:

  1. We try to be salt free and it's a job. I live in Southern NY and usually just cook from scratch. I do love Campbell's tomato soup, but I have it very rarely. You have my sympathy

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