I think everyone who knows me knows I like salt on food.
A LOT of salt!
So when KRAFT foods announced yesterday it was cutting their salt induction in food by 10 % over the next two years, I was actually happy. Do't get me wrong: I'm NOT giving up salt. My blood pressure routinely is 90/60 and my ankles never swell.
But it is beleived that Americans as a whole consume too much salt. And overuse of sodium has been linked to diseases such as high blood pressure, stroke, kidney disease and as a precursor to heart disease in general.
In a study published by The Standord University Center for Health Policy, it is estimated that reducing salt by 10 % can eliminate approx. 500,000 heart attacts and year in addition to over 500,00 strokes between the ages of 40 and 85.
Imagine the savings, not only in actual lives, but in Health care costs as well.
I'm sure most of us know someone who has hypertension, or diabetes. Their doctors routinely tell them to eliminate table salt to control their diseases. But even people who don't add any extra salt to their food are still in danger of taking in too much sodium.
It's in everything as a preservative, food addtitive, seasoner, and it's even in contact lens solutions.
I've said this before but it bears restating: be a label detective.
Read the labels, table of ingredients, and nutritional facts on all food items you buy that aren't in their natural states. Obviously some foods contain more salt than others just natually. Bacon and pork products come to mind. But all processed foods have salt in them as well, either as a seasoning, preservative, or additive. READ the labels. The US Dietary Guidelines recommend that the general population consumme no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium ( or 1 teaspoon of table salt) Just as an example, Progesso Light and Healthy Soup has 680 mg of sodium, 1/4 of what you need in a day. If you add some salt to it for taste ( and beleive me, needs it!) you're probably already at the max for the day.
Next time you are in the produce aisle of the market, get a gander at the sodium in a package of OScar Meyer bologne, or any deli ham that's processed.
You may switch to peanut butter and jelly for your lunchs from then on!
In all seriousness, watch the salt. You may not have a problem now, but you never know what the future may bring, and YES, I'm listening to my own advice.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Salt
I never do two posts in one day, but this news was too good not to pass on. Kraft foods has decided to reduce the use of salt in its foods sold IN the US by 10 % over the next 2 years. This could eliminate more than 10 milion pounds of salt from some of the most popular foods in the US, like Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.
This is HUGE for the food industry!
Tomorrow's post will definitly be on salt and my love affair with it!
This is HUGE for the food industry!
Tomorrow's post will definitly be on salt and my love affair with it!
The taste of things...
So I went to a wonderful retirement dinner last night that I made the goodbye cake for. Soft french vanilla cake, with chocolate moouse filling and buttercream frosting. I was soooooooooooooooooo looking forward to having a piece because I haven't had cake in soooooooooooooooooo long. When it came time to dole out the cake, I heard everyone "MMMMMM-ing" when they ate their pieces.
I was disappointed.
It actually didn't taste as good to me as cake has tasted in the past and I was worried the cake was lousy! But everyone else ate every piece, so I have no worries about that.
Have my sweet taste buds changed since I've been on this plan, was my first question. Since I don't indulge in tons of cake and candy anymore, has my desire and natural taste for things like this gone?
It's a double edged sword question, because I'd like to think that if my taste buds HAVE changed, that maybe the weight maintenance won't be so hard. I had the craving for the cake all week but when reality hit, I was not thrilled. This may bode well for my future.
On the other hand, if my taste buds HAVE changed, does that mean that other food will no longer be appealing - food that I should be eating like fruit that's sweet, or sauces.
We'll have to see what the future of my taste buds holds.
Here's a funny side story. Recently I had a conversation with one of my beautiful sisters-in law and she posed this question: if you could be told the exact date and time you would die, would you want to know? I said "yes!" immediately and she asked me why.
My response:" If I knew exactly when I was going to die I would stop dieting immediately and eat everything in every portion that I wanted, because it wouldn't make any difference in the long run to my health or how I looked.."
If that's not screwed up diet thinking I don't know what is!!
I was disappointed.
It actually didn't taste as good to me as cake has tasted in the past and I was worried the cake was lousy! But everyone else ate every piece, so I have no worries about that.
Have my sweet taste buds changed since I've been on this plan, was my first question. Since I don't indulge in tons of cake and candy anymore, has my desire and natural taste for things like this gone?
It's a double edged sword question, because I'd like to think that if my taste buds HAVE changed, that maybe the weight maintenance won't be so hard. I had the craving for the cake all week but when reality hit, I was not thrilled. This may bode well for my future.
On the other hand, if my taste buds HAVE changed, does that mean that other food will no longer be appealing - food that I should be eating like fruit that's sweet, or sauces.
We'll have to see what the future of my taste buds holds.
Here's a funny side story. Recently I had a conversation with one of my beautiful sisters-in law and she posed this question: if you could be told the exact date and time you would die, would you want to know? I said "yes!" immediately and she asked me why.
My response:" If I knew exactly when I was going to die I would stop dieting immediately and eat everything in every portion that I wanted, because it wouldn't make any difference in the long run to my health or how I looked.."
If that's not screwed up diet thinking I don't know what is!!
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Fiber,Fiber,Fiber
I feel like I'm a nutritionist-wannabe! But here's some more foodie news that I think is worthwhile.
Researches from Tufts Universtity ( not exactly a slacker institution, so they must know that of which they speak!) analyzed the diet habits of a random 434 people. They found that those people who ate three servings of whole grains daily - mainly from morning cereals - had lower body mass indexes that those who didn't. Roughly 25.4 to 27.3. These people also had about 5% less fat around their bellies.
Whole grains are typically very fiber rich, so the researchers figure that the fiber in the cereal may pump up digestive hormones, which improve your sensativity to insulin, which in turn leads to reducing the amount of fat your store - esp. in the middle region of your body. The moral of this is that if you eat fiber rich foods, esp. whole grains in bread, cereals, pasta, you can reduce belly fat.
Now, as an aside to that, The FERGUSON plan I am on instructs you ONLY to eat whole grains in most of your fast cars. I have eaten no while flour foods since January 1 of this year. My weight loss aside, my stomach has definitely shrunken. It no longers looks bloated and even feels as if it is smaller. So the fiber issue is truly an important one.\
One adjunct to increasing fiber, tho, is that you have to drink more water to make sure you don't dehydrate yourself. I'm gonna let you fingure that one out by yourselves. I don't want to be TOO graphic here!
Moral of today's post: eat good cereal - I'm not taking Cap'n Chrunch here folks, but good cereals, like Cheerios, Wheaties, Raisin bran, those kinds, and switch to 100% whole grain bread. Be a lable detecetive to make sure your bread REALLY is whole grain. It must be listed in the first 2 ingredients and shouldn't say 'Made from enriched white flour.' That IS NOT whole grain!!
Researches from Tufts Universtity ( not exactly a slacker institution, so they must know that of which they speak!) analyzed the diet habits of a random 434 people. They found that those people who ate three servings of whole grains daily - mainly from morning cereals - had lower body mass indexes that those who didn't. Roughly 25.4 to 27.3. These people also had about 5% less fat around their bellies.
Whole grains are typically very fiber rich, so the researchers figure that the fiber in the cereal may pump up digestive hormones, which improve your sensativity to insulin, which in turn leads to reducing the amount of fat your store - esp. in the middle region of your body. The moral of this is that if you eat fiber rich foods, esp. whole grains in bread, cereals, pasta, you can reduce belly fat.
Now, as an aside to that, The FERGUSON plan I am on instructs you ONLY to eat whole grains in most of your fast cars. I have eaten no while flour foods since January 1 of this year. My weight loss aside, my stomach has definitely shrunken. It no longers looks bloated and even feels as if it is smaller. So the fiber issue is truly an important one.\
One adjunct to increasing fiber, tho, is that you have to drink more water to make sure you don't dehydrate yourself. I'm gonna let you fingure that one out by yourselves. I don't want to be TOO graphic here!
Moral of today's post: eat good cereal - I'm not taking Cap'n Chrunch here folks, but good cereals, like Cheerios, Wheaties, Raisin bran, those kinds, and switch to 100% whole grain bread. Be a lable detecetive to make sure your bread REALLY is whole grain. It must be listed in the first 2 ingredients and shouldn't say 'Made from enriched white flour.' That IS NOT whole grain!!
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