Struggling with sodium
Truly, truly boring for those not into fitness and nutrition. Just warning you.
Sodium, right now, is my bugabear.
I've been doing well on all my other nutritional goals--calories, fat, cholesterol, protein, carbs--but somehow, I'm over my sodium intake every. single. day. I'm starting to get annoyed with myself, but I think there are some easy ways to change things.
1. Stop eating ham sandwiches. Ham is loaded with sodium.
2. Stop drinking diet drinks (I LOVE Coke Zero). Again, sodium. Not tons--40mg per can--but still, who needs it?
3. I think it's the cheese. In my sandwiches, that is. I know Cheddar has lots of sodium, but I had no idea how much.
In today's food tracker, between breakfast and lunch, I had more than 2300 milligrams of sodium. In TWO MEALS! I had a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich (on 100% whole wheat bread with unsalted, natural peanut butter, even), 500 mL of 1% milk, and half an ounce of cheese for breakfast (the cheese was the last half-piece left over after I made my lunch). For lunch, I had a ham-and-cheese sandwich, a cup of snap peas, a cup of baby carrots, and a banana. And that's over 2300 mg of sodium! WTF?
So I'm going to be much more careful when I go shopping today. I'm going to buy smoked turkey breast instead of smoked ham for lunch meat, and do some serious label-reading on the cheese before I buy it. In fact, I'm going to do some serious label-reading on everything. I've already got high blood pressure, which is controlled well on meds, but if I can take my sodium intake down out of the stratosphere, maybe that plus exercise and weight loss will help me get off the medication. It would be nice not to have to worry about my heart health any more. :)
Thoughts? Suggestions? Comments?
Sodium, right now, is my bugabear.
I've been doing well on all my other nutritional goals--calories, fat, cholesterol, protein, carbs--but somehow, I'm over my sodium intake every. single. day. I'm starting to get annoyed with myself, but I think there are some easy ways to change things.
1. Stop eating ham sandwiches. Ham is loaded with sodium.
2. Stop drinking diet drinks (I LOVE Coke Zero). Again, sodium. Not tons--40mg per can--but still, who needs it?
3. I think it's the cheese. In my sandwiches, that is. I know Cheddar has lots of sodium, but I had no idea how much.
In today's food tracker, between breakfast and lunch, I had more than 2300 milligrams of sodium. In TWO MEALS! I had a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich (on 100% whole wheat bread with unsalted, natural peanut butter, even), 500 mL of 1% milk, and half an ounce of cheese for breakfast (the cheese was the last half-piece left over after I made my lunch). For lunch, I had a ham-and-cheese sandwich, a cup of snap peas, a cup of baby carrots, and a banana. And that's over 2300 mg of sodium! WTF?
So I'm going to be much more careful when I go shopping today. I'm going to buy smoked turkey breast instead of smoked ham for lunch meat, and do some serious label-reading on the cheese before I buy it. In fact, I'm going to do some serious label-reading on everything. I've already got high blood pressure, which is controlled well on meds, but if I can take my sodium intake down out of the stratosphere, maybe that plus exercise and weight loss will help me get off the medication. It would be nice not to have to worry about my heart health any more. :)
Thoughts? Suggestions? Comments?