The Low Sodium Lifestyle

Now that we are heading into the last holiday weekend of the summer I can recall seeing numerous posts on groups and questions directly to me about eating safely at summer events such as picnics, festivals, cook-outs etc. I am inclined to asked "Who Do You Trust?You are going to a friends house, or on vacation away from your norm. People may come up to you with a plate and say, "Oh you have to try this, Aunt Betty made it and it's delicious! Or perhaps you are at a vacation spot and go to get some food at a local market that you have never been in, or a restaurant who says they can do LOSO for you, but are unproven. It can be down right scary to eat. You may even be at home and have the same scenario arise. We are faced with a decision, stay home and...

In part one of my Pantry series, I shared with you the basics of what I like in my pantry. Then I asked you what you like in your pantry, and WOW!! I got awesome responses! This diet is definitely "different strokes for different folks" and that is awesome. In part 2 I would like to share with you some of what my friends have shared with us as part of their "go-to" pantry for LOSO living.Kristin Reeves writes:"I keep a lot of Mrs.Dash seasoning blends on hand. Pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder are a must. I also have no salt added tomato sauce (Kroger brand) and tomatoes (Hunts) available."Charlotte Cunningham adds to her pantry"No salt kidney beansNo salt canned cornNo salt canned green beansNo salt RotelFrozen mixed vegetables, broccoli and/ or spinachUnsalted crackersApplesauceFresh applesGarlic and onion powderWhile Joann Principato has a favorite"I buy a lot of Mrs Dash Teriyaki...

Part 1 is all about my basic pantry includes, Part 2, I ask you to comment below and add what your pantry "go-to's" are and why, I will then add them into the second part and give you a shout out.When I first started my LOSO journey I learned as much as I could about what foods I could have and which were off limits. Then I started cooking everything from scratch to make sure I was strictly following my doctor's sodium guidelines. It was educational for sure. One thing I learned was, I was still working a 40 + hour work week and cooking everything from scratch just wasn't feasible. I still take the time on weekends to cook from scratch but I needed a way to eat great tasting food during weekdays that could be made quicker and easier. So as I starting to change my way of thinking...

After I adapted to a LOSO diet and removed the flavor mash called salt from my foods, I learned one thing. Nothing tastes better then "Farm to Table" foods. I always liked to grow a garden, although it was small and without thought I satisfied my somewhat green thumb. Then starting on my LOSO journey I had to ditch the canned veggies and go to frozen to avoid the sodium. I was amazed at the taste difference I didn't know existed. Then going from frozen to fresh was an even bigger revelation. Besides my new love of fresh fruits and veggies also came the idea that we (the LOSO community) as a whole use a lot of spices to boost flavor and compensate for lack of salt. Lets add to this, spices are very expensive. So with the idea of farm to table in mind I decided to build a garden that...

So here we are now, almost 2 months into this quarantine. The one new phrase that has come from this that I actually do hate is the term "New Normal". Just by definition we better hope this isn't correct. We are all hoping that our current world is just temporary. A "new normal" suggests very long term. So we need to stop using that reference. Sorry I had to get that off my chest!   When we have an honest life altering event such as what brings us to the need of a LOSO or medically necessary diet for basically the rest of our lives, that is a "new normal" and will require large changes and constant monitoring. What this Pandemic did for us LOSO folks was make us aware of were stand in the Food Supply Chain Cycle. But, after what we went through at some point to need a...

When I sat down to write this month's blog we were starting week 3 of a new thing called "social distancing" that was a preventative measure to battle against the Corona Virus. Everywhere you looked you were being bombarded with the news of the pandemic. I thought about it for a minute and decided I really didn't want to write about that. It seemed "to easy" and wouldn't help with the media overload on the topic. What did seem to become more prevalent to me was, us LoSo folks aren't maybe as prepared as we thought we were. We, very quickly ran out of food and supplies in our grocery and superstores. As quickly as the distributors got the supply chain moving again we were behind the eight ball in a matter of days. At first it was the craze to grab toilet paper for some unknown reason, then the usual suspects,...

One thing is for certain. If you are on any medically necessary diet, be it low sodium, low/no sugar, potassium what ever diet you need to help you manage your health. When you find a product in a grocery store you like, tastes great, and fits perfectly into your diet, you hold on it as if it's invaluable to you personally. Unfortunately the vast majority of Grocery and Supermarkets don't see this precious commodity the same way you do. They see the product on their shelves as profit, pure and simple. The bigger the grocery chain the more the needs of specific customers is ignored .Does it sound like I am bitter about losing a favorite Low Sodium product? It should because I am! I'm also not one to stay quite about the way certain things are handled by corporate decisions when it comes to people counting on a product they...

As we start the new year, good news comes in the form of new information about nutrition labels and our emphasis on sodium levels. On Sept. 29, the FDA issued a proposed rule to extend the compliance dates for the updated Nutrition Facts and Supplement Facts label final rule and the Serving Size final rule from July 26, 2018, to Jan. 1, 2020, for manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual food sales. Manufacturers with less than $10 million in annual food sales would receive an extra year to comply—until Jan. 1, 2021.Good rule right? What does it mean? It means that now when you look at a nutrition label on a package it must show you "per serving" amounts and "per package" amounts. Prior to this you had to do the math if you understood or remembered to look at the serving size after you looked at the sodium...

As we start the new year I resolve to....lol...who am I kidding? lol. I have never made or met a New Years Resolution that was kept. That doesn't mean that I don't set goals and try to be a better person. There is just an expected conformity by the masses to make an keep a resolution for the start of a new year. Even worse this year. A start of a new decade! To me, what makes it even worse is that it is also expected to be declared publicly so it can be monitored by anyone who heard you say it. Try this insteadSet and Achieve Goals InsteadI've never cared much for "resolving" to do something, I would rather set a goal and achieve it! I have always felt the greatest self satisfaction is the achievement of said goal.    • How do we set and achieve goals?    •...

I hope everyone had an awesome and filling Thanksgiving Holiday with family and friends as well as a huge meal that was full of tradition and hopefully not of sodium. I was quite proud cooking only my second big loso meal for a full fledged "food" holiday. We, my wife, daughter and myself did well serving  about 12 people. I went the chicken route instead of turkey for me and found chickens at 50 mg for 4 oz rather then the 450 mg for 4 oz the turkey was, and making 2 different potato fillings, one with, one without bread crumbs. Other then that all the other food was made in a loso fashion, but exceptable to everyone who could "season to taste" on their own plates. This was me having some control over the menu and hosting our family at our house.As I'm now looking ahead to Christmas, the story...

I first heard this term last year when I was entering my first "holiday" season after my cardiac event and being on a low sodium diet. I was at my, what seemed like daily doctor's visit, when I started asking some questions about socializing and eating at the big holidays coming up, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I barely knew how to do a low sodium diet, let alone these big feasts probably at someone else house. He told me that the ER he worked in had a term for these holidays and they called it "Holiday Heart". He said that meant people would be admitted in higher numbers for different types of edema the day after a holiday, most notable Pulmonary Edema or water on your heart and lungs.  I thought, "Oh great, now there's that!" What really surprised me as we continued talking about what Holiday Heart was, was the fact it...

For me, I love soups year round, but, nothing is better then hot soup on a cold day. Growing up my Mom always had a giant pot of either vegetable, chicken noodle or chicken rice soup on the stove. Or tomato soup from the can served with a grilled cheese sandwich. If you were out playing in the snow and got warmed up by a hot tasty bowl of soup it had a special place in your belly. As I grew older I still loved soups, but I started to diversify my pallet. I began to try new soups Mom never made, and that even farther intensified my love of soup. Oh my God, there was all the cream of soups, like potato and broccoli, corn chowders and the like, then I found the oriental soups so delicate and flavorful, yeah I love soups! Fast forward to 2018 post cardiac event....

I've never been on a diet before my cardiac event. I have heard of different ones, and had people in my life explain theirs to me. 95% of the people I knew who were on a diet were trying to lose weight. The other 5% were folks I knew who were on a medically necessary diet, as one would be if they had diabetes. Then came my turn and now I must be on a medically necessary diet to keep my sodium intake under a certain level. So I started researching the lifestyle for myself and as I did, a lot of other medical diets presented themselves as I was researching. I'm not talking about fad diets or the trend of the week. The diets I seem to cross paths with were also all medically necessary diets as well. I got bombarded by great information. What really surprised me was, I watched...

No doubt, you must first learn what a LoSo diet is and how sodium effects you. Plus, you really should be learning the levels of your basic ingredients for meals. Such as just knowing that the mayonnaise in your fridge is 65mg per tablespoon and so far, the lowest you have found. It took me a bit to just get the "hang of it" with a Low Sodium Diet. Heck, I have never been on a diet in my life, let alone one that was so critical to my health, so yeah I was a bit intimidated. Once I started getting familiar with the entire Low Sodium thing. I started to look at meals a different way. Instead of just sticking with or looking for "Low Sodium Meals", I started thinking, "Meals that are Low Sodium"! Sounds the same right, yeah kinda. However they really are 2 completely different ideas. Let me...

NO more salt...WOW! Now what do I do? Your brain goes right to foods you love and you start to compile a list in your head of what was once your favorites and is now off limits. Soups, Fast Food, Cakes , Bread, Ham, Bacon the list goes on and on!Your list keeps growing and with each addition to it you become more depressed. Growing up in PA Dutch country I absolutely loved Ham and String Beans, a big ole bowl of it with a little apple cider vinegar. Yea that is/was absolutely delicious comfort food. But no more. Almost made me cry. I did understand when I was told "no salt" It was for my own good and to keep me out of the hospital. I didn't like it, but understood full well what a Low Sodium diet was to do for me. What I didn't understand was how to...