Plague 2021 #7 Salt

[geowench]

My BP is FINALLY coming under control after half a dozen med adjustments.  But on Sunday we got takeout, which we rarely do, and it was very salty and the next day my BP spiked like 20 points.  It took about two days for it come back down to where it had been.

Now when I was in nursing school (~1990) we were told that contrary to popular and intuitive beliefs, salt didn't actually affect BP unless you had underlying kidney issues.  Well I just had an ultrasound that showed my kidneys are doing just fine, so I figured salt wasn't really an issue for me.  But after that little episode I did some googlescholaring and found peer reviewed papers demonstrating that salt indeed has a major effect on BP, though some people are more salt tolerant than others. 

So then I started looking at a low salt diet.  Now I knew there was a lot of salt in most packaged foods, but I am still shocked to learn just HOW much salt is in things like bread.  And tomato sauce.  Canned beans.  Everything, dangit.  So now I'm contemplating going fullon granola woman and doing things like making big pots of beans and canning making my own tomato sauce because the brand of sauce I have in my cubard is like 17% of daily salt intake for half a cup, which is outrageous.  Store bought chicken broth is shocking.  My favorite condiment is Vietnamese fish sauce and a single tablespoon of that is like 8 million mgs.  Sigh.

So now I'm contemplating what I am and am not willing to do.  It seems pretty clear I need to do a diet overhaul, and I think I'll start with cooking up a big pot of garbanzo beans and roasting some veggies this weekend for my lunches throughout the week.  I've also been contemplating only eating meat in the evenings - I'm married to a devout carnivore, and he wants a hunk of meat every night, but I can decrease the amount I'm eating.  I've already drastically reduced my portions of evening meat, and I can cut it out totally during the day, especially stop with the lunch meats which are big source of salt. No more frozen lunch meals (which I only rarely resorted to anyway).  

In other exciting news, I've been back working every other day in the office since the beginning of the month and then starting in May, we all have to be back in the office full time, which I'm fairly bummed about.  It will definitely take me awhile to readjust and I anticipate being tired all the time for at least a month.  I'm thinking seriously of leaving my job.  Nothing terrible has happened, I'm just bored, and would like to find something more flexible that lets me travel (assuming travel ever becomes a thing again).  We just lost ANOTHER manager, and really the logical person to take that position is me.  But I absolutely do not want to.  I won't do anything for awhile yet, but if the economy starts to open back up, I may take a gander and see what other options I might have.  Like working remotely for one of our competitors.

Comments

[mrs_redboots]

Treat yourself to an Instant Pot (electric pressure cooker plus, plus, plus). That way you can cook your beans from scratch every time - I actually prefer them that way. And if you do use a tin, rinse them very thoroughly. You can also make your tomato sauce in an Instant Pot. The amount of salt in bread is misleading, as although that's what they put in, a lot of it gets used up by the yeast, so you actually take in less than you think. I try not to have too much processed food - have done for years (we started eating whole foods back in the 1980s when it first became a thing, but are flexible). Does your husband eat fish - I mean, would he be willing to eat fish pie or fish and chips every week or so instead of meat?

[geowench]

I do have a small instant pot which so far I've really only used when we want bangers and mash (it's by FAR the easiest way to make mashed potatoes that I've found). I will definitely try it for the beans today or tomorrow. And I had not thought of making pasta sauce in the thing - found some cans of unsalted tomato sauce at the grocery today and stocked up, so one day I'll give that a go.

As for fish, we do have salmon once a week or so, but I don't know how to cook any other types of fish - I supposed I should learn, plenty of recipes online to try out!

[mrs_redboots]

I have a microwave steamer which I tend to use for mashed potatoes, or a steamer pot that goes on top of an ordinary saucepan; I only use the IP for potatoes if I'm using it for something else as well - e.g. hard-boiled eggs (which I like in a cauliflower cheese), or perhaps if I am cooking swede (rutabaga) underneath. You can make loads of different pasta sauces, not just tomato! And fish is so easy to cook - if you are making, for instance, a fish pie it doesn't even need pre-cooking! Just dice it and throw it in to a parsley sauce, maybe with some peas or sweetcorn, top with mashed potato and put in the oven for 30 minutes or so. There are loads of recipes, many vegetarian or vegan, on my food blog, if they are of any help to you. http://mrsredbootsfood.blogspot.com/

[old_black]

I love salt! I don't know if I could ever give up salty bread, surely the food of the gods. Maybe it will turn out that you have a non-linear response - that just a small reduction (e.g. still buy canned beans and tomato sauce, but get a reduced salt version) might keep the BP under control?

Today I told my manager that I will be able to come back to work in August after I have my 2nd dose of vaccine. Like you, I'm not looking forward to that, but I want to try and keep visible so it seems like I am useful enough that they keep employing me!

[geowench]

I LURVES me some salt. Salty snacks, especially, I'd rather have potato chips or popcorn than candy or cake. Sigh.

[fineplan]

Oh gosh, yes, I miss travel so much. I need a good travel buddy... Someone who wants to go somewhere more than Vegas. lol (not that I wouldn't go see more Cirque du Soleil shows there)

I've never done mashed potatoes in an Instant Pot... Maybe I'll try that. It was given to me as a gift and I never think to use it.

[geowench]

It's definitely useful for mashed potatoes. I also did garbanzo beans in it and wow, that was WAY easier than stovetop. Oh and I made some babaganoush and that went well too. I don't use it for stews and dinner-y things though, I prefer stovetop control.

[fineplan]

Ooh, baba ganoush could be fun!