SALT

One of the major changes I made was to cut out all extra salt from my food.  I am a salt alcoholic!  It’s funny though once I made the decision to cut out my salt I went cold turkey and only miss salt when I eat popcorn.  I think my biggest challenge with the salt will come when I eat popcorn at the movies and have no salt or butter on it.  We don’t need the extra salt in our food and I think we crave salt when we are not eating right.  If we eat a balance diet of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and plenty of water we actual get enough salt.  In fact when my daughter & I read the food labels we check on the sodium level in the foods.  Soups are really bad and process foods have way too much sodium listed.  The good news is most soups now come in reduce sodium.  When you are grocery shopping read labels!

 The heart association states as follows:

Limiting sodium is one of the most important things that people with heart failure can do.

• Sodium makes the body hold on to fluid. To pump the added fluid, the heart has to work harder. People with heart failure shouldn't put this extra strain on their hearts.

• Excess fluid can also cause weight gain. Your heart has to work harder when you put on extra weight.

• Too much sodium in the diet can worsen symptoms like swelling and shortness of breath. If those symptoms become severe, the person may need to be admitted to the hospital.

• Sodium increases blood pressure. High blood pressure constricts the arterioles, making them resistant to blood flow. This makes the heart work progressively harder to pump enough blood to the body's tissues and organs.

When I read this from the heart association I realized that not only do people with heart problems have extra ricks but anyone who is overweight will experience the same problems.  My weight is mostly carried around the waist; this is the worst place to carry your weight because all the fat surrounds the organs.  I almost think the more salt we eat the more salt we crave.  Once you cut out the salt from your food plan you don’t really miss it.

Tonight is weigh-in night and I think I lost 3 to 4 lbs.  I am pumped to see how much I lost.  So I’m off to my last night work out!!