New Years Resolutions and lifestyle changes

[Mike Nolan]

Someone asked in a recent thread about new years resolutions. Well, I've been handed several by my cardiologist.

In the past few weeks I've had a battery of heart tests, and I have some arterial blockage, but not enough to require a stent or bypass surgery.

But I have been placed on a low sodium diet (1500 mg/day) and restricted to 48 ounces of fluids a day. So that's going to make some significant changes in my diet. I'm also starting an exercise program.

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[Italiancook]

So sorry to hear about your heart, Mike. Glad no stent or bypass required. Will you be okay on a restricted diet reading about good food you can't eat?

Exercise is a good thing. Once you get into a routine, you'll enjoy the regimen.

[BakerAunt]

Although restricted diets are a change, it is nice to know Mike that there are steps you can take for your health. With exercise, I suppose that those are literal steps. 🙂 We will all be supporting you in this lifestyle change, and learning from it for ourselves as well.

According to google that is 3/4 tsp. of sodium per day. Of course, there is naturally occurring sodium in other food that needs to be taken into account. Sigh. If it were just a matter of not adding salt, it would be easier.

I have a resolution to get more exercise. I've been recovering from plantar fasciitis, so that has limited my walking, but insoles are helping. Now I need the temperatures to get above the teens! The high this morning was 14F, and by afternoon it was 9F.

[Mike Nolan]

Restaurants, snacks and prepared foods are probably the biggest things I'll have to cut back on, plus things like sausages and cheeses. Cutting back on restaurants won't be that hard, we don't eat out much because of my wife's garlic allergy anyway. I don't think I use that much salt when cooking (certainly not as much as CIA recipes do), cutting back a little shouldn't be too hard. There's little or no salt in my stocks and soups, for example. Increasing some other herbs and spices will help take the place of salt as a flavoring.

I'm also looking at some variant on the Mediterranean diet, though neither of us like things cooked in/with olive oil and processed olives are high in sodium. But I'll be looking into using more whole grains in my baking.

I honestly think limiting myself to 48 ounces of fluids a day could be a bigger challenge.

[chocomouse]

I hope those lifestyle changes make a difference for you, Mike. I enjoy spending hours online looking at food sites - and mostly thinking "who eats that junk?" Everything is loaded with cheese, and bacon, and salt, and on and on. It actually makes me feel good to look at it and know I won't be eating it. And then I feel good about eating plain veggies, with no cheese or sauce, or a salad spritzed with balsamic vinegar.

[Mike Nolan]

My food tastes aren't really 'haute cuisine' either. I think many restaurant foods have too many ingredients in them and aren't properly sauced. (I'm not a big fan of balsamics.)

[Italiancook]

Mike, as you experiment with herbs and spices in place of salt, please post what and how much your substitutions are. I need to limit salt, but don't know enough about herbs and spices to know which substitutions to make to replace some or all of the salt. With most savory recipes, I reduce salt by half. I'm afraid to do that with dinner rolls and breads. I don't know if salt is critical for yeast to work. I think most of the breads and rolls I make are too salty for my health, but if you don't have salt, there's little flavor to breads. But my main issue is that I don't know if yeast depends on salt to do its work.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook--The yeast does not depend on the salt to make the bread rise, and too much salt can affect yeast negatively. The salt is there in part to control the yeast's rise. A lot of bread recipes strike me as having too much yeast. When I reduce the yeast, I also reduce the salt a bit. However, I have read that salt is important to a bread's structure as well as to its taste, so I proceed cautiously. I suspect that the yeast-salt issue is partly because recipes are designed for the "one-hour" first and second rises. Home bakers have been trained to be impatient.

Tuscan bread does not have salt. I also have a no-salt bread from Bernard Clayton's first edition of his bread book (not in the second) that I used to make for a friend's mother when she would visit her daughter. It did not have the domed rise of a regular bread.

It helps to know that very few of us are going to consume the entire loaf of bread or every roll in a recipe in a single sitting.

In cooking, I have tended to limit salt, even before I met my husband who limits it due to high blood pressure. (Of course, now The Powers That Be are saying that in half the cases of high blood pressure, limiting salt intake makes no difference. Sigh.) Even without limiting it for my husband, I would be limiting salt for me, as it acerbates a facial nerve issue that I have. I like Penzey's Mural Seasoning, which I use on eggs and in my salmon patties. It's a no-go for Mike, however, since it contains garlic. Penzey's Tuscan Seasoning is no-salt, and it is my go-to for pizza topping for me. They also have a Forward seasoning that I need to try that is salt-free. It helps to stay away from most poultry seasoning, which has a lot of salt; instead, I do my own combination of rosemary, sage, thyme, sweet curry (maybe I should check the ingredients on the curry), and fresh parsley.

What we miss most are potato chips! We used to treat ourselves when we were in Indiana by buying "evil potato chips," but we agreed once we moved here permanently to banish them from the pantry. Tortilla chips are an occasional treat, but I buy the brand with the least salt. For snacks, I've been making my own crackers, and that helps for controlling salt, as well as what kind of fat is used.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 3 months ago by BakerAunt.

[skeptic7]

Yeast breads need salt to toughen the gluten and control the rise. At least that is what McGee says and I believe -- I use 1 teaspoon of salt to 4 cups of flour. More might be tastier but I am trying to reduce salt too.
Baking powder breads don't need salt, and there is salt free baking powder available. Baking soda does contain some salt.
Have you looked into the DASH diet? Its sensible and is trying to reduce salt for heart problems.
I really love Tortilla chips and crackers at parties but I try not to eat them at home.
I found that salt can be left out of most normal cooking. If necessary salt can be added at the table which is less than if it was added during the cooking process. However I find I like dishes with ham and cheese since these add salt to the food.

[luvpyrpom]

I've been cooking with low sodium stuff for years. And being Asian, there's a ton of soy sauce in everything! Even with bread baking, I tend to go lower on the salt. I do watch the rise by watching the bucket instead of time. Like Bakeraunt, I do miss the chips and when I do have something like that, I'm shocked at how salty everything tastes. The other day, I bought a bag of sweet potato chips. Mentally I was thinking this would be sweet and crunchy. First bite, my thought was - "way too salty!!!" I love to roast vegetables with a simple toss of oil, pepper, and granulated garlic. Just a little bit salt. Even with the low sodium soy sauce, I tend to half the amount asked for in the recipe. Sometimes I just want to taste the actual food and not the salt. Or I'll cook the dish and add the salt as a finisher.

[Mike Nolan]

I will certainly report anything interesting, but I've been substituting herbs and spices for years as a workaround for my wife's garlic allergy. I find marjoram is a good herb, it isn't an overpowering flavor and its unfamiliar enough to most people that it adds interest. It's a close cousin of oregano (but milder, imho), and is often paired with it.

I've been experimenting with savory, but in small quantities. (Winter savory is different from summer savory, too.)

I've been using a lot of dill weed with fish, I really like a dill/lemon/butter sauce on a mild fish, like cod or salmon. I have some more exotic spices that I plan to start playing with.

I like nutmeg on meat (and one of the original uses for nutmeg was as a meat preservative), but it can get overpowering and too much nutmeg can cause problems, nutmeg induced hallucinations have been reported. My wife doesn't care for nutmeg as much, so I use it very lightly.

[cwcdesign]

Good luck Mike. I’m sure you will do well.

I’m just trying to get back into the good eating habits I learned while doing South Beach. One of my big goals is always to try to drink more water. The other is to get back into a regular routine of walking. I have a yoga class once a week , but would love to be able to fit in more.

The one thing I’ve put into my planner is my shoulder, neck and hand exercises 3 times a week - they only take about 15 minutes, so I should be able to stick to it. My therapist broke them up into 3 different routines, so I won’t get bored.

I wish everyone a Happy And Healthy New Year.

[Joan Simpson]

Sorry to hear about your health problems Mike,good luck with the coming changes.I've cut way back on the salt in all my cooking also.Wishing everyone a Happy New Year.

[navlys]

I feel fortunate to live near a gym that offers several group classes. If you can't self motivate the classes are the way to go. Exercise has helped me physically as well as mentally. It's kinda like brushing your teeth, you have to do it regularly. It's amazing what it can do for you. Good luck on your journey, Mike.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, thanks for the yeast/salt info. I think you're right that recipes are written for rising speed. We live in a fast food society. Thanks, also, for the Penzey's seasoning mixes. I'm going to buy all 3. Plus, I'm going to buy them for a relative who has a health condition that precludes all salt. She complained before Christmas about the lack of taste in no-salt cooking.

Mike, I didn't know nutmeg was used as a preservative. I knew it was a hallucinogic, but the preservation is interesting. I've also never put nutmeg on meat. I use it in butternut squash some Italian dishes. Nutmeg is good in ricotta cheese-based foods.

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