Diario de oxdrover, 28 nov. 10

Oxdrover, have you tried no salt crackers instead of ritz? Once you get used to it, it's not so bad. Have a healthy Sunday! 

The crackers I am using are the "hint of salt" ritz crackers "a low sodium choice" and they taste a lot better than the no salted tops "saltine" crackers The ritz have 80 cal for 5 crackers (the other no salt saltines have 60 calories for 5) and the ritz have 35 mg SODIUM for 5 crackers The great value "saltines" (wal Mart) with plain tops have 60 cal for 5 crackers and 100 mg of sodium and frankly they taste like communnion bread! LOL I found the Ritz at Kroger. I havent been able to find any totally SALT FREE crackers...but by balancing the higher salt foods on a day with lower salt one, I'm still coming out a BALANCED sodium intake unless I go for a piece or two of american cheese! HIGH sodium and I can tell it this morning, legs a bit swollen and scale up 2 pounds....blood pressure up a BIT but still in the low/normal range--I'm fortunate there good genetics, though my mother did develop SUDDEN VERY HIGH blood pressure at about age 55 though she had also had very low normal blood pressure most of her life, all our family had (good genetics) mom's went up to like 210 over 140 quickly from 90/60 which had been her normal for year. It was discovered when she went to donate blood which she did on a regular basis so it had not been high for long. Not sure what made it go so high so quickly that was nearly 30 years ago and she is controlled on medication but she has had two minor strokes and her mother had type II DM as she got older and hyptertension as well, but she ate low sodium diet (at least lower than ham and gravy! LOL I remember her using Mrs. Dash's seasoning. She lost quite a bit of weight (went from very plump to pretty skinny) and her DM was well controlled. I don't think she even took medication for it the last few years after the wt loss. My mom's brother had diabetes, but he was also a drunk and did not treat his health and still lived to be 83 and got around pretty good til the last few months--he survived lung cancer, melanoma, and finally brain cancer got him...surprised he had a liver left! My mom has osteoporosis which is a family trait on the women of her side of the family as all are tiny small boned women who didn't do a huge amount of outside exercise...plus mom smoked...but I inherited my father's larger bones and I've always been active so have a good heavy duty bone structure to start with and I'm sure it has thinned some but probably not enough to be any big deal. I had it tested a few years ago and it was fine. I too estragen for years though and also the estra-test with the testosterone in it which strengthens bones, haven't taken any hormones for 9-10 years now though. Checks on vitamin D and B-12 etc at the doc's office are all good too, and I drink some milk or milk products every day as well as a multivitamin, but don't take any calcium supplement. I also take SMALL doses of additional B-6 which has shown in medical studies (mainstream) to increase nerve conduction, and folic acid which many if not most Americans are deficient in (lack of this is the CAUSE of neural tube defects in babies born with spina bifida etc and if teens girls would start to take this regularly spina bifida would be wiped out completely. It is totally caused by lack of folic acid in the diets of especially young mothers. What level of sodium intake are you working toward? I formed a little group for the sodium and there are only 2-3 members, but I put up a thread for different products that are low sodium to recommend (or knock as the case may be!) Check it out! I'm also finding that Wal Mart and a few other stores are carrying NO ADDED SALT canned veggies. Which helps! I also buy fresh and frozen but have a big pantry stocked with ones with ssalt added so I combine 1 can of salted with one can without salt or use them in soups and stews to dilute the salt down.  

I don't really have to try hard to watch my level of sodium intake. It's been several years already that I eat low sodium so now I'm pretty used to it. I hardly eat cheese either. Once I don't eat processed food any more, not much sodium from fresh veggies, fruits, chicken, eggs, yogurt. I lightly cook my food with low sodium chicken broth and sprinkle some olive oil if I want to add some fat in my food. I sometimes add a tiny bit of low sodium soy sauce. Over all my sodium is around 1000 a day. I'm glad to see you're watching your sodium for I believe it is an important part of living healthy.