As I said in an earlier blog, I love convenience food and eating out. I can cook ,but I think our lives got out of whack when our boys were all in sports and we really weren't eating much at home. When we were eating at home it was something out of a box, bag, or can because we were in a hurry to get somewhere else. Even though we're not as hurried anymore, we haven't changed our habits.

After meeting with Toni, the cardiac dietitian I realize that I was paying attention to calories and fat but was missing the sodium content of foods. Just to give you some examples : low cal frozen entrees that I like to eat for lunch during the school year have 560 mg of sodium, a bratwurst that we grill has 810mg, and a frozen chicken breast has 230mg, a cup of 1% milk has 120mg, 2 Tbsp of Italian dressing has 560mg. Almost everything we eat has Sodium in it or we season it with something that has sodium in it. (Plain oatmeal has 0mg) I love oatmeal. Toni said because of my high blood pressure I should have about 2,000mg daily. (Normal people 1500-2400mgs daily.)

What does this mean for me? I need to go back to healthy cooking and really pay attention to the sodium content of foods. I like food that has some kind of flavor to it. Toni sent me to a place called Penzy's spices. It's between the Mart and Red Lobster on 72ND. They have many spices that are salt free. She'll tell us more about what spices she likes at our Heart Healthy Cooking classes through Alegent. I don't want to steal her thunder but check this place out. You can even smell and taste them before you buy them.

Last night I made Parmesan Crusted Orange Roughy. It took quite a while because it was the first time I had made it. The men at my house liked it except for Nate. This recipe is in the 2ND Week of the Better U website. I was very excited to see all of the recipes on line. Now I have lots of choices to try and great spices to make them taste great.

FYI - The resistance training went OK. My arms and abs(wherever they are) hurt. The walking and water aerobics are going great. Today I did water aerobics with my friend Jodie and walked with Jodie and Andie. Andie is on the countdown for her wedding in 10 days.

We also ate lunch out. I had a grilled chicken salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing instead of Ranch. This dressing goes alot farther than Ranch and is pretty good. I think I did OK but I have no idea how much sodium I took in. I guess that's the bad thing about eating out.

Blessings,

Laurie