Sodium Evaluation

I knew there was a lot of sodium in things.  In fact, ever since I started Weight Watchers, I’ve been keeping an eye on it.  If there’s a choice between two items fairly similar in nutritional information, I’ll always go with the one with less sodium.  For example, I refuse to buy any canned vegetables that aren’t Del Monte’s No Salt Added canned vegetables.  I rarely, if ever, put salt on anything.

I knew that my intake of sodium, however, would probably be fairly high since I do eat a lot of easy-to-prepare meals.  I’ve said before that I don’t really like to cook unless I’m in the mood.  I like things quick and easy without prep work – like pull from the freezer and pop in the microwave for three minutes easy.

Of course, looking at the sodium information on foods, I think “oh, it’s only 180 mg of sodium.” Of course, when you just look at that, it doesn’t seem like much.  Until you add all of those 180s up for the day.

In an effort to reduce my symptoms that he thinks are caused by Meniere’s Disease, my doctor recommended I try cutting back on my sodium intake.  (He wanted to put me on a diuretic, but I’m already on one.  His response when I told him?  “Well, so much for that idea.”)  He wants me to try to get it just under 2000 mg per day, which I already knew was a good number to stay under.

In preparation for this weekend, when I’m going to sit down and re-evaluate where I can cut and how I’m going to do this, I sat down today and figured up how many milligrams of sodium I consumed today.  I think it is a good indication of how many I consume on a normal week day, since I eat pretty much the same thing daily (with a few variations).

I ate 30.5 points today (still at 27 target).  Those 30.5 points contained 3,359 grams of sodium.  So, while the number is really high, it’s actually not quite as high as I had expected.  I have about 1500 milligrams I need to cut.

That groan you hear is me realizing that I’m going to have to break down and start cooking over the weekend.  If I can make some meals over the weekend and freeze them, then I can just pop them in the microwave like I would some of the things I’m eating now.  It’s just a matter of doing the prep work.  Ugh.

I know that this journey is all about changes.  When I started, I realized that I could only work on one change at a time.  I’m the kind of person that gets overwhelmed if I have too many things to try and fix/change at once.  For me, it started with learning to eat within my points target.  I then worked on getting more fiber, and then more protein, more vegetables, healthy oils, etc., etc.  Baby steps, people, baby steps.  I knew that if I felt too overwhelmed or too deprived/cut off, then I would quit or give up like all the other times.  I just have to remember that true progress can never be achieved without change.  And for those of you just starting, even the tiniest adjustment can have a ripple effect to create even larger amounts of progress than you could ever imagine.

Over these two and a half years, I’ve gradually been eating things that are better and better for me, but now is the time to face the music and really try and get that sodium down.  I do shudder to think how many milligrams I was consuming before I started WW!  So now, not only do I get to count my points, but I also get to count milligrams of sodium.

Making changes isn’t always about doing what’s fun or easy, but it is about doing what’s best for you.  I kind of feel like I have the little devil and angel on my shoulders.  The devil saying “oh eat it!  You know it’s so yummy!”  And the angel saying “don’t you dare!  I’m doing this for your own good!”

Lately I’ve really been wanting to smack the angel.  That angel and the person who invented Whole Grain/Low Fat Meatball Lean Pockets – OMG YUM.  Each pocket is only four points, but 550 milligrams of sodium!  And did I mention, YUM??