KILLING THE CRAVING

Along with starting this diary, I'm going to start counting my sodium intake daily. I think it is the only way to keep me honest. Every once in a while, I catch myself nibbling on something not so low sodium, so I say to myself, "I'll make up for it tomorrow". But do I?
Didn't really do too bad at home this week but had 2 outings with friends and blew it at the restaurants. There is no way to control salt outside the home.

Moreover, I think sodium reduction is much like being an alcoholic-on-the-wagon. While I understand that the body needs some sodium in its system, the more you taste it, the more you want it. Salt is an addiction. I need to be determined not to fall into my old eating habits and not be lazy about doing it.

You know, most people think about improving their health by cutting fat, they think about cutting carbs, they think about cutting calories and they don't necessarily think about cutting salt, but they really should. Salt is much more precarious than watching for trans fats. It is a silent killer.

Brain scans show sodium triggers dopamine, the neurotransmitter associated with pleasure, which can mean the more salt I eat, the more I want. Sodium also boosts insulin production, which leads to weight gain.  I'm a big guy. The government recommends consuming only 1,500 milligrams of salt a day, or two-thirds of one teaspoon. Most Canadians consume more than twice that amount. My doctor has prescribed 1,300 mg of sodium per day for me.

So how do I go about killing the salt cravings? Some people are hesitant to even try, yet if you stop eating salty foods for just a little while, you actually stop wanting them. How does that happen?  We can literally train our taste buds.  Each one contains about 100 receptor cells.  Each cell only lives about 2 weeks and is then replaced.  So for the first two weeks of  my new eating plan, I must cut out all sodium. To get to that plateau, I cannot be cheating along the way.

Plus, during that time, I can load up on foods like spinach, bananas, almonds and milk because they contain key minerals that cleanse the body of excess salt. The minerals sodium, magnesium, potassium and calcium all work together and they work to get your body running the way it should.  I'm getting way too much of one, of salt, and not near enough of the other three. The result is I have high blood pressure.

In my diary I am documenting how I am making the change.  Living a low salt lifestyle means long term changes.  Fewer fast food stops, making the effort to cook from home with non-processed ingredients, and seasoning with spices other than salt. Keeping a sodium intake count.

As the recovering alcoholic vows, "One day at a time".