July 12-16, 2003 posts
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bunrabWednesday, July 16, 2003
My local newspaper, the Austin American-Statesman, has an article today (7/16/03) about low-sodium diets. Most of the article is on-line. If that link doesn't work because you find this blog after the date the article gets archived, email me, and I'll get you hard copy. There are a few things in the print version that aren't in the online version, mainly this:
Please note that the use of quotes for book titles instead of italics is the newspaper's, not mine. The Statesman's editing has always been glitchful. You should see their hyphenation!
I just ate a can of "almond-flavored apricots." Not a very strong almond flavor, and somehow even mushier than canned apricots usually are. I think I would be better off buying apricots and sprinkling slivered almonds on them. I keep unsalted nuts around - slivered almonds on Shredded Wheat cereal is breakfast around here, and filberts (hazelnuts) are for snacks - about a dozen filberts in a handful is a nice protein snack mid-afternoon. Don't forget to read the sodium content on cereal boxes - even very sweet cereals can turn out to have a lot of sodium, while some that aren't sweet are sodium-free. Check different brands of puffed rice and puffed wheat. Granola especially needs watching - an amazing amount of fat and sodium can work its way into granola.
Resources for sodium saving
· "The American Heart Association Low-Salt Cookbook" (Clarkson Potter, $22.95). Among the useful features are a list of ingredient substitutes, tips for dining out and a guide to herbs and spices.
· "The No-Salt Cookbook" by David C. Anderson and Thomas D. Anderson (Adams Media, $12.95). More than 200 recipes from guys who've been there. Also visit the Andersons' Web site: www.saltfree.com.
· The National Institutes of Health has developed something called the DASH diet (for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), a low-sodium, low-fat diet that has been proved to lower blood pressure and cholesterol: www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/hbp/dash.
· The U.S. Department of Agriculture's nutrient database lists the sodium content of hundreds of foods: www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/SR15.
Please note that the use of quotes for book titles instead of italics is the newspaper's, not mine. The Statesman's editing has always been glitchful. You should see their hyphenation!
I just ate a can of "almond-flavored apricots." Not a very strong almond flavor, and somehow even mushier than canned apricots usually are. I think I would be better off buying apricots and sprinkling slivered almonds on them. I keep unsalted nuts around - slivered almonds on Shredded Wheat cereal is breakfast around here, and filberts (hazelnuts) are for snacks - about a dozen filberts in a handful is a nice protein snack mid-afternoon. Don't forget to read the sodium content on cereal boxes - even very sweet cereals can turn out to have a lot of sodium, while some that aren't sweet are sodium-free. Check different brands of puffed rice and puffed wheat. Granola especially needs watching - an amazing amount of fat and sodium can work its way into granola.
Tuesday, July 15, 2003
This semester, I am teaching classes Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. This makes my sleep schedule even weirder than it's always been. I find that I need more sleep - not surprising, with an ejection fraction of 20%, that I'm always tired. What I've tried to do last semester was to wake up at a normal hour - before 9 a.m. , which wasn't difficult because I had a 9:30 class to inspire me. Then, I'd come home and take a nap most afternoons, and wake up before Spousal Unit got home from work. This semester, though, I have office hours from 5:30 to 6:45 and class from 6:50 to 9:40. So I'm gone before Spousal Unit gets home, and then I'm wired from teaching and have difficulty falling asleep at 11-ish, our "normal" bedtime. I've been staying awake till, like, 2 a.m., and then sleeping till 11:30 or so. This is not only annoying to all my friends and relatives who are on a regular schedule, it's annoying to me, because I miss a big part of the day in which I could run errands to places that aren't open at 2 a.m., such as the post office. Also, I would like to see more of my spouse. I can't figure out how to fix it, though - just setting my alarm clock doesn't seem to work; I hit the snooze button, or even manage to turn it off entirely, without opening my eyes. What makes it harder is that I've always been a night owl by nature- this schedule is closer to my natural inclinations, so I am fighting between nature and my mind, which would like me to be a functioning human being pretty much overlapping with the rest of my city. And since the prior forty-mumble years of having to be at school or at work by 9:00 a.m., if not earlier, have not conditioned me to wake up before 9 naturally, I don't think conditioning works. Wish I knew what would.
Since that's all whining, it must be time to lighten things up with another recipe.
Summer Pickles
2 cucumbers, peeled and sliced into about 1/3" slices
1 white onion, sliced into thin half-rings
1 carrot or parsnip (parsnips are a sort of white carrot), sliced into "sticks" (you know, carrot sticks - long thin pieces, rather than round slices?)
Tablespoon of whole black peppercorns
Teaspoon of whole mustard seed
Teaspoon of caraway seed
Vinegar* - quantity to be determined after you do the rest.
In a sealable container such as Tupperware, around a quart size or a little larger, preferably with a flat bottom rather a curved bowl:
Lay down alternating layers of cucumber slices and onion and carrot pieces. After the first two layers, sprinkle half the spices (peppercorns, mustard, caraway) across the layer. Then layer the rest, and sprinkle the rest of the seeds on the top. Now pour in vinegar until it just covers the top spices. Seal the container, and stick it in the fridge. Whenever you think of it, turn it upside down and back again, to stir the flavors. The pickles are ready after at least 24 hours, and taste even better after 48 hours, and will keep for another week in the refrigerator, so you don't have to eat them all at once. You can serve this as a salad simply by slicing fresh tomatoes onto a dish and adding the pickles. You can easily double or triple this recipe, if you have larger sealable containers to work with.
*What kind of vinegar depends on taste. Myself, I like red wine vinegar for this; it's stronger than white vinegar. But you can try apple cider vinegar, or even one of the herb-infused vinegars, if you want. White vinegar is cheapest, which may recommend it to some people.
Since that's all whining, it must be time to lighten things up with another recipe.
Summer Pickles
2 cucumbers, peeled and sliced into about 1/3" slices
1 white onion, sliced into thin half-rings
1 carrot or parsnip (parsnips are a sort of white carrot), sliced into "sticks" (you know, carrot sticks - long thin pieces, rather than round slices?)
Tablespoon of whole black peppercorns
Teaspoon of whole mustard seed
Teaspoon of caraway seed
Vinegar* - quantity to be determined after you do the rest.
In a sealable container such as Tupperware, around a quart size or a little larger, preferably with a flat bottom rather a curved bowl:
Lay down alternating layers of cucumber slices and onion and carrot pieces. After the first two layers, sprinkle half the spices (peppercorns, mustard, caraway) across the layer. Then layer the rest, and sprinkle the rest of the seeds on the top. Now pour in vinegar until it just covers the top spices. Seal the container, and stick it in the fridge. Whenever you think of it, turn it upside down and back again, to stir the flavors. The pickles are ready after at least 24 hours, and taste even better after 48 hours, and will keep for another week in the refrigerator, so you don't have to eat them all at once. You can serve this as a salad simply by slicing fresh tomatoes onto a dish and adding the pickles. You can easily double or triple this recipe, if you have larger sealable containers to work with.
*What kind of vinegar depends on taste. Myself, I like red wine vinegar for this; it's stronger than white vinegar. But you can try apple cider vinegar, or even one of the herb-infused vinegars, if you want. White vinegar is cheapest, which may recommend it to some people.
One of the things that makes sticking to a low-sodium diet easy, for me, is making my own bread. I bought the West Bend Just for Dinner breadmaker from Amazon.com. (Try Thursdays - some Thursdays it's on sale for $39.99.) This breadmaker makes a small loaf of bread, about 8 slices, in 45 minutes. I started out using the recipes that come with it, leeaving out the salt and using unsalted butter instead of regular. The recipes work fine without salt- it's sugar that helps the yeast out, not salt. I usually throw in a bit of powdered ginger - it doesn't make the bread taste gingery, but it does give it a little of the sharpness that salt would. Over time, I've developed a basic pattern for loaves I like. If you have a larger breadmaker, just double everything in my recipe below, except the yeast- one package of yeast is still enough.
1/2 cup warm water (nuke tap water for 15 seconds)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 cup bread flour (I use the store's house brand- it works fine)
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 tablespoon powdered ginger
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning (oregano, thyme, basil)
1 package rapid-rise yeast or yeast that says it's for bread machines
Add to baking pan in the order your breadmaker's instructions suggest.
This makes a nice mild herb-flavored bread good with sandwiches. If you want something different, try these:
for a curry-flavored bread that goes very well with vegetable dishes, substitute 1 tablespoon (or less, to taste) of curry powder for the Italian seasoning and a scant 1/4 cup of crushed almonds (start with sliced or slivered almonds and crush them with your hand or a rolling pin.)
For breakfast, substitute 1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon for the Italian seasoning, and 1/4 cup raisins or mixed dried raisins and cherries.
If you're serving Italian food, add a tablespoon of minced garlic and 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, along with the Italian seasoning. The Parmesan has some sodium, true, but figure 1/8 (a slice) of 2 Tbsp. is not much.
When I make sandwiches, I use Swiss cheese (including Emmenthaler and Gruyere) because it's lowest in sodium of all the regular cheeses. Alpine Lace's Swiss has only 60 mg of sodium per slice. So I can make a sandwich of 2 slices of cheese, some avocado if it's in season, tomatoes, lettuce, and horseradish sauce of some sort (instead of mayo). My supermarket sells squeeze bottles of horseradish sauce for sandwiches, but you could also use any horseradish mix, or a teaspoon of horseradish mustard (100 mg of sodium, but that's quite a bit less than regular mustard!). The mustard is especially good if the sandwich contains leftover meatloaf (see earlier recipe), which is usually what I have for lunch the day after meatloaf for supper. Another thing that's good on meatloaf instead of using ketchup is fruit-flavored sauces, similar to chutneys. Fischer & Weiser, a local firm in Fredericksburg, Texas, makes a Seville orange-cranberry-horseradish sauce that goes well with meat loaf or any kind of poultry. It's 0 sodium, too. A horseradish sauce can also make a good dip for french fries, instead of ketchup, if you are not on a low-fat diet. (For me, I don't have coronary artery disease or any cholesterol problems, so I don't have to watch fat nearly as closely as I do sodium.)
Alpine Lace also makes a reduced-sodium Muenster cheese if you get really tired of Swiss cheese. The reduced-sodium Muenster actually has slightly more sodium than the Swiss, but it's still low enough to go ahead and put two slices on a sandwich. Around here, most supermarkets carry it; it's not a specialty item. If yours doesn't carry the Muenster but does have other Alpine Lace deli products, they should be able to order the Muenster for you. You've got to be aggressive with supermarkets; if you give them the product number and stand there and watch the manager actually write it down, chances are they will actually order it for you.
1/2 cup warm water (nuke tap water for 15 seconds)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 cup bread flour (I use the store's house brand- it works fine)
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 tablespoon powdered ginger
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning (oregano, thyme, basil)
1 package rapid-rise yeast or yeast that says it's for bread machines
Add to baking pan in the order your breadmaker's instructions suggest.
This makes a nice mild herb-flavored bread good with sandwiches. If you want something different, try these:
When I make sandwiches, I use Swiss cheese (including Emmenthaler and Gruyere) because it's lowest in sodium of all the regular cheeses. Alpine Lace's Swiss has only 60 mg of sodium per slice. So I can make a sandwich of 2 slices of cheese, some avocado if it's in season, tomatoes, lettuce, and horseradish sauce of some sort (instead of mayo). My supermarket sells squeeze bottles of horseradish sauce for sandwiches, but you could also use any horseradish mix, or a teaspoon of horseradish mustard (100 mg of sodium, but that's quite a bit less than regular mustard!). The mustard is especially good if the sandwich contains leftover meatloaf (see earlier recipe), which is usually what I have for lunch the day after meatloaf for supper. Another thing that's good on meatloaf instead of using ketchup is fruit-flavored sauces, similar to chutneys. Fischer & Weiser, a local firm in Fredericksburg, Texas, makes a Seville orange-cranberry-horseradish sauce that goes well with meat loaf or any kind of poultry. It's 0 sodium, too. A horseradish sauce can also make a good dip for french fries, instead of ketchup, if you are not on a low-fat diet. (For me, I don't have coronary artery disease or any cholesterol problems, so I don't have to watch fat nearly as closely as I do sodium.)
Alpine Lace also makes a reduced-sodium Muenster cheese if you get really tired of Swiss cheese. The reduced-sodium Muenster actually has slightly more sodium than the Swiss, but it's still low enough to go ahead and put two slices on a sandwich. Around here, most supermarkets carry it; it's not a specialty item. If yours doesn't carry the Muenster but does have other Alpine Lace deli products, they should be able to order the Muenster for you. You've got to be aggressive with supermarkets; if you give them the product number and stand there and watch the manager actually write it down, chances are they will actually order it for you.
Saturday, July 12, 2003
One of the books I ordered and read shortly after I got diagnosed was Success with Heart Failure by Marc Silver. It had some good information in it, although not much that I hadn't already found on the Web, but I didn't keep it because I found that the author's ego got in the way of reading it. Every chapter seemed to consist of about 50% Marc Silver congratulating himself on helping people nobody else could help, or trying procedures nobody else had thought of, or just having better surgeons than anyone else... there was this constant refrain of "I am the best heart failure doctor in the world" running through the book. It may or may not be true, I don't know, but it's tiring to read about regardless. Other books about heart disease tend to have only a single chapter about heart failure, so they have even less information. The net is the best source of info. If you can find Silver's book in the library, or used, it's probably worth it for that price; since about 50% of it is information, it's worth paying half-price for.
Not much else to say today. We had leftovers for supper, no interesting recipes spring right to mind right now, and I'm too lazy to go give you summaries of the other books I've looked at. Besides, I hear a bowl of chocolate sorbet calling my name.
Not much else to say today. We had leftovers for supper, no interesting recipes spring right to mind right now, and I'm too lazy to go give you summaries of the other books I've looked at. Besides, I hear a bowl of chocolate sorbet calling my name.
