Awww there's that beautiful cat! hehehehe you guys can thank me latter for helping

you know I'm worried about you and pulling for you with the blood pressure stuff, Vance! Take care and listen to sam lol

Kevin

Salt substitutes, people, salt substitutes. There's a bunch out there - find one you like and stick to it!

Also, learn to use herbs and spices. And while I'm on a rant - less prepackaged stuff and more fresh.

Okay, I'm done now.

Sharon

ok. heres what I learned the first time around.

forget canned vegetables. frozen or fresh only. canned is full of sodium and preservatives.

i used to use onion salt and garlic salt in cooking. i switched to onion powder and garlic powder the first time around, and never switched back thankfully. but they add flavor after cooking too, but i really like onion and garlic anyway.

ketchup is full of salt. small cans of tomato sauce or tomato puree tastes just as good and is much healthier.

real butter, even in small amonts, makes veggies taste better even without salt.

if you like chinese food, especially if you cook any, be careful buying soy sauce. look at the ingredients. most of them the soy is the 3rd or 4th ingredient. avoid those. soy should be the secong or first ingredient, not salt or water. remember, ingredients are listed in quantities used, most listed first. sometimes you need the generic no brand name stuff to get the real stuff. La Choy and Kikoman are salt sauce, not soy sauce.

pretzels are bad for salt lovers trying to not eat salt. so are potato chips.

if you like fast food fries(guilty), request them with no salt, and use ketchup to make them tasty. the salt in the ketchup is plenty.

bacon is very salty, as is ham. enjoy in moderation.

Ok thats all i have for now. for dinner tonight, i had pork chops that were shake n baked, not fried, fresh beets with real butter, and scalloped potatoes with onion powder and pepper, and i really didnt miss salt too much. i did reach for the shaker for my beets though, but i put it back down before i used it.

good luck, its not easy but its necessary for the blood pressure. dam blood pressure.

Vance-

That's a big friendly looking cat. He looks like a cat named Leo that comes by my house and says hello every now and then.

I never eat salt- not with all the other neat spices! Discover lemon-pepper and you'll never miss it.

Kool Kitty Vance.. I had been wondering if you were not feeling well as hadn't seen you around the chats or online at all. Wicked Sorry to hear you were sick.. I went back to Sevilla in May with what i think was pneumonia and took some of my boat meds for it and knocked it off. I am like you though quiting salt would be really hard. My partner also has high blood pressure and is on low salt diet. But then we are a bit more of an age to expect that. Good luck hope your health stuff works out. Pax Steve

There's some interesting medical thought that it's not merely the high total amount of sodium in your diet that leads to high blood pressure, but the balance with potassium. Consider salt substitutes (sometimes marketed as "Lite Salt") containing potassium chloride (KCl) instead of sodium chloride (NaCl). Increase your potassium by eating bananas or potatoes and drinking orange juice. Glad to hear your feeling better recovering from the pneumonia. Now just get your blood pressure under control.

--Rigel

o yeah, and the kitty is cute! Looks kinda like my Mo Mo(Smokey)cat.

I also had a blood pressure situation very young, but it was what they call "labile" meaning it went up and down. Nowadays I think I might have started on blood pressure medication fifteen years earlier than I did. I kept it below the cutoff (which was higher then than it is now) mostly by eating moderately low salt, engaging in informal meditation, and wishful thinking. Now I take a diuretic and a different blood pressure medicine. I was on lisinopril for years until my doctor said "oh hey, the lisinopril causes a chronic cough in some people -- maybe it's part of your coughing problem." (this is of no relevance to you unless you develop a chronic cough that you can't get rid of by other means)

What I'd say about the salt -- temporarily, go all the way to no salt at all, to reset your taste for salt. When you've done that for a while try adding the allowed amount of salt at the very last minute (i.e., don't cook with salt at all). What will happen is that you'll taste the salt more and you'll be able to get that salt enjoyment from a lot less salt. Do you see what I mean? You love salt. You have a condition which can often be improved by eating less salt. So you get yourself used to almost none, and then eensy weensy amounts are suddenly enough.

OMG ... except for the shape of the face, that could be my Tink ... the little tiny tootsies, brown tabby fur, same body shape, and the stubby tail.

Once you've gotten yourself weaned off of the salt, and your taste buds reset, as Lucy said, you might even find that food tastes better than it did before. I'll be thinking about you, anyway ... take care of yourself.

Kitty

Your cat is sooo cute, Vancey!

I'm sorry to hear about your blood-pressure issue, but at least you've caught it early, which means that you can get things under control before it becomes a problem. I wish I'd gotten myself onto a better eating regimen before I woke up one morning and realized I needed to lost about 25 lbs!

Believe me, it sucks to go from being the skinniest kid in your class for your whole life, to having a beer gut without ever drinking beer! *sigh*

*Hugz*

VPB (Vance's Personal Buddha)

Aww... what a pertty kitty.

Kurt

VVVVV

I hope you stick to the less salt thing and help your blood pressure get better

your kitty is just like mine

Take care Vance

Mark

Hey Vance,

I've found that I can really cut down on salt (and oil too) by using citrus fruit juices a lot: Lemon juice, lemon zest, lime juice, orange juice, etc. They really help remove the craving for salt because (along with salty, bitter and sweet) sour is a taste component, and it satisfies 'the tongue' part of eating. Other than these four components (salt, bitter, sweet, and sour) every other 'taste' component is from your sense of smell. Since salt is the cheapest taste component in food, prepacked foods load up on it, knowing it will make their customers happy.

You can get much the same effect as salt using a sqeeze of lemon or lime over your food -try it and you'll be hooked! Citrus juices are perhaps the only food I can think of that isn't 'bad' for you in some way!

Just a thought...

I LOVE your stories by the way. I just hope they aren't too autobiographical! Your characters have a tough life sometimes!

-Aaron

Hi Vance-

I think your cat has been moon-lighting as a model.

Here is your cat:

Here is your cat modeling for Purina:

You might want to talk to your cat about this. Even if they are paying him in cat toys, you don't want any tax surprises.

JS