Sunday Sodium Survey, Week One

Days tracked: 1/1/17 to 1/7/17*
Daily goal: less than 2000 mg sodium per day
Days goal met: ALL OF THEM

Lots of sources say that if you stick to a low sodium diet, after 6 - 8 weeks you won't miss the salt any more.  I am ... skeptical. However, since the low sodium thing is here to stay, we'll see if it happens for me.  After one week of keeping my sodium intake under 2k mg per day, I miss it ALL THE TIME.  The invective I direct at my sodium tracker would melt adamantium, I am so frustrated.  

At the same time, I am proud of myself for sticking to it.  I'm focusing on enjoying the foods I do eat, and making sure I have low-sodium options on hand.  I often ask myself if a food choice is worth the sodium in it.  For instance, I like cheese on my pasta.  Half a cup of the shredded cheese we have is about 300mg of sodium, which is totally worth it for me, especially if the rest of my meals stay on the lower sodium side.  Really, I can have a little of just about anything.  Some things just aren't worth having only a little, so choose something else.   I read labels, look things up on the USDA Nutrition Database, and calculate salt content of whatever it is from that information.  

I use a simple spreadsheet on Google drive to track my sodium intake; a column of what I've eaten, the sodium content next to each item, and a running total for the day.  It's easy to update on whatever device I happen to have at hand.  I originally planned to just track foods that have sodium in them, but I find it satisfying to list no-sodium foods as well.  Not out of a desire for a complete log - I track the 0mg foods as a kind of "f&ck you" to the whole low sodium situation.  It may only make sense to me, but I'll take whatever small satisfactions I can get :) 

*Yes, last week's Sunday Sodium Survey also included 1/1/17. Looking at the calendar for this post I realized my error. In my mind, a week starts on Sunday.**


**I know some folks consider Monday the first day of the week; they are welcome to it. The week starting on Sunday, like the two spaces after a typed period, or sorting paperclips by size, will always be correct to me, regardless of rational arguments to the contrary.