Bloat Troll: Ruby Tuesdays & Sodium

Seems like several of my blogging fatfighter friends have had battles with the Bloat Troll lately. I had my defeat yesterday and this morning. But today and tomorrow, I'm kicking troll butt.

First, some context.

My scale readings were really nice in the days before TUESDAY. Down in the 279's. Even went as far down as 278.4. :) But, hubby and I were out of the house all day yesterday--I got my hair cut and dyed, he got his trimmed, lunch out with sister, major groceries run. Then I got home, made my low-WW-points soup batch, we had dinner. And I fell asleep on the couch. I vaguely remember hubby putting a pillow under my head. I was zonked. (Had only slept about 5 hours the night before.)

Note: I didn't drink extra water to compensate, cause 1. at the hairdresser's, I didn't drink ANY. At Ruby Tuesdays, the water tasted awful, left it behind. And at home, I fell asleep watching DAMAGES. I drank my usual 8 glasses and not much more. Sigh.

Now, back to ground zero: Lunch out with sis and hubby at Ruby Tuesdays. I knew ahead of time that wherever we ended up going, I wanted someplace I could get lots of veggies. Fill-me-up veggies. R.T.'s is good, cause they have a salad bar--as long as I stay away from the blue cheese dressing.

Blue cheese dressing. This is one of my "I have no control" foods. So, it's best avoided. If I don't avoid it, I end up ladling it on top like a madwoman, so that I end up less with salad and more with some sort of chilled soup. Only slightly exaggerating there.

Valiantly, I piled my plate high with the non-fat/non-junk items (ie, colorful greens and veggies and a bit of chick peas for legumey fiberness) and skipped the potato salad and other mayonaissey stuff. I put a bit of Italian dressing on half, and a bit of lite ranch on the other.

I also got the white bean chicken chili, cause Scale Junkie had a white bean chili recipe recenty and gave me a craving. And my sis had the artichoke and spinach dip with tortilla chips. I had 8 chips. I counted them out.

The salad was yummy. The beans had a lovely consistently (didn't eat the chicken, cause I am not big on chicken in soup). The chips with minimal amount of dip were crispy and tasty. But the sodium tally was startling.

Here's the thing: Hubby and I used to dine out nearly every night. This will explain part of my balooning up to giganto size. Eating out tends to be very bad for the lipid profile and the hip size. Restaurants don't watch oil use or portions for you. And they certainly don't watch the salt. Even at one of my fave local diners--a "gourmet" one that serves French food--the soups are overloaded with salt. I have no idea why. Makes no sense. To the chefs: If you're making fresh soup with fresh veggies, why the heck do you salt it like it needs to last the winter?

During the last month, I've been getting food delivered daily (at about 3 in the am, which is wreaking havoc with my sleep schedule), and it's mostly low-salt and assuredly low-fat and definitely portion-controlled. It has affected my sensitivity to salt, I realized.

Yesterday, with my first spoonful, I noticed how very salty the Ruby Tuesdays stuff is. I hadn't really noticed before, ya know. When you eat out all the time, you get used to the huge salt factor.

But I haven't been eating out all the time in restaurants. Not for weeks.

There I was, 4 in the pm, slurping up chili and gobbling down green peppers and cucumbers and romaine lettuce and beets with non-cheesy dressings, and my tongue noticed that the Bonneville Salt Flats had relocated to my mouth. And my mind was rolling one phrase over and over: "This is totally gonna kill me on the scales for the challenge weigh-in."

Now, this morning: Mr. Tanita says 282.4

Lovely. I am officially pissed at salt. And I've got a general grudge for the irresponsible salt content of American restaurant items. No wonder we've got an epidemic of high blood pressure.

Anyway, I'll be hitting the papaya and coconut water and clementines today to try and debloat some. And next week I'm into PMS time (maybe, er, perimenopause allowing). Which means water retention and salty cravings. So, even more important to get the current bloat out of the way.

So, there. A crap weigh-in. But I'm not upset. Even with eating out yesterday and those non-diet dressings, and even with going 300 calories over my maximum diet calorie count, I know I didn't eat anywhere near enough to gain 3 pounds. I did, however, swallow a good portion of the Atlantic's salt content. :::shrug:::

I think while nutritional activists are out to kill trans fats and reduce portions in eateries, they need to focus on salt, too. There is no reason a perfectly good chili or salad dressing needs to be salted to the max. None. Make it good and make it low-sodium, I say.

There's my first weigh-in for the Look Great in 2008 Challenge.

Now, let me slosh my way over to the fruit bowl and water jug...:::bloop, bloop, gurgle, burble:::: That's the only way I know to safely fend off a Bloat Troll.

Note: I have some commitments today that will keep me busy, but Zanitta, I'll try and post that recipe you requested--and I am a crap cook, beware--as soon as I can. Happy Wednesday fatfighters!!! And make sure to visit the anti-Kimkins brigade for some startling updates and to add your prayers to those for Christin.