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I HAVE MOVED! My main blog as of Sept of 2010 is TWO YEARS TO HAPPY WEIGHT AFTER. Visit me there. My post links in the updates below will link up to the new blog. THANKS for reading!

Created by MyFitnessPal - Nutrition Facts For Foods

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

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.

13 comments:

Teale said...

I grew up with light salt... my family always used it, and I didn't know the difference... then out on my own, I used regular. Sadly, my body's gotten so used to the regular that the light stuff tastes like crap to me now... so much salt!

Chubby Chick said...

I hate what salt can do to a body, too! I think part of the reason the scale said I didn't lose much weight last week was because I had been eating a lot of salty soup for days prior to my weigh in.

Where do you get the coconut water from? I'd like to try it.

Grumpy Chair said...

Join the club sister.

I stopped salting my food over a year ago and quit salting during cooking. I did, however, add salt when cooking chili over the weekend. We were having company, and I didn't want it to be "bland". Surprise!!! I was up 4.5 pounds.

I love blue cheese dressing too.

Askazombiehousewife said...

gain from salt isn't real

I think
Some French soup are supposed to be salty.

Mirtika said...

Canned soups are insane. It's like mainlining salt. But, since I'm a lousy cook, I eat canned soups often. :(

The French like a lot of salt? Really. Had no clue. I know we Latinos love our salt.

Chubby Chick: Any big supermarket or WalMart should have it. Just make sure you get unsweetened. I buy ZICO brand from amazon.com and have it delivered to me. :)

The Princess

Medusa said...

Thanks for visiting my blog (Medusa), Princess!

I've got to tell you that these lines in your blog are two of the funniest I've read in a long time:

"...why the heck do you salt it like it needs to last the winter?"

and

"...my tongue noticed that the Bonneville Salt Flats had relocated to my mouth."

Great writing, Princess. Hopefully, you were able to flush all that sodium out of your system.

All the best,
Medusa

Jennifer Swanepoel said...

I don't have a sweet tooth. You could fill my cabinets with sweets and I wouldn't touch a thing. Salt is my weakness. I didn't realize how much it affected weight loss!

Southern Girl said...

You have a great attitude, and I'm glad you're not letting yourself get down about having a gain. Yup, it sounds very much like too much salt = too much fluid. I have a hard time with fluid retention anyway, for health reasons, so I constantly fight that battle, too.

Drink that water! Hopefully that gain will float away this week. :)

Anonymous said...

I have to say I love the way you write! And salt is possibly more evil than sugar for me when it comes to weight. Keep going, sounds like you are doing great!

The Fat Foreigner said...

yep, yep and yep, I can hear where you're coming from.

I made the veg thing from the recipe on my site yesterday, but the broth thing I used was so salty it was ridiculous. I didn't want to waste it because it had been cooking al evening, but the scale this morning? 102.8. It made me sad. I'm going to try and be careful today but it means I'm relosing again when I was so close to being into new numbers. It makes me sad.

Princess Dieter aka Mir said...

If only we could stop global warming by pure bloat. :)

Thanks, ladies, for your good wishes and cheering my bloaty self up. :D

The Princess

Thea @ It's Me Vs. Me said...

Based on pure humor alone, you are going to do great in this challenge.

Stupid salt...

Good luck this week!

Mel said...

I am not a big salt user and my hubby is always telling me that I should have added more salt so when I do eat salty food I tend to really notice it. The good thing is that with lots of water that you should get it out of your system. Good for you in skipping the blue cheese dressing! Hope you have a good week and your scale is nicer next weigh in!
Mel