past the salt, please.

Over the weekend LT and I went home to Michigan. While we were at Sam’s club getting a new wheel for Cordy (Our Honda Accord, what? You don’t name your car?) , LT decided to check her blood pressure. I peeked over her shoulder at the digits and promptly freaked out (!). Following my little meltdown I began what is now known as my week of we can no longer eat anything, and I mean ANYTHING food obsession!

After seeing that she basically has Stage 1 Hypertension at the tender age of 27 I declared a moratorium on salt in our diets. NO MORE! GET THEE GONE YE EVIL SPICE/FOOD PRESERVATIVE/UBIQUITOUS ADDITIVE!

Because what else could it be? We are relatively healthy people—we eat okay, not super strict, but not all fried, breaded, creamy, cheesy and buttery all the time. We work out on occasion, we’re not overweight, blah, blah, blah. Right? Both of us take allergy meds, which could possibly be the culprit, or at least a heavy contender. Both of us have had considerable work stress over the past 6 months. I guess it could be a variety of things, really. But it’s easier to blame a single thing like food. I have decided that salt is the devil of the day and I shall banish it from my realm.

Yeah right.

Have you ever tried to live on a low-sodium diet, folks? Well let me tell you, it’s nearly impossible in today’s society. I mean, I knew that a steady diet of fast food and packaged meals wasn’t exactly the best thing for you, but I never realized just How Bad these items really are for you. Not that we eat that way all the time, but I’d wager we probably have some form of “fast food” at least once a week, whether that be something you might think is relatively healthy like chicken, tuna or turkey sammiches and soups from places like Panera, or something more on the crappity end of the spectrum like burgers and fries, or pizza and breadsticks with garlic dipping sauce.

Mmmm gaaaarlic…

Come to find out that even when we thought we were making moderately healthy choices like the “market fresh chicken salad” sandwich at Arby’s or even the turkey breast from Subway we were loading ourselves up with way more fat and sodium than I had ever dreamed of. I looked up many of the websites of so called healthy choice food items only to learn that while you can cut out the fats quite easily, the salt is incredibly hard to avoid. Nice, that…

Maybe I am the Johnny-come-lately of the Fast Food Nation world, but seriously, aside from sustaining ourselves on nothing more than dry toast and plain spinach salads I hardly know what to cook for us anymore. Plus, who the hell has the time? It’s not like I have all day free to head up to Fresh Market or Wild Oats and make organic meals from scratch every day. We lead a busy life, like most people do, and are usually running from destination to destination until the time we finally slow down for bed each night.

I guess we’re lucky that hockey is over for now and we’re home a lot more these days. In fact starting this weekend we’ll actually have full month at home for the first time in nearly two years! I’m looking forward to the domestic bliss of it all.

If you need me I’ll be over here shelling a bushel of edamame and making my own tofu.