Turkey Burgers

Lately I have been getting some teasing about having a blog and not writing often enough... :-) Thank you for your thoughts and for wanting to share in my daily happenings.

Today was the meeting at the Sleep Clinic. I was so very blessed to have the doctor tell me that she thought I only had a very minor case of sleep apnea and that she did not think I needed a machine to help me breathe at night. This was wonderful news... as I can't imagine how thrilled Ray would be with yet another obstacle to our sleeping patterns. (As it is now, I sleep on a mound of pillows that somehow end up all over the bed by the morning.)

I have also received quite a bit of interest in my new "low sodium" diet. First I would like to say that EVERYONE should eat less than 2,000 mg of sodium a day. For those of you who have never paid any attention and are wondering, ONE box of mac n cheese has your entire daily intake. :-p So what do I eat?

It has taken us hours at the grocery store (my little sister Lulu is a real trooper, we have spent over 5 hours combined in the past 3 weeks in the store together checking labels). Fresh fruits and vegetables are a given, but I have been surprised at some of the other favorites we have found:

1. Ray makes incredible Turkey Burgers (thanks to Uncle Frank's example)
2. My mother and father in law and Ray's step-sister and brother brought us Amish Peanut Butter Spread; it tastes amazing and is very low sodium
3. My Aunt and Uncle found low sodium Ritz Crackers
4. Ray and Lulu made a no salt trail mix that is wonderful
5. Our friend Annie made a very good pot roast (although I caught everyone else sneaking a little salt on it)
6. My sister Nikki made a really special Carrot Cake on Easter (and a really good bunny cake as well)
7. My Mom made beef/turkey meatloaf that was excellent
8. My Dad (who doesn't cook) helped my find frosted mini wheat cereal that has no sodium

I couldn't have changed my diet without a lot of help and encouragement from my family and friends. My support system has been amazing. Whenever I start craving a food, they find a way to make it low sodium. I have also found that we have a great time cooking together (except for the few low sodium cakes we tried to make that kept ending up tasting like cornbread... yes, cornbread LOL).

Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of low sodium foods that are meant for the birds to eat. We tried an extremely low sodium bread that literally tasted like cardboard. And Lulu got some low sodium potato chips that taste fine at first, and then have an awful after-taste. Ray bought low sodium chips and salsa that I can't hardly get anyone to try because it looks bad. And the no sodium cheese is definitely an acquired taste. :-)

But most heart failure patients take a water pill to control the swelling around the heart. My doctor thought since I was so young that it would be better on my kidneys if I would try to control the swelling with my diet instead of the lasix pill. So, my diet is a little more restrictive. On Sunday, I spent the day away from our house and ate well, but not real low sodium. By Monday morning I was having a hard time breathing. So, I took a lasix pill and lost 4 pounds of water. It's a little scary how quickly I can revert back to putting a strain on my hurting heart, so I will have to be extra cautious.

Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers. Would love to hear from everyone.