Just thought it would be nice to have a place to talk about whatever in here. This one is a free for all thread.

Anypoodle my random post for the day, thank goodness Christmas in retail is over for the year.

I was just looking at the other old forums, and just noticed that June's hot topics has over 5,000 posts! I wonder what I missed...

Cussing and eyeball washing.

That bad, eh?

Happy New Year!!

Yes, you too!

Yes Happy New Year to all. Did you all make any resolutions? My only one is to write ten pages a day. I may break that down to five after I time how long it takes me to do ten pages tonight.

Going to read to my daughter more often. Nothing specific. Just often enough that it feels like a habit.

PBS-related resolution? Try to do a transaction with every state.

I don't make resolutions but it so happens that I had a health crisis at the end of the year so I'm starting out with a whole new way of eating since I've been put on a low-sodium diet. Since I have already messed up once and now know that it will mean I can't breathe if I don't stick to it it should be fairly easy to keep. The only hard part has been in learning what foods are hiding a ton of sodium. Things like chips are easy but did you know a bagel has 440 mg of sodium? That's a small meals worth. I'm allowed about 2000 mg a day, and the recommended amount for healthy people is only 2400 mg, so this is something we should all learn. It's amazing the seemingly innocent foods that are loaded with sodium. 

Barb, it becomes easier and easier.  We've really watched sodium closely since my dh developed type 2 diabetes.  Eating out is the worst to deal with - just assume that everything has twice as much salt as it would if you fixed it yourself!  DH used to salt everything on his plate, even though I used salt in cooking.  Now, he rarely adds any salt and is the first one to say that something is too salty - especially restaurant food or canned goods.

No cut-and-dried resolutions here, either.  Just a promise to myself to de-clutter! 

Low sodium became kinda easy for me because I grew up with my aunt living in the house with us until I was in my early teens. We had to watch the sodium for her so now I check it automatically.

The bad part is I have been a salt-o-holic all my life. I have exotic salts from all over the world! I miss the pink Australian the most, it was a great finishing salt :( 

Honestly it has been easier than I thought it would be so far, I seem to have lowered my salt taste requirements fairly quickly. My sister and I were at the grocery store and they had cheese samples. She thought it was good and I thought it was salty as hell, so that's a good sign. I do miss the variety of a good finishing salt, they really do have different flavors and make a great finishing touch, but the general saltiness hasn't bothered me too badly. It's expensive too! Putting low sodium on a label means they get to double the price apparently. I've given most of the food I had away and am now working on replacing it with suitable alternatives. Luckily I don't eat out much, that is going to be hard. I used to enjoy an occasional Chinese delivery but that stuff is loaded with sodium. 

I didn't know you were supposed to watch sodium when you were diabetic. My mom is and I know she doesn't watch it, but she barely watches her carb intake. 

Salt-o-holic? Oh no, I'm so sorry they went after your vice. Years ago, I toyed with the idea of becoming vegan, but I could never, ever give up cheese. Unless something like this came along.

I've never heard of cutting sodium for diabetes either and it runs in my family, in fact my mom is a diabetic. I've only ever heard of lowering sodium for heart conditions and high cholesterol.

Randomness just popped in... If our Book-Club-in-a-Basement were holding a potluck, what would you bring? If you wanna to play this word-game-style, you'd use one word from the previous post. Poster 1 brings ham sandwiches which inspires poster 2 to bring ice cream sandwiches. Or not, bring what ever you're hungry for.

I'd bring kick-ass hot chocolate with whipped cream.

Controlling sodium in diabetics is something we teach only if the person also has high blood pressure or a heart condition in addition to the diabetes.  But, most of us could try to reduce the amount in our diets.  Canned foods are the worst, as are prepared foods and smoked meats.

For our potluck, I'd bring a homemade, not much salt added, hot chicken enchilada casserole with corn tortillas and a ton of cheese.  I tend to bring hearty main dishes (assuming it is winter like now) since so many of my potluck buddies like to make brownies.

What was explained to us at the nutrition classes my dh (& I) went to, is that it's much easier to keep the carbs under control if everything is moderated - too much salt or sugar triggers over-eating, that's why fast food places are so addictive.  He was diagnosed 5 years ago, and to date, we still have it under control with diet alone.  It's been well worth establishing better eating habits all around.

For a potluck, I'd bring shrimp quiche.

Yeah, it's not like a low sodium diet is a bad idea for anyone. Might as well go for it. My s-i-l is a nurse practitioner specializing in cardiac care and she's barely 30 but since this happened and her grandma having terminal cancer she said she's going to start practicing what she preaches and work on cutting their sodium too. 

I am a dessert baking fiend, I would probably bring a fancy cheesecake. I don't know what kind, I like to do different things with the flavors. 

Low sodium to me suggests cutting out most of it all together, that's the way we had to cook for my aunt.

For potluck I'd bring.... homemade cookies, probably butter cookies.

Random thought for today - I am sick of my office computer, so what do I do when I get home?  Get on the internet!!

Me too. Wait a minute...!

I hate my computers at work. They glitch all the time and they are touch screen, I have a horrible time with touch  screens.

Another random thought, I was coming out of the grocery store and noticed someone had put a flyer on my windshield.  I would love to have a car that would shout out when someone did that "hey, take that crap off my windshield!"

No the companies should be forced to clean up the parking lots the next day when they are littered with flyers.

That is the companies that pass out the fliers not the ones that own the parking lots.