Salt. Table salt, sea salt, kosher salt…all repeatedly drop bombs on my otherwise healthy living program and show no signs of retreat. I have fought them before, but to no avail, succumbing repeatedly to their powerful assault. It is a sad defeat for a “healthy person” with a vegan and mostly-organic diet, athletic pursuits, and even a preference for complex vs. simple carbs.
A description of my ongoing battle…
Each day at work, at lunchtime, I take out of the refrigerator, with pride, the more-than-substantial salad that I painstakingly crafted the previous evening. I gaze at the fresh mixed greens, baby spinach leaves, crimson grape tomatoes, crisp cucumber slices, meaty walnut halves and burgundy kidney beans, all tossed with just a touch of seasoned rice vinegar for “dressing.” They prepare to be ingested and savored, and are ready to elevate my bodily function and disease-fighting abilities to a new peak. Offering high fiber, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals galore, it is perfect! I am the queen of health!
And then I grab the shaker and shake, shake, shake, shake, shake on the salt.
Do I taste my salad first?
No.
Do I think about how salt negatively affects your blood pressure level, working to raise it to its own peak?
Briefly, but then dismiss.
Do I consider information that correlates ingesting high sodium levels to worsening of osteoporosis or stomach cancer?
Absolutely not.
You get the picture.
I’m not sure why my desire for salt continues to attack me. Is it because I train for the occasional 10K? Doesn’t seem like that could be responsible for excessive salt loss, and thus require consistent sodium over-consumption. Is it because my earliest happy eating memories include potato chips and salted popcorn? Maybe that’s the taste I mentally equate with those glorious days of youth and yummy snacks?
Maybe it’s not even a craving–just an old habit.
Whatever the cause, I have resolved (again) to make a change. I will beat back those salt shaker enemies and force their surrender. I will grab packages of pre-mixed herbs and spices with gusto! I will let lemon juice be my taste guide. I will swim in the pungent sea of garlic…allowing myself not even an occasional slip into that sea of white flavor that apparently brings me so much dining pleasure.
Battle on! Right after this shake.
corriganmendezmusings 