So you think you know about salt. I thought I did, but there was a lot I did
not know. I was busy working and did not
watch the Doctors or the Dr.Oz show to learn about sodium, high blood pressure,
and stroke. We did not have a DVR back then.
I learned about those three things the hard way. Life calls that- consequences. Mine was a
stroke that left me legally blind. I thought that I was eating healthy. I knew all about sugar and its
consequences. We all know about those
consequences when we look in the mirror, try on our summer shorts, and visit
the dentist.
Early in life I was addicted to sugar. I never had a cavity until I got married. I could now eat all the sugar coated cereal I wanted along with sweet treats. I also lost a tooth due to decay during the first years of marriage. In my teen years, I wanted to get a job working in a bakery. (Ferd’s on Vinton Street). Not because I loved baking cakes, cookies, and pastries, but I loved to eat them. When looking back on this addiction to sweets, I was not overweight. Thank you Lord. I was too cheap or thrifty as I call it, to spend my own money on sweets. I and my best friend and neighbor Suzanne would walk home from South High after school just to save 20 cents on bus fare, which I got from my mom that morning. While all the cool kids were stopping at McDonalds or A & W on 24th Street, we stopped at Safeway and I spend my 20 cent bus fare to buy a package of Sno Balls. Can’t remember what Suzanne bought or how many packages of Hostess treats you could buy with 20 cents back in the late 60’s. Let me know if anyone remembers. Also is there a cent sign on a keyboard? So I don’t have to type the word cent.
Yes, grandkids
your grandma had to walk miles and miles and down small hills and flat roads in
warm weather to get home from school back in the olden days. I walked from 24th and K to 15th
and Vinton area, not sure how many miles that was. If you
are too young to know what a Sno Ball is, it is a sweet treat of choc.cake with
a cream center and pink and white marshmallow frosting with coconut sprinkles. This is the point in which I need to take a
short break from writing. Not a potty
break but an afternoon sweet snack break.
I have no sugary snacks in my house!
I just lied. I do have two cartons
of frozen yogurt, that Pat bought when he went to the store by himself. I am trying to forget about that sweet snack. We maybe down to only one since it’s been a
week. I did not eat any frozen yogurt. I
will have a banana, an orange cutie, dried apricot, or some honey coated
almonds instead.
Break over. Back
then I lived at home, and we did not have a lot of sweets around. We may have had sweets, but by the time I got
home from work or school they had been eaten by my father, brothers, or
sister. My Grandma Em baked every
Saturday for us. My job was to walk over
to her house to pickup our Sat. dinner and dessert. Yes, I ate my share plus others while
visiting her and on the walk home. Side
note for my daughter Julie: That is why
I let my grandkids eat all they want or graze as you call it. Yes, Grandma’s Restaurant is open all day and
night long. It is even open in the wee
hours of the morning when I am still sleeping.
They are allowed to quietly get a yogurt from the fridge to hold them
over until the sun comes up. The two
boys don’t know how to tell time yet.
They will then wake me up and tell me the sun is up and it is time to
get up because they are still hungry.
Later in life, I learned to avoid sugar. I stopped drinking pop. I taught my students about the consequences
of sugar and how much sugar was in a can of pop. You know that lesson. Measure out the teaspoons of sugar in a can
of pop and then ask if anyone wants to eat this cup of sugar. After teaching about sugar one day I looked
over and I student was drinking something from a paper bag. He would take a drink and then look around
the room. My curiosity got to me and I
had to check. He was a good kid, so I knew
it was not alcohol. It was a can of pop or soda as Angie calls it. He was hiding it and did not want to get in
trouble for drinking pop. I did have to turn in one of my middle school
students for drinking alcohol from a mouth wash container. Middle school age students are not the
brightest. You don’t stand out in the
open during passing time and drink mouth wash, it is used for rinsing.
I do relapse and eat too many sweets at holidays, special events, and the dreaded BUFFETS. That word just sent a chill done my spine. After a relapse, I pay the consequences. It has happened a few times. The last time it was at a wedding and I could not decide which cake to eat, so I had both. Then I had another piece later in the evening. Yes, 3 pieces in one evening, I am a sugar addict. The road to recovery is tough. I was sick for days and had a bad case of brain fog, plus other consequences, too embarrassing to mention.
This
getting off the sugar may have postponed having a stroke at a younger age. Most sugar loaded items are also loaded with
salt. One donut has 12 grams of sugar
and 200 mg of sodium. A very small piece
of chocolate cake has 214 mg of sodium.
Those in my age group should keep our daily intake to 1,300 mg of
sodium. Our bodies only need 500 mg of salt. Some of us are salt sensitive
which means that your blood pressure goes up as a response to eating increased
amounts of sodium. Strokes run in my
family. My dad, mother, and brother each had a stroke. My mother had her stroke when she was living
off ham and crackers. We found a fourth
of a ham in her fridge and empty boxes of crackers surrounding her bed with a
floor covered in paper plates. She was
living off of ham and crackers. No fresh
fruits or vegetables in her fridge. We just
found processed foods in fridge and cupboards along with a freezer containing
hot dogs and lunch meats.
You
would have thought that I had learned something from my mother. But NO we don’t listen to our moms or the
lessons that they share. Before my
stroke I was living off of popcorn, and not the low salt kind. I was on the blood pressure meds, but they
were masking what was really wrong with me. I remember one day at lunch, I was warming up
my bowl of vegetables and then reached for the salt shaker and loaded on the
salt. My school nurse said, “Rene that
is a lot of salt.” I thought to myself,
at least I am eating healthy vegetables.
I had traded my sugar addiction for salt. I was so busy with school activities, that I was
not taking the time to exercise and eat healthy foods. I would eat popcorn at school and then
popcorn at night. Pat did the cooking
back then, since I got home so late.
That meant pasta, pizza, and more pasta.
I was also not dealing with the school stress in my life. So the day of my stroke was full of stress
and an unhealthy diet.
Back to consequences: High blood pressure leads to stroke which
leads to death. According to my doctor
on a scale of 1-10 my stroke was a 10 with death being I guess an 11. I was just trying to make a joke. You know how often they ask about pain
levels. My neurosurgeon did not have a
sense of humor. After she left, Angie
said she was rolling her eyes at me and my question of 1-10. Don’t roll your eyes at a blind person, you
never know who else is watching.
Still
after the stroke I was to watch my intake of sodium. The meds I came home with made me so sick that
I did not want to eat. I knew I needed
to eat, so I forced myself to eat canned chicken soup with 910 mg of sodium in
a serving and I was eating many servings.
No wonder I made another trip to the ER when my blood pressure went up
into the 200’s. I never thought to read
the labels. I have learned to read
labels now. Let’s put it this way, I try
to eat non labeled foods. I tried a variety of blood pressure meds and all with
many side effects. One med had side
effects of blurred vision, that one worried me the most. Without my glasses I had lived in a world of
blurred vision, but now a blind person with a little bit of vision with
glasses, I can’t take the chance of developing blurry vision. At times I do get blurry vision, but those who
wear glasses know what causes that. It
is time to clean the glasses. The meds kept the blood pressure down, but then I
was dizzy and light headed. Another
side effect of the drug I was on. My
doctor took me off all meds, so now I really have to watch what I eat, get
exercise, and drink plenty of water. Did
you know that ham, hot dogs, corned beef, Chinese foods, processed foods, flour
wraps, and pizza are loaded with salt? When
I ate these items they raised my blood pressure. I take my blood pressure daily. If it is higher than usual, I stop and think
about what I ate. Then I try to avoid
eating it again.
A doctor friend that I know has always said that
medications will mask what is wrong with you.
I heard Dr.Oz and Dr. Travis Stork, the cute doctor on the Doctors TV
show say that same thing. Taking the blood pressure meds masked what I needed
to do: exercise, eat healthy, and drink water.
I need to stop now because I need to get a drink and go downstairs to
exercise on my bike for an hour while I watch Dr. Oz. I can’t watch Dr. Oz and not exercise. I also went to the gym for an hour this
morning and worked on weights and cardio.
I am just trying to stay busy and healthy.
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