We get most of our salt through processed foods, rather than something we add in cooking or at the table. So, I took a wandered around the kitchen, exploring all the food I had consumed. I learned some interesting things:
- My oatmeal is sodium free
- The milk I put in my oatmeal has quite a bit of naturally occurring sodium.
- The rest of my oatmeal ingredients were sodium free (flax seed, raisins, cinnamon, and walnuts)
- A banana, no problem
- The whole grain chips we buy at Costco were surprisingly low in sodium. I thought they would be terrible. Good thing, as we tend to buy 5 big bags each trip to SLC.
- The can of all-white chicken breast was terrible! It has half my day of sodium by itself.
Off to the grocery store. I am on a weight loss cycle, to compensate for my apparent winter slumber. When I exercise hard and try to lose weight, I snarf lots of protein. At the store, I grabbed a nice can of healthy, organic black beans.
Then I read the nutritional info. One can of beans (not re-fried) was as bad as my chicken. You literally had half your days salt. Who is packaging this stuff and what have we done to our taste buds? I wonder how much remains if you rinse the beans really well.
Then I found something that appeared to be at the other end of the spectrum. One of the Kashi cereals listed 13 grams of protein per serving and 10 grams of fiber. My God! That's incredible for cereal. How do they do it?
Then I saw the ingredients, which they kindly put on the front of the box: "Naturally Sweetened Fiber Twigs". Yuck! I'm pretty sure I could get a lot of fiber in my diet if I hung out with beavers.
So, I continue my search for those rare healthy, but tasty foods.
Oh, one more surprise. The can of mixed nuts (again, from Costco) was bad for calories and fat, but surprisingly low in sodium, even though they are sold as "Salted". I checked another can of peanuts. I could eat several fistfuls of nuts and get less sodium than from a cup of organic milk. You just never know.
5 comments:
Steve,
Try Kashi Go Lean Crunch. Not as much protein as Go Lean, but tasty.
And have you ever tried protein shake powder? There is a brand at GNC called Extreme Wheybolic (though I haven't bought it in awhile and I think it's now called Amplified Wheybolic Extreme 60). I like the vanilla and only use one scoop (20 grams protein) in my smoothies.
Laurie
Laurie, I was actually buying the Go Lean Crunch for Julie when I saw the other. I'm an oatmeal kind of guy most of the time.
Julie has used some protein powder in her smoothies, which I try every once in a while. Most seem to make it chalky to me. Did you have that experience with the GNC brand?
I don't think it tastes chalky. I mix it with fruit (usually frozen strawberries) and milk and sometimes Greek yogurt (which adds more protein). I think it tastes like a milk shake. I haven't bought it in awhile because a large container goes a long way, so I'm not sure if they've changed the formulation along with the name. Hopefully not. The directions say to use 3 scoops (60 grams of protein) in water, but that's pretty extreme.
Have you seen Eden Organic canned beans? They claim no added salt (black beans 30mg) and they also use cans that don't have that carcinogenic can liner that everyone was in an uproar about a couple of years ago. I've seen them in Whole Foods as well as on Amazon.com.
If it wasn't hear 200 years ago, don't eat it. salt. i just posted something about that on my website. nothing canned, nothing processed, and i can put whatever sea salt I want to on anything i eat. good thought provoking post!
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