And a Few More Things...

1) It does not matter how many brands of low-salt or no-salt peanut butter you buy - if your kid is not a peanut eater to begin with, eliminating the salt is not going to change that scenario.

2) It is possible to make a no-salt pizza dough, but it is a whole lot easier if you remember to put the setting on dough and not bread. Oops. Low-sodium bread crumbs maybe?

3) Featuring recipes with pictures would be a good idea, if only my family wasn't so hungry by the time I get dinner pulled together. Usually, we are halfway through the meal when I remember I wanted to take a picture. I don't think anyone would appreciate those pictures.

4) It is possible to make no-salt dill pickles that are apparently quite appealing to someone whose taste buds are adapting to this whole new low-sodium thing.

5) Frosted Mini-Wheats have no sodium. None. Zippo. Nada milligram. But the chocolate version preferred by the low-sodium gal? 240mg per/serving. Bummer.

6) There exists such a thing as no-salt added ketchup.

7) Companies that put the basics of their nutritional information on the front of the package are doing a great service for moms like me, and the poor shelf-stockers who come in at night and wonder why so many of their cans are turned backwards.

8) There may or may not be such a thing as low-sodium Worcestershire Sauce. Two states, four cities and eight stores later, I am leaning towards not. Although I have cooked with Worcestershire Sauce for years, I have no idea what it is. Maybe the European answer to soy sauce? (If it wasn't for spell check, this little low sodium fact would have not made the list.)

9) Five Guys is a fairly good choice for dining out if you are limiting your sodium intake. They were even nice enough to set aside one portion of our fries before salting them.

10) Another pizza tip - read the dough recipe carefully. It might actually make two crusts and not one. You won't realize this when you roll the dough out. It's not until you look in your oven and see your thin crust pizza looking like a Chicago style pizza on steroids that you will begin to think you should pay better attention to the fine print at the bottom of the recipe. Or maybe it's time to get new glasses.

This is the low sodium pizza - no salt in the crust or sauce, half Swiss cheese to lower the sodium content even more. 

This one wasn't quite as low sodium, but that's okay because the low-sodium gal doesn't like shrimp. You can't tell, but there's some fresh basil under the cheese. This was before the crust blimped up like the Pillsbury Dough Boy.

*** Again, sorry that there are only before pictures and none after they came out of the oven. The time from oven to mouth was so short that I wasn't able to snap any more pictures. Recipes to follow once we get them perfected.

Ten Things I've a Learned in Ten Days

Yep, it has only been ten days since we've embarked upon this low sodium journey. The learning curve is pretty steep. But we're learning, and that's what counts.

Here are a few things I've learned:

1) The seasoning Lemon Pepper should be more accurately called, Lemon Pepper Flavored Salt.  Mrs. Dash's makes a pretty good alternative.

2) Subway may be a healthy alternative fast food option for most people, but the low sodium options are pretty much limited to a 6-inch Veggie Delight. Not exactly something most 13 year olds are clamoring for.

3) You can actually make a halfway decent low sodium burrito using a quinoa tortilla, low sodium refried beans (canned or make your own - something I will eventually try) and limited amount of shredded cheese.

4) Tastebuds do change after cutting out the sodium, even after only 10 days!

5) Really sweet things that aren't really good for you are often good low sodium alternative - like cotton candy. You gotta find something to eat at the county fair or the ball park!

6) A shake of salt is about 40 mg of sodium.

7) Homemade mac n' cheese can be low-sodiumified by using half sharp cheddar cheese and half Swiss cheese, and of course eliminating the salt.

8) You can find a no sodium bread, but it is blah. Might be better to go low sodium in the bread arena and cut the salt elsewhere.

9) If you go to a burger joint that grills their burgers, besides holding the condiments, you can ask for them to not sprinkle grill seasoning on your burger. Not sure how much sodium this saves you, but it is something.

10) Gluten free is the new low-fat. It's everywhere - little signs on the store shelves, on the products themselves, advertised in store fliers. I guess that is because so many people have discovered they are either allergic or feel so much better with out it. Apparently low sodium fare has not hit its "Hay Day" yet. Waiting for that day.

~ Til next time, have a low salt, but flavorful day!

One Week Ago....

1) We were plodding along in our normal, ordinary, sodium filled lives unaware of the changes that laid in waiting around the corner.

2) We would have thought FSGS was just something that happened randomly when you stirred your Alphabet  Soup, not that we ever thought about it.

3) We thought canned Alphabet Soup (or any canned soup for that matter) was a healthy lunch option.

4) We thought low sodium soy sauce was a healthy alternative.

5) We had no idea that we would spend hours wandering the grocery store aisles reading food labels on a seemingly impossible quest for low sodium food.

One week ago we went to bed thinking we'd be seeing the doctor in the morning, no idea our daughter would be admitted to the hospital, undergo a kidney biopsy, and emerge from the hospital two days later with a diagnosis we could not say, nor spell.

One week later we are just at the beginning of this journey and the first change we need to make is to drastically reduce our daughter's sodium intake. Looks like we will all join along on this low sodium lifestyle with her. I am hoping this blog will help us in some way. If nothing else, our gal will be able to look back and see how far we've come.

Here's where I'd close with some salt-free quip or low sodium slogan, but I got nothin' ....

So long for now.