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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Salt and Seeds

I don't think I used to be affected by salt the way I am now. Possibly because I used to eat a lot more salt than I currently do and was more adjusted to it? There have been three instances in the past few months when I woke up with puffy face, eyes, full feeling, gross. And it didn't totally go away until I woke the next day.  Well, still unsure about the third time.

Instance #1 - Overindulging of salt at home. Homemade sushi rolls doused in soy sauce, miso soup, and gyoza's, doused in dumpling sauce. The next day I could hardly squint, though I was so puffy, I was almost squinting anyway.


Instance #2 - Red Lobster. I looked up my meal the next day online to see the sodium content, it was well over 2000mg. Disgusting.


Instance #3 - Last night - feta cheese. I ate a lot - maybe 2.5 servings with my eggs, and more while I was chopping it up and cooking.  The puffinss is not as severe as the first 2 times, but one of my gf's commented on it this morning - before I even realized.  I couldn't figure out why my face felt so tired and stiff.


Does anyone else have problems like this?  It's all so new to me.  Very frustrating - puffy from feta?  Is that even possible?


On to the eats:  Breakfast. Back to basics. :) Dorset cereal, blueberries and almond milk.  I wish I could thrill you all with the breakfasts I see other blogger eating  - beautiful fruity oats, oat breakfast cookies, mixed hot grain cereals...
The fruit salad has been tasting pretty good lately, so I made another batch last night.  Grapefruit, oranges, blueberries and kiwi.  I also dove into the other half of yesterdays Cliff bar.
Lunch is the exact same as yesterday - quinoa, red peppers, mushrooms, spinach, dressing (sesame oil, rice vinegar, lemon juice, soy sauce) and also some celery and hummus.
Mid afternoon I was not hungry, but bored, so I had an apple.
Did some grocery shopping after work and went home.  Ate a bunch of raisins.
Then made a batch of Katie's Baby's.

Today I used dates, cashews, macadamia nut butter, few teaspoons of cocoa powder and forgot the vanilla, but didn't notice a difference, except maybe they were a bit crumbly.  The coconut I really like to add at the end.  I ate a bunch of them.  Tasty!  And better than any Larabar I've had.

Dinner was pasta.  I had about 40g ww noodles and the tiniest bit of white noodles you see peeking out.  I love white noodles, and last night had to have just a bit of what I made for the Shepherd.  The sauce is from a jar, and added is a can of tuna and a bunch of green olives.  I know it sounds crazy.  One visit to a friend in Europe her family made this, the Shepherd and I thought it was going to be a horrible dinner, turned out amazing.  It really is a good good combo!
Then topped with a big load of sauteed veggies and some parmesan cheese.
A great surprise came in the mail today!  My first 2 orders of seeds, a couple more to go.  The first package I opened was from Terra EdiblesI love this company.  Small, heirloom veggies, rare seeds.  I met one of the owners at a Seeds of Diversity event last year, and told her how pleased I was that the Yellow Striped Roman tomato was on the cover of her catalogue.  I think she was pleased I knew what it was.  It IS one of my favorite looking tomatoes.  I don't order a lot of seeds from them, they are expensive, but a few that I can't find anywhere else are a MUST!  The second package was from OSC seeds, and upon opening it, I realized I ordered far too few seeds.  I'll be ordering more today.  Most of these seed packages are more than triple size what you would buy in a store, they just don't look like it here.  The brown envelopes contain a regular amount of seeds.  I buy my seeds mostly by weight.

A few weeks and it's time to seed.  Can't wait for market season, for summer and to get my hands dirty.  Bring it on!

Jess

3 comments:

  1. Are those candy cane beet sees I see there? Those are my favourite!

    I tried to make Katie's babies once and my food processor started smoking! I was pretty sad about that.

    My Mom gets puffy from too much salt. She was drinking Perrier a lot in the summer and realized that was the culprit.

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  2. lol...."not hungry, but bored"
    ~ cute!

    I am overwhelmed with excitement after reading your post! I CAN'T WAIT either for spring to arrive!! seeds....oh the beauty of them......

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  3. Hi Jessica,

    Thanks for stopping by at my blog.

    I hate puffy eyes and get them easily too! I am sure you know that msg is terrible for your eyes (and other things). And some people are more sensitive to it than others. But, glutamate is equally bad for some who are sensitive. Glutamate is something that occurs naturally in certain foods. Here is a list: soy sauce, fish sauce, anchovies, lobster, shrimp, crab, ripe tomatoes, parmesan cheese (other cheese too), seaweed and to some extent all poultry, meat, fish, dairy and eggs. Puh, I guess that only leaves fruit, veggies and grains :). Glutamate is what gives food the umami taste (the fifth taste).

    Puffiness is much more related to glutamate than sodium. Our body works pretty well at regulating water/sodium. Alcohol is sometimes also a problem. And looking at the food you ate, this seems to make perfect sense.

    Hope this helped. No at least we know what to avoid when we really CANNOT be puffy! haha

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