Low Sodium vs. High Potassium for Lowering Blood Pressure

All salt is not created equal! Eating a diet full of processed/ fast foods packed with tons of sodium isn't a good idea! Salting your freshly prepared whole food with a good quality mineralized salt is a perfectly healthy habit! We need the minerals that a high quality salt provides. (Our fav is Pink Salt)

What about people with high blood pressure? Studies have shown that lowering sodium has only a minimal effect on lowering blood pressure. In addition, an extremely low sodium diet has been found to increase the risk of cardiovascular complications. So lowering your salt intake to the USDA recommended amount of 1500mg may not be a healthy choice.

So what can you do? Eating more potassium rich fruits and vegetables is a healthier way to decrease blood pressure. Potassium is important in transmitting electrical impulses to the heart and has been shown to lower blood pressure. Less than 2% of adult Americans meet the recommended 4700 mg of potassium per day. Optimal amounts can reduce the risk of stroke, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, kidney stones and high blood pressure. Many of the high potassium foods are starchy, but these are the perfect carbohydrates to include in your diet. (Limit or eliminate the breads, pasta and cereals instead). Here is a list of high potassium foods and the amount of potassium contained in approximately 1 cup serving. Surprise! Bananas are not at the top of the list! So eliminate processed foods, add liberal amounts of healthy salt to fresh whole foods and enjoy lots of the following foods each day.

Baked potato 897 mg
Steamed spinach 839 mg
Cooked plantain 716 ( a favorite food of ours)
Avocado 708
4 dates 668 mg
Acorn squash 644 mg
Butternut squash baked 582 mg
Parsnips boiled 572 mg
Cooked pumpkin 564 mg
Sweet potato 542
Banana 537 mg
Portobello mushrooms 529 mg
Cooked tomatoes 523 mg
Cooked beets 518 mg
Cantaloupe 427 mg

The Emotional Eater (Crystal)

So just when you think you've got it all under control....
the past few months have been very challenging. I've experienced so much worry, grief and stress that I watched myself fall right back in to old habits. It's as if October through January I was taken over by an eating alien. The whole month after my stepdad died, I couldn't stand to exercise and food was comfort. In my head I knew that not nourishing myself wasn't going to help, but I didn't even care.
I am lucky... and grateful that all of the hard work I've done over the past year strengthened my body to protect it from going down hill again. So I know I have to get myself back in to gear. I can't get discouraged by my mistakes and I have return to where I was at my healthiest. So I'm finding different ways to handle these emotions. Getting myself more organized, decluttering and resting. I'm finding my creative outlets and letting them flourish again. I am reclaiming my emotional center and once again renegotiating the terms of my relationship with food.
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Still Plugging Along (Dawn)

I seemed to have disappeared out of the blogging world but I am still plugging along in the sugar, dairy, gluten, corn, soy and alcohol free world. What's left to eat you ask! I am pleasantly surprised to say how easy and satisfying this way of eating has been MOST of the time! Have I cheated? Absolutely!! But the commitment to change my diet has tremendously reduced my intake of the above mentioned foods and packaged process foods. It feels great most of the time! My sugar "cheats" have been a paleo bar with 18g of raw honey once a week. ( it is a far cry from a cupcake and ice cream but I find it satisfies my craving!) When I am out with friends for a drink I have been happy with one vodka and soda water! Do I miss a cold beer on occasion ? Yup! But it's not worth the bloating I used to get! Eating a healthy dish out can be a challenge at times. Finding restaurant food with absolutely no sugar is almost impossible but I lightened up and decided a little on occasion is a big improvement!! I decided I really wanted some deep fried chips and yummy salsa out one night and gave in to my temptation but found I was happy to stop after a handful of chips instead of two basketfuls!! The afternoon visit to the pantry for chips has stopped. I don't feel deprived when I leave a restaurant without dessert. The cravings are gone most of the time! The point here is I am looking at how much my diet has improved, my cravings reduced and my willpower has remained instead of beating myself up for cheating here and there! If this way of eating seems too difficult for you, I just encourage you to start small- make one change in your diet that you know you need to make. If you have a bad day, so be it. Start again the next day and before you know it you will have many more good days than bad and see positive results!


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A Small Rant about the Scale (Crystal)

    I tell my patients this all the time... "Check your weight once a week on the same scale. Your weight can fluctuate daily and it is just going to cause more emotional issues if you check it every day."

    This was easy for me to say when I didn't own a scale! I am starting weight loss programs for women and I also do school physicals, so about 3 weeks ago I finally had my office manager/sister go get us a scale for the office. She brings back this fancy weight watchers one that measures your weight perfectly to the ounce! So what do I do? I step on it within minutes. 165.5. What?!? I've been on this cleanse again for 2 weeks and have gained a pound and a half?

The logical woman in my head is going "Ummmm... you know every scale is different."

I don't stop here. I have been stepping on that scale every day ever since. A few days later it read 164.9 and stayed there for a week. Then it was 164.0 for a week. I started to get really upset about this.

When I started the cleanse in January I wasn't doing it for weight loss. I was really trying to get to the root of health problems I was having and weight loss was just a nice side effect. Now that the way I eat is just the way I live my life and not a diet, I really don't have to try too hard to stick with it. I thought that being strict again was going to bring me down to my goal weight pretty quickly. (152 pounds is my goal weight.) I have never even been under 170 as an adult, so already I am feeling pretty good about the way I look and feel, but I am a woman just like any other and of course the emotional reaction was "I eat sooo healthy and excercise all the time. What more can I do?!?!I might as well eat whatever!"

To answer my own question- RELAX!!!! I know that when you make positive changes in your activity and diet this is how it goes.... The first 2 weeks you loose water weight and toxins. The next several weeks your cortisol and blood sugar levels out, you gain lean muscle for a while and THEN you see some weight loss.

So yesterday I stepped on the scale and it was 162.9. "So I'm NOT doomed to be 164 FOREVER?!?!"
It has been 30 days on the candida cleanse. My body finally understands what I am trying to do. Today it was 160.9. I may have to lock that scale somewhere. I know I am doing the right things for my body, so I just need to take my own advice and listen to my inner physician.

One Thing Leads to Another.... (Crystal)

There comes a time in any relationship when long after the break-up there is still some connection that still remains. You know what I am talking about... that sweater, that box of pictures..that chord you haven't cut. Even though I have been working on this emotional release since January I have to admit that there are a few things that I would call "crutches." As I find non-toxic options in my relationship with food these are the things I find myself willing to go to the store late at night for.

1. Coffee - those of you who know me well, understand that this is my absolute favorite food product. I gave up my cream and sugar and drink it with a splash of almond milk and cinnamon, but I can honestly say I am very unhappy when I don't have coffee.
2. Almond Butter- I wait all day to have this 300 calorie snack. It's full of protein and fat- something I shouldn't be eating at 10pm while watching the Big Bang Theory.
3. Vodka. The Candida Cure says to eliminate alcohol and if you do drink, to make it vodka. For some reason in my brain this gives me permission to drink as long as its Vodka. I definitely have improved in the frequency of alcohol consumption, but I haven't fully let go of this crutch at the end if stressful days and it really only lengthens my journey of curing candida.

So I guess I still have some old sweaters hanging around that I need to find the strength to let go of as I sever emotional ties with food. No part of this is easy, but just like pushing yourself through a workout, you have to move past your comfort levels to become stronger. I am in no way going to give these all up at once and tell myself I can never have them again, but I have to get to a point where I don't "need" these things. They are just choices like eggs or an apple. I don't get upset when I am out of apples or asparagus.


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Pizza Time! (Crystal)

I thought I would share one of my favorite "quick meals." Veggie Pizza! There are many variations if this that I have made and each one has been so delicious it feels like cheating.






Ingredients:
Sami's Bakery Millet and Flax Pizza Crust
Organic (no sugar) tomato or pizza sauce
Oregano
Olive Oil
Veggies of choice (this one has Kale, red peppers and tomatoes, but I often use onions, spinach, green peppers and fresh basil)

Preheat oven to 350
Cook onions, green or red peppers on stovetop over medium heat in olive oil
slightly wilt kale or spinach
spread pizza sauce on crust and sprinkle oregano
add cooked veggies and raw tomatoes
drizzle olive oil over top
Cook for 11-15 minutes until crust is slightly golden on edges

I promise you won't miss the cheese!

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Good Morning Sunshine (Dawn)

Even though I have never been "addicted" to coffee, I do enjoy the warmth and ritual of a mug off organic coffee with sweetened soy milk on the weekends. I had my version of a "healthy" latte that was just sweet enough and emotionally satisfying. Well it still had lots of sugar and soy which are not part of the candida cure way of life. (Actually I was quite surprised at how much sugar it was in my little bit of soy milk) So here is my new version which I find almost as satisfying! I love the warmth of the chai spices and I still get to enjoy the comfort of the relationship with my mug :)
Unsweetened almond milk, 7 drops of stevia, 1 chai tea bag in my mug and a couple paleo biscuits watching the rising sun is very satisfying!








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