March 1, 2007
day 10 
It actually was dry, though grey, overcast and pretty damn cold, this morning, so I rode the bike. It was beautiful. A lovely, pokey ride.
And even though I was consciously going slow, the ride seemed to fly. It's like time collapses. It was sweet.
And, I actually had a bicyclist say good morning to me as he passed me.
The ETL Experience continues. I think I'm following the rules, and then I realize, oh, I'm not. Like the other day, I realized that I had bought a pile of vegan packaged food that all had added salt, and added salt is a no-no. I went through my collection of cans of beans and tomatoes, and I didn't have a single one with no salt added. Some of my soups had as much sodium in one serving as I'm supposed to eat in one day. Yikes.
So that inspired the trip to Whole Paycheck the other day, which, truth be told, was pretty disappointing. They have a couple of types of beans no-salt from their house brand, and one type of tomatoes (imported, natch).
Then last night, I cooked my dinner which I thought was going to be excellent: (salt-free) tomatoes, tofu, and (50% low-sodium) white northern beans with a little basil and red pepper flakes. Oh, I couldn't wait to eat it. And then I sat down with a bowl of it, and ugh. I ate it, because I'm trying not to be such a primadonna about these things. It's just food, vj, don't have a fit.
One of the things that I used to love when I was single was noodles with plain tomatoes, straight out of the can. But I realize now that they may well have had salt & sugar added. Oh well.
I start to freak out about this stuff, and then I think, it's not that big of a deal. I'll get there when I get there. The whole idea of making this huge abrupt change is crazy... really, you need to transition into these things if you want people to stick around. At least, people like me. I've had an entire lifetime eating salt and sugar and while the crash course idea is great, I just don't know how practical it is.
I want to make changes that are going to improve my health longterm. And I am already seeing positive changes. I've already halved my heartburn meds. I feel great.
All of this will be tested week after next in Houston. I'm planning to load up on fruit, and try to eat a couple pieces for or before each meal. In the past, Houston has been a tex-mex binge, and I will go off plan — but I'm trying not to have it be a train wreck.
Anyone have suggestions for healthy food/salad bars in Houston?
Posted at March 1, 2007
Comments
I totally agree with the "I'll get there when I get there" philosophy.
And I also think some of these rules take care of themselves, for the most part... think of all the processed stuff (and sugar and sodium) you're NOT eating just by meeting the raw veggie requirements. Even after several months the finer points of ETL are still something I work towards.
As for the beans, the best way to cut back on sodium is to buy them dried and soak and cook them yourself (and it's way cheap, too). It's not fast, but it's kind of fun to take a weekend to make and freeze a few different kinds.
Posted by: Wendy at March 1, 2007 10:29 AM
This may not be what you were hoping for, but there are four Whole Foods stores in Houston...
Posted by: heather w at March 1, 2007 5:10 PM