So Simple a Busy Mommy Can Do It

Here is another lesson in a healthy diet brought to you by moi.

A normal adult requires 500 mg of sodium per day. Sodium, in small amounts, regulates our blood pressure, helps our muscles contract, and helps balance our bodily fluids and pH levels.

You can get 500mg of sodium in 1/4 teaspoon of table salt!

Most people do not realize how much salt they consume on a daily basis. It is reported that the average American eats 4000-6000 mg of sodium per day.

Too much sodium leads to high blood pressure, which can cause heart attack, stroke, and heart failure, among other things.

In my family...

We read labels.

We try to stay away from pre-packaged foods. (You would be amazed and disgusted at how much sodium is in some of those frozen meals you are buying!)

We use sea salt instead of table salt.

We always buy the "no salt added" choice. Most canned goods have a no salt added option, as do a lot of other things these days.

Last week I accidentally bought a regular carton of chicken broth instead of the sodium-free broth. When I compared the two, I was amazed at the difference:

Making conscious choices about what foods you choose to purchase is the simplest way to a healthy diet. Anyone can easily make these choices and your body will thank you for years!

Hey Y'all

The two hours my butt spent glued to the couch was well worth it after watching Britney Spears: For The Record tonight. (I say two hours because I faithfully watched Desperate Housewives as well). Britney really did what she set out to do with this. She came across as a smart, capable, loving person who just got a little lost. I have been a big fan of hers since the beginning of her career and have been rooting her on throughout her "meltdown". I am ridiculously happy at the good place she seems to be in now and I hope that things only get better for her.

We had a great Thanksgiving. We went to my aunt and uncle's house Thursday morning for a meal with my mom's side of the family, then we went to Joe's dad's house Thursday evening for another great meal. Friday evening we went to my great aunt and uncle's house to visit with my dad's side of the family and eat some more. Saturday was supposed to be our day of rest but we spent it cleaning, doing yard work, and putting up our Christmas decorations. I can't say I regret that because everything looks great. Today we relaxed for most of the day and then around 5 we went to my parents' house for a Thanksgiving meal with just our immediate family. My mom had a turkey, rice and gravy, dumplings, broccoli casserole, and a chocolate pie. It was delicious, I'm getting hungry just describing it!

We made a great purchase on Saturday. Joe went to Big Lots to get another strand of icicle lights and ended up spotting a deal we couldn't walk away from - a laptop! We have been using a desktop computer ever since we first moved in together. It came from my family's house and we had used it for a few years before that. Needless to say, it is getting a bit outdated. Not to mention it lacks the convenience of a laptop. If I take online college classes this Spring, a laptop will make it 10000000x easier. Anyway, it was a great deal. A few of our local Circuit City's are closing and had sold some of their stock to Big Lots to sell. Big Lots marked down the prices quite a bit. It's an HP Pavilion Entertainment PC, and it looks to be fully loaded. Built in webcam, DVD re-writable drive, loaded with Microsoft Office and all that....any way, I am so excited. Right now I'm blogging from bed, laying back on my heating pad. I forsee lots more late night blog posting.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and are getting into the holiday spirit. I'm going to try to get to all of your blogs tomorrow, sorry I'm slacking a bit. Goodnight!