Friend and Foe

Today has been a rough one...I received my monthly gift from mother nature, and all you gals know about the cravings that come with THAT one...plus, because of said gift, I'm bloated and retaining water. GRR!!! Normally, when I retain water (which isn't often), I know why. Usually its because I overloaded on one of my biggest diet derailers: salt.

Ever since I was a little fat girl, I have LOVED salt. The salt shaker (right next to that evil sneeze-inducing pepper shaker whom I now love) was forever a fixture on our kitchen table. I reached for the salt shaker without ever tasting the 'naked' food. I also come from a long line of salt lovers. I love my dad dearly, but his salt habit is worse than mine was. He is the guy at McD's that adds more salt to the hash brown patty at breakfast (something that appalled my hubby at first, but he's cool now). My dad is the great salt lover, and from the stories he tells me, so were my grandparents who died when I was young. I loved salt.

Being on constant diets has taught me something...sodium is essential to a healthy diet. IN MODERATION!!! Table salt is a baaaaad thing. Nature is kind enough in most instances to give us all the sodium we need in foods that are undoctored and unprocessed. The diet foods I am using (and all diet food is NOT created equally), has minimal salt in it. It provides exactly what I am supposed to have! Needless to say, I have gone through somewhat of a "detox" from salt. Its HARD! My lunch today was NASTY, and the first thing I wanted to do was reach for the salt shaker. I didn't, but I also couldn't choke down the 'minestrone' soup from Medifast (don't even go there people!!!).

I had to find something else to eat. I wasn't ready to rip open another medifast packet to try something else. My body wanted something else. My eyes were drawn to the Quaker Oat man on the rolled oats box (its not really a box though...its round...cylinder?). This I could do! I cooked up a serving, added 1 tsp pecans for the fat I need for the day, 1 tsp brown sugar, and 1/4 tsp cinnamon. YUMMY!!! Oatmeal, and I'm not talking about the packeted fruit-and-cream-with-way-too-much-sugar-variety, is my new best friend! So filling! I ate it about 4.5 hours ago and I am still going strong. Oats have lots of other benefits too. When I am off the pre-packaged meals I am certain that oatmeal will be a daily staple.

So, there you have it friends...PMS sucks, salt sucks, and oatmeal rocks. I can't wait til I stop bloating because I know by the time that happens ( I typically bloat for 3-4 days), I should be seeing some results from my diligence.

By the way, how do ya'll feel about me trying to do a time-lapse thingy where I take a pic everyday in the same outfit so we can watch me shrink? I think it sounds AWESOME!!!