So, the other day I brought my lunch to work just like I have been for the last several weeks.
Rare are the trips to fast food land anymore. The daily rushed stops at McDonald's, Hardees, or Burger King on the way to work, the lunch time get out of the building for a breath of fresh air runs to Taco Bell, Taco John's, Wendy's, and Arby's pretty much gone. Now, it's an occasional stop at BK, TB, or Arby's for a very strict, researched ahead of time for nutritional content item or two. Arby's becomes the kid's menu jr roast beef with or without part of the bun and a side of honey mustard sauce (use half only) along with apple slices and a light lemonade (12oz kid's size). Burger King becomes a jr whopper no ketchup, no tomato, no onion (blah), no pickle, no cheese if it usually comes with it, and again the smallest size light lemonade they have on hand. For awhile Taco Bell was interesting with 2 chicken rolled tacos with a 1/2 side of spicy ranch sauce, but that's off the menu now so it's back to the occasional one or two hard shell tacos hold the tomatoes and cheese and sometimes upgrade to a supreme for the sour cream but continue to hold the tomatoes and cheese....ah how I miss cheese! (At least this time it's an ice tea no/light ice or a diet mt dew for variety.)
Where am I going with all this you ask? Well, yesterday I brought a relatively boring sandwich to work along with the usual apple/clementine/cucumber/pepper add on options to round out lunch and then a co-worker popped into my room and said those magic words...."I didn't bring a lunch, I'm ordering from JIMMY JOHNS."
You guessed right, I caved and the thought of that boring sandwich versus a hearty Jimmy Johns sub like creation was like the sirens attempting to lure Odysseus onto the rocks only in this case I didn't cover my ears but instead full speed ahead sailed towards certain food doom and piped up with a "let me know when you are ordering and I'll order something too." Of course I ordered and this is what I learned---bread is not only full of carbs, it's full of salt. I ended up really, really regretting bread.
I've been told more than once that my kryptonite is bread and potatoes and I think that was once the case but with these new dietary restrictions I am getting better about bread (at least basic bread, artisan bread still calls to me) and potatoes can still be a problem, not as much as they were but French Fries are still a problem and mashed potatoes and gravy, but I'm trying. The issue is that now that I'm supposed to really avoid/cut back on cheese, I really, really want it's salty taste. I'm even desperate enough to try nutritional yeast instead. It tastes cheesy but I asked the dietitian and she said it should be an okay substitute, so I'll try it on toast or grits or mixed with tuna. As for grilled cheese that's a bit harder. I did find a substitute recipe using cream cheese and it's not bad, but it has yet to totally grow on me as a replacement. So for now I struggle to try to cut back on cheese but it's very very hard and I haven't much will power for it yet.
Biscuits and Egg Salad
In order to try to cut back on bread I've found making some egg salad and scooping it with a serving of crackers or "biscuits" is a great way to try to cut back on salty bread. The key is to find a biscuit you like that is about 6 (or more) biscuits/crackers per serving (and obviously one with a lower salt content then the 2 slices of bread you would normally use on an egg salad sandwich.
--Basic Egg Salad Recipe of Your Choice
--1 serving of crackers/biscuits (I like Bretons, Carrs Oat Biscuits, or even Chicken in a Biscuit, but Triscuits Hint of Sea Salt are tried and true and actually lower in salt than regular Triscuits)
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