Tag Archives: swelling

A Tale Of Two Sandwiches

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Another gray and dreary day. It is mild though, and almost all of the snow has melted away. So far it has been a wonderfully mild winter.

A few days ago I was careless and ate slightly more than 1200 mg of sodium for the day. I experienced some swelling in my feet and fingers. Yesterday and during the night my system finally released the excess fluid, and the swelling has subsided. I am very sensitive to sodium.

This morning I awoke at 6:00 a.m. For me this is sleeping in. Attila was still in dreamland. Sitting at the kitchen table I had the sudden urge to bake a loaf of bread. I have known since last September that I needed to start baking bread again, salt free bread that is. I have procrastinated, for months.

I found a salt free recipe online, for Oatmeal Bread, and began with that. I used the ingredient list, but since I use a Bosch mixer to knead my bread, and the recipe included only instructions for a bread machine, I had to improvise.

My Oatmeal Bread Low Sodium was a success. Attila will continue to eat store bought bread for the moment, until I get into the swing of things, then he will be switched over to salt free bread as well.

I love peanut butter sandwiches, preferably with jam, not honey.

Yesterday my peanut butter sandwich was a source of shame and guilt. How can two slices of bread with a few tablespoons of peanut butter and a tablespoon of jam cause so much distress? I am restricted to 1200 mg of sodium a day, and 25 gm of sugar per day; when I eat something high in sodium, or sugar, I have to carefully watch everything else I eat, all day long, including snacks and beverages. An indiscretion at breakfast or lunch can severely limit our choices for dinner; this affects Attila too.

Yesterday’s sandwich was made with commercial bread, regular Kraft peanut butter, and some “fruit only” jam with a significantly reduced sugar content. Yesterday’s sandwich packed 440 mg of sodium and 7 gm of sugar. Yesterday’s sandwich used up more than a third of my sodium quota, and almost a third of my sugar quota.

Today’s peanut butter sandwich makes me smile.

Today’s peanut butter sandwich was made with my homemade Oatmeal Bread, all natural Kraft peanut butter, and the same “fruit only” jam. Today’s peanut butter sandwich had 22 mg of sodium, and 9 grams of sugar. The low sodium intake for my lunch allows me to have 60 mg of ham for my dinner! Alas, the sugar intake increased, because my homemade bread is made with 3 tablespoons of brown sugar. Still, I find it far easier to restrict sugar than to restrict sodium, so I reckon I am ahead of the game on peanut butter sandwiches. Eventually I will experiment with reducing the amount of brown sugar in the homemade bread; that will take time, and won’t be worth the tradeoff if the flavour suffers.

Little things can make a big difference.

Worldly Distractions

Weather

3°C
Date: 2:08 PM EST Saturday 21 January 2017
Condition: Mist
Pressure: 100.8 kPa
Tendency: Falling
Temperature: 3.0°C
Dew point: 2.6°C
Humidity: 97%
Wind: SW 10 km/h
Visibility: 1 km

Quote

“Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance but to do what lies clearly at hand.”
Thomas Carlyle
1795 – 1881

Note: Women marching on the White House in Washington today, supporters marching all over the world. Let our solidarity extend to one another when the banners are no longer waving.

Shingles Inoculation

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Yesterday I had an appointment with the doctor at the walk-in clinic, to check how my high blood pressure was doing with the greatly increased medication. It is down to 135/87, which is better, but not great. I am to go back again in November to get it checked again.

While I was there I decided to get the Shingles Vaccine, which is being offered free to those over 65 years of age, here in Ontario. The Doctor reviewed the ingredients with me, no allergen, and then he administered the shot. I didn’t even feel it.

Today I have a headache, the area around the injection is swollen and red, my joints ache, and my throat seems a little bit sore. Everything but the sore throat are described in online descriptions of side effects, so far nothing to worry about. I checked my temperature, normal, so that was good. Today I have been feeling a little tired, so much so that I dropped off to sleep while typing a word, and didn’t realize it until I woke up twenty minutes later.

Today was a beautiful summery day, mild, with a lovely breeze. It was a good day to finish the job of emptying Iris the trailer for the winter storage. Because mice are such a problem in unused areas over the winter, I removed all fabrics from Iris, which included bedding and kitchen linens. I took out all clothing, and personal care items such as soap and shampoo. Mice will chew on anything! There are just a few more items to remove, rubber boots and worker’s overalls, and then Iris will be locked up until the spring.

What a mess in the house, as I brought pile after pile of items in from Iris, and dumped them on the living room floor. The living room was wall to wall chaos. I began this project on Monday, and I am still working on it. Attila brought me a big empty tote from the garage, where I am storing items that are used only in Iris, so that they will be all in one place and ready to be stored away in Iris when the new camping season begins in 2017.

I have been working diligently on my book, already there are 181 pages, and I have much more to add! I am having fun with it though, because the people in this book were alive within living memory of my Mom’s generation, and there are stories and pictures to include.

I have devoted quite a bit of time to my GG Grandparent’s first born child, Mary Ann, who was deaf and dumb, and could not read or write. She is not discussed by the family, and I was surprised to find out that she existed. She bore a child out of wedlock, lived with family but was omitted from some official records, such as the census, and died in residence at the Powassan House of Refuge in Ontario. It would be so nice if someone had written something about her as a person, but that did not happen, at least I have found no evidence of it. I have just completed the section devoted to her life, and her descendents, and will soon be adding the information for the second born daughter, Janet. Mary Ann and Janet were two of twelve children.

Worldly Distractions

Weather

16°C
Date: 7:00 PM EDT Wednesday 5 October 2016
Condition: Mainly Clear
Pressure: 102.4 kPa
Tendency: falling
Visibility: 24 km
Temperature: 16.1°C
Dewpoint: 12.1°C
Humidity: 77%
Wind: N 3 km/h

Quote

“In politics, absurdity is not a handicap.”
Napoleon Bonaparte
1769 – 1821

AMEN! The more things change the more they stay the same.