The major artery blockage I had in 2012 that nearly ended my life led to the creation of this blog. And that in turn has hopefully led to me helping otter people who find they need to completely change how they eat, either out of medical necessity or simply out of a desire to cut the massive amounts of salt, fat and sugar in most foods Americans routinely eat today.
The handouts I’ll be bringing to a Mended Heart Group meeting this week.
The blog has been a labor of love for me, as well as a great motivator to find and try new recipes that fit in my new low-salt, low-fat, low-sugar lifestyle. So I’m very excited to have a chance to talk about it this week with other heart disease survivors. I invite anyone in the Chicago area with an interest in such topics to stop by. Continue reading “Come hear me, other heart disease survivors talk about changing our lives”→
This blog began after I had angioplasty done to open a severely blocked artery to my heart. I recent passed the two-year mark since that surgery, passing a physical with flying colors.
To reach this point, I have completely changed how I eat, walking away from all the high-fat, high-sodium, high-sugar foods I once loved and lived for. It’s been extremely tough, but there are rewards. One came recently when I was invited to be a guest on a TV show dealing with health, fat and eating habits. Continue reading “Dumping junk food: two years and counting for me”→
While this is a food blog and not a health blog, I ask reader indulgence for this post which will talk a bit about my health. I recently had my two-year checkup for my heart following the angioplasty I had done in 2012.
The news was all good. My blood pressure is in normal ranges now, although I take medication to keep it there. And my doctor took my off one of my post-surgery medications, something called beta blockers which slow your heart down. Taking those the past two years meant I always felt I was walking through mud, fighting my way every step, really.
Me, following angioplasty in 2012. I’ve since lost 23 pounds.
This is turning into healthcare week on the blog it seems. A lot of health-related items seem to be filling my e-mail box, hopefully they can help you, although my intent here is to write more about food than health because health science is a moving target that I don’t often completely trust.Processed meats, like this sausage I had in London a few years ago, are ff my menu now.
Today’s topic is processed meats — you know, hot dogs, salami, sausages, cold cuts of all kinds. I loved them all and ate them all regularly until my 2012 angioplasty. Now they’re just a distant memory for me. That’s because they’re high in salt and other things that are thought to be less than healthy for us. Continue reading “Processed meats: they’re yummy but stay away from them”→
I started this blog after having an angioplasty in 2012 because current medical science thinks what we eat, our food environement, can impact such things as how or if cholesterol builds up in our arteries to cause the type of major blockages I experienced.
Doctors have put me on cholesterol lowering drugs, even though my cholesterol levels were never in a danger zone prior to my heart troubles, and they’ve advised me to cut the salt, fat and sugar from my diet.A graphic view of angioplasty
Last week, the No Salt, No Fat, No Sugar Journal reached a milestone in its less than two years of existence — our total views through just barely more than five month of this year reached double what they had been for all of 2013!
Our average daily page views are up almost five times where they were when we ended 2013 and we have had record month after record month of total views. We just finished three straight weeks of increased viewership.Me before my surgery and before dropping about 30 pounds on my low-salt, low-fat, low-sugar diet.Me at the farmers’ market with a fig tree I bought.
Living a low-salt, low-fat, low-sugar lifestyle can be endlessly difficult because almost any food sold in traditional supermarkets these days has too much of one or more of those evil three. The same is true for restaurant meals. So since my angioplasty in 2012, I’ve been building an entirely new shopping list, going to more stores than ever before to find the low-salt and no-salt items I need along with the low-fat and no-fat options.Grilled vegetables
Lose It! loves sending me badges, I’ve written about them before and seem to get lots of reader attention when I do. So here’s another one I recently received.
The Green Giant badge signifies that “Your appetite for veggies rivals the Green Giant himself,” Lose It! writes me. I’m assuming General Mills, which owns the Green Giant brand, has some involvement in this.My Green Giant badge.Continue reading “Veggies for me: a major change in my diet”→
No salt, no fat foods became must-haves for me in 2012 after having an angioplasty. The operation changed what’s left of my life from what I thought it would be.
I could no longer revel in wondrous high-fat, high-sugar, high-salt foods. If I wanted to continue living, I had to completely change everything I ate.Cooking, and eating, trays of Italian favorites like this are out for me now but I’ve found ways to cope.
I’ve done that and I created this blog in December 2012 to help all of you who face similar challenges. The progress of this blog in being discovered has been heartening for me. Daily average visits have increased tenfold since I started it. Traffic has improved monthly. There’s still a long way to go in building this, but I’m starting to get good traction in searches for no salt, no fat foods and hope to build on that in 2014. Continue reading “No salt, no fat foods: we’re here to write about them”→
Top five lists always seem to get people’s attention, so here’s the first Top 5 list of posts from the No Salt, No Fat, No Sugar Journal. While we launched this blog in late 2012, 2013 was our first full year and hence our first list. Enjoy and thanks for stopping by. John
Top 5 Posts of 2013The driest chicken ever. At Universal studios.
This post has become the gateway to our blog, really, with more people clicking on it than any other. We’ve added updates to it throughout the year because of that, so it’s worth another read.
Everyone wants to know if they can eat healthy at Universal. My answer: no, at least not at the Florida location I was dragged to late last year. I lost four pounds in four days because of the lack of healthy alternatives.
This Milwaukee eatery was such a pleasant surprise, the only restaurant I knew of at the time where the chef would make special dishes for people who asked for no salt, no fat and no sugar. I recently found another in Chicago and will be blogging about it shortly.
