No Salt, No Fat No Sugar Journal breaks annual views record — and there’s still one month to go in 2022!

This blog, the No Salt, No Fat, No Sugar Journal, has attracted more than 80,970 views as of November 29, surpassing the 80,127 views it had in all of 2021. With December still to come, the blog will likely top 85,000 views for the year, predicted site creator John N. Frank.

“we’ve attracted more than 52,000 visitors this year, another record,” says Frank. “This blog started out of the necessity of learning how to eat after heart surgery but it has turned into much more than that.”

Frank, a retired business journalist, started the blog in late 2013 and had only 4,389 views that first year.

December 4, 2022 0

Worried about holiday eating? Try this AARP quiz

The end-of-year holidays are tumbling at us now, one after the other. From Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve, they all mean lots of eating, and difficulty staying on a low-salt, low-fat, low-sugar diet.

Worried you have no tools to eat healthy this time of year? Try this AARP quiz to see what you know and don’t know about healthy holiday eating.

It’s eight questions and they’re harder than you think. I only got three right, and I write about eating all the time!

One tip — I try to start holiday meals with a large salad option for everyone, the one pictured here was my Thanksgiving salad. Happy Holidays!

December 1, 2022 0

A classic use for Thanksgiving left-overs — low-sodium turkey soup

I always hate throwing away my turkey skeleton after Thanksgiving because I would think about using it for soup. This year, I took the extra effort and made the soup, low-sodium of course.

I started with a recipe I found online, but then generally winged it, adding what I needed to give it flavor in the absence of salt.

I had two boxes of low-sodium chicken broth (see photos here) in my fridge, having opened them to use for basting my turkey on Thanksgiving. What was left went into a soup pot after I had sauteed some celery and onion bits. I was lucky enough to get those already cut at a local supermarket that was selling big boxes of celery and onions for only a dollar after Thanksgiving. They were packaged for making stuffing.

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November 29, 2022 0

2022 low-salt turkey update for Thanksgiving

Low-salt turkeys seem a bit more widely available in 2022 than they were in 2021. That means you might actually spend less per pound on a turkey this year than last, like I did, despite inflated food prices.

Whole Foods has low-salt turkeys, the same farm that I bought from last year, for $3.99 a pound. A little steep I thought, especially considering that mainline supermarkets often offer high-salt turkeys for 69 cents a pound as a loss leader to get you to buy other things.

So I checked a local Jewel supermarket and found a low-salt turkey for $2.19 a pound. At just over 15 pounds, that meant a considerable savings compared to what I would have spent at Whole Foods.

I look for turkeys with only 60-70 mgs of salt per four-ounce serving (I normally eat a lot more than four ounces). Turkeys at Jewel and elsewhere can have more than 200 mgs of salt per serving because they’re injected with a salt solution that self-bastes the turkey, making it unhealthy in the process.

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November 22, 2022 0

Low-sodium Thanksgiving recipes: it’s never too early to start planning your big meal

With Thanksgiving 2022 only about a month away, it’s never too early to start planning your low-salt menu. You can always start with our Recipe Page which has tips on low-salt side dishes and how to find low-sodium turkeys.

Time to eat all those turkeys! Happy Thanksgiving! — *Time to start hunting for a low-sodium turkey.*

But there are lots of other sources online as well, just click here to see the results of a search I did for low-sodium Thanksgiving recipes.

Some sites to visit and the articles they’ve posted include:

Complete Low Sodium Thanksgiving Guide Revisited at hackingsalt.com
10 Low Sodium Thanksgiving Dinner Recipes at rbitzer.com
Thanksgiving recipes: Delicious and healthy options from mayoclinic.org

And from this blog, of course, Here’s your low-sodium Thanksgiving menu!!!

With the pandemic winding down, I expect many, many families will have their first joyous Thanksgiving gatherings in several years this fall, so be sure to serve them healthy low-sodium, offerings.

October 17, 2022 0

McDonald’s new salads are harder to find than I thought

A post I wrote earlier this year about McDonald’s salads coming back to post-Pandemic McDonald’s menus has gotten a lot of attention. But what I didn’t realize when I wrote it was that the decision to bring salads back is being left to operators at the local level.

*Apparently finding a salad at McDonald’s these days is a hit-or-miss proposition depending on where you live and which store you try. Very sad.*

Not every McDonald’s in a given market has salads any longer. Some comments on my post alerted me about this. And when I tried online ordering from various McDonald’s in Chicago’s northern suburbs, I found only my favorite location in Winnetka, Il., had the new, slimmed-down salads.

Apparently, having any healthy options on its menu takes too much time and labor for McDonald’s to prepare, so it’s concentrating on unhealthy burgers until the day comes when people aren’t eating them any longer. Sort of reminds me of Sears ignoring the Internet while Amazon ate its lunch and its business. Sad, if my local outlet drops salads, my days of going to McDonald’s will be over.

September 19, 2022 1

Here’s a 7-day no-added-sugar meal plan

Having eaten a ton of sugar in my two weekend trips to New York City in August and early September, I’m more concerned than usual about my blood sugar levels. So I recently posted about unexpected ways your blood sugar can rise and today I’m posting this 7-day no-added-sugar diet plan from Eatingwell.com.

My lemon salmon. I used leek instead of scallions and it came great. I loved the garlic flavor. — *My lemon salmon…salmon is one of the items on this 7-day plan that I do enjoy.*

The plan is based on the Mediterranean Diet, which doctors and nutritionists generally is the best to follow for those concerned about their health.

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September 16, 2022 0

Advice on why your blood sugar may be high

Of the three harmful foods — salt, fat and sugar — sugar has been the hardest for me to kick because, let’s face it, I love chocolate and chocolate cakes of all kinds. I jsut spent two weekends in my old home, New York City, where sugar embraced me everywhere I turned. Back in Illinois now, I have to get serious again about cutting the sugar.

My wonderful chocolate dessert at the Orrington. — *A wonderful chocolate dessert I had in 2015. Cake is extremely difficult for me to give up.*

So this piece is very helpful, 5 Sneaky Reasons Your Blood Sugar Is High. It turns out your sugar levels can be impactd by more than jsut what you eat.

Stress, dehydration, lack of sleep, even hormones can impact your sugar levels, the piece outlines. Medications you take also can contribute to higher sugar levels.

The article on Eatingwell.com concludes:

“Getting to know your body and why you may experience an unexpected blood sugar high will help you to be better prepared should it happen. It’s important to stay connected to your care team and seek out the help of your primary care provider when you experience unwanted or potentially dangerous symptoms.”

September 14, 2022 1

Don’t open that freezer door — not for these four foods you that should never freeze

Freezing foods we buy on sale can be an economical way to stock up on deals, especially during these inflationary times. I’ve posted about that, just click here to read it. But not every food can be frozen. Just take a look at 4 Foods You Should Never Put in the Freezer from Myrecipes.com.

I’ll end the suspense for you, the four are whole eggs, soft cheeses, raw vegetables and milk/yogurt (ok, that’s really five but whose counting? Not Myrecipes.com apparently).

“To be clear, it (freezing) doesn’t make the milk or yogurt unsafe, but generally it will separate into thick chunky pieces suspended in watery stuff and is super unappetizing,” the article states.

When it comes to veggies, “if you freeze a raw vegetable, the process will expand the water in its cell structure and burst the cells. The result: soggy, thawed produce that will feel like its overcooked. For better results, blanch your vegetables for about a minute in boiling water and then shock in an ice bath to stop the cooking,” the piece advises.

That said, the same site did say it’s ok to freeze tomatoes, I blogged about that but have not tried it yet. I suppose maybe it knows tomatoes are actually fruit?

August 2, 2022 0

For our non-meat-eating friends — veggie fajitas

Fajitas have become a go-to recipe for me after discovering that Mrs. Dash offers a salt-free fajita spice mix. I’ve written about making turkey fajitas as creative use of Thanksgiving leftovers, for example.

So I enjoyed seeing his recipe for veggie fajitas on recipewonderland.com. It includes peppers and onions. Just substitute the Mrs. Dash for the taco seasoning called for in the recipe and you have a tasty dish that’s also low in salt.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 large bell peppers (any color), seeded and thinly sliced
1 sweet onion, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons taco seasoning (use salt-free Mrs Dash fajita spices)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3 tablespoons water
8 medium flour or corn tortillas

Cooking directions:

In a large skillet, heat vegetable oil over medium-high heat.
Add the sliced bell peppers and sliced onions. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes. Be sure to toss so everything cooks evenly.
Add taco seasoning, garlic powder, water and toss. Cook for 5 more minutes.
Remove from skillet and place on top of tortillas.
Serve with any desired toppings and sides.

I’d add a salt-free taco sauce, as you can see in my photo here.

June 6, 2022 0

Category: smart eating

No Salt, No Fat No Sugar Journal breaks annual views record — and there’s still one month to go in 2022!

Worried about holiday eating? Try this AARP quiz

A classic use for Thanksgiving left-overs — low-sodium turkey soup

2022 low-salt turkey update for Thanksgiving

Low-sodium Thanksgiving recipes: it’s never too early to start planning your big meal

McDonald’s new salads are harder to find than I thought

Here’s a 7-day no-added-sugar meal plan

Advice on why your blood sugar may be high

Don’t open that freezer door — not for these four foods you that should never freeze

For our non-meat-eating friends — veggie fajitas

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