I hope Shambo weighs in - she has some great ideas. Her husband has salt issues also.

A fantastic substitute for the onion soup mix you will be cutting out is the dehydrated toasted onion bits from Penzeys. Actually Penzeys has a number of salt free blends that are fabulous. If there is not a Penzeys near you they also do mail order. Sign up for a catalog today. There are lots of good recipes.

Welcome to the Cooking Forum and best of luck on your new venture. I am sure you will receive a number of good suggestions from the members here.

Here is a link that might be useful: Penzeys Spices

Shambo and I were posting at the same time! She will be a great resource for you.

Again - best of luck!

Teresa

Hi, Dody. Diet can definitely help with many medical conditions and you're lucky to live in a time when there is so much (sometimes it seems like too much) information on line to help you with reshaping your eating plan.

In addition to the links above, the American Heart Assn. site can give you lots of ideas and most public libraries have their cookbooks that are packed with ideas and healthy recipes.

When my husband was on a restricted diet for months of radiation treatment, I focused on what foods were permitted instead of the forbidden ones and figured out how to make tasty meals from them. Herbs and spices added lots of flavor and evaporated skim milk and I became close friends.

Although it seems overwhelming right now, you will be able to do this if your DH is convinced that what he eats can determine his future. Wishing you and your husband a healthy spring!

Here is a link that might be useful: American Heart Assocition

I'll second Teresa's suggestion on Penzey's salt free spice mixes.

The link is to their salt free offerings.

One of them is a southwest flavor, called 'Arizona Dreaming', and it is really flavorful without much hotness. I use it on everything from scrambled eggs to chicken thighs.

Another nice one is 'Sunny Paris'--herbs and shallots.

If you like lemon pepper, try their 'Sunny Spain'--it's a salt free lemon pepper.

Tuscan Sunset is nice, as is Parisian Bonnes Herbes.

If you like hot stuff, Peri Peri is nice and hot.

When you place your order for these, consider also buying some of their Granulated Garlic. It's very fresh, and head and shoulders better than what you can get in the supermarket. (Their dried tarragon is also better than what you'll find at the supermarket. Makes sense; they have a faster turnover, and therefore fresher stuff.)

Here's a recipe utilizing some of these. It's a technique more than a recipe, but a quick way to make tasty chicken thighs that aren't as bad for you as regular fried chicken. If you have a nonstick skillet with a lid that fits it, you can have relatively healthy, tasty chicken that has the mouthfeel of fried chicken with no added salt, none of the batter and far less fat and sodium than regular fried chicken--all in about 20 minutes. I make this dish at least 3 times a month, varying the seasonings as I see fit.

From a food-science-geek standpoint, what you’re doing is rendering the fat out of the skin, and the skin fries in that fat, while the flesh side is steamed in the covered skillet by the vapors liberated in the cooking process.

Crispy Chicken Thighs

Ingredients
4 chicken thighs, skin on
Arizona Dreaming
Granulated Garlic

Procedure
1. Set the chicken thighs skin-side down on a cutting board. Cut away any dangling skin pieces. Cut a ½ inch deep slash on either side of the thigh bone, parallel to the bone and about ½ inch away from the bone (this helps the thigh to flatten out somewhat). Season the thighs generously on the flesh side with Arizona Dreaming and Granulated Garlic. Pat the seasonings on to the meat.

2. Place the chicken thighs skin-side down on an unheated non-stick skillet. Only then turn the heat to high. When the chicken starts to sizzle, turn heat to medium and move the thighs around to make sure they aren't sticking to the skillet. Cover the skillet and cook for 16 to 18 minutes. Check the chicken occasionally to make sure it isn’t sticking. If the skin is browning too much after 10 minutes, then turn the heat to low. If after 18 minutes the flesh side doesn’t look quite done, flip the thighs and fry them flesh side down for a minute or two, uncovered. When done, serve.

You can vary the seasonings if you want; Penzeys salt free lemon pepper ('Sunny Spain') works great here if you're in the mood for lemony chicken.

Good Luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: penzeys salt free

This post was edited by arley on Thu, Mar 28, 13 at 11:50

Wow, big changes coming. Welcome

Don't try to do it alone. Take advantage of EVERY offer the hospital makes and your insurance pays for - cardiac rehab, diet teaching, group meetings for both support and education, for any and everything. They may offer classes in addition to what they refer him for. Check with local colleges and hospitals, they may also offer free, or very low cost programs for diet and health management.

There are plenty of online resources, but you have to investigate to make sure it's not giving you misleading information.

You can't go wrong with fresh/frozen vegetables - no salt, of course, and fresh fruits. Portion control will be critical - read the nutrition labels, they will give you a wealth of information. A lot of the chain grocery stores also have informative programs just for these diets.

If they refer him for rehab/physical therapy, make sure he goes, it's well worth it, for both of you, and he'll start to feel better with exercise and a good diet. You both will!

You'll learn, because it matters to you, and you'll benefit from diet changes too. And it's not hard.

Get some low or salt free seasonings too, and use garlic, garlic powder, onions and onion powder, they add taste without adding sodium.

Good luck and tell him we are all cheering for you two.

It would be best to work with the dietician. The hospital will get you started, but your husband's regular doctor can get you set up with a dietician for some more help. It can be confusing, so be sure to ask questions. Also get a good scale so that your husband can weigh himself every morning. Make
sure he writes it down every day. If his weight goes up more than 3 lbs in a day or 5 lbs in a week, call his doctor right away.

Don't worry about the insulin. It's super easy to use. Ask for the insulin pens, then you don't need syringes. Most insurance plans pay for them now days.

Before he comes home, it would be good to get rid of tempting food like cookies, crackers and other snacks.

Actually, with the low potassium diet you will need to be careful with fruit and vegetables. Work with the dietician!

His potassium could be high because his sugar is high. Potassium follows sugar, so his potassium levels may fall by getting his diabetes under better control. Insulin will move sugar into cells, and potassium will follow the sugar.

Keeping diabetes well controlled should keep potassium levels at normal levels, unless he is on kidney dialysis, which is a whole other problem.

Make sure they don't rush your husband out the door without some good referrals for diet teaching, diabetic teaching, pulmonary rehab and physical therapy. All of these will make a huge difference in how he feels and his health, in general and will be a huge help to you too. Too often, d/c planning is left for the last hour and it's done badly. If he has home health nursing set up, utilize them too, for referrals, they can be a huge help. Just don't let them push you around and neglect the most important part of his hospitalization - his discharge.

Sounds a bit overwhelming you are in my prayers Dody

Teresa's suggestion of using Penzey's toasted onion flakes instead of onion soup mix is a good one. That's what I do -- combine some of the toasted onion flakes and some Herb-Ox salt free beef bouillon granules. That means you can use some of your favorite recipes but make them low sodium.

Arley listed some of our favorite Penzey's salt free blends: my husband LOVES Arizona Dreaming & Sunny Spain. I use Mural of Flavor for for all kinds of things. I also like the Adobo and Jerk seasonings, as well as Forward (Lawry's Seasoned Salt without the salt), California Pepper, and Singapore (a lightly flavored curried pepper).

World Market also has a few great salt free blends. In fact, tonight we're having oven baked beef ribs rubbed with World Market's Mequite Seasoning Blend.

As MomJ47 said, "Good luck and tell him we are all cheering for you two."

Dody, first, welcome to the Cooking Forum. We'll all be glad to help in any way we can, even if it's just to let you sound off.

Definitely get with the hospital dietician, you need to know what is and isn't OK, things will surprise you, like cottage cheese. Who knew it was so high in sodium?

I was hoping Shambo would weigh in, she's been doing the low salt thing for quite some time.

I also suggest checking Penzey's, they sell on-line, their customer service is great and they have a lot of salt free blends. One of my favorites is Mural of Flavors.

I agree with Robin, I like nearly everything I made from Eating Well and Cooking Light, they have great websites, as does Prevention magazine.

No more canned soup for sure, but it's fast and easy to make a cream sauce. You can start with fresh mushrooms if that's the taste you're after, and add dehydrated onions, garlic, you can make it with skim milk, lots of ways to use it It takes some practice, but will get easier.

As has been said, no more packaged mixes, convenience foods, things are best from scratch because then you know what's in them.

You can do this, and I know you will for your husband's sake. He's going to have to adjust too, so you should probably both go to the dietician together, let him hear what they have to say.

Whole grains, fresh produce, lean meats, sounds yummy to me anyway.

Good luck, it won't be easy, but we'll help any way we can.

Annie

OMG, thank you so much for all of your information. I will check it all out when I have time. I am definetly going to check out Pensey's. Sounds just like what I am after.

Love the ideas for making a mushroom cream sauce.

Yes, I have to go thru my cabinets before Gary gets home to remove some of his favorite foods.

So many wonderful ideas, I wish I had time right now to check things out, but I have to get ready to head to the hospital.

By the time I get home I am so exhausted I just want to sit down and put my feet up. I go to bed around 8:30 or 9 o'clock because Gary has taken to calling me at 4 am. I can't go back to sleep. Last night he called me at 11 pm after I had been to sleep for a couple of hours. It was like I had just taken a nice nap and I couldn't get back to sleep. I finally got up and watched Grey's Atanony (sp). I then took a sleeping pill.

I got up at 5:30 and Gary was calling me. He said he had been calling me all night. I guess the battery in my phone that I carried to my bedroom had run down, or the trazodone was doing its job.

I just love the feed back that I have gotten, Thank you very much.

dody

Lots of good advice here. I've slid off the straight and narrow, but am planning on getting my act together after Easter. The DH and I have been trying to clean up our diets and lose some weight.

Anyway here's a few more websites to check out.
http://www.livebetteramerica.com/ They rehash a lot of recipes to make healthier alternatives
http://www.webmd.com/living-healthy Web MD has a healthy living section. They have recipes in there as well as a diet and fitness tracker. It's kind of a pain to track everything you eat and everything you do in the form of exercise, but it does really help you get a better understanding of how much you eat and what you eat and how much you exercise you're getting (or not).

Here is a link that might be useful: Live Better America

Dody, at least you got some sleep, it'll be good when Gary gets home and then he can just wake you up to talk to you at 4 am instead of calling you, LOL.

It's funny, you'll find that your tastes change after a while, and things that you used to like, you won't like anymore, or it'll be too salty or too greasy or too sweet.

so it does get easier, but not right away. I hope you are sleeping away right now, and you can think about cooking tomorrow when you wake up!

Boo, I agree about the Live Better America site, they manage to "healthify" a lot of comfort foods that people are used to. Clean Eating has some good ideas too, although they can be really "extreme" with some of their recipes. Some though, are good.

Annie

Love you guys, I did not get home last night until quite late. My son & daughter in law will be picking me up from the hospital today and we will be stopping for pizza. It will be last for a very long time, as I will not eat foods in front of Gary that he cannot have.

I know all about tracking foods and exercise as I have done weight watchers in the past, I just wish I could get him to track his own. We will see, but probably not.

I love your ideas for me and all the good information. Right now, I have to get laundry going as for some reason it does not stop piling up just because you have other things on your mind.

I AM going to take time to check out a couple of the links that you have posted for me before I leave for the hospital.

dody

Welcome Dody!! Lot's of good advice here. I have gradually switched to a healthy diet and all I can say is it makes huge difference and I would never want to go back. When I slip up, I feel awful! Two things to keep in mind.

First, when cutting back on sugar and salt, it will be a lot like quitting smoking. Your body and taste buds have become addicted to these substances and at first you will have cravings and miss them a lot. BUT, once you retrain your taste buds, then you will miss these things much less, and in fact you will feel cruddy if you eat lots of salt and sugar and wonder how you every tolerated the high sugar/salt foods. So just tell yourself while you are going through the withdrawl process that it will get better!!

Second, when retraining yourself to follow a healthy diet, based on research and lots of experience, I can tell you that it is much easier to focus on finding healthy things you like to eat and enjoy, rather than focusing on avoiding the "no nos" and what you can't eat. Don't think of it as deprivation, think of it as rewarding your tastebuds and body with the good stuff. Learn to enjoy fresh ripe fruit as a treat. You can make good hearty soups and breads that taste good and are good for you, dipped in some yummy extra virgin olive oil with seasonings added. Roasted vegetables with some balsamic vinegar, one of those spice mixes, and EVOO are great comfort foods. You can use ground up dried mushrooms to add a hearty flavor to soups and casseroles. There are all kinds of flavorful dried mushrooms which have a concentrated flavor. Invest in a microplane so you can use fresh grated lemon peel--that stuff is fantastic! Frankly, I would stay away from the cream/cheesy sauces, they make stuff taste good because they are full of fat and salt. We like reduced broth based sauces like chicken marsala or picatta, which use wine and lemon for flavor. Do not make the versions that say to thicken the broth sauce with flour, this is not necessary, just cook for a while to reduce the broth, the sauce tastes better and fresher that way, less pasty. Roasting and braising both concentrate the flavors in foods, we do that with a lot of things, it's great for bringing out the best flavor in vegetables. Serve lots of the vegetables that hubby likes that way! It's also good to marinate cold veggies in an herb and vinegar marinade to bring out the flavor too. Splurge on the fresh fruits and vegetables and herbs--they are nature's pharmacy!! Buy the good breads too, don't waste your small carb allowance on the white processed stuff--develop a taste for the wonderful nutty flavor of whole grains! I have retrained my taste buds to the point that processed food tastes like school paste to me!

Just be careful with the fruit and vegetables. Fruit and vegies are high in potassium and for somebody with healthy kidneys, that's a good thing! Everybody on this forum means well and they are giving you good advice about a general healthy diet, but in your husband's case this is potentially lethal advice. Too much potassium can stop the heart. (Milk of magnesia can do the same thing!). His kidneys may get better when he gets the extra water and salt out of his body and then you won't have to be so careful with what he eats, but you will need to let his doctor help you with knowing if that is true.

Your hubby is going to have to get used to "treating" himself with something other than food. Snacks are going to make blood sugar and potassium control much more difficult. When he is feeling bored or worried, he will need to do something else besides graze in the kitchen. TV just encourages people to eat. He needs to work on a hobby, read, work puzzles or something instead. It may be frustrating at first, but he should be feeling a lot more energetic with the oxygen and the C-PAP.

I seriously doubt someone is going to get potassium overload from eating too many fruits and vegetables. Most people like and eat very few varieties of fruits and vegetables anyway. There are fruits and vegetables with high potassium levels, yes, but there are also meats, grains and diary products that are also high. Learn the levels and learn to like what you CAN eat.

So just in case someone out there is going on a vegetable and fruit binge, here's a list from the Cleveland clinic of high potassium fruits, dairy and vegetables to avoid, but bear in mind that canned and processed foods are way worse/higher levels than these, and also some meats have high levels too.

Watch out for:
Bananas
Oranges and other citrus fruits
Kiwis and nectarines
Avocados
Some dried fruits
Sweetened, canned and frozen fruits and juices
Baked potatoes
Baked acorn squash or butternut squash
Dried peas or beans, lentils, lima beans, chick peas or garbanzo beans, baked beans
Sauerkraut and regular pickles
Pumpkin seeds
Vegetable juice cocktail
Vegetables prepared in sweetened or salted sauces
Broccoli and spinach.

Yes, don't pig out on broccoli and spinach everyone, you'll regret it!! Spinach and other greens also have oxalic acids in them that can aggravate kidney stone problems in people who are prone to them.

There are many types of meats of course, that are just as bad or worse. But I rarely eat meat so do not know much about it.

I'd be much more worried about the constipation that would come from leaving out all fruits and vegetables from my diet than the potassium levels from eating most fruits and vegetables in moderation. Of course learn what you have to avoid. For example, I cannot eat most fruits due to having interstitial cystitis and having to be on a low acid diet. But I can eat some fruits so I ENJOY the ones I can eat. And I occasionally eat some of my forbidden fruits IN MODERATION without any problems. My worst offenders are wine, cranberry juice/cranberries, grapes and grape juice and tea, which I now never eat/drink. I can rarely afford citrus fruits anyway, but I use fresh lemon juice as a condiment and it does not bother me. So learn your personal balance is the message here.

I think it's best to follow your doctor's recommendations and ask for a referral to a dietician. My ex-H had Type I diabetes and eventually developed kidney failure. For him, foods that were high in potassium were life threatening. Most of the foods on lpink's list I remember as being on his absolute no-no list. It sounds like Gary has a serious medical condition. I know all of us have very good intentions but any flaws in our knowledge, seems to me, could be quite serious. My ex-H eventually worked his way through the transplant list and received a new kidney and a pancreas. He still is careful about what he eats.

I hope your DH gets to come home soon. My thoughts and prayers are with you both.

/tricia

Lpink, I know you mean well. And you have generously told us the specifics
of what works for you. But vegetarian diets are not for everyone

Dr. Brown is a physician who told us that fruits and vegetables are high in potassium . High potassium is potentially lethal.

Dr. Brown and Tricia have said it well-follow the advice of your own doctor.

I brought Gary home yesterday. I made him a nice dinner of brown rice, scrambled hamburger over it and mixed veggies on the side. For dessert, he had a sf pudding cup. This is very similiar to what they were feeding him in the hospita.

The problem was during the evening, he made himself 2 sandwiches. I could not stop him.

Oatmeal for breakfast at 5:30 am with liquid creamor instead of milk. Dietitian recommended this.

I will make him an omlette soon. This spreads his eating out a little bit. In the hospital, they gave it to him all at once with a fruit cup and english muffin.

Thanks for all of the information, it has been very helpful.

dody

Hi Dody,

I fully agree that a visit with a dietitian is your best best for diet advice specific to your husband's circumstances (full disclosure - I'm a Registered Dietitian).

People will often give well-meaning, but harmful, advice to those with special diet considerations. Some of them even claim to be nutrition experts. There was a local 'nutritionist' who was tellling people on low sodium diets to use sea salt! Same woman was selling homemade juices for cleanses. I can't imagine the harm she did before she was finally shut down by our state health board.

Your best bet is to get a referral from your doctor. Most RDs will either accept insurance, or give you the form you need to submit it yourself. The link below can help you find an RD near you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

We meet with a coordinator today. We are set up to see a dietitian. With him having so much wrong with him it is very confusing. I will be glad to talk with the dietitian.

I have been using Mrs. Dash and they are very good. Gary was in the hospital for 11 days, so it was not too hard for me to get him to eat what I prepared.

I have checked out Penzey's, and am anxious to find the time to send out an order. This will be so helpful.

Thank you all for your help.

dody

I'm sorry, I met to get back to Shambo. Yes, I would love the links for other sites.

Thanks, dody

If diabetes is his primary problem then some simple changes can make a big difference in blood sugar.

Quit products made with white flour and white breads....opt for whole grains and whole grain bread. Choose brown rice over white rice. Eat food that is less processed than more processed as they add a lot of salt and sugar when processing foods.

Eat a balance of foods at each meal...don't just have carbs, but have it with protein and fats. It's better to have fruit with nuts than just fruit by itself. Mixing the food components at a meal, esp with whole grains or high fiber foods will slow the digestion process and slow the speed with which sugars will enter the blood stream.

Finally, it's important to be consistent with eating patterns so that it's easier to set the insulin requirements.

Good luck to you and your husband....I hope you adjust very soon to the new life style.

I agree, if diabetes is the main concern, then frequent small meals and a combination of proteins and carbs will be necessary. The dietician should definitely be able to help you with that.

Not all diabetics are the same, though. Dad could eat a piece of pie and it wouldn't drive his sugar levels up like a plate of pasta did. I finally found something called Dreamfields pasta. Dad hated the whole grain stuff, but it's low carb and still white. He could have it every now and then, so he was happy.

At any rate, I'm glad you are going to see the dietician, and I do hope Gary is going too, so he can hear what he needs to do. After that, it's his decision, like the sandwiches. You can only do so much, he's got to take some responsibility for his own diet too.

I'm glad he's home, and I hope he listens carefully and does what he needs to do to stay well!

Annie

Dody, here are a couple of blogs that might be helpful. The first blog is Sodium Girl . Jessica has an inspiring story to tell. She had lupus, and as a result of an extremely intense initial flare-up, she sustained severe kidney damage. She was on the road to a transplant, but committed herself to a low sodium diet and is now a vibrant, healthy person. She's just come out with a cookbook, gives special cooking demonstrations at Whole Foods stores, and guest writes for the Huffington Post. Her recipes are unique and current. Because of her sensitivity to potassium, most of her recipes are also good for those with kidney problems.

Another good blog is The Daily Dish . Christy has battled Meniere's disease for quite a while. She found that following a low sodium diet made a big difference for her. Recently she's adopted a vegan diet too, so her present recipes are all plant-based. However, her past recipes are still available on her site. She also recently completed a cookbook following the famous DASH diet that's good for heart disease sufferers.

My blog is mainly about low sodium cooking for my husband with congestive heart failure. It's listed below. All three of the blogs give ingredient reports, so they'd all be helpful in building a low sodium pantry.

Be sure to check out the sites I suggested earlier. Healthy Heart Market is a great source for low sodium foods. In fact, I just received an order a couple of weeks ago -- low sodium soy sauce and salt free mustard. And both Don Gazzaniga & Dick Logue have great information and recipes on their sites.

Here is a link that might be useful: Please, DON'T Pass the Salt!

Another excellent diabetes resource is at the link. David Mendosa is a writer with diabetes. He is a big fan of the Glycemic Index, and has a huge amount of info on that. He also has other good common sense info as well.

Here is a link that might be useful: David Mendosa

Dody sounds like your "Gary" is as bad as my dad "Garry" he knows he is not supposed to eat certain things but does it anyways. It really is hard to break those bad habits.

I don't want to confuse the situation here, but I would like to defend my advice a little bit. First of all Westsider, I am NOT a vegetarian nor do I advocate a vegetarian diet for anyone who either doesn't want to or can't go on a vegetarian diet! I do often eat vegetarian or vegan meals and I have been a vegetarian for many years so I know a bit about vegetarian style cooking so I often post advice to help folks who want to know more about it. But I eat meat almost every day now, I am what is known as a "flexitarian." Just because I am enthusiastic about healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables and whole grains pastured meats and real dairy, doesn't mean I advocate anyone eating foods that their doctor has told them to stay away from.

Second, as she has reported, Dody is working with the hospital and a dietitian to learn what foods will help her husband's condition. I also imagine he will be on certain drugs and those can interact with foods as well so it will be a learning process.

The point of my post Dody, and my advice, was not specifically to advocate your husband eat any particular type of foods, but rather to address what CLBlakely just posted about, the difficulty in changing eating habits and also the difficulty in managing a chronic condition (or several) which is what your husband has. I too have several chronic conditions, which have some dietary connections. Several of my relatives have either diabetes or congestive heart disease. It is very difficult for some people to follow a healthy diet not because of the cooking of their spouse, but because of their relationship to food. As some have pointed out, we often use food like a drug to keep us going when we are bored, as a reward, as part of a social gathering, etc. This to me is the real challenge of keeping a healthy diet, not particular recipes or foods, but changing your relationship to food. I only suggest that when breaking bad habits and developing new ones, it is easier to look at it as a fun exciting challenge, a rewarding search for good and wholesome foods, rather than a long list of "do not eat" punishments. I don't care if all you can eat is watery oat gruel, learn to enjoy the taste of simple high quality foods that don't need salts and fats and sugars to hide their taste. Your tastebuds can and will adapt. Find some menus and recipes that do fit with your new diets and enjoy those with gratitude. We are so fortunate in this country to have good soil and climate and farmers that can deliver wonderful food relatively easily. There are many great resources here for you Dody, and all around your community and also the Internet, so keep on keepin' on and keep us posted on your journey!!

Also, not sure about your DH's physical health, but I remember my dear doc telling my diabetic father that one of the best things he could do for his blood sugar was to walk for 10 min after each meal....

DH has to buy into these changes. The OP can make healthy meals and keep healthy foods in the house, but DH may not quickly, or ever, change his eating habits. And that's going to be frustrating for the OP But it is what it is and she can't make him do anything he doesn't want to do.

If he does change, it will probably be slow changes, so the OP needs to be very patient, and reward even baby steps. Undoing a lifetime of habits can't and won't happen over night, no matter how scary the recent hospitalization was. And getting outside every day will be nice for both of you.

Hi Pink,
Like Westsider, I thought you were a vegetarian. It's only in recent months that I've seen you post anything with meat in it.

As to your comment: But I eat meat almost every day now, I am what is known as a "flexitarian."

We would all fall into that category, wouldn't we? We like meatless meals periodically and I'm trying to get fish into our diet once a week. To me, that's just ordinary, healthy eating; not a particular name.

Hi, Dody--glad to hear Gary is home. You've gotten plenty of excellent advice from others for your actual questions, but I want to respond to a couple of your other comments: You mentioned that Gary is often in a "dream state." That is very likely a result of the high blood sugar. I know that when my sugar was out of control, I felt exactly like that all the time. Hopefully, as your hubby's sugar improves, so will his mental state.

As for the two sandwiches he made himself, if he's anything like my hubby, he's not going to go to the grocery store for food. If it isn't in the house, he can't eat it. Just don't buy stuff he can't have. And get rid of anything bad you already have--toss it, donate it, give it to the neighbors, but get it out of the house. As he gets used to the new way of eating, he will feel better and will hopefully learn to let you have a few little snacks in the house that he will leave alone, but it's just too soon for that.

Good luck to you both!

That dream like state isn't good. My hubby started going into sugar shock once when in the hospital and it was a good thing I called the nurse in...she did an IV push of sugar right away to stop it. Scary stuff. He kept telling me he was going out and I was losing him...and he was acting weird and unable to concentrate...within 5 min of receiving the sugar, he was back to normal.

Lpink, I didn't say you were a vegetarian, omnivore or flexivore. I don't care what you eat.

Carefully read the posts, especially Dr. Brown's post of march 30. She warned that fruits and vegetables are high in potassium, and that could be lethal. That's excellent advice in my book.

"I seriously doubt anyone would get potassium overload from eating too many fruits and vegetables." Then you talked about the merits of certain fruits,vegetables, meats, etc.

"But I rarely eat meat so do not know much about it."

Gary and Dody should follow the advice of their doctor and recommended nutritionist, period. Not shop here. It is serious.

Westsider is so very correct, his diet is serious...deadly serious. None of us are qualified to give sound advise, we do not have his test results or intimate knowledge.

I say again, as have others, seek advice and guidance from your MD and a dietician.

I've had it! The diet advice I gave is no different than what you will find on all the blogs and links and posts of all the other very nice and very helpful advice that; all the others have given here. Dody has posted and demonstrated that she is smart enough to get and understand and follow advice from her husband's doctors and the hospital's dietitian. What she needs is support from those of us who have been there and done that with the struggle to change and adapt new eating habits, whatever that particular challenge may be, they have a lot of common issues, most of which are mental and emotional, not just cooking related.

Gremlins........ I swore I posted this info on the meatloaf thread! :-)

This post was edited by teresa_mn on Thu, Apr 4, 13 at 11:59

There's nothing to indicate that her husband has kidney failure, and needs to restrict his potassium. Don't let it distract from the real issues.

Did they give any specific diet instructions? 1500mg of sodium daily? A calorie goal? Or just the generic "low salt, low fat".

The dietitian should be able to get a better idea of his diet goals and will help you set up menus and recipes. Use all the resources you have access to, for as long as you can.

Good luck.

Just re-read this thread. Lpink made some general comments about adjusting to healthier eating. When jxbrown voiced a concern about potassium, lpink followed up with a list of fruits and vegetables high in potassium. Not sure where this idea came that her advice is going to kill Gary. Any more than the hospital was trying to kill him with the veggies Dody said they served him.

Flexitarian is a word for someone who primarily eats vegetarian food but incorporates some meat as well. No, I don't think that describes most people whose plates hold a large portion of meat with a symbolic side of vegatable. But it probably describes lpink quite well.

Anything else I can clear up now that it's already too late?

I second what FOAS said. Dody and her husband are facing a challenge.She reached out for help, hints, suggestions, etc. in facing this new way of eating and cooking. Their situation is unique to her husband's medical needs. But many of us face similar challenges. My husband doesn't have a potassium or sugar problem. But the low sodium restriction was enough to make me change the way I cooked and shopped. I was happy to find the sites I posted about, so I wanted to share that info.

I think Lpink's approach to dealing with dietary restrictions really is good advice -- focus on what you can eat and what, from that group of foods, you actually enjoy. Don't fixate on the restrictions. That outlook can apply to people restricting salt consumption, sugars & carbohydrates , potassium, saturated fats, peanuts, etc.

I know from personal experience that some foods we enjoyed just don't translate well when cooking low sodium. So rather than struggle with trying to make those foods palatable, I just ignore them and focus on the things that taste really good even without salt. That's why I conquered my fear of grilling & smoking meats (thanks to encouragement from CF members).

Adapting to a new dietary regimen is a dance, so to speak. It takes time to learn all the steps. Most of the posters were trying to give resources and helpful advice about adjusting to this new lifestyle. But I think we all know that what works for us will not necessarily work for anyone else. Take only what is useful.

I don't know how this thread got contentious. Lpink has had some health issues that caused her to change her diet and she has had to completely eliminate some of the things she really enjoyed.

She's right in that a change is sometimes difficult. My Dad was a smart man and he knew what was and was not good for him. It didn't stop him from eating the fast food that my stepmother preferred to bring home in lieu of cooking. Every doctor and dietician in the world couldn't keep him away from the butter. Everyone makes their own choices.

I also don't know how the potassium issue came up, that was never mentioned by Dody. My stepmother was on dialysis and now is on Coumadin, those both require a limitation on specific fruits and vegetables. She couldn't have bananas or potatoes when on dialysis, now it's greens because of the Coumadin. It's always something, I suppose.

That's why I encouraged Dody to take her husband to the nutritionist, so he could hear first hand what he should and should not do. Then if he doesn't do it, Dody can't make him. He's a grown man and must take some responsibility for his health, but first he needs to know what his choices are.

All I can add is that I'm still wishing Dody the best of luck and cheering for Gary to recover and live a happy and healthy life for a long time to come.

Annie

I've read and re-read this thread and think I see where it started going wrong. To accuse someone of providing lethal medical information is just picking a fight. All I saw was someone offering information that could be very useful in altering eating choices and cooking habits. lpink must have felt piled on and now she's gone.

It definitely read as a pile-on. And sheesh, who the heck cares what someone calls themselves - flexitarian or whatever, it's no skin off anyone's nose. And who knew we have a doctor in our midst? What kind of doctor? Can we pick her brain? Heh-heh...

Annie, i wasn't attempting to "pile on" or "pick a fight". I feel that lpink and the others who suggested eating plenty of fruit offered well meaning advice about general good eating habits. However, in this case, they were potentially, er, lethal ideas. In Dody's second sentence of her first post she states that her husband has high potassium. I also agree that Dody is smart enough not to take our advice. With the range of problems that her husband is facing, his diet, unfortunately, needs to be very limited and directed by his MD and RD who have full information and who can continue to monitor his potassium level.

I was reading quite a bit more into what Dody said than lpink saw based on my training and the recognition of an entirely too familiar pattern. Lpink and the other fruitophiles couldn't really be expected to understand the downside to their advice, because it's not something that they would know about. I don't normally provide medical advice because I don't have enough information and because it would be improper anyway, but in this case "splurging" on fresh fruit made me cringe and reflexively say "no!"

Believe it or not, I've actually seen loving, well meaning family members attempt to cure kidney problems with "juicing". Everybody knows that fruit is "healthy", right? For those of us with reasonably healthy kidneys and normal blood sugar it is! The "DASH" diet is a diet that is deliberately high in potassium. For most people it's a great diet, but not for Dody's DH, unfortunately. A lot of non-medical people may not realize that too much potassium in the blood can be life threatening.

On the gardening forums someone may recommend a favorite plant and someone else may recommend against it and no hard feelings, but diet beliefs are often very personal.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hyperkalemia -- The Mayo Clinic

Maybe you should have been more specific in your comments. I don't recall lpink suggesting juicing or forcing volumes of fruits and vegetables on her loved one, but rather suggesting healthy alternative eating choices. And, frankly, I think you attempted to diagnose Dody's condition here.

Well perhaps instead of saying, "oh no, if you follow lpink's advice you could kill your loved one", it would have been better to have asked Dody if her DH was required to follow a low potassium diet, and to post a list of fruits/vegetables to avoid (as lpink did) if he is. Since Dody mentioned only a low sodium diet, it may be as momj47 suggests, and Gary's doctors are expecting that his potassium levels will drop as his diabetes is controlled. Dody was fairly specific in mentioning the foods she has been told not to cook with, and fruits and vegetables were not on the list.
As for the other negative posters, it was definitely a pile-on, very little extra or helpful information was offered except to say, "lpink has it all wrong".

Wishing all the best for you and your husband.
Scary when the ones we love become ill,and lifestyle changes become necessary.
Change is never easy, but you have good motivation, and that's a great start.
Good luck!

Dody, if you're still following this thread, I wanted to thank you for giving me an idea in your original post. Actually, if you wouldn't mind, I'd appreciate you emailing me through GardenWeb, so I could get some input from you. Anyhow, thanks for the idea.

Sue