Renee, my borscht recipe has cabbage, but it has a lot of beets and I know how you feel about those. (grin) I love cabbage, I ought to make it more often and I just don't think about it. It's not peppery or spicy, but this is one of Ashley's favorite soups. I never use the half and half, just whatever milk type is in the refrigerator. Cream of Cabbage Soup 1 quart chicken broth (I use my home canned stuff) 2 celery ribs, chopped 1 medium head cabbage (3 pounds), shredded 1 medium onion, chopped 1 medium carrot, chopped 1/4 cup butter 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 2 cups half-and-half cream 1 cup milk 2 cups cubed fully cooked ham 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme Minced fresh parsley In a large soup kettle or Dutch oven, combine broth, celery, cabbage, onion and carrot; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Meanwhile, melt butter in a medium saucepan. Add flour, salt and pepper; stir to form a smooth paste. Combine cream and milk; gradually add to flour mixture, stirring constantly. Cook and stir until thickened; continue cooking 1 minute longer. Gradually stir into vegetable mixture. Add ham and thyme and heat through. Garnish with parsley. Yield: 8-10 servings. Ashley likes to stir in a spoonful of sour cream when it's served, I often sub my homemade yogurt for that and she doesn't complain. Annie

Sodium is an essential nutrient in our diets and naturally found in any number of foods without adding salt to them. So by eating a variety of whole foods, we get plenty of sodium. I think the less we consume highly-processed foods the more our taste for salt diminishes. I'm more inclined to use a sprinkle of kelp granules as a low-sodium salt alternative these days, which is also a good source of iodine. I make microwave homemade vegetable chips and baked kale chips without the addition of salt, and it's amazing how different they are from the fried, highly-salted version. You are satisfied with 4 or 5 chips rather than half a bag, and you enjoy the flavor of the vegetables. However, I am fond of adding a dash of cider vinegar powder to them occasionally. It's also curious how adding a little salt to something can make it taste sweeter. That "pinch of salt" doesn't really seem all that necessary in the big scheme of things, but "... salt suppresses bitter tastes, bringing sweet and sour flavors to the fore." Hence that sprinkle of coarse salt on dark chocolate goodies probably has a purpose. My father had Addison's Disease and he required high amounts of salt in his diet, so there are exceptions to the rule. -Grainlady

Congratulations on a great check up! As to giving in to the cravings. YES! I learned a long time ago that if I ate a little of what I started craving, as soon as I started craving it, I didn't go overboard with it. If I try to not give in to it, when I finally do, I eat and eat and eat and eat, whatever I'm craving. When I crave chocolate really bad, is usually when I get charlie horses in my feet and legs. If I remember to eat something with lots of magnesium, or take a magnesium tablet, I no longer have the charlie horses or the chocolate cravings. What I hate, is when I am craving something, but can't figure out what it is! That's when I really binge, trying to figure out what I am craving. Tami

Yeah, that whole calorie is a calorie bunk is a saying of big agra and food giants, such as coca cola. Have you seen the commercial telling you to drink a coke, you just need to exercise for XX amount of time afterwards? Total carp. While someone can eat a diet of 1000 calories of oreo cookies and lose weight, they sure won't feel very good doing it. However, if someone ate a diet of grass fed beef fried in coconut oil, the same 1000 calories, they would lose weight and feel great. I'm not advocating eating 1000 calories unless you are 4 feet tall, but just used it for comparison. That whole thinking is extremely outdated, as is the fact that eating fat makes you fat and causes heart disease. The whole obesity epidemic started when the dietary guidelines were changed to have Americans eat no more that 10% saturated fats, no more than 30% total fats. So, what did they replace the fat with? Highly addictive carbohydrates, which break down to sugar. So now we are sugar addicts, with insulin resistance and huge blood sugar fluctuations, which cause a viscous cycle of overeating, insulin release, and on and on.