Salty, Senna, and Frank Go For a Sail - Not for the Squeamish
I normally avoid salt. So after cramming my hotdogs and homemade Big Macs with organic pickles (330 mg sodium per ½ ounce), homemade Thousand Island dressing with pickle relish (165 mg sodium per tablespoon), and using at least a fourth of a bottle of 8 ounce Franks Red Hot Sauce (840 mg sodium per 1 ounce) in my lime water while pre-and-post menstrual, I hit 125 pounds. That’s a gain of 8 pounds, up from 117, in less than a week. And this was after the “cursed” event had passed.
Then I drank eight beers on Super Bowl Sunday. This means I missed out on a lot of water. I happen to love cold water drizzled with Key Lime juice and knock back at least three 28 ounce jugs a day between a cup or two of English breakfast tea in the morning, and vodka and water at night.
I was not harboring an illusion it was body fat I had gained. I ate so much salt I bloated like a Macy’s Parade Balloon. I’d only eaten a low carbohydrate AND low calorie diet the week before. And on Super Bowl Sunday I only ate two hot dogs with sour dough buns, period. I enjoyed one dog (Oscar Mayer Naturals 540 mgs sodium per dog) at breakfast and one at dinner between beers. And believe me, beer and its carbohydrate load does not replace water.
The one irony of water balance is that the more water you drink, the less water retention you have to cope with. Of course, taking in salt like you’re a seagoing spice ship doesn’t help. And I’ve been the Good Ship Salty Pop.
Well, why should my dietary imbalance damage stop there? First, my ankles became swollen like two water balloons. Then I backed up, so to speak. With Crohn’s disease, I sometimes deal with two evacuation extremes; totally loose or totally locked up. If I eat right, avoid trigger foods, get enough water, and get lucky, I’m regular. If not, I sometimes have to take senna to unlock the loch. (In my case, the senna is doctor recommended. I don’t advise usage without your doctor’s guidance).
So, to counteract the salt, beer, carbohydrates, and lack of water, I ate all natural low sodium foods, drank 28 ounces of water every 2 hours, and took two sennas which called ME in the morning.
Tuesday morning, I weighed in at 126 pounds. Tuesday around noon, I weighed 119 pounds and by evening I was 117 again. Approximately 9 pounds embarked from this former Good Ship Salty Pop in mere hours. According to my bio-impedance body fat meter nothing else changed. I lost 9 pounds of water and intestinal matter in one day.
So, if you find yourself gaining (or losing) weight rapidly, check your sodium and water intake. And for Pete’s sake, suspect and inspect your condiments and processed meats for high sodium content. (Who is Pete anyway?)
I sorely miss my Franks Red Hot and pickles.
Salty, Senna, and Frank Go For a Sail - Not for the Squeamish
I normally avoid salt. So after cramming my hotdogs and homemade Big Macs with organic pickles (330 mg sodium per ½ ounce), homemade Thousand Island dressing with pickle relish (165 mg sodium per tablespoon), and using at least a fourth of a bottle of 8 ounce Franks Red Hot Sauce (840 mg sodium per 1 ounce) in my lime water while pre-and-post menstrual, I hit 125 pounds. That’s a gain of 8 pounds, up from 117, in less than a week. And this was after the “cursed” event had passed.
Then I drank eight beers on Super Bowl Sunday. This means I missed out on a lot of water. I happen to love cold water drizzled with Key Lime juice and knock back at least three 28 ounce jugs a day between a cup or two of English breakfast tea in the morning, and vodka and water at night.
I was not harboring an illusion it was body fat I had gained. I ate so much salt I bloated like a Macy’s Parade Balloon. I’d only eaten a low carbohydrate AND low calorie diet the week before. And on Super Bowl Sunday I only ate two hot dogs with sour dough buns, period. I enjoyed one dog (Oscar Mayer Naturals 540 mgs sodium per dog) at breakfast and one at dinner between beers. And believe me, beer and its carbohydrate load does not replace water.
The one irony of water balance is that the more water you drink, the less water retention you have to cope with. Of course, taking in salt like you’re a seagoing spice ship doesn’t help. And I’ve been the Good Ship Salty Pop.
Well, why should my dietary imbalance damage stop there? First, my ankles became swollen like two water balloons. Then I backed up, so to speak. With Crohn’s disease, I sometimes deal with two evacuation extremes; totally loose or totally locked up. If I eat right, avoid trigger foods, get enough water, and get lucky, I’m regular. If not, I sometimes have to take senna to unlock the loch. (In my case, the senna is doctor recommended. I don’t advise usage without your doctor’s guidance).
So, to counteract the salt, beer, carbohydrates, and lack of water, I ate all natural low sodium foods, drank 28 ounces of water every 2 hours, and took two sennas which called ME in the morning.
Tuesday morning, I weighed in at 126 pounds. Tuesday around noon, I weighed 119 pounds and by evening I was 117 again. Approximately 9 pounds embarked from this former Good Ship Salty Pop in mere hours. According to my bio-impedance body fat meter nothing else changed. I lost 9 pounds of water and intestinal matter in one day.
So, if you find yourself gaining (or losing) weight rapidly, check your sodium and water intake. And for Pete’s sake, suspect and inspect your condiments and processed meats for high sodium content. (Who is Pete anyway?)
I sorely miss my Franks Red Hot and pickles.