Cliff is doing amazingly well. Yesterday he went outside four or five times, and strolled the yard, driveway and shop, although he is determined not to over-exert himself. He has a good appetite. His sister Charlene and her husband came and visited with him while Rachel and I did our grocery-shopping.
In researching some of our favorite foods, we've had a few shocks. One big disappointment for Cliff was learning the amount of sodium in 1 tablespoon of ketchup: 190 milligrams! That's about 10% of his daily allowance, and he never stopped at 1 tablespoon in his life. I've seen him douse a burger with ketchup, then dip it in a pool of the red stuff on his plate before every subsequent bite. Rachel and I found both Hunts and Heinz in a no-salt version; it isn't cheap, but at least it exists.
Another big shocker for me, personally, was the sodium content in all Subway sandwiches. We'd been patronizing Subway at least once a week since we started our diets in December, but no more. Most of their subs have almost the whole daily allowance for sodium... and that's for the six-inch!
We've been advised by the dietician to follow the Mediterranean Diet, which focuses on lots of fruit and vegetables, emphasizes fish and poultry, and includes very little red meat, which I'll aim to serve no more than once a week. Thanks to Cliff's sister, Charlene, I found out Aldi's has frozen fish such as salmon, catfish, and swordfish, at a reasonable price. The fillets are individually wrapped inside the package, so I can take out two servings for Cliff and me, leaving the remaining ones frozen.
Thanks to our periods of low-fat eating over the years, I have lots of recipes on which to fall back.
We can do this!
