How ATK saved the day!

This book is my new best friend. For reals. When ATK compiled this cookbook one of the things they considered in each recipe was the sodium content. We ordered this book the day that Chris was told to eat less sodium, and when it came I started reading it. I was full of hope after seeing the nutrition info. The next five dinners that we have will be coming from this cookbook, and because of the low sodium content in each recipe, Chris can still have tasty lunches. Hopefully these foods still taste delicious!

Sadly, my Mexican Rice that I made last week using the Organic, Free Range, Chicken Broth that only had 70 mg of sodium in it... turned out pretty disgusting. Apparently Mexican Rice really needs sodium to taste good. Next time I'll just use a broth that has more sodium and control how much Chris actually eats. To eat it we ended up adding a bunch of salsa, which made it tolerable, but still kinda gross.

I love America's Test Kitchen and am so grateful for the friends who introduced me to ATK over a year ago!

Also... Costco's Pesto is delicious, and only has a little bit of sodium, and pasta has no sodium... So we'll be having Pesto Pasta often.

A few questions have been asked, so here are a few answers:

We don't know if this low-sodium diet is a permanent thing or if it's just when he's having episodes that we have to go with it. Even if it isn't permanent we will definitely consume less sodium than previously, but I won't try to track every single mg of sodium. We're working on getting him accustomed to different types of snacks that have no sodium, or minimal amounts of sodium, so that he can save his sodium allowance for the big meals.

There currently is no cure for Meniere's Disease. There are medications that can help control the individual symptoms, and once the extra fluid drains out of his inner ears, Chris will undergo Vestibular Rehab, to help train his brain again. After this, it is likely that he will be okay, however he can have episodes at any time in the future. Apparently the first episode is the worst, and they get a little better each subsequent time.

We also don't know what caused all of this in the first place. A lot more research needs to be done to understand Meniere's better.

We got Chris a cane last week, and it's pretty schnazzy. It goes really nicely with the Handicapped Parking Placard that he got yesterday. The line at the Disability Window at the Tax Collector Office (where you register your car, pay your property tax, and apparently get Handicapped Parking Permits) is a lot shorter than the regular line, and you get to sit while you wait. That was a nice experience.

On a different note... we enjoyed our 4th of July by watching our little city's parade from our back yard.  Then we watched a movie with some friends, and turned on the New York firework show! We've also got the Boston show on our DVR, I want to watch it soon too. That was also the day we had nasty Mexican Rice and Chicken Fajitas. The fajitas were good though, not nasty. Nothing says 4th of July like Mexican food, right?