Steven Helmer Publications

  After slipping a bit, I've been trying to get back to being on my DASH diet . This is both because I have a physical in a couple months and because my wife's blood pressure has been a bit on the high side lately as well. As part of this, when I decided to make my skillet lasagna for dinner last night, I looked for a pasta sauce with less salt and decided to purchase a jar of Prego Lower Sodium Traditional Pasta Sauce , despite it being slightly more expensive ($2.99) than my normal brand, because the 350 mg of sodium was by far the lowest I could find on that shelf. Overall, it ended up being a decent choice. One of my biggest concerns when it comes to "heart healthy" foods is taste. In many cases, the salt that is being cut from the product was the only flavor that product had. That, however, didn't turn out to be the case with this brand. While I always doctor up jarred/canned sauces, I took the time to taste this first and it wasn't bad.  In fact, by the ...

Overall, I have enjoyed good health most of my life but my recent physical revealed my blood pressure, while not of an immediate concern, has reached a level where it could cause long-term problems. Choosing not to put me on a pill for it just yet (one of the reasons why I like my doctor), I was instructed to make some lifestyle changes, including going on the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet. I'm going to admit, I wasn't a big fan of this at first but after just one week, am noticing results, both with my blood pressure and weight. And in that first week, I learned a few things that will hopefully help me stick with it. Image courtesy of Pixabay First, pay attention to the labels and be ready for "sticker shock." The funny thing is, I was already doing this, but must not have been paying close attention to things like sodium levels. Now that I've been more careful about it, I have been downright flabbergasted by what I discovered. Things I tho...