<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Dear Listserve friends:
 
Bless all of you who wrote with good wishes and prayers for a successful surgery and complete and easy recovery. I've been on this listserve since, hmm, 1990, and over the years have become friends with many of you and can always count on your support and hope I've always been a good support in return.

I'm going to make sure I've lots of nutritious foods available in my fridge, freezer and cupboard and will make up super simple meals while I recuperate from tomorrow's surgery to remove a tumour in my lower back. Luckily the tumour was discovered quickly after the upper leg pain had started bothering me, plus an excellent (world renowned) spinal medical team happens to be located in Vancouver. The ultimate decision to go ahead with the surgery was prompted by the information that the tumour, though most likely benign, would continue to grow and eventually cause permanent paralysis as it's growing on a nerve sheath. 

My criteria for post-op "heat & serve" meals was that the product had to be no more than 250 mg sodium, had to be non-meat/chicken/shellfish, and a "reasonable" price. Knowing that I won't be anywhere near as active post-op as pre-op, I resisted the urge to buy snack foods; no need to ruin all these months of fitness activities by putting on unnecessary pounds. And yes, there will be lots of fresh fruits & veggies too - many friends have offered to shop for me. 

So, okay entrepreneurs out there - there is an incredible dearth of low sodium prepared foods - packaged or frozen.  Some soups claim to be low sodium - but read the numbers! Healthy Choice soups' low sodium (50mg) is much much lower than Imagine's low sodium soup (350mg). Seems whenever a product claims to be low in fat, the scale tips the other way for sodium - up, up, up it goes! And of course there are no official guidelines rules about what exactly "low" or "lower" sodium levels should be.
 
I drove across the Canada/US border on Sunday to Bellingham, WA  & spent 3 hours perusing shelves and freezer sections of 3 stores. I was very pleased initially to see many of the products people had suggested were actually so close to Vancouver (no idea why Vancouver stores don't stock these products - I will be pushing them!) Luckily I have a Nexus pass - the border line-up on the way home was 80 minutes! I breezed through. I brought a cooler with ice packs, so nothing frozen would have thawed, had there been any wait.
 
I ended up buying: Trader Joe's in-house labelled Black Bean & Corn Enchilada, Polenta Provencale, Gordita's (350mg but never seen such a product before-pouches of corn masa filled with cheese, refried beans & roasted chile) & their flourless chocolate cake (no icing, can be cut in "wee" pieces). At the Bellingham Food Co-op, a natural food store, I found: Amy's new "Light in Sodium" Brown Rice (270mg) & Vegetables & "Light in Sodium" Mexican Casserole (390mg)-same excuse as for the Gorditas. I will be writing to Amy's to thank them for venturing into the lower sodium realm before they are forced to by legislation (which could take forever to be enacted).
 
I saw a good number of other products people had suggested and knowing how much space I had available in my fridge freezer, plus seeing that some of the sodium levels or calories were a bit higher than I wanted, I left them for perhaps another time. It is very encouraging that being gluten free has prompted so many products to appear.
   
By the way, I have thanked (in writing) the Bellingham Food Coop for their excellent stock of gf products, Amy's for putting out their new low sodium products, and I also "gently" wrote to my local natural food chain about the wonderful products I found in Bellingham, wondering why I had to go to Bellingham, instead of their store in my own city.

Today is my tie up loose ends day and then the adventure will begin first thing tomorrow morning.
 
Thanks again listserve friends - truly a unique wonderful group!

Helen
 
 

*Please provide references to back up claims of a product being GF or not GF*
*******
To unsubscribe, email: mailto:[log in to unmask]
*******