Baby Steps

As a survivor of motherhood, and that may be a little presumptuous of me to use the term “survivor” as I still have adult children living in my home, in which case there is still opportunity for me to crash and burn, but I would like to think I have a 60/40 shot at pulling through so I am going to go with the odds on that for now…As a survivor of motherhood, I have prepared more than a few meals for my family of six.  As I journey (what a beautiful word to use in place of kicking and screaming) toward my 50th birthday  this fall, I have made the decision to approach the next chapter of my life with a healthier lifestyle, including creating more “me” time. I have raised four children to adulthood, and I am ready for a few, uninterrupted, “Calgon take me away!” moments. Cue the Instant Pot. This little bucket of love is a time saver and I am certainly going to incorporate it into my lifestyle change.

One of the healthy changes I have made this year is reducing my sodium intake. I don’t know what happened when I hit my late 40’s but one day I am happily shoving down chips and salsa, before devouring my favorite enchiladas, and the next day I am wandering around with stiff joints and looking like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from water retention. This signaled the need for change.

One of the small changes I have made is by switching up the broth that I use in soups and any recipe that calls for broth.  Purchasing regular “low sodium” broth, that has 33% less sodium, doesn’t seem to help out a lot in my opinion.  The sodium in one cup is still around 570 mg or 24% of  your daily value.  Low sodium? Lies and fabrications! The solution?  Organic low sodium broth. This has only 70 mg of sodium per cup and that is 3% of your daily value. Big difference!  Of course you could opt for no sodium but I am just not ready to go there yet. Last night I made Taco Soup in my Instant Pot using organic broth, it was wonderful!  What was even better was that my adult children were downstairs and were able to witness a quick release.  My 21-year-old son, who shares my humor, dramatically darted into the pantry ‘shielding’ himself with the pantry door leaving his girlfriend to fend for herself.  My 25-year-old son took several steps back saying, “This should be good.” Once again the IP did not disappoint, although this time, I was better prepared.  I still used my long-handled wooden spoon to turn the valve, but I didn’t settle into a Warrior 2 yoga pose 4 feet away! Baby steps!