BRIENMALONE's CalorieKing blog
Friday, Feb 22 2008 - The Cottage Cheese Talk
View BRIENMALONE's food & exercise for this day
Cottage cheese is a fantastic source of non-meat protiein, but it comes with an achilles heel - high salt content. One serving has 450 to 650 mg sodium. I wasn't sure that there was a "low-sodium" cottage cheese, but since I eat nearly 16 oz per day (1800mg sodium) I wanted to see if there was some hope I could continue eating it.
Lucerne 1% no-salt-added cottage cheese at Von's
After a LOT of digging around, I found out that Vons (grocery on the west coast) carries Lucerne no-sodium added cottage cheese. I don't usually shop at Von's, but there is one on my way in to work, so I checked it out.
The Taste...
I bought two tubs of fat free and two tubs of 1% low-sodium. Everyone in internet land who tried low sodium cottage cheese used words like "vile", "disgusting", "wretch-inducing" and so on to describe the taste. With my expectations suitably burried I opened my first container. It smelled the same as regular cottaeg cheese... so I took a bite.
It was a lot like eating a heaping spoonful of lumpy low fat sour cream.
(Replacing sour cream with no-salt added cottage cheese has some interesting possibilities! It's a shame I don't eat tortilla chips anymore.)
Mix to Taste
The good news is that I was able to create a very tasty hybrid by mixing 1/2 cup of fat free cottage cheese with 1/2 cup of no-sodium cottage cheese.
The Great Sleep Experiment
Sleeping didn't go so well last night. The plan was to go to bed at 10 or 10:30 and get up at 4:30 to see how I operate on 6 hours of sleep. I was wide awake until midnight last night and found my eyes springing open at 4am. In spite of being exhausted and sleepy, I lay in bed awake for at least an hour before waking up at 6:30. So, I only slept 6 hours, but I still had an hour of useless awake time in the middle of the night. I'm really sleepy today... AND I missed my workout. Sigh. Well, we'll try again tomorrow.
More Brain Food...
I was very excited to receive a shipment from Amazon. I have bought so many books from Amazon over the years they should name a section of their site after me.
One of the books, "Everything You Need to Know About Fat Loss..." by Chris Aceto, is touted as the premier source for fitness nutrition by Tom Venuto (my fitness idol). Amazon readers were far less "glowing" in their reviews. In fact, many expressed disgust at the poor quality of the writing.
After reading the first few chapters, I have to agree. The author graduated summa cum laude from some community college, yet cannot grasp simple gramatical constructs. The entire book is full of coloquialisms... in fact, it reads much like an interview transcript.
I'll read through it a few times to see if there is anything new that I should add into my fitness plan.
All for now!
----- [8:13pm]
Well... I rewarded myself today after dinner and pushed my calories half-way to maintenance level - so I'm going to take it the rest of the way up here in a sec. I'm still going to keep my calories at maintenance through the weekend so I can have a clear head with my family (and when writing my paper). On Monday it'll be back to 1850 calories, but for 5 days.
I have a feeling my weigh-in in the morning is going to be good. I feel pretty lean today! Woo hoo!
Lucerne 1% no-salt-added cottage cheese at Von's
After a LOT of digging around, I found out that Vons (grocery on the west coast) carries Lucerne no-sodium added cottage cheese. I don't usually shop at Von's, but there is one on my way in to work, so I checked it out.
The Taste...
I bought two tubs of fat free and two tubs of 1% low-sodium. Everyone in internet land who tried low sodium cottage cheese used words like "vile", "disgusting", "wretch-inducing" and so on to describe the taste. With my expectations suitably burried I opened my first container. It smelled the same as regular cottaeg cheese... so I took a bite.
It was a lot like eating a heaping spoonful of lumpy low fat sour cream.
(Replacing sour cream with no-salt added cottage cheese has some interesting possibilities! It's a shame I don't eat tortilla chips anymore.)
Mix to Taste
The good news is that I was able to create a very tasty hybrid by mixing 1/2 cup of fat free cottage cheese with 1/2 cup of no-sodium cottage cheese.
The Great Sleep Experiment
Sleeping didn't go so well last night. The plan was to go to bed at 10 or 10:30 and get up at 4:30 to see how I operate on 6 hours of sleep. I was wide awake until midnight last night and found my eyes springing open at 4am. In spite of being exhausted and sleepy, I lay in bed awake for at least an hour before waking up at 6:30. So, I only slept 6 hours, but I still had an hour of useless awake time in the middle of the night. I'm really sleepy today... AND I missed my workout. Sigh. Well, we'll try again tomorrow.
More Brain Food...
I was very excited to receive a shipment from Amazon. I have bought so many books from Amazon over the years they should name a section of their site after me.
One of the books, "Everything You Need to Know About Fat Loss..." by Chris Aceto, is touted as the premier source for fitness nutrition by Tom Venuto (my fitness idol). Amazon readers were far less "glowing" in their reviews. In fact, many expressed disgust at the poor quality of the writing. After reading the first few chapters, I have to agree. The author graduated summa cum laude from some community college, yet cannot grasp simple gramatical constructs. The entire book is full of coloquialisms... in fact, it reads much like an interview transcript.
I'll read through it a few times to see if there is anything new that I should add into my fitness plan.
All for now!
----- [8:13pm]
Well... I rewarded myself today after dinner and pushed my calories half-way to maintenance level - so I'm going to take it the rest of the way up here in a sec. I'm still going to keep my calories at maintenance through the weekend so I can have a clear head with my family (and when writing my paper). On Monday it'll be back to 1850 calories, but for 5 days.
I have a feeling my weigh-in in the morning is going to be good. I feel pretty lean today! Woo hoo!
6 comments so far.
6.
a decade ago
Hi Jenn!
Since you're a medi, I'll give you the detailed explanation on sodium/potassium interaction in the body.
Cell walls have protein channels that allow sodium and potassium to pass in and out. These pumps are designed to move sodium and potassium from areas of high concentration to areas of low concentration. When the channel moves sodium, it is ready to receive potassium. When it moves potassium, it is set to receive sodium... So, the two act together with the channel to act as a sort of pump.
At a practical level, potassium helps ensure that the body can regulate its salt levels (and vice-versa)
From what I have read, if you have a high sodium diet, you should compensate with potassium. RDA for sodium is 2000-2500mg (which is amazingly low) and RDA for potassium is 4500mg. The typical American diet is lacking in sufficient potassium.
Here is a great flash video that shows how the "pump" works:
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072495855/student_view0/chapter2/animation__how_the_sodium_potassium_pump_works.html
by BRIENMALONE
5.
a decade ago
Glad your feeling lean Brein..that is because you are a heck of a lot leaner!!!!You are doing a great job Brein and the time you take to write your educational blogs is well appreciated. I was looking over old blogs of yours because I remember you talking about potassium once,I could not find it. Why were you taking potassium supplements for?I remembered that it had something to do with the extra salt intake. I will be going on line today to try and get some other exercise ideas to create a work out here at home with my free weights and big ball thing....I will be doing that in addition to my cardio work at the gym...Keep up the great work Brein,just think how good you will feel and look this summer,especially with living in sunny California!!
by JENNCST
4.
a decade ago
klwalk: I don't usually mix fruit in, but I do usually eat fruit with my cottage cheese (an apple, pear or orange) and that helps break up the monotony
:)
by BRIENMALONE
3.
a decade ago
marjorieo: Hi neighbor! The low sodium thing is part of my shift to whole foods. I'm trying to eat "as close to nature as I can". I've tried Knudsen but believe it or not, I'm hooked on Ralph's store brand fat free. I haven't been too impressed with even the normal Lucerne cottage cheese so far- there is a little too much mush and too little curd. Wow. Am I becoming a cottage cheese snob? LOL
by BRIENMALONE
2.
a decade ago
Hey Brien--we're practically neighbors--I live in Vista! I grew up eating homemade cottage cheese from the fresh milk on our farm. (Also fresh yogurt, whole milk, butter and a lot of ice cream--is it any wonder I have a weight problem!) At the time I did not appreciate it but boy! do I wish I had my mom's homemade cottage cheese now. I had a brief reminder of it on a trip to England a couple of years ago. My favorite and pretty much the only cottage cheese I'll buy is Knudsen in the pink packaging. I think it's 2% fat, small curd. The blue packaging is slightly better but it's higher fat so I stick to the pink one. I find it at Stater Brothers if you want to try it. I've never had sodium free cottage cheese. Any particular reason you went for sodium free?
by MARJORIEO
1.
a decade ago
Not sure if you're the type of person who likes to add fruit to his cottage cheese, but maybe that would be one way to mask the ick factor of your low sodium stuff. And, if you're not a member of Amazon Prime, sounds like you should be!
by KLWALK