A New Lifestyle and Yummy Recipe

So last Friday Jim had his yearly physical. Usually he comes back being lightly scolded by the doctor for being a little overweight, but this time was a little different. Jim has high blood pressure, and at 30 years old, its not a good place to be. So the doctor said that they could put him on medicine, but at 30 years old, he should be able to take care of this himself. So we have 6 weeks to lower his BP. This means our entire diet needs to change. I typically cook pretty healthy but there is almost always SOMETHING not-so-great-for-you in the house that Jim will gladly eat in its entirety in one sitting. Cheese is an example. Jim is very content eating an entire pound of cheese with bread in one sitting. Now, I'm not making fun of him, and please don't laugh, but this is seriously the root of our problem.

So I decided that if he's going to do this and do it right, I better do some research. I learned the best way to lower high blood pressure is to lower sodium intake, but you also need to cut back on fats, eat lots of fruit and veggies, and get lots of exercise. Some of Jim's favorites like pickles, chips, and cheese are no-nos. Friday night we had friends over for dinner, and it was Jim's last night of junk food so we had brownie sundaes, and then I sent our guests home with the leftover brownies, and all the chips, pretzels, and crackers in our house..haha. (Good night for them!)

If you've ever met my husband, you'll know that he hates fruit and veggies, they are like little devils staring him in the face. So I knew that if he were to live on just that for the next six weeks, we'd all be in a living hell, even our poor cats. So I did some more research and learned that there are actually lots of foods he can eat..just in moderation. Besides fruit and veggies, I got him fat free frozen yogurt (its chocolate!), dark chocolate bars, animal crackers, whole wheat bread and whole wheat english muffins, and even low-sodium roast beef. Yesterday I sent him to work with a roast beef sandwich with light mayo, tomato and lettuce on whole wheat bread; fruit salad (yes, ladies and gentlemen he ate fruit and LIKED it!), yogurt, a banana, and some peppers to snack on. From what I was told it wasn't miserable and he was a pretty chipper guy when I got home so it was a successful start!

So now on to the recipe. Because we need a low sodium diet, I researched some low sodium recipes and found this one. It was pretty yummy..I ended up adding a little parmesan on top, but I also used too much pasta, so I think had I used the amount of pasta in the recipe it would have been more flavorful.

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Broccoli, Garlic, and Rigatoni

Ingredients:

1/3 pound rigatoni noodles
1 cup broccoli florets (tops)
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 teaspoons minced garlic
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Fill a large pot 3/4 full with water and bring to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente (tender), 10 to 12 minutes, or according to the package directions. Drain the pasta thoroughly.

While the pasta is cooking, in a pot fitted with a steamer basket, bring 1 inch of water to a boil. Add the broccoli, cover and steam until tender, about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the cooked pasta and broccoli. Toss with Parmesan cheese, olive oil and garlic. Season with pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

If anyone tries this and has some suggestions on how to spice it up (without salt), please do comment to let me know.

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Tonight I'm trying a french country chicken with mushroom sauce. If all goes well, check out the blog tomorrow for the recipe!

I'll be sure to post on Jim's progress, (with his permission of course, as I had today). We also need to get out walking, but if any of you live in Southern Maine you know the past week straight has been nothing but rain in the afternoon, so as soon as its nice again we will get out.