Sodium

The culprit for the recent heart palpitations and high blood pressure is most likely sodium overload. The revelation occurred today when no skipped (read: delayed) heartbeats were noted after the cardio workout at the gym. There were no huge HRV spikes overnight and during the day. The change? A chance return to dinner at the Subway® in town. Panda Express® had been the daily dinner venue for over a month.

All Subway® footlong sandwiches are ordered with wheat bread, extra vegetables, and no sauces or spices. Either turkey or rotisserie chicken is ordered along with provolone cheese. The total sodium is under 1,500mg.

The two Egg McMuffins sufficing for breakfast (at the fast food joint in town) come in at 1,440mg sodium. Panda Express® dinners are the worst. Choosing Super Greens (no noodles or rice), String Bean Chicken, Eggplant Tofu, and Kung Pao Chicken add up to over 2,500mg sodium in one sitting. Not too healthy, eh?

This afternoon, another Subway® sandwich sufficed for dinner. So, heartbeats and HRV will be monitored tonight. Obviously, a change in menu items is required. A couple of plain English muffins will probably be enough for breakfast with occasional oatmeal ordered on select days. Coffee will still be procured at the fast food joint. The previous restriction on coffee will now be slightly relaxed. Caffeine may be a minor adjunct to the heart problems.

Subway® dinners will remain unchanged. Panda Express® dinners, on the other hand, must be modified. Kung Pao Chicken (1,000mg sodium) will definitely be replaced with Grilled Teriyaki Chicken. Other changes may follow. Overall, the possibility of revisiting canned beans is fairly high, although it probably is festered with sodium. Sheesh!

The situation at the “old folks home” in Waikiki is still questionable. The recertification process has commenced, apparently for all tenants. Ignacio has been a real “thorn in the side” for management. He has been calling out the duffers about everything. Yet, nothing changes. He’s been compiling a huge image and e-mail trail in the process. The duffers appear to be dismissing Ignacio as some kind of curmudgeon.

On a side note, the (s)election of “Orange Bad Man” went quite smoothly, eh? Too smooth, and too suspicious. Well, that is clear proof that the “garden variety” Fascists have made their choice.

Addendum: The Up&Up® blood pressure monitor has yet to be unboxed and deployed.