Yeah, it's the salt

My former coworker, Warren, lives his life on Facebook. He posts at least once a day, every day. Two posts this week captured my attention. First, on Wednesday afternoon, he went to lunch at a new (to him) bar. He had a bowl of clam chowder with bacon (which looked delicious) and, according to his receipt, a hard seltzer and a beer. That's two drinks at lunch on a Wednesday afternoon. It wasn't a special occasion, he wasn't celebrating anything. He just enjoys spending time in bars, and the best way to get good service is to run up a tab.

Then yesterday, he posted that even though he takes his blood pressure medicine every day, his numbers are worrisome. He took us on a tour of kitchen cabinet and showed all the cans of tuna and vegetables and the jars of peanut butter he's going to throw away because they contain too much salt ... and clearly salt is at the root of his bp problem.

I don't usually engage Warren on Facebook because he makes me sad. For all that he complains that he is lonely, that he is always broke, that he feels lost and adrift, he doesn't really want to change his life. For all that he says he wants to "serve God," he has refused my help to match him with a local charity because he simply doesn't have time. He does, however, have time to hang around in bars several nights a week for hours at a time, buying drinks for people half his 54 years who don't take him seriously. I can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped. I'm learning that.

But this! Throwing away an entire cabinet of tuna and gravy and green beans! No! Food insecurity is such a big deal here in Chicagoland. More than 760,000 of our neighbors here in Cook County lack consistent access to the food they need for 3 meals/day. I simply cannot sit back and watch someone throw non-perishable food away. I had to call him out on that!

I advised him NOT to throw the food away. Why not just not add salt to it when he sits down to eat it, and then be more careful reading labels next time he goes grocery shopping? After all, he's always complaining about being broke (I didn't mention that he spends more on booze than food) and that stress can have an impact on his blood pressure. I advised him if he must get rid of these canned goods, he should donate them, not toss them.

When I had his attention, I recommended he take baby steps, make small changes and then celebrate them. "Reduce salt at each meal, walk more, limit yourself to one drink a day," I posted. 

Because let's face it. When you down two drinks at lunch on Wednesday, and you go to the bars every night, sodium is not the problem.

He thanked me for the advice. Let's see if he takes it. OK, I doubt he will. But I have to try.