The Blessing In It All

When I first began the Hold the Salt campaign, my intent was to increase awareness regarding salt intake to prevent kidney or heart related illnesses. I wanted to encourage people to live better and more healthy lives. What I have come to realize that is that salt has been the enemy of my kangaroo pouch that took out a mortgage in my body. In other words, I gained weight that would never leave.

Michelle Kulas reminds us in her article on Livestrong.com that "...eating salty food can cause water retention, bloating, and weight gain." She further explains how our kidneys regulate the intake and output of salt. According to her article, our kidneys are not able to handle the large amounts of salt we sometimes intake; so our body holds excess salt in our bloodstream as it attracts water causing our blood volume to rise.

I was holding at 180-182 pounds with a height of 5'4 and some change (not quiet 5'5). I began my journey to feeling healthy on January 8, 2013. In my third week of recovery from the kidney stone scare, I was cautioned by my urologist to watch my sodium intake, decrease the amount of beef I eat, and be mindful of my calcium intake. The 15 bags of IV I went through and the constant vomitting for seven days was enough for me to jump on the "read all labels" band wagon.

I recently started wearing high-heeled boots to work and was shocked that my feet no longer caused me pain. On Monday, I could barely keep my pants up and had to constantly excuse myself in front of my students. So, finally, I decided to go into a closet with items long forgotten because one thigh struggled to get in them, and I tried on a pair of pants given to me by Ms. Marie, a mother figure. In my mind I said, "I know I can't wear these. It will hurt to even zip up." I rolled the dice and tried them on anyway. Voila! They fit! THEY FIT!

I quickly ran to the bathroom to hop on the scale. The red digital numbers blinked, "165." I had seen that same number in the previous week, but I didn't know what 165 looked like or felt like since...well...a long time. I found a shirt to match the pants and claimed victory over unexplained weight gain. It was the SALT! The issue with my feet hurting was a result of the weight pounding on them. It was the SALT.

Ladies and gentlemen, I know that every body type is different and what works for one might not work for others, but what I know for sure is that I feel better, my feet don't hurt, and I'm on my way to reducing a lot of the problems I just chalked up to the universe. The problem was me and my long standing relationship with salty foods.

What now? I'm going to keep pushing for you to get on board, and then add 30-minutes of exercise per day to my new lifestyle (check out Byron Johnson's guest feature coming soon), and buy a few pairs of stelletos that I'm sure will prompt two snaps and a "GO 'head Colie" from my good sister-friend Nadine Jeanty, and, and, and...because I get a lot more ands now that I've pushed back from the buffet table of SALT.

So I am thankful the kidney stones disrupted my life. I would have continued down a path that may not have allowed me to return. The blessing in the stones is that I have a healthier me. The smaller me was just the result of my self-discipline in HOLDing THE SALT!

To read more of Michelle Kulas's article visit http://www.livestrong.com/article/543921-does-high-salt-cause-bloating-and-weight-gain/

Here's to your journey and your goals in health!

-Y