You must be the change you want to see in the world ~ Gandhi

Living in a city filled with local restaurants. Fabulous. Perfect for me as I refuse to support chain restaurants. Except now, supporting local establishments is a challenge. Open heart surgery and congestive heart failure has changed our world... knowing the sodium content is critical for my husband's health. Knowing Nutritional Information is a must.

I thought we ate healthy as we haven't added salt to food for years. I never looked at labels. My mistake. Sodium is in everything... even when it makes absolutely no sense. Canned fruit, or actually pretty much anything in a can. Cough syrup. Milk. Juice. Yogurt. Cottage Cheese. Salsa. Cheese. Cocktail sauce. Frozen shrimp. Salad dressing. Baking powder. Cereal, even the heart healthy Cheerios. The list goes on and on, crazy. Three bags of groceries left my kitchen, items with sodium levels off the chart for my husband's health... what an eye opener.

My quest... to continue supporting local restaurants and to buy local. People concerned with their health, especially those with congestive heart failure, high cholesterol or high blood pressure need to know the Nutritional Information to protect their health. So after researching some websites, I emailed several of our favorite spots...

Thundercloud Subs... http://www.thundercloud.com/ They have a spectacular website that included Nutritional Information for their ENTIRE menu!

Z'Tejas... http://www.ztejas.com/ Deborah/Director of Marketing was wonderful sending me a link for information for some of their items http://www.healthydiningfinder.com/site/diners/findrestaurants/nutritional_info.php?id=ztejas-49793

PTerry's... http://www.pterrys.com/ Patrick responded that they are trying to compile that information

Austin Java... http://www.austinjava.com/ Still waiting for a response. While they indicate Heart Healthy on some menu items, what exactly that means.

Firebowl Cafe... http://www.firebowlcafe.com/ They've now included this new link on their website which I hope receives enough requests for them to move forward: NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION: Fire Bowl Cafe does not currently have nutritional information available for our menu items. If you are interested in seeing nutritional information in the future, please let us know by emailing info@firebowlcafe.com.

Edible Austin... http://www.edibleaustin.com/ With their presence in the community I've reached out for their help.

Dale Rice / Dear Dale... Austin Statesman Restaurant Critic, I've asked for his help as well. His blog offers great insight:
http://www.austin360.com/food_drink/content/food_drink/index.html

So gone are the days of just eating whatever sounds appetizing... life without sodium removes quite a few options.