Salt Halt / Projectpalooza complete!

Well, the last month was spent avoiding salt as much as possible. I did have nachos once, and I did have some lightly salted peanuts, but besides that, I did my best! It wasn't quite as eventful as I thought it would be. I didn't feel that much different healthwise. But I did learn that you really don't need as much salt in your diet as you think.

Projectpalooza was pretty fun too. I only played computer when it was multiplayer with my brother or wife, and spent my free time working on projects. I didn't document it as well as I had hoped, but I basically did the following:

• Edited 28 pages of Alfred and the Cavern of Time
• Wrote 53 pages of my personal history
• Worked ~12 hours on The Hard Lands campaign (though I mainly just finished the unit set)

As far as the Salt Halt went, this was my documentation:

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DAY 1 - Not too hard, since it's the first day. Got a headache today, but that probably has no connection.

DAY 2 - Still not hard, even though I passed up movie popcorn and fries in addition to my salty work snack.

DAY 3 - Had my first impulse to salt something today, when my lunch pasta was bland. Other than that, still not a problem.

DAY 4 - I seem to be eating more sugar in compensation, or rather as the only alternative. But I fell like I'm doing well. It's pretty interesting how I just don't seem to need as many salty snacks as my habit used to dictate.

DAY 5 - Nothing too eventful today. Pretty normal day.

DAY 6 - Ate avocado without salt at Sizzler, and it wasn't too bad. I think I'm still going solid.

DAY 7 - Successfully ate roast and mashed potatoes without any salt. I craved it, but I was okay without it.

DAY 8 - Ate chicken with only lemon pepper—no seasoning salt. Still pretty good!

DAY 9 - Really wanted movie popcorn, but declined it fairly easily.

DAY 10 - I feel a lot more hungry lately without a snack to stave off the hunger. Oh well.

DAY 11 - Mixed nuts and raisins tasted really good. A viable alternative to salty snacks. Also, I made arroz and feijao without salt.

DAY 12 - Still no problems really. It's kind of interesting how you really don't need that much salt in your diet.

DAY 13 - Craved popcorn a bit, but not too bad.

DAY 14 - Wife had popcorn with movie, and I was going to have saltless popcorn, but didn't really care enough to make some.

DAY 15 - I admit I added just a sprinkle of salt in the fajitas for dinner, and I regret it... it didn't make much of a difference anyway. I need to hide the salt shaker again. Besides that though, things are good.

DAY 16 - Daughter got sick, and I was SOOO tempted to eat one of her saltines...

DAY 17 - Not too bad. Honestly, the Projectpalooza is way harder than this challenge.

DAY 18 - Pretzels look pretty good in the pretzel jar... But I'm more than half way. I can make it.

DAY 19- Going without salt is just easier than going without sugar.

DAY 20 - Went to a monthly board game night, and was really tempted to eat the chips and dip. But I figured since it's monthly, there's always next time.

DAY 21 - I sure wanted some crackers today, but I'm going strong.

DAY 22 - My hardest day yet. They had all of my favorite kinds of chips today at work. But I resisted them. I did have nachos for dinner though. So not sure which was worse.

DAY 23 - I sort of cheated. I bought some peanuts at work. I figure, I would have chosen unsalted if those were available, and it would be better to choose something healthy like peanuts over something sweet like a candy bar. So I got both.

DAY 24 - Had hash browns without salt, and they were good. With ketchup and ranch, of course. Got some more peanuts. They're not super salty.

DAY 25 - More peanuts... I'm kind of ashamed now. Oh well. Almost done anyway.

DAY 26 - Today there were chips at the work party, and I was going to just cave and eat them, but I didn't!

DAY 27 - I did it, more or less! I've learned that you really don't need to add salt to the things you think you will. For example, hash browns. If they're going to have ketchup and ranch on them anyway, what's the point in adding salt? Taco meat, on the other hand... well, anyway. That's what I learned.

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I didn't feel like it went as well as it has in the past... it's hard to do Project Month when you have a full time job and a kid at home. I even ended a day earlier than I thought. However, to celebrate the end of the month, I ate pretzels and water as I stayed up late playing Hearthstone. And you know what? It actually wasn't that fulfilling. The pretzels didn't really make me that happy, and Hearthstone wasn't as fulfilling as actually working on something that required work. From now on, I'm going to only play Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and the other days of the week will be spent like Projectpalooza was. And I'll probably cut down on salty snacks.

That's it for Project Month 2015!