Got "Thumbs Up" at Vik's Chaat, thinking it's a cola beverage made from real sugar (like the Mexican coke). Turns out it's still made from high fructose corn syrup... booo.
So when I noticed that 너구리 ramen has over 2 grams of awesomenesssodium per package, I had to do an experiment. How much can I raise my (already too high) blood pressure by eating it? Naturally, I picked a day when my wife has class, so that she would not find out about this until after the deed had been done.
Picture #1 shows you the nutrition facts, showing 1040mg of Na+ per serving, times two servings per package. That's 86% of my recommended daily sodium intake! Picture #2 shows the other side of the package. Apparently it's also called the RTA ramen (Thanks JR!) because that's what the Korean text looks like upside down. From what I remember this was my favorite ramen growing up in Korea.
Picture #3 shows you my pre-meal b.p. of 136/86. Definitely higher than it should be, though that's about what it usually is. I'd say my blood pressure ranges from between 120/70 to 150/90.
Picture #4 shows you the finished bowl (actually used chopsticks and everything). Normally, I use about 1/2 of the spice packet, because it's too salty otherwise. In order to get the full effect of the sodium contents, I used everything in the packet, and it was saltier than I would have liked. I tried to finish most of the soup also, by adding some rice once I was done with the noodles.
Picture #5 shows you my post-meal b.p. of 150/95, about 10 minutes after finishing - increase of 15 and 10 mmHg, respectively. Not too shabby for a single meal, though it was probably comparable if not worse after my failed pho challenge attempt. My wife (after telling me how stupid this whole thing was) told me that I probably should have waited about 30 mintues after the meal before taking my b.p. again, to get the maximal b.p. So it's possible that the real results may have been higer than 150/95
Moral of the story: consuming 2 grams of sodium in a single meal is generally not a good idea, even if you already have hypertension. Wait what?
