How to manage salt for taste and health....
Today's Post: Friday, 10-8-2010
I got an email yesterday that made several points about salt and sea salt.
1. The amount of Iodine in virtually every multivitamin plus mineral supplement is enough to supply your needs even if your food is a bit low on Iodine and you pass on buying pure white, iodized salt. (This is also another reason why everyone who cares about their health should take a every multivitamin plus mineral supplement.)
2. That doctor then said that that kind of salt, commonly available in almost all supermarkets also contained some sugar and aluminum. If so, that’s the first I’ve ever heard of such a thing. So I cannot vouch for this statement.
But as much too much of sugar as most people ingest, this would be a very bad idea if true.
The aluminum is little better and may be worse if it is in such salt. Taking in aluminum from any source is better avoided since it may be one of the causes of Alzheimer’s disease.
(I personally mostly avoid baked goods because of their sugar, salt, and refined grain content and still too often, their hydrogenated oils content. But I also realized that helps me avoid any baked goods from bakers who use double acting baking powder that contains salts of aluminum. When we still did some home baking, I got us the double acting baking powder that contained no aluminum for this reason.
I also use an original formula underarm deodorant from Tom’s of Maine instead of an aluminum based antiperspirant for this reason.)
So, despite not having any test results yet to back these two statements up, they do motivate me to avoid such salt.
3. There is some evidence that sea salt, such as Celtic Sea salt, with it’s blend of minerals besides sodium salt, may boost blood pressure less when used than the refined, white grocery store salt with only sodium. In addition, some of those trace minerals in the sea salt may not be in your multi or even your food yet be beneficial for your health.
4. Sea salt costs more than grocery store salt with only sodium. Since there is very strong evidence most people will be healthier if they limit salt, that’s actually a good idea. It helps to motivate you to use it sparingly.
(The DASH II diet that adds many fresh vegetables and fruit with mostly potassium AND restricts salt to 1500 mg a day which means eating very, very few packaged dessert or snack foods and very little bread or canned foods, strongly lowers blood pressure in people who have high blood pressure.
And, in people who have normal, average blood pressure, they have their blood pressure go down to the level now thought to be ideal for good health!
Most people who eat this diet find that they also lose fat weight without any extra effort or hunger. Losing 15 to 25 pounds is actually not rare in fact.)
5. Ways to help your food taste good without using tons of salt as many people still do include:
a) Don’t add it while cooking or add it in quarter teaspoon sizes instead of full teaspoon sizes. Then, taste your food before salting it. Depending on how much salt your body needs and the kind of food and the other spices in it, you may find it needs no more salt to taste good. And, if it does, you still get WAY less salt by adding only what your taste actually needs and not all that extra.
b) Make creative use of spices such as red pepper, horse radish, chili powder, paprika, turmeric and curry spice mixes, black pepper, spices like cinnamon and herbs like basil, and sage, etc.
Use garlic, either garlic powder or minced raw garlic. And, use chopped raw or cooked onion.
Then balance any excess sharpness with some extra virgin olive oil in which the flavors also will blend and will improve the taste.
c) When you do use salt, use sea salt. Because it costs a bit more, you’ll use it less. And, there are some possible reasons it may be better for you as we’ve just seen.
d) When you do use salted butter or most kinds of cheese, realize that it comes with salt and salty flavors. So, in some foods, adding some will add the salt for you into the flavor, so you need none or far less in addition. (Again, the thing to do is to taste the food first before you decide to add salt or not.)
6. Instead of salty snacks, eat fresh fruit or small amounts of cheese or raw or dry roasted nuts. Raw veggies such as radishes, celery sticks, carrot sticks, or broccoli florets, or cauliflower also both work well and have tremendous health benefits.
Some people are allergic to nuts. But raw or dry roasted nuts, if you can eat them, are superfoods for good nutrition. They are high in fiber. Their main oils are good for your heart, either the plant kind of omega 3 or monosaturated oils like olive oil. With their protein, fiber, and fat content, they are very satisfying to eat – so much so, you’ll eat enough less of other things in any kind of reasonable amount for a snack, nuts have been found NOT to be fattening. In fact their glycemic index is virtually zero. And, nuts have natural vitamin E in all its parts and many minerals that provide health benefits and to balance the sodium salt you do eat, such as magnesium.
(Do NOT however eat nuts coated with hydrogenated or omega 6 oils or roasted in them or salted. The added stuff is worse for you than the nuts are good for you. You can add extra virgin olive oil or salt them to taste yourself but only buy raw nuts or those that have been dry roasted only.)
7. Consider taking 200 to 800 mg a day of magnesium and eating a lot of foods high in Calcium in addition to eating many fresh vegetables and fruit with mostly potassium and eating very, very few packaged dessert or snack foods and very little bread or canned foods.
The magnesium and calcium and potassium you get this way help your body balance the sodium salt you do eat. And, by NOT eating the kinds of foods loaded with hidden sodium salt, you’ll eat far less of it.
(Note that calcium in food is good for you while it was recently found that calcium in supplements actually may help cause heart disease. The supplement calcium simply goes into your system too fast to be processed correctly it seems. Eating calcium rich foods along with 2,000 iu a day of vitamin D3 and doing weight bearing exercise builds bones better than taking calcium supplements anyway.)
8. Lastly, there is an extra for those of you who have high blood pressure.
A study was just in today’s health news that people take their high blood pressure drugs at bedtime get much better control and health benefits AND experience less side effects. (The side effect are either less or you sleep through them or both.) You do have to get the 24 hour blood pressure test or “ambulatory” test to be sure taking your meds at bedtime won’t cause too low levels in your blood pressure as a precaution. But the results look to be well worth it.
Today's Post: Friday, 10-8-2010
I got an email yesterday that made several points about salt and sea salt.
1. The amount of Iodine in virtually every multivitamin plus mineral supplement is enough to supply your needs even if your food is a bit low on Iodine and you pass on buying pure white, iodized salt. (This is also another reason why everyone who cares about their health should take a every multivitamin plus mineral supplement.)
2. That doctor then said that that kind of salt, commonly available in almost all supermarkets also contained some sugar and aluminum. If so, that’s the first I’ve ever heard of such a thing. So I cannot vouch for this statement.
But as much too much of sugar as most people ingest, this would be a very bad idea if true.
The aluminum is little better and may be worse if it is in such salt. Taking in aluminum from any source is better avoided since it may be one of the causes of Alzheimer’s disease.
(I personally mostly avoid baked goods because of their sugar, salt, and refined grain content and still too often, their hydrogenated oils content. But I also realized that helps me avoid any baked goods from bakers who use double acting baking powder that contains salts of aluminum. When we still did some home baking, I got us the double acting baking powder that contained no aluminum for this reason.
I also use an original formula underarm deodorant from Tom’s of Maine instead of an aluminum based antiperspirant for this reason.)
So, despite not having any test results yet to back these two statements up, they do motivate me to avoid such salt.
3. There is some evidence that sea salt, such as Celtic Sea salt, with it’s blend of minerals besides sodium salt, may boost blood pressure less when used than the refined, white grocery store salt with only sodium. In addition, some of those trace minerals in the sea salt may not be in your multi or even your food yet be beneficial for your health.
4. Sea salt costs more than grocery store salt with only sodium. Since there is very strong evidence most people will be healthier if they limit salt, that’s actually a good idea. It helps to motivate you to use it sparingly.
(The DASH II diet that adds many fresh vegetables and fruit with mostly potassium AND restricts salt to 1500 mg a day which means eating very, very few packaged dessert or snack foods and very little bread or canned foods, strongly lowers blood pressure in people who have high blood pressure.
And, in people who have normal, average blood pressure, they have their blood pressure go down to the level now thought to be ideal for good health!
Most people who eat this diet find that they also lose fat weight without any extra effort or hunger. Losing 15 to 25 pounds is actually not rare in fact.)
5. Ways to help your food taste good without using tons of salt as many people still do include:
a) Don’t add it while cooking or add it in quarter teaspoon sizes instead of full teaspoon sizes. Then, taste your food before salting it. Depending on how much salt your body needs and the kind of food and the other spices in it, you may find it needs no more salt to taste good. And, if it does, you still get WAY less salt by adding only what your taste actually needs and not all that extra.
b) Make creative use of spices such as red pepper, horse radish, chili powder, paprika, turmeric and curry spice mixes, black pepper, spices like cinnamon and herbs like basil, and sage, etc.
Use garlic, either garlic powder or minced raw garlic. And, use chopped raw or cooked onion.
Then balance any excess sharpness with some extra virgin olive oil in which the flavors also will blend and will improve the taste.
c) When you do use salt, use sea salt. Because it costs a bit more, you’ll use it less. And, there are some possible reasons it may be better for you as we’ve just seen.
d) When you do use salted butter or most kinds of cheese, realize that it comes with salt and salty flavors. So, in some foods, adding some will add the salt for you into the flavor, so you need none or far less in addition. (Again, the thing to do is to taste the food first before you decide to add salt or not.)
6. Instead of salty snacks, eat fresh fruit or small amounts of cheese or raw or dry roasted nuts. Raw veggies such as radishes, celery sticks, carrot sticks, or broccoli florets, or cauliflower also both work well and have tremendous health benefits.
Some people are allergic to nuts. But raw or dry roasted nuts, if you can eat them, are superfoods for good nutrition. They are high in fiber. Their main oils are good for your heart, either the plant kind of omega 3 or monosaturated oils like olive oil. With their protein, fiber, and fat content, they are very satisfying to eat – so much so, you’ll eat enough less of other things in any kind of reasonable amount for a snack, nuts have been found NOT to be fattening. In fact their glycemic index is virtually zero. And, nuts have natural vitamin E in all its parts and many minerals that provide health benefits and to balance the sodium salt you do eat, such as magnesium.
(Do NOT however eat nuts coated with hydrogenated or omega 6 oils or roasted in them or salted. The added stuff is worse for you than the nuts are good for you. You can add extra virgin olive oil or salt them to taste yourself but only buy raw nuts or those that have been dry roasted only.)
7. Consider taking 200 to 800 mg a day of magnesium and eating a lot of foods high in Calcium in addition to eating many fresh vegetables and fruit with mostly potassium and eating very, very few packaged dessert or snack foods and very little bread or canned foods.
The magnesium and calcium and potassium you get this way help your body balance the sodium salt you do eat. And, by NOT eating the kinds of foods loaded with hidden sodium salt, you’ll eat far less of it.
(Note that calcium in food is good for you while it was recently found that calcium in supplements actually may help cause heart disease. The supplement calcium simply goes into your system too fast to be processed correctly it seems. Eating calcium rich foods along with 2,000 iu a day of vitamin D3 and doing weight bearing exercise builds bones better than taking calcium supplements anyway.)
8. Lastly, there is an extra for those of you who have high blood pressure.
A study was just in today’s health news that people take their high blood pressure drugs at bedtime get much better control and health benefits AND experience less side effects. (The side effect are either less or you sleep through them or both.) You do have to get the 24 hour blood pressure test or “ambulatory” test to be sure taking your meds at bedtime won’t cause too low levels in your blood pressure as a precaution. But the results look to be well worth it.
Labels: eating to lower blood pressure, good tasting lowsalt snacks, How to manage salt for taste and health, make food taste good without excess salt, sea salt
posted by David at 2:11 PM
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