Kresser: Salt 2

The results of the Intersalt Study did not indicate any clear pattern between the level of salt intake and blood pressure in those countries studied. (23) And when average life expectancy is plotted against the countries’ average salt intake, the trend shows that higher salt consumption is actually correlated with longer life expectancy. While this correlation does not imply causation, it is interesting to note the compatibility of a high salt diet with a long life expectancy.

http://chriskresser.com/shaking-up-the-salt-myth-the-human-need-for-salt

You eat whole foods, and add some salt here and there, you will be hard pressed to eat "too much" salt, and if you do, your healthy kidneys will easily flush the extra.  Best way to get into trouble with your kidneys is by becoming diabetic.  The cascade of nasty that accompanies uncontrolled blood sugars is causing renal failure on a large scale - that's why you see so many dialysis centers all over the place.

Best way to heal a kidney damaged by diabetes or metabolic syndrome?  Carb restriction.  Even the ADA recommends that for weight loss for up to a year (after that, I suppose you are supposed to go back to the high carb diet that almost killed you the first time).

Big Nutritional Brother

Hopefully, they won't be coming for me next.  This one is unreal.  The government, which has ineptly recommended ridiculous dietary advice - from the department of agriculture no less - is now taking authority to punish a blogger who cured his own disease.  I hope it is just an internet rumor, it is beyond belief.

http://reason.com/blog/2012/04/23/blogging-about-the-paleo-diet-can-get-yo

Kresser: Salt Is Good/Bad?

Most of what we read and hear about salt these days is telling us that salt consumption needs to be reduced, and it has even been referred to as “the single most harmful substance in the food supply”. (4)

However, until recently, salt had maintained an extremely high level of value for thousands of years of human history. As Mark Kurlansky explains in his book, A World History of Salt, “salt is so common, so easy to obtain, and so inexpensive that we have forgotten that from the beginning of civilization until about 100 years ago, salt was one of the most sought-after commodities in human history.” (5) So how did we develop this insatiable taste for salt, and why is it that we now fear salt as being dangerous for health? And furthermore, what role does salt truly play in our health and wellbeing?

http://chriskresser.com/shaking-up-the-salt-myth-history-of-salt

This is part one of three by Chris Kresser, read on and learn.

If there's any better indictment of the current state of science and health than the government's recommendations on fat and grains, it's the absurd recommendations on salt.  "The best health care system in the world" - which it is, measured by how well it fixes broken people and keeps sick people alive - and the basic science of human metabolism and wellness is still wandering in the darkness of NIH and Department of Agriculture led weird science. 

The strangest part of all?  Everyone knew better.  As far back as the late 70s, my father (a pediatrician) told me that triglycerides were a more important measure of heart health than was cholesterol, and that salt restriction was only useful if you already had high blood pressure.  These things were not secret.  How could a system "unlearn" so much in such a short period of time? 

Food Ethics

http://www.pvnutritionaltherapy.com/why-its-ethical-to-eat-meat/

In the battlefield of ideas, vegetarians have won the start of the battle over the question of whether vegetarian or meat based diets are more healthy, and/or more ethical/environmentally sustainable.  This author nicely addresses the issues in 600 words.

“Meat is murder” is the battle cry of many vegetarians. But I see more murder in the plastic wrapped, genetically-modified, chemical-sprayed tofu burger than I do in my local grass-fed burger. How many animals had to die for that soybean field to be planted? I could say the same in just about every plant-based food in supermarkets which destroys the diversity in ecosystems to grow crops unsustainably.


Nature thrives on diversity and that includes animals. We need to honor the cycles of life and death in our food. That means choosing foods that promote sustainability.

Eating meat from farms that promote sustainability promotes life in all forms, including ours. This is not only ethical, it is necessary.

Pearl

My good friend Pearl, who has been dabbling in low carb and recently attended a presentation on the Paleo Model, reports the following:

Week 3:
"Down 9 pounds and 1.25 inches of belly fat, including some massive cheating at Easter Dinner!"
What's his version of Paleo?
He's working out, and, besides morning coffee, he does not eat anything until dinner.  He says he's "not even hungry during the day.  I eat meats and veggies, and have nuts or a pickle for a snack if I get a craving.  It's the best I've felt in years."

Week 4:
"I've been eating paleo with almost no cheating for right at a month, plus exercise.  Down 12 pounds and 2.25 inches of belly fat.  I feel good, I'm almost never hungry.  I'm a convert."

I'm hoping he'll be telling me that he's off the blood pressure meds in another couple of months.  Even more important than the weight and fat loss is the cessation and reversal of damage that he suffered from what he was eating (what most of us eat) before.  Pearl's a young man, has a beautiful family, and a lot of good living in front of him - far better to live that way feeling strong, healthy and fit!

Young Athlete Specialization - Don't

Think specialization is a good idea for your youth athlete?  Think again.  Think about a 400% increase in the rate of youth ACL tears.
http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/CFJ_400_Martin_April12.pdf

What's a better idea?  Play a variety of sports and find a competent strength and conditioning coach to help your kids actualize their potential.  

Cafe Hayek — The Creeping Menace

Cafe Hayek — where orders emerge
More fundamentally, each time the government expands its effective authority over economic decision-making, it sets in motion a variety of economic, institutional, and ideological adjustments whose common denominator is a diminished resistance to Bigger Government. Among the most significant of such adjustments is the Supreme Court’s consistent refusal to protect individual rights from invasion by government officials during national emergencies. Precedents established during extraordinary times tilt the constitutional balance even during ensuing normal times.

Normally this would go on my political blog vice this blog - but it applies directly to the government's actions in advocating dietary choices which are not based in acceptable science.  The government's bad advice is noteworthy:
-Don't eat salk
-Don't eat saturated fat, but do eat industrially produced polyunsaturated fats
-Eat mountains of grains
-"We're not sure sugar is bad for you"
-"Raw milk is dangerous"

Once ensconced in government policy, the guidelines must be followed by numerous institutions in our country - the government is an agent of bad food science, and we are made to suffer the consequences. 

I'm not convinced the government should advise anyone on any food choices, but I'm completely convinced it should not do unless it has intervention studies on the topic in hand.  Let's hope that very simple requirement can limit government mis-information in the future, OR, more likely, that folks will learn not to trust the utterances of politically based instutitions.

Edited: June 4, 2012 10:28 AM