Should I Eat Salt?
Are you confused about salt? You are not alone! It appears to be another one of those food subjects that has created a great deal of confusion.
There is nothing fundamentally bad about salt per se. If you look at the way ancient civilizations went about the business of nourishing themselves, they always included salt in their diets. This is because good quality salt can contain up to 92 minerals andtrace elements and can be considered an effective dietary supplement.
Salt contains sodium and chloride. Sodium behaves as an electrolyte and assists in the healthy working of the body’s cell function and chloride helps the absorption of potassium and assists in the regulation of the body’s fluids.
There is consensus among the medical profession, however, that too much sodium leads to high blood pressure and pre-hypertension, both of which increase the risk of heart attack or stroke considerably. The typical American diet consists of nearly 4,000 mg of salt per day while the amount recommended by the W.H.O. is 2,400mg and 1,500mg for those at risk. To put these figures into context, one teaspoon of salt contains 2,300mg of sodium.
Fast food, restaurant food and highly processed food all tend to contain large quantities of salt. One of the biggest problems here is that most salt used in such food and in the majority of salt sold, is of the highly refined and processed variety. Your average white, easy pouring salt has been stripped of all its goodness. All of this madness is to make salt cheaper and prettier to look at than its more natural relation!
What can we do? 
2. Throw away your bright white/easy to pour salt.
3. Use a high quality sea salt and check the label for nutritional content.
4. Make sure it is free of artificial color, additives, bleaching or chemicals.
5. Check out the color – pink, gray, red, brown. Anything but white!
6. Use in moderation. It will better satisfy your craving for salt and provide you with nutrients you need to be happy and healthy. What could be better than that?
Now What About Coffee?
“I have measured out my life in coffee spoons” – T.S. Eliot – “The Love Song Of J.Alfred Prufrock”.
In my practice as a Health Counselor, I am constantly asked about coffee. The subject touches a nerve. When I am asked what I do for a living, my reply is often met with a crinkle of the nose and accompanied by something like,
In the interests of brevity, I will give you a short version of what proved to be a rather longer story than I would’ve liked. In my endless and fruitless search for perfection in my life, I decided to give up coffee drinking last summer. After all it is a drug – you do experience withdrawal when you come of it – particularly if you do it quickly. Now being a “headache person” as I am, can be tricky in a situation like this because one of the major symptoms of withdrawal is – yes you guessed it – a headache. What for a non-headache person would be a “bit of a headache for a day or two” for me could mean 3 days in a dark ened room begging for relief.
So I concocted a plan, which involved oh so slowly adding more and more decaffeinated coffee to my espresso pot over a period of 5 weeks. During this time my feelings of self-righteousness were closely paralled by lack of focus, fatigue and an increasing desire to stay under the blankets when the alarm rang. When the day finally dawned on a totally decaffeinated morning, suffice to say, the next three days were spent in a darkened room begging for relief. I held onto the idea that I had conquered this demon though. But once the headache subsided, I felt exhausted, uninspired, unfocused and longing to stay in my bed. All my fantasies about post-coffee living - great energy and a feeling of wellbeing - were shattered.
It didn’t deter me though – I soldiered on.
Finally, one of the wisest women I know, my acupuncturist asked me what I was doing in my life that was different. She said my body was all out of balance and my energy levels depleted. When I told her about my triumphant victory over my addiction, she said there are people who do well on coffee – the key (as with most things) was moderation. I flew home and ground up some real beans and immediately felt ready for Mt Everest.
There are over 400 million cups of coffee drunk per day in the USA. We are the largest consumers in the world. There is indeed some truth to the catch line “America runs on Dunkin’”.After this experiment, I now give my clients the pros and cons of coffee, so that they can work out for themselves what best suits them.
We are all different and there is no “One Size Fits All” way of coffee drinking.
On the down side:
-Coffee increases heart rate, elevates blood pressure and can contribute to heart trouble.
-It stimulates the productio n of stress hormones, which can eventually lead to adrenal exhaustion.
-It can create emotional disturbances and blood sugar swings.
-Its acidity can cause gastrointestinal problems.
-It can inhibit the absorption of some nutrients.
-It may make it difficult for you to find neutral. It is not a good idea to keep going when the body needs a rest.
On the up side:
-Coffee is a great antioxidant.
-It can help you focus and be sha rper and clearer in your thinking.
-It can give you a much-needed boost of energy to move yourself forward.
-Some studies show that it can be beneficial for people with certain types of cancer, MS patients and amazingly, in the treatment of certain types of headaches.
-It can have a strong emotional component and can make you feel nurtured and connected.
SO WHAT SHOULD WE DO?
-If you drink coffee, do so in moderation.
-Always drink espresso – it uses the whole bean (and just like whole grains) it absorbs more slowly and releases less caffeine than filter coffee.
-Be conscious of your body when you drink it – it will assuredly let you know how it feels and whether it is happy.
Can Artificial Sweeteners Make You Fat?
Have you ever noticed that people who substitute sugar for the fake versions like Sweet’N Low, Equal and Splenda, aren’t necessarily the svelt and healthy human beings the advertising industry would suggest? Millions of us take this route on the path to health and wellness with all the best intentions in the world. How fabulous to indulge our taste for sweet things (and humans have always sought out sweet things – even before we started refining sugar) without the dreaded caloric implications. It sounds perfect doesn’t it? A wonderful version of action without consequence.
A new study by The Purdue University
throws much light on this apparent contradiction. Their findings have led to the conclusion that including artificial sweeteners in your diet actually does have a consequence for the body. Of course this story begins with a whole bunch of rats in a laboratory and the problems they encountered on such substances.
The rats were divided into two teams: The Sugary Food Team and the Sugar Substitute Team. Sadly for the rats they did not get to choose which group to join! Those eating the substitutes had larger appetites and got heavier than those on the real thing. After devouring their artificially sweetened meal, they would still be hungry and go back for seconds, thirds and so on.
Why is this?
Our bodies (and those of rats) are biologically programmed to associate a sweet taste with calories consumed. If this link is broken, by regularly providing the body with a sweet taste and no calories, our bodies get very confused and we keep searching for more food because we feel hungry.
On top of this sorry state of affairs, The Sugar Substitute Team didn’t experience the same metabolic increase that usually occurs after eating a meal, and so they used up fewer calories. This fusion of events, bigger appetite and a slow down in metabolic rate, added up to only one thing, fat rats. And this means that when we persistently play games with our biological responses by using sugar substitutes we may run the risk of weight gain.
2. Brown Rice Syrup
3. Date Sugar
4. Raw Honey
5. 100% Pure Maple Syrup
7. Stevia
Is Dieting Making You Miserable?
How many new diet books and theories can you recall hearing about recently? It seems that one week we should drink cow’s milk and the next week soy "milk" is the only way to go. One day coffee is highly detrimental to our health and the next day its miraculous antioxidant properties are good for you. You may have even been seduced into buying one of these books and trying out something new. Or be always on a diet and never keeping the weight off.
Intellectually we know that over 90% of “diets” fail, but the concept of a quick and easy fix is highly compelling.
Why are we so confused about what to eat at a time when we are bombarded with so much information? I find it helpful to remember that the publishing industry is in the business of quarterly profits and not our health and happiness.
A simple guide to this complicated maze is to understand that there is no “one diet fits all”. We never expect to have the same tastes in other areas of our lives, so why would we think that one-way of eating would suit all of us?
After all, we are all unique beings with different blood types, metabolisms, ancestry, jobs, ages and so on.
Here’s a simple start to healthy eating and weight loss
1. Drink more water
2. Eat whole grains
3. Choose a good quality protein
4. Add more fresh fruit and vegetables.
5. Oh – and move around a littlemore! I personally have found that my Nia dance class fits the bill perfectly for me in this regard – it’s such good fun that you forget its exercise. What could be better than that?
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