'Paleo' websites and blogs

'Paleo' is a shortened form of the word 'paleolithic', and in common usage refers to the Stone Age, what I tend to think of as the time of our ancestors, the Cavemen and Cavewomen. My website and my blog are not paleo sites, but they do have some points in common. This is because more and more paleo sites are specifically about the benefits of eating a 'paleo diet', i.e. food believed to be similar to what the cave people ate, since our species evolved eating this sort of food, and logically it would seem to be the sort of food best suited for our health.

As you may realise, I favour avoiding added salt and eating fresh food, rather than processed food, these being my main recommendations. I am sure that these measures are of great benefit to our health. Most paleo sites recommend other measures too, like avoiding grains, e.g. wheat, because grains came to be eaten when our ancestors stopped being purely hunter-gatherers and widened their food intake by cultivating plants and growing cereals - becoming farmers, in fact.

If you browse the internet you will find that paleo sites can differ quite a lot from one another, and by no means all embrace the no added salt emphasis which is my strongest recommendation. But I am sure that all efforts to eat as 'natural' a diet as we reasonably can, must improve our health.

Sainsbury's have a new range of 'freefrom' products

I see that Sainsbury's have a new range of 'freefrom' products, free-from wheat, gluten and/or dairy, and that is admirable. No doubt some other supermarkets have similar ranges to cater for customers who have allegies to wheat, gluten and/or dairy. But when are supermarkets going to provide products free from added SALT? - I don't mean low or lower in salt; I mean
FREE FROM ADDED SALT.
Far, far, far, far, far more of all supermarket customers are harmed by added salt than by wheat, gluten and dairy all combined They are the people who are overweight/obese/sensitive to salt, because obesity is caused by salt sensitivity.

See Vulnerable to salt.

And see Sodium in foods

See my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

Rhubarb Crumble is good for your health

See Telegraph article here. Nice to have a reminder about this delicious pudding that you can make with the rhubarb growing in your back garden. My grandad used to grow rhubarb in the garden and it usually found its way into crumbles, and was served with custard. I used to like to play with the very large leaves, wearing them as hats. Happy days!

There are many thousands of recipes for rhubarb crumble on the internet. Best to choose one with no added salt or baking powder so as to avoid unhealthy, unnecessary sodium, and of course use unsalted butter, not margarine. If you've not made it before, be assured it is very easy to make and heavenly to eat.- Bon Appétit!

Good news! - Schwartz make some No Added Salt Seasonings

I've just come across this welcome information while browsing the internet for 'No Added Salt' products. Usually this is a very disappointing quest because some websites appear to claim that they have a list of 'No Added Salt' products, but when you investigate they haven't any - only 'low salt' products, which are not the same thing at all. - If you are very overweight or obese then you are very sensitive to salt and the less salt/sodium you eat the better for your health and the more of your excess weight/fluid retention you will lose. Well done to Schwartz! - I see they have:

No Added Salt Chicken

No Added Salt Season-All

No Added Salt Steak

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, boost your lung function and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it!

See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

Sodium in foods

Fat retention and fat excretion: the importance of getting enough calcium.

I can be contacted from my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

I watched the last of C4's My Big Fat Diet Show programmes this evening

In the last of the My Big Fat Diet Show programmes this evening we were given some more misinformation. Food scientist Richard Marshall said, "We're programmed to need salt." - That is certainly not true. Babies are not born with a taste for salt. Salt is an acquired taste, though unfortunately it is not difficult to acquire the taste for salt, so it is wise to provide low salt meals for your children and protect them from getting into the habit of eating salty snacks like crisps, Pringles, salted nuts and cheese, especially the extra highly-salted cheese junk like Cheese Strings. The taste for salt can be like an addiction - a dangerous addiction that can result in high blood pressure, early onset type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and the risk of stroke and heart attack.

The food scientist went on to say, "It goes back to our evolution, we were hunter gatherers, we needed lots of energy all the time, so all those things we needed." - Well that's a strange thing to say in connection with salt, because salt contains no calories at all and so cannot provide energy, nor did hunter gatherers eat salt as such; they ate only the very small amount of salt naturally present in food, i.e. they did not eat added salt.

Reducing salt intake is an excellent way to lower high blood pressure. A guy who contacted me just over a week ago from my website, wanting advice about lowering his high blood pressure, reduced his salt intake as I advised and in just a week this is what he wrote to me: "Just to let you know that after one week of severely restricting my daily sodium intake to around 1000mg, my blood pressure has gone from 152/86(average of previous three weekly readings) to 133/88(average of three readings today." - Impressive, isn't it? He also says he has a lot more energy now.

Early humans in fact had a low sodium, high potassium food intake which means that our bodies evolved on a low sodium and high potassium intake. The modern diet has reversed this to high sodium and low potassium. The intake of salt has massively increased in recent years - as has the incidence of obesity and of the degenerative diseases I have listed.

To lose excess weight it is necessary to reduce fluid retention and fat retention. Both of these are easily and safely reduced by eating less salt/sodium. The weight reduction is speeded up by eating plenty of fruit and unsalted vegetables, because these are potassium-rich foods.

Some further important information these four programmes omitted to mention at all is that when you are overweight it is because you are sensitive to salt and so very prone to fluid retention. This problem with salt in turn depletes the body of the essential minerals calcium, magnesium, potassium and zinc, and the calcium loss in particular results in fat retention. - Fat retention is not caused by eating fatty foods. It is caused by insufficient essential minerals, especially calcium. So if you increase your calcium intake with milk or yoghurt say, you will be helping yourself to lose excess, unwanted fat, and lowering your risk of fragile bones and other problems that calcium deficiency causes. Dieting should be avoided, especially diets that restrict calories to fewer than the body requires. It is not necessary to diet to lose weight, and dieting is likely to make your body even more deficient in calcium and other essential nutrients.

Here is how to lose weight safely.

Sodium in foods

FAT RETENTION

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

Welcome to Juvela 'No Added Salt' Mixes!

As I am not a member of the coeliac community, I have no knowledge of Juvela products other than what I can read on their website: http://www.juvela.co.uk/ but I was delighted a few minutes ago to come across their announcement about providing 'No Salt Added' Mixes.

It is excellent news that a food manufacturer is giving customers a 'no added salt' option. If only more manufacturers would do this! There are so many people who want to reduce their salt/sodium intake, and most manufacturers do precious little to assist them in achieving this.

See Sodium in Foods.

What steps can you take to reduce the risk of your pet dog or cat getting diabetes?

What steps can you take to reduce the risk of your dog or cat getting diabetes? – Well the main one is to avoid feeding your pet with salty food. Salt/sodium is not good for your pet. So if your pet is begging for a titbit from your plate, and if what is on your plate is a meal that contains added salt, you’d best not give in to that request.

Salty food is even more harmful for dogs and cats (and rabbits) than it is for people. Salt and salty food can cause damaging fluid retention/oedema/water retention/obesity in vulnerable groups. And obesity often leads on to type 2 diabetes.

If for some reason your pet is being treated with steroids, then it is IMPERATIVE that you provide food low in salt/sodium, because most steroids cause salt sensitivity and your pet will gain even more weight and suffer even more fluid retention and feel very tired (and also very hungry because of having to carry all that extra weight/fluid around all the time).

If you want your pets to have a healthy, happy, long life, protect them from salty food. – Don’t give them part of your salt-laden takeaway! – And if you have to give them a pill, don’t wrap it in a slice of ham or hide it in a lump of cheese! – Ham and cheese are high in salt!

See Sodium in Foods

Sodium in foods: how to lose excess weight by lowering your intake of salt/sodium.

To lose excess weight you need to avoid salt (sodium) and salty food. Eat low sodium food instead. Potassium-rich food and drink will also help because potassium displaces sodium from the body.

If you find it hard to cut down on salt, do it gradually. Your taste will gradually change. Try using pepper, herbs such as basil, chives, lemon grass, rosemary, parsley or coriander, spices such as chilli or ginger, balsamic vinegar or lemon juice, rather than salt, to add flavour to your food.

If you usually use stock cubes or oxo cubes when you are making soup or stew or a casserole, remember these contain a lot of salt. - Why not try using a small glass of wine to add flavour instead of using the high salt cubes?

If you feel you must use salt in cooking or to sprinkle on your food, you could try using LoSalt or Solo Low Sodium Sea Salt. - These mineral salts contain only about a third of the sodium present in ordinary salt and taste very similar to salt. This is still a high proportion of sodium, so use as little as you can manage and try gradually to reduce the amount you use.

In the USA there are other mineral salts that you can buy. One is called AlsoSalt and it contains no sodium at all so it is a good salt substitute for people needing to reduce sodium, but it still should be used in moderation. Another is called Nu-Salt and it also contains no sodium at all.

All of these salt substitutes have websites where you can read about them in greater detail. You should not use any of these salt substitutes if you have been told to minimise your potassium intake.

These mineral salts should be avoided by people who take certain medications, such as ACE inhibitors, which are used to lower blood pressure. And if you have kidney failure, you should not use a mineral salt without medical advice. But if you have kidney failure, you should already have been advised about restricting salt intake.

If you use convenience foods or eat ready meals, read the labels to find the lowest sodium/salt content. Choose canned vegetables marked 'no added salt' and products such as tuna canned in water, rather than in brine or oil.

More information and lists of high and low sodium foods and potassium foods here: Sodium in foods

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

Vulnerable groups