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
Thursday, January 14, 2010
I watched the last of C4's My Big Fat Diet Show programmes this evening
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
To lose excess weight you need to excrete more water and excrete excess fat
To lose excess weight you need to excrete excess water and excrete more fat; you do not need to 'slim' or adopt a low-fat diet or to tire yourself out with strenuous exercise.
To excrete excess water/fluid you must cut down on salt and salty food, and make sure you eat plenty of fruit and (unsalted) vegetables.
To excrete more fat you need also to eat more calcium, e.g. dairy yoghurt.
See FAT RETENTION
Give up dieting! - It is unnecessary, frequently harmful and IT DOES NOT WORK!
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 damage and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! 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 foodsVulnerable groups
Children and Obesity
advice for pregnant mothers
http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Increased fracture risk after obesity surgery
BBC News reports that US research suggests that obesity operations, such as gastric bypasses or banding, doubles the risk of suffering fractures. We read that "Chronic vitamin D deficiency and inadequate calcium intake are common with obesity, and bariatric surgery poses a risk owing to malabsorption and decreased oral intake."
If you are obese and considering bariatric surgery, please first consider trying the natural way to lose excess weight, i.e. by avoiding salt and salty food and by increasing your intake of calcium, magnesium, potassium and vitamin D.
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, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! 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
And see Sodium in foods and
http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page
I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.
Thursday, June 04, 2009
The Los Angeles Times reports that medical bills feature in 62% of bankruptsies.
The Los Angeles Times reports that medical bills feature in 62% of bankruptsies.
This is surely a dreadful state of affairs.
Here are my suggestions in no particular order:
- Cut down drastically on salt and salty food. This will lower your risk of serious illness, e.g. diabetes and most cancers, and of disability, e.g. arthritis, and will reduce excess weight.
- Avoid taking prescription drugs if you possibly can. This will save you from a lot of health problems caused by drug side-effects. And remember, pharmaceutical drugs are a major cause of weight gain.
- Give up smoking if you have not already done so.
- Cut down on alcohol.
- Top up your vitamin D levels by going bare-armed into the sun for a few minutes each day if you can. This will help to keep your bones strong and protect you from hip fractures, etc. - And help to keep your weight down. - And give a boost to your immune system.
- GIVE UP DIETING AND COUNTING CALORIES FOREVER! - DIETING IS UNNECESSARY, INEFFECTIVE AND HARMFUL. - DIETS DO NOT WORK! - FACT! - DO NOT WASTE ANY MORE OF YOUR LIFE, YOUR TIME AND YOUR MONEY ON THEM. THEY ARE AN EXPENSIVE WAY OF DAMAGING YOUR HEALTH.
- If you feel depressed, go for a walk in the country or in a park, or speak to a friend. Do not reach for a drink or go to the doctor's for pills. Remember: Anti-depressants do not work!
- Give up diet coke and other diet drinks. They've never made anyone any slimmer, ever.
- Don't be an exercise junkie. It's not necessary.
- Cook from fresh whenever you can. Give the processed meals and takeaways a miss.
- Eat plenty of fruit and unsalted vegetables.
- Hunger is your body's way of telling you that you need food. If you are hungry, eat! - You wouldn't run your car on empty; don't try to run your body on empty!
- Step up your calcium intake. And your magnesium.
- Always eat and drink something for breakfast. - No more lies about not feeling hungry in a morning, thank you!
- If you like chocolate, eat chocolate! - Just make sure it doesn't contain added salt. Chocolate is not fattening and it's not bad for you.
- Do someone a kindness. Visit an elderly neighbour.
- Think about buying a breadmaker so that you can make your own bread with much less salt in than the bread you buy in a shop. And yours won't contain all that chemical junk the bread manufacturers put in.
- Wear comfortable shoes.
- Visit my website! - See below:
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, 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.
http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page
http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations
See advice for pregnant mothers
and FAT RETENTIONMonday, March 23, 2009
A high salt intake is a major cause of renal stones and also of osteoporosis/osteopenia in humans.
When bones are weakened by osteoporosis/osteopenia we tend to think of calcium and of drugs to help with the problem, but what about cutting down on salt? This also helps with renal stones.
See this extremely interesting information: World Action on Salt and Health (WASH)
Look at this amazing quotation from the website:
"It was calculated that a modest reduction in salt intake from 10g to 5g would have the same effect on hip bone density as an increase in calcium intake of 1000mg, a difficult amount to achieve without resorting to supplements."
And this:
"Diuretics, through a reduction in extra cellular volume, reduce calcium excretion leading to a positive calcium balance, increase bone density and reduce bone fractures."
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Calcium and vitamin D may protect against diabetes
Increased intakes of calcium and vitamin D may improve insulin levels, and offer protection against diabetes, independent of dairy intake, suggests a new study. Writing in the Journal of Nutrition, Tianying Wu, Walter C. Willett, and Edward Giovannucci from Harvard School of Public Health report that women with high intakes of calcium had 20 per cent lower levels of C-peptide, a marker of insulin levels, while men with high vitamin D levels had similarly lower levels of the marker. “The results suggest that calcium intake or systemic vitamin D status, after adjustment for intake of dairy products, is associated with decreased insulin secretion,” they wrote.
Read article at nutraingredients-usa.com
Monday, March 16, 2009
New research based on flawed assumptions claims to explain why some people do not get flabby.
The research reported in this article in the Daily Telegraph Fat enzyme explains why some people don't get flabby is based on the usual false assumptions for which there is no supporting evidence, namely that obesity is caused by high calorie intake and that retention of excess fat is caused by excessive fat intake. These assumptions are not true so any conclusions based on them must be flawed and are likely to be irrelevant.
Obesity is caused by sodium retention/fluid retention/salt sensitivity, not by eating too much food. It can be easily reduced by cutting down on salt/sodium and salty food. The calorie explanation for obesity (eating too many calories and not taking much exercise – i.e. greed plus laziness) is clearly wrong because many – probably most – people can eat as much as they like and not become overweight, even if they take very little exercise. – They are what I call on my website ‘the lucky people’. – They are the slim people. – They are the people who have healthy veins and kidneys and are not sensitive to salt. They simply excrete in the urine any excess salt and its attendant water, so they do not gain weight by fluid retention.
The reason they do not put on excess weight when they overeat is that they simply excrete any excess fat/calories they eat. (Faeces tend to contain a lot of fat/calories, which is why animal dung is used as fuel in many countries.)
A few years ago BBC2 showed a series of programmes called “The Truth About Food” and I learnt about some Danish research which throws light on this. – See http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/humanbody/truthaboutfood/slim/calcium.shtml where you will read: "a high calcium intake increases the excretion of fat in the faeces". – There is the necessary information! – In fact, the researchers found that twice as much fat was excreted on a high calcium intake as on a low calcium intake – and this was independent of calorie intake. – They also found that dairy calcium (they suggest yoghurt) is a particularly good source for this extra calcium.
Even the frequent claim that fat deposits in the bodies of fat people are there to be drawn upon 'in leaner times' is a pure guess and is not correct. - The fat deposits are caused by the altered body chemistry (depletion of calcium and other essential minerals in the body) resulting from excess blood volume/fluid retention/salt sensitivity.
So to reduce fat retention, if it is present, the most important thing is to alter the diet to reduce the fluid retention which is the initiating cause of excess weight and the primary reason for fat people being short of calcium and for fat people ‘dieting’. That means reducing sodium intake and ensuring plenty of fruit and vegetables in the diet (because their high potassium content helps to displace sodium from the body).
And specifically it also means having a higher intake of calcium, especially, if possible, from dairy yoghurt. – It is also necessary to ensure sufficient vitamin D intake, as this is needed to metabolise the calcium. There is increasing research evidence that vitamin D deficiency is associated with being overweight - and insufficiency of vitamin D is quite common, as is widely reported, e.g. here - http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamind.asp
In my personal opinion it is neither necessary nor desirable to adopt a low fat diet. Low fat intake can be harmful, especially for small children.
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, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! 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
And see Sodium in foods and
http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page
http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations
See advice for pregnant mothers
and FAT RETENTIONI can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Are Brits really eating themselves to death or is it misinformation that is the problem?
Eating ourselves to death: Britain's fat epidemic
article in the Independent on Sunday
The comments beneath the article are interesting. There are the usual sort whose writers blame fat people themselves for their obesity and there are more thoughtful contributions by people who have given the matter much more thought and realise the problem is multi-faceted. - Here are my own thoughts:
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, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! 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
And see Sodium in foods and
http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page
http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations
See advice for pregnant mothers
and FAT RETENTIONI can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.
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