Funny thing about salt. You need it to live. I've never paid much heed to the government when it shrieks like a little schoolgirl about various foods. Eggs used to be bad for you. Now they're good. Carbs used to be the big thing you should eat, but anyone with a basic knowledge of chemistry and anatomy knows that carbs, if unused, turn into fat.
Now, about that salt....
A recent report commissioned by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) reviewed the health benefits of reducing salt intake and the take-home message is that salt, in the quantities consumed by most Americans, is no longer considered a substantial health hazard. What the CDC study reported explicitly is that there is no benefit, and may be a danger, from reducing our salt intake below 1 tsp per day. What was absent about the report was is the difference between healthy mineral salts and iodized table salt.
It may be that we’re better off with more salt than less, up to 2 or even 3 tsp per day. How did it happen that such standard medical advice drifted astray, then went un-corrected for so long?
Yeah, funny thing about salt - without it, you're SCREWED. And the fat bastards out there who chow down on an entire bag of Fritos have more to worry about than their salt content, let me tell you.
And if I've offended any of my entire-bag-of-Fritos-eating readers out there? Look, take one of those Fritos, and light it on fire. It's going to burn. Because of the sheer amount of OIL that is in those things. And you're eating an entire bag in one sitting? Your funeral. It's not the salt you need to be worried about.
I love Fritos, so I have a bag, a large one every two months or so. It takes me about four days to go throught it. The first day it's a Frito pie for lunch. Put a generous handful of Fritos in a bowl, then add some chili on top with hot sauce and/or sour cream and chopped onion as desired.
ReplyDeleteIt isn't the food, it's the quantity consumed.
And yes, I've quit paying any attention at all to Nannie's Federal Guido Lines.
I can see worrying about your salt intake if you are already somewhat slim and that is your biggest health threat. But if you are way overweight than the fat is obviously a bigger problem. Worrying about salt is kind of stupid for most people.
ReplyDeleteIf you have a healthy pancreas, your body will excrete everything more than 2 grams of salt you take in per day. The military knew this before WW2, and had salt pills available everywhere. They were still in use in the USAF when I went to OTS in TX in 1967, but disappeared soon after.
ReplyDeleteI use Sea Salt for cooking, not refined salt. I get all the natural minerals that way. Not sure, but I think kosher salt is also unrefined.
"Sea" salt vs "table" or "processed" salt: in other countries, table (and cooking) salt is pretty much just that, NaCl. In the US, iodine has been added for over half a century. That is a good reason for people elsewhere to insist on "sea" salt - I like it, but I do not insist upon it.
ReplyDeleteBeause some people do not get enough iodine, some of the countries which do not iodize their salt - such as Australia - are proposing it be added to bread. But if you don't eat bread, well: salt, on the other hand, is ubiquitous.
We use kosher salt for most everything, and various sea salts for when the Mrs. feels like cooking something special. But we never worry about salt intake, unless it pertains to flavor.
ReplyDeleteHell, with as much as I sweat, I worry about not getting enough salt in my diet. Especially since I don't eat fast food or processed food all that often.