RE: kicking the salt kicks, and tinkered tofu/james

[Guest guest]

> I'll be going there, too, . Gotta curb those salt kicks.

> Sounds drastic right now, tho, cuz I do love salt: My one

> remaining vice.

Salt is about as bad as it gets for the body, probably second only to sugar.

The amount of sodium we consume is outrageous. We only NEED about 500mg a

day, the US RDA is 2,400 mg (about a teaspoon), and yet the average American

takes in 8,000mg or more.

> (First, the sugar. Now, the salt. Oh, woe!)

Once you dump the salt, everything will taste VERY bland. After 3-6 months,

flavors start cropping up that you never knew were there.

> Well, such would be a worthy goal. In an ideal world, tho, I fear.

Just takes the will to do it. I've been low sodium ever since my diagnosis

and I really don't regret it at all. It was difficult at first, true -- I

had quite the learning curve. Once you get past that though, there's

nothing much to it -- it becomes automatic. Think of it like this -- when

you go on the SBD, you give up white flour. At first, you have to learn

about what has the white flour in it -- white bread, even most so called

" whole wheat " breads are off the list because the food industry ain't

'xactly honest about the ingredients. Then you find 2 or 3 brands of true

whole grain breads that you like and know where to get them. At that point,

it becomes automatic -- when you go to the store, you skip over the junk

breads and go for the good stuff.

Low sodium is no different. Vegetables are a good example. When I get

veggies, I usually buy either frozen or fresh. On those occasions that I

*DO* get canned, I go for " No Salt Added " cans (easily identified as there's

a BIG banner across the front that says as much). I don't even think about

it -- I automatically go for the frozen/fresh veggies. This choice alone

saves me a happy 1,000mg at any given meal with veggies.

Meat requires a LITTLE thought -- I have to check the labels to make sure

the meat isn't salted. But then again, I ALWAYS check the labels anyway so

this is just as automatic as anything else.

> Right now, all is out of whack, here. Those scientific

> flavor factories and chemical companies have doctored commercial

> products such that I think an epicurean style is

> almost impossible unless you move to France. We're in

> altered states, taste-wise, I think.

Well, the first is true -- the food industry has done the general public

quite a disservice. The second part though, I can't agree with -- there are

plenty of great flavors if one simply takes the time to create them.

> That's why so many of us are fat! Some day, eating will boil

> down to different 'feeds " we can all buy, depending on our

> health risks: Tofu tinkered with in various ways. And tofu's

> GOOD for you, not bad! And we're half-way there already.

Hmmmm.... I sincerely hope we never reach the point that there are human

" feeds " on the market. Would kinda take the joy out of cooking, I think.

> The apple flavor, I'm sure, must be all chemicals, yet

> who's going to deny it as a boon for the Phase 1 eater?

Well, I wouldn't ask ME that question. The answer is pretty easy -- I

would. I strongly advocate eating as naturally and " chemical " free as

possible. That means no artificial sweeteners. I do not see swapping one

unhealthy thing for another as being a boon; and make no bones about it,

artificial sweeteners are NOT a healthy choice.

> Well, at least we can STRIVE for " eating healthy "

> most of the time. It's all so confusing.

Healthy eating in our modern, western society is difficult at best. That's

not to say it cannot be done but anyone who says it is easy is simply

fooling him/herself. There's a whole lotta learning one needs to do to

truly eat healthy today -- most of us no longer have the knowledge necessary

to feed ourselves a nutritional diet. IMNSHO, nutrition should be taught as

a separate, required, full year course at 3 different levels of

pre-collegiate education.