There’s a recipe below, but first I wanted to discuss salt.
Too much salt leads to high blood pressure which in turn leads to an earlier death. –Rip Esselstyn
“High blood pressure is the #1 worldwide risk factor for death resulting in fatal heart attacks, strokes, and other catastrophic organ failures” –Global Burden of Disease Study, involving 300 institutions across 50 countries,
Too much salt will kill your ass! –Me, a true salt-aholic
We Americans are eating too much sodium by a long shot, from 3000-5000 milligrams per day on average. Which begs the question, how much do we actually need?
How much sodium do we need?
The minimum amount we need for good health is about 500 milligrams per day, which is a little bit less than 1/4 of a teaspoon.
Our desired intake per day, the perfect amount, the gold standard is age-based.
Under age 50: 1500 mg/day
Over age 50: 1300 mg/day
Over age 70: 1200 mg/day
For clarity, 1 teaspoon of salt =2200 mg, 1/2 teaspoon =1100 mg, 1/4 teaspoon =550 mg.
Rip Esselstyn says an excellent rule of thumb when reading labels is to look for a sodium-to-calories ratio of 1 to 1. So if a serving has 100 calories, it can have about 100 mg of sodium. He allows a ratio of 4 to 1 for condiments, so 100 calories could have up to 400 mg of sodium, but these items must be the exception, not the rule.
The benefits of cutting back
Our leading causes of death are heart attack and stroke.
Our leading cause of heart attack and stroke is high blood pressure (and diet.)
Reducing salt by 1 teaspoon per day lowers blood pressure as much as blood pressure medication. –CNN
Reducing salt by 3/4 of a teaspoon per day saves 400,000 quality-adjusted life years and 24 billion in health care costs annually. —New England Journal of Medicine
Reducing salt by 1/2 teaspoon per day would prevent 22% of fatal strokes 16% of fatal heart attacks. – British Medical Journal
The thing about hypertension is, you don’t generally feel it, which is why it’s called a silent killer. It comes without symptoms. I know when mine is off, because I experience it as a fluttering in my chest, and sometimes a feeling of dizziness. My body is super sensitive. If I slack off on exercising, or eat the wrong things, my BP will rocket.
But mostly I keep it low with a whole food, plant-based diet and daily exercise. I was on medication for it at one time, but I’ve gone off it and am managing it without scripts now.
It’s been going very well with food and exercise, and it’s only recently that I’ve decided to step my health up yet another notch by taking a serious look at my salt and sugar intake, and cutting back on both.
I have tips below for doing so with salt. We’ll tackle sugar in another article.
This video is an entire hour on the health effects of salt, the benefits of reducing it, and how to read labels to ensure you aren’t getting too much. Rip Esselstyn is the son of Dr. Caldwell B Esselstyn from of Forks Over Knives fame, one of the founders of the entire whole food plant-based lifestyle. This is an excellent resource, as is his regular podcast, PlantStrong.
One of my own suggestions is to just stop cooking with salt. There is no reason to add salt to water when boiling pasta or vegetables, for example. There’s no reason to add it when cooking or baking, either. I never put salt in anything and all my cookies, brownies, cakes and pies come out fine without it. If baking bread with yeast, I believe there’s a specific amount of salt needed. I could be wrong as that’s an art I haven’t yet explored, so check on that.
The best use of salt for eating, is to scatter it on your food after it’s prepared. Rip points out in this video that a slice of bread has more sodium than a potato chip, but the chip tastes way saltier because the salt is right on the surface, not blended in, and because our salt-sensors are on our tongues. So if we surface salt our food, we get that same satisfying taste without all the sodium.
It does take time to adjust to a no salt diet, but if you use the surface scatter method, you’ll have plenty of that salty tang on your tongue without going over the ideal amount.
Another tip, is to buy Salt Sense or Morton Lite Salt, which is 50% sodium and 50% potassium, so you’re only using half as much with every shake.
Veggies high in sodium
Obviously, when buying processed veggies, frozen or canned, you have to check the label for sodium content. I always look for low sodium or salt-free varieties, but you have to check labels on those too. Sometimes Big Food’s notion of “low” doesn’t match mine.
Some veggies absorb the salt right out of the soil, and transfer it into the parts we eat.
In milligrams of sodium per 100 grams of vegetables, the highest are:
Celery, 91
Beets, 77
Spinach, 70
Artichoke, 60
Carrots, 58
Broccoli, 41
Radish, 39
Sweet potato, 27
Kale, 23
Brussels sprouts, 21
The rest have less than 20 mg per 100 grams.
We can easily get all the sodium we need from our diet, without adding a single salt crystal. But we don’t have to do that. If we just stop cooking with salt, and only sprinkle a little on the surface of our foods, (and if we’re eating a whole food, plant-based diet) then we’re golden.
If we’re “cheating” at all with ultra processed foods—no judgement, there are chick’n patties in my freezer right now—but if we eat that stuff, we’re likely getting a huge hit of sodium. And I’ll tell you what I just found out last weekend, if you go 100% whole food plant-based, seriously shunning processed and oils for a solid month and then you have a Brix vegan pizza smothered in vegan cheese as a reward for being so good for a whole month—you are going to get very sick. Your body will be like, “Um, no.”
At least, that’s how it went down for me. 🤢
It’s going to be the same with the salt. After getting used to not having it, having a high sodium day will have a physical impact on the body. Blood pressure can spike, you can feel bloated, dehydrated, have headaches, or feel severe fatigue. And those are just the immediate results. That BP spike is damaging your arteries, which can cause future problems.
The solution is simple
Just don’t add salt to your cooking, and don’t eat processed shit with salt added. Easy-peasy. Put 1/2 teaspoon of salt into a tiny dish, and then make that your portion for the day. Check the bread you’re using. Check everything.
And run a quick estimate on the produce you imbibe, grains as well as veggies, to keep a running tab on where you are.
PUMPKIN LENTIL SOUP
Here’s that recipe I promised you!
Ingredients
1 large yellow onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced or finely chopped.
1 teaspoon marjoram OR oregano (NOT both)
1 teaspoon cardamom OR cinnamon (NOT both)
4 stalks of celery, chopped
4 small or 3 medium carrots, chopped
2 cups dry lentils, well-rinsed
8 cups water
3 and 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/8 teaspoon or a generous grind of black pepper
Method
Sauté the onions, garlic, carrots, celery, and herbs until all the veggies for about 7 minutes.
Add the water and the lentils, and bring to a boil.
Cook on medium for about 25 minutes or until lentils are almost tender.
Add pumpkin puree and simmer for another ten minutes, then serve piping hot.
Escape into a warm, uplifting story that will sweep you away into a world that isn’t upside down.
DEPUTY BRAND GETS HER MAN
On sale Tuesday, 11/11
The early reviews are starting to come in…
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 Stars!
Deputy Brand Gets Her Man by Maggie Shayne deserves a glowing 5-star review! The Brand clan continues to shine with their entertaining and exciting personalities, making every page a delight.
Shayne weaves an engaging plot that keeps readers hooked from start to finish. The small-town setting adds a charming, cozy backdrop that perfectly complements the story’s heartfelt moments and thrilling twists.
Best of all, the satisfying happy ending leaves you with a warm sense of fulfillment. A must-read for fans of the series and newcomers alike! ––Bookbub review