Salt is even worse than thought!

[TylerDurden]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3086065/Too-SALT-delaying-puberty-children-causing-host-fertility-problems-later-life.html

Well, this might even solve the overpopulation problem...

[PaleoPhil]

"Interestingly, eating no salt at all was also found to delay puberty"

[goodsamaritan]

What the article meant to me was:

- you need some salt in your diet to fully function.
- you can get salt overdose.
- no salt is harmful

So the key is moderation and knowing what moderation is.

[TylerDurden]

What the article meant to me was:

- you need some salt in your diet to fully function.
- you can get salt overdose.
- no salt is harmful

So the key is moderation and knowing what moderation is.

NO, that is not the point at all! The whole point is that natural salts are already present anyway  in raw, whole foods so that there is no need whatsoever  to add extra table-salt/rock-salt/sea-salt  to your meals. Indeed it is disastrous.

[dariorpl]

I haven't had any salt at all in two months, and in the three months before that since I started on raw, I only had a bit of salt about once every two weeks. I don't seem to have any problems from a lack of salt. When I was having salt, I would get frequent headaches, which I don't seem to be getting now.

The only way salt can be paleo is for tribes that lived near the ocean. And that's *if* they were drinking that water. Small amounts might be reasonable in ocean fish and shellfish, but those would be so small it probably doesn't count for much either way. Also, salt is refined to get only sodium chloride from all the minerals in sea water. And it's heavily cooked, too. So there might be a difference.

I believe most of these studies are flawed, anyway, because it might be that on a cooked diet, salt acts differently than on a raw diet. I know that personally, when I had cooked meat, in particular beef, it would always taste a ton better with salt. When having raw beef, salt actually makes it taste worse. About 2 weeks ago, I added some occasional cooked starches (wild-like potatoes and wild-like sweet potatoes) with plenty of raw fats, and when having those meals in particular, I crave salt a bit for about a day.

Or it could be the other way around, and maybe salt is bad when eaten with a cooked diet, and good when on a raw diet. Who knows.

[kalo]

Good point, salt and raw meat is nasty. But sure tastes good with a rare steak

[political atheist]

i lean towards the idea that raw animal foodists dont need extra salt(e.g. from ocean, sea, rock etc.)... im 60% against salt, 40% pro.... almost undecided lol

[dariorpl]

This is what AV said about salt, for those who might be interested

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYmQ-T_1yY0

[JeuneKoq]

Please ignore the fact that it is raw vegans who are speaking in this video:

Animals eat salt in the wilderness whenever possible. They will travel long distances, and will put themselves in most precarious situations for a few licks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkFExvipvFA

Farmers can buy big rocks of salt  to beneficially supplement their cattle's diet.

http://www.ballofmadley-hereford.co.uk/benefit.htm


Sodium Guidelines 'Need to Be Rethought,' Experts Say

http://www.livescience.com/47348-sodium-guidelines-rethought.html

"People whose diets contain moderate levels of sodium may have healthier hearts and live longer than those who consume too much or too little of the mineral, new research suggests.

In a large international study, researchers found that men and women who ate between 3,000 and 6,000 milligrams of sodium per day had a lower risk of major cardiovascular problems, such as heart attack, stroke or heart failure, and they also had a lower risk of dying over a four-year period compared with people who consumed more, or less, sodium."

Once a naturopath advised me to lick on an Himalayan salt rock each day. In all honesty I can't tell you if that improved anything or not at that time, but I found the taste of it really pleasing. Not "too salty" as it could've very well been the case.

I think such practice as occasionally liking on a sea salt rock can be beneficial, as long as the taste and texture is not repulsive.

[cherimoya_kid]

Agreed, Jeune.

[TylerDurden]

I have decided to do a saltwater cleanse of my digestive system soon. I have often fasted before(water-fasts) and done Intermittent Fasting but had wrongly assumed up till now that all the foods I ate before the fasts  soon came out the other end. This saltwater-cleanse will scour my entire digestive system, not just my colon, and clean me out.

[dariorpl]

Animals eat salt in the wilderness whenever possible. They will travel long distances, and will put themselves in most precarious situations for a few licks.

They will do the same for sugar. And possibly for drugs such as heroin. We shouldn't automatically assume that this means it's good for them, or us.

Ants will go crazy over table salt, but die from it. If you have ants in your pantry and a salt shaker with holes that aren't too small, you'll find dead ants in it. They won't swarm it because they never make it back to the colony to tell the others about what they found. But any scouts passing by will be attracted and try to eat it. Then they will die. It's not effective enough to control an ant problem, but it's an interesting experiment.

If you make a mixture of sugar, hard-boiled egg yolks, and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), roaches will feast on it, and die. This is used as a a home-made roach control measure with normal food items that the average person regularly consumes.

Dogs will feast on chocolate or alcoholic beverages if allowed to, and from what I hear, that can cause them to get very sick or even die.

[goodsamaritan]

I have decided to do a saltwater cleanse of my digestive system soon. I have often fasted before(water-fasts) and done Intermittent Fasting but had wrongly assumed up till now that all the foods I ate before the fasts  soon came out the other end. This saltwater-cleanse will scour my entire digestive system, not just my colon, and clean me out.

Can you describe your procedure?  I may just do the same thing so we can compare notes.

[JeuneKoq]

They will do the same for sugar. And possibly for drugs such as heroin. We shouldn't automatically assume that this means it's good for them, or us.

Ants will go crazy over table salt, but die from it. If you have ants in your pantry and a salt shaker with holes that aren't too small, you'll find dead ants in it. They won't swarm it because they never make it back to the colony to tell the others about what they found. But any scouts passing by will be attracted and try to eat it. Then they will die. It's not effective enough to control an ant problem, but it's an interesting experiment.

If you make a mixture of sugar, hard-boiled egg yolks, and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), roaches will feast on it, and die. This is used as a a home-made roach control measure with normal food items that the average person regularly consumes.

Dogs will feast on chocolate or alcoholic beverages if allowed to, and from what I hear, that can cause them to get very sick or even die.

Yes, and car antifreeze tastes sweet and can make you very sick.

There is a common trait to all these foods you named: they are all the product of processed foods, and cannot be naturally found in the wild.

Our dietary senses cannot be trusted to protect us when encountering such categories of food, as it has not evolved alongside of them over a long enough period of time to properly cope with them. These foods can then easily short-circuit our senses, which as a result permits the consumption of large amounts of potentially toxic matter.

Salt is the only natural food you cited (the again, I'm talking unrefined sea or rock salt, not "kitchen" salt), and the most logical explanation to finding dead ants in your salt shaker is simply because they are unable to find the exit once they enter the shaker, and probably die quickly due to the dryness!

Try putting natural salt on the ground next to an ant colony, and see how many dead ants you find next to it. Probably close to zero.

[TylerDurden]

Can you describe your procedure?  I may just do the same thing so we can compare notes.

I just am supposed to down a litre of water together with  2 teaspoonfuls of seasalt or rock-salt, perhaps followed an hour later by just 1 litre of water, without salt. 1 hour or more after the 1st drink, stay near a toilet to make sure you have enough time to vacate your bowels for the next 3 hours or less.

[TylerDurden]

Only some species deliberately select salt, mostly herbivores. Makes sense as natural salts exist in animals' blood so carnivores would not find salt necessary presumably.

[dariorpl]

Salt is the only natural food you cited (the again, I'm talking unrefined sea or rock salt, not "kitchen" salt),

If a paleo tribe lived near the ocean, they might consume the water, though it seems unlikely to me. But do you think they would travel great distances over desert to find a rock salt field?

And while we're at it, I think the very reason that when a sea dries up, it becomes a desert, is because almost no land plants can grow with such high levels of salt. If salt is so toxic to land plants, it stands to reason that it might also be toxic for land animals.

and the most logical explanation to finding dead ants in your salt shaker is simply because they are unable to find the exit once they enter the shaker, and probably die quickly due to the dryness!

Try putting natural salt on the ground next to an ant colony, and see how many dead ants you find next to it. Probably close to zero.

I think you're underestimating ants. They will find an entrance and exit even if it seems miniscule to us, but is large enough for them. If you pour table salt over an ant, or most other insects, they will die.

[JeuneKoq]

If a paleo tribe lived near the ocean, they might consume the water, though it seems unlikely to me. But do you think they would travel great distances over desert to find a rock salt field?

Paleo men wilfully drinking sea water seems rather unlikely to me too, and I don't think they would bother crossing a desert for some salt, when they could probably satisfy an important portion of their salt  intake through plants, animals and seafood. I do think that if they were to stumble upon a salt rock, they would at least try it, and maybe enjoy a few licks.

I don't believe salt is as toxic as AV puts it. H2O is also used in bombs, but we still drink it. It's all a matter of proportion.

And while we're at it, I think the very reason that when a sea dries up, it becomes a desert, is because almost no land plants can grow with such high levels of salt. If salt is so toxic to land plants, it stands to reason that it might also be toxic for land animals.

Proportion is the key word here. Pure oxygen is also fatal, yet we breath air that is composed of 21% of it all the time.

I think you're underestimating ants. They will find an entrance and exit even if it seems miniscule to us, but is large enough for them. If you pour table salt over an ant, or most other insects, they will die.

There's tons of ants where I am, I might do the experiment and see what happens 

[cherimoya_kid]

Herbivores will go to great lengths for salt, carnivores not at all. Humans are omnivores, so it makes sense that they would seek salt less than herbivores, but more than carnivores.