Comments on: No Salt, No Problem: One Woman’s Life-or-Death Quest to Make “Bland” Food Delicious

By: Viv

Viv — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 17:48:59 +0000

One thing no one seems to mention is that sodium plays a role with potassium in the diet. The more potassium one gets from food, the less sodium-sensitive one’s blood pressure is, and high dietary potassium intake is correlated with decreased risk of stroke, death by cardiovascular disease, and increased bone density. There is literature on this but it is not often mentioned, as in this article. The American reliance on boxed/prepackaged and convenience foods over fresh foods (like fruits and veggies, especially leafy greens) skews people’s diet’s in a salt-sensitive direction, increasing the disease risks associated with low dietary potassium intake. This is especially true in poor neighborhoods with “food deserts” where little fresh produce is available. This reliance on convenience foods may also explain (along with obesity and lack of daily physical exercise) the rising rates of high blood pressure and poor cardiovascular health in school age children.

Useful (and scholarly) information is available at http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/minerals/potassium/ and at http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/potassium-000320.htm. Please pay attention to the lists of medications that dietary sodium interacts with if you already have high BP and/or kidney problems.

By: Herman King

Herman King — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 22:59:47 +0000

I also can’t understand why nature would evolve cravings for food that;s bad for us. The most innate sense in nature is one of survival. Our present food paradigm doesn’t make sense.

By: Herman King

Herman King — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 22:56:36 +0000

Easier just to use sea salt with iodine added. Who has the time and money to experiment with all that exotic stuff?

By: Erica

Erica — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:55:42 +0000

My wife uses low or no salt when cooking, not for health reasons per se, but it certainly has helped our health. Many ethnic foods call for little or no salt and we find that the more spices we use, the less we miss salt.

The downside is that when we dine out, the food often tastes far too salty to us. Not a down-side, all prepared and fast foods are all but inedible. That takes them off the “what shall we do for dinner?” list, which is also probably very good for our health. ^_^