Salt and your health

Salt is essential not only to life, but to good health. It's always been that way. The body's salt/water ratio is critical to metabolism. Human blood contains 0.9% salt (sodium chloride) -- the same concentration as found in United States Pharmacopeia (USP) sodium chloride irrigant commonly used to cleanse wounds. Salt maintains the electrolyte balance inside and outside of cells. Routine physical examinations measure blood sodium for clues to personal health. Most of our salt comes from foods, some from water.

Since ancient times, salt has been used to flavor and preserve food. Early trade routes and many of the first roads were established for transporting salt. Many ancient civilizations levied taxes on salt. Salt was considered so precious that it was traded ounce for ounce for gold. In ancient China, coins were made of salt. In the Mediterranean regions, salt cakes were used as money. Ancient cities such as Genoa, Pisa, and Venice became salt market centers. By the fifteenth century, salt was obtained by boiling brine from salt springs, and many towns and cities in Europe located near such sources. During the eighteenth century, the efficiency of the boiling brine process was improved by using coal instead of wood as fuel. Because of its coal supply, England became the leading salt producer in the world. Early colonies in America were dependent on England for most of their salt.

Blood pressure is a sign. When it goes up (or down) it indicates an underlying health concern. Changes result from many variables, often still poorly-understood. High blood pressure is treated with pharmaceuticals and with lifestyle interventions such as diet and exercise. The anti-hypertensive drugs are all approved by regulatory authorities such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. To be approved, these drugs must prove they work to lower blood pressure. Whether they also work to lower the incidence of heart attacks and strokes has not been the test to gain approval (it would take too long to develop new drugs), but the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has invested heavily in such “health outcomes” studies.

Salt/sodium can hide in many foods. One teaspoon of salt contains 2,000 mg of sodium. The following suggestions can help lower salt intakes:

* Eat fewer salty snacks such as potato chips, nuts, cheese and pretzels.
* Read the "Nutrition Facts" panel on food labels to see how much sodium you are eating.
* Read the label. Look for the words, low-salt or reduced-sodium on products to replace those with high salt.
* Use fresh or frozen vegetables instead of high sodium canned
* Avoid pickled products like sauerkraut, deli meats, sausages and canned fish.
* Use herbs and spices like garlic powder, thyme, oregano, and basil to flavor food and use less salt. Season meat with lemon juice, bay leaf, crushed red pepper and rosemary. Season chicken with sage, seasoned vinegar and ginger.
* Limit the use of high-salt soy sauce, meat tenderizers, seasoned salt, and Worcestershire. Look for salt-free herb blends for cooking.

Can you eat too much carrot?

Some people claim that they turn yellowish or orange when they eat too much carrot, is that true? Yes.

Carrots, is one of the many cases where it is true; you will turn a bit orange. Carrots are orange because they have lots of a colored biochemical (a "pigment") called, cleverly enough, carotene. Pure carotene has a deep orange color. It dissolves in oil but not in water, and it is stored in body fat. Carotene also absorbs ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun that can damage body tissues such as skin. The skin of people who intentionally consume pure carotene does change color, but just a little. They don't look like walking carrots, but rather the overall change in the color of their skin is measured by a device that measures the amount of each color of the rainbow that the skin reflects.

I'm pretty sure that carrots, like many vegetables, contains beta-carotene. Beta-carotene is converted to Vitamin A in the body depending on how much is needed so you can't overdose on it. But yes too much can turn your skin yellow/orange.

Many of the red, orange, and yellow pigments in colorful foods act in similar ways to carotene. Another example is the red color in ketchup, called lycopene. Some deeply green foods, like spinach and broccoli, have several colors including carotene. People who consume colorful foods, which are rich in these compounds, tend to have skin that is slightly less sensitive to the sun, though no one should stay in the sun too long just because they ate a big bag of fries with ketchup.

Human Foods that Poison Pets

Feeding pets food that we enjoy is not only wrong, it can also be fatal. There are some foodstuffs that humans relish which cause illness and death if eaten by pets.

Chocolate toxicity
Chocolate contains theobromine, a compound that is a cardiac stimulant and a diuretic. When affected by an overdose of chocolate, a dog can become excited and hyperactive. Due to the diuretic effect, it may pass large volumes of urine and it will be unusually thirsty. Vomiting and diarrhoea are also common. The effect of theobromine on the heart is the most dangerous effect. Theobromine will either increase the dog’s heart rate or may cause the heart to beat irregularly. Death is quite possible, especially with exercise.

Onion and garlic poisoning
Onions and garlic are other dangerous food ingredients that cause sickness in dogs, cats and also livestock. Onions and garlic contain the toxic ingredient thiosulphate. Onions are more of a danger.Pets affected by onion toxicity will develop haemolytic anaemia, where the pet’s red blood cells burst while circulating in its body.

The danger of macadamia nuts
The toxic compound is unknown but the affect of macadamia nuts is to cause locomotory difficulties. Dogs develop a tremor of the skeletal muscles, and weakness or paralysis of the hindquarters. Affected dogs are often unable to rise and are distressed, usually panting. Some affected dogs have swollen limbs and show pain when the limbs are manipulated. Dogs have been affected by eating as few as six macadamia kernels (nuts without the shell) while others had eaten approximately forty kernels. Some dogs had also been given macadamia butter.

Many Dog Care Experts and famous veterinarians agree that feeding your dog commercial dog foods puts them at a higher risk of premature death! It is suspected that around 87% of deaths can be attributed to the pet foods!

Your dog may seem to be very healthy, but by the time any symptoms start to appear it's too late! Their organs are no longer able to function and they suffer agonizing deaths with no hope for a cure! Dog food manufacturers are literally lying to you to sell their products. Many advertise to be 100% nutritionally balanced foods while at the same time they ignore many essential nutrients that your dog needs for a long healthy life. Meat by products are even a very misleading ingredient. These are meat products, but are often rotting, molded and diseased scraps of meat that are used to make pet food! Before meat by products are shipped from slaughter houses they are denatured. The denaturing process includes spraying the meat scraps with a disinfectant or citronella!