United States Archives - The Right Plan Nutrition Counseling & Kellie Hill Nutrition

June 13, 2014 by Kellie 2 Comments

UnBeetable Beets Transcript

Hi, I’m Kellie Hill, Nutritional Therapy Practitioner at The Right Plan. Your guide to optimal health and weight loss from the inside out.

Today, I want to talk to you about a couple parts of the digestive system that are frequently functioning poorly but that you can easily improve / the liver and gallbladder. Gallbladder removal is one of the most common surgeries in the United States, estimated at over half a million gallbladders removed each year.

Gallbladder attacks suggest congested bile; built up concentrated bile can cause gallstones.

Another indication of problems with bile can be noticed in your stool / I know, people don’t always want to talk about this, but your stool actually tells a lot about your health and digestive tract.

For instance, greasy or shiny stool may indicate a decrease of bile, possibly from a congested liver or gallbladder.

Light or clay colored stool may be from a lack of bile, again possibly from a congested liver or gallbladder.

Floating stool is usually from decreased bile from the gallbladder with a lack of fat emulsification. I know it’s kind of taboo to talk about the quality of our bowel movements but these type of symptoms mean you need to clean out your liver and gallbladder and keep it clean.

This isn’t difficult to do with whole foods and I’m going to show you how. But do note, first and foremost, if you are having gallbladder attacks or other symptoms of gallbladder issues, definitely see your health care practitioner. There’s a time and place for preventative care and there’s a time and place for modern medicine / you have to distinguish the difference.

Enough of that talk / let’s get to the solutions.

If you need to help your body cleanse and detoxify your liver gallbladder area / beets are your answer.

I think of eating beets as giving your body an oil change / very much like changing the oil in your car. Beets help detoxify the liver, purify the blood, and cleanse the gallbladder of bile. The entire body works more efficiently when it’s not congested or clogged up with bile / just like your car engine works better if there isn’t a bunch of sludge in the system.

So eating beets is going to give you this great natural oil change and clean out your liver and gallbladder.

Now, I know from my private clients that when I talk about eating beets, they are not happy with the idea. But, I’m going to demonstrate what to look for and how to make a couple easy recipes. And, I’m going to start on the low end of the health continuum. Remember, we’re all on that continuum and I’ll walk you through these beginning recipes / one cooked and one raw.

Since beets are such a good cleanser, I recommend eating them daily when doing a cleanse, like in my *Cleanse & Detoxify Your Body: 28 days to better health using nutrient-dense whole foods.* But, if you’re just starting out, try for 2-3 times a week / even if you only get beets in once a week you’ll begin to notice a difference.

I’m not going to say these are the healthiest recipes for beets, but they are a great point to start from. If you’ve only had canned beets, please, give these a try, you won’t be disappointed, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. These are two great starting recipes that even kids love. As your taste buds adapt, you can enjoy even healthier, stronger options like beet salads, grated beets,

steamed beets, and much more / but here’s where you start.

When you choose your beets look for medium sized beets with firm roots, smooth skin, and a deep rich color.

Skip any that have spots, bruises, or soft areas.

They shouldn’t be shriveled up or flabby.

Beet greens are also fabulous so don’t toss these. Prepare them just like Swiss chard which we have in another video. If you chop them very small they are also nice in a raw salad.

But today we are going to focus on the beet root.

Wash under cool water. Scrub off any dirt.

Very important here / notice my stylish gloves. Beets can stain your skin, nails, and clothes so an apron and gloves are essential. If you do end up with stains on your hands, try rubbing them with lemon juice and that usually will take it out.

Now the question of peeling. This really depends on how much time you have. I like not peeling beets until after cooking if you have an hour to an hour and a half to cook them. But, usually, I have better things to do with my time, so I’m going to show you the speedy version.

Trim off the root and leaves.

You can use a peeler and carefully remove the outer skin. Again, I like speed so I just use a knife. But, there’s a bit more waste. Choose whichever works for you.

Then cube the beet. The bigger the cubes, the longer the cooking time. Again you choose what works for you.

This size is going to cook in about 12-15 minutes / which is about my attention span so that’s what I like.

Easy clean-up with parchment paper / just line the pan and then toss later. Again, quick and easy, just like I promised.

Now, just scoop a bit of coconut oil onto the tray.

Put the beets into the over for about 3 minutes or until the coconut oil is melted. Yes, you can melt the oil first and toss it all together but that’s another step and another item to clean up. So, this works just as good really.

Once the coconut oil is melted, now stir to coat. Make sure all the beets have been covered with the oil.

Check on them in another 3-5 minutes and stir again.

Roasting beets carmelizes the sugars that are naturally in them so they become sweeter and creamier. That’s part of the reason this is such a great starting recipe for people because the beets are sweet.

Remove. You can check them with a fork / you want them to be a bit soft but still firm, not mushy. Another nice thing with this recipe is you don’t need to be too specific / if the beets are a little firmer or softer, it doesn’t affect anything.

Now, add a touch of sea salt and fresh ground pepper if you’d like / and that’s it.

Healthy, easy, and tasty. With these beets you’ll start giving your liver and gallbladder that oil change.

For more great recipes, nutritional questions, and information just like this, visit the right nutrition plan.com

To get the second beet recipe to help clean your liver and gallbladder, enter your email address below, click the button and I’ll send it right to you.

Remember, everything you eat has a purpose and a plan / make your purpose and The Right Plan.

January 30, 2014 by Kellie Leave a Comment

KOBI: Shopping smart means avoiding misleading label

Kellie was interviewed yesterday on KOBI TV about nutrition labels. Be sure to check it out!

With all the options available a trip to the grocery store can sometimes be a little overwhelming, especially if you’re trying to make healthy choices. But it may become a little easier as the Food and Drug Administration plans to send new food label guidelines to the White House.

Kellie Hill, Nutrition Therapy Practitioner from The Right Plan says it’s about time. She tells people to be wary about food labels. [Read More]

September 27, 2012 by Cfear Leave a Comment

Digestion and Acidity

Debunking the Myth of Heartburn and Restoring Digestive Health

The statistics are staggering. Digestive disorders cost Americans over 100 billion dollars per year. 70 million of us seek medical advice for digestive problems every year. Digestive medications are among the most profitable in the world, raking in billions for the pharmaceutical companies. We are bombarded with commercials and ads for the latest digestive remedies / Tums, Rolaids, Zantac, Prilosec and Pepcid are just a few of the more familiar names.

The list of clinically defined digestive illnesses seems to grow every year along with the number of those stricken. We used to have heartburn. Now we have the more serious case of heartburn, a chronic condition known as GERD or Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease. We used to have indigestion and constipation. Now we have Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Celiac Disease, Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis, the rates of which are escalating everywhere, including in our children.

Why do we have so many digestive issues in this country? And why are they escalating? In order to understand this let’s start with a simple analogy.

Imagine a river. Imagine a scientist on a boat in the middle of that river. He (or she!) looks down and notices the water is polluted. So he gathers up his scientist friends and comes up with clever ways to clean the water in the middle of the river. So they chlorinate it, fluorinate it, come up with a whole array of chemicals to kill the toxins, design high tech industrial equipment to purify it, maybe even radiate it. And while some of these things may help on some level, in time they notice that some of these methods start to create more problems which then require more high tech, costly solutions and so on and so forth. Slowly but surely the river gets sicker and sicker. Why? Because they never addressed the source of the pollution upstream. Such is what happens in digestion.

Digestion flows like a river. It begins upstream in the brain, mouth and stomach and ends downstream in the intestines. We have all sorts of drugs, medications and high tech procedures that treat digestive problems at the symptomatic level and this is not to say that some of these things are not useful or even important. But they rarely address the source of the problems upstream. This is where addressing the acidity in the stomach comes into play because when we do that we automatically help to correct problems downstream in the intestines. So let’s take a brief tour of the digestive process in order to better understand how and why things go wrong and how to correct them naturally via Nutritional Therapy.

Digestion starts in the brain and mouth. The thought, sight or smell of food triggers our gastric juices to begin flowing. Chewing begins the mechanical breakdown of our food. Saliva both moistens it for swallowing and also begins the chemical breakdown of our food via the action of salivary enzymes. Enzymes are chemical molecules that speed up chemical reactions in the body. Upon swallowing, our food flows through our esophagus, a long tube that connects our mouth to our stomach. Pretty simple so far, right?

OK, so now our food is in our stomach. Our stomach is our blender. By the time food leaves our stomach it should be the consistency of pea soup. This is accomplished primarily through the action of hydrochloric acid (HCl). HCl is secreted from millions of gastric glands in the lining of the stomach. Thus, nature designed our stomachs to be acidic. Let me repeat that because it is SO important to understand: Our stomachs are meant to be highly acidic.

This naturally designed acidity does 3 very important things. 1) It breaks down our food. 2) It sterilizes our food. HCl at the proper acidity kills pathogens such as bacteria, parasites and viruses. 3) The highly acidified food creates the proper conditions for the next phase of digestion to take place. When the acidified food moves from the stomach into the duodenum, the top part of the small intestine, this acidity signals the pancreas to release a very alkaline substance called sodium bicarbonate that raises that acidity to neutral. It is in this de-acidified environment that the next phase of digestion takes place. This next phase is the action of the pancreas and gallbladder.

Our pancreas and gallbladder are like extra pulses on the blender. You know that switch on some blenders where you can give a brief pulse for a little extra blending? That’s kind of like what our pancreas and gallbladder do. They add in additional digestive support so that by the time the stomach, pancreas and gallbladder have done their jobs, our food is thoroughly digested and ready to be absorbed in the small intestine. More specifically, our pancreas releases pancreatic enzymes to further break down our food and our gallbladder releases bile which emulsifies and further breaks down our fats. This relationship between the gallbladder, pancreas and stomach is absolutely vital for proper digestion. If just one of these three key elements is not working properly, digestion slows and becomes compromised.

The next phase of digestion is the absorption in the small intestine. Food that is properly broken down is readily absorbed through the lining of the small intestine and carried via the bloodstream for all the biochemical processes of the body. The excess is carried to the large intestine where some of the nutrients are recycled and the rest is of course expelled as our feces.

So the big question is what happens if the speed of the blender (the stomach) goes from high to medium high, or maybe to medium or even to low? The standard American lifestyle of stress, overuse of medications, smoking, excess alcohol consumption, overeating, nutrient deficiencies and of course a poor diet all contribute to a reduction in levels of stomach acid. And what happens if the acidity in the stomach becomes compromised? The answer: a lot.

First and foremost the food is not properly digested. The stomach is a warm, moist environment so without that blender speed on high (strong acidity) proteins start putrefying, fats rancidify and carbohydrates ferment. Now all that maldigesting food begins to give off various gasses and organic acids. Bloating, gas, belching and bad breath are some of the symptoms that result. This maldigesting mass of food builds up in the stomach and puts pressure on the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), the valve that keeps the stomach separate from the esophagus.

As pressure builds, some of the acidic contents of the stomach can reflux back into the esophagus. Unlike the stomach, the lining of the esophagus is not meant for acid so it burns. This burning of the lining of the esophagus is known as heartburn. GERD or Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease is the chronic and thus more serious form of heartburn. Furthermore, all this undigested food assaults the intestines and causes a whole host of problems as we’ll see briefly.

Second, the lessened acidity creates an environment for various bacteria, viruses and parasites to take root. Remember, proper acidity will kill these pathogens.

And finally, compromised acidity will not properly signal the pancreas to release bicarbonate and therefore pancreatic enzymes and will also compromise the release of bile from the gallbladder. Basically, it’s akin to the blender speed being reduced. The implications of this are tremendous.

Now all this undigested food assaults the intestines. We experience bloating, gas, constipation and diarrhea. And when this happens on a regular basis, all sorts of chronic intestinal problems ensue. Now we have the development of all these /itis’. Conditions that end in /itis refer to issues of inflammation. So now we have ileitis, inflammation of the ileum (the section of the small intestine beyond the duodenum and the jejunum) and colitis, inflammation of the colon. Of course there’s ulcerative colitis and diverticulitis and chronic conditions such as IBS, constipation and Crohn’s disease.

Furthermore, the undigested foods can start to compromise the lining of the small intestine setting up a condition known as Increased Intestinal Permeability or Leaky Gut. 70% of our immune system resides in our gut. When undigested proteins start passing through that delicate lining of the small intestines, food allergies and sensitivities can develop. This sets the stage for a whole host of immune issues such as asthma, skin conditions, parasitic and viral infections and autoimmune conditions.

What so often unites all of these conditions is the improper breakdown of food. Tracing our steps back upstream we find that this improper breakdown of food is rooted in the acidity of the stomach. Correcting the acidity improves not only digestion in the stomach but facilitates the action of the flow of enzymes from the pancreas and bile from the gallbladder. When this improves, we automatically start addressing intestinal issues as a result. Again, the intestines lie downstream in our analogy. Improve the problems upstream and you automatically improve the conditions downstream.

So one of the most important therapies Nutritional Therapists use when it comes to correcting acidity in the stomach is to actually supplement with hydrochloric acid. If you have a deficiency in vitamin D, what do you do? Take vitamin D. Deficiency in minerals? Take minerals. Hydrochloric acid is no different.

This may sound counterintuitive because we’ve been so thoroughly conditioned to believe that things like heartburn and GERD are caused by too much acid in the stomach. Certainly if we experience a burning sensation it makes sense to think there is an excess of acid. And certainly Big Pharma loves to keep us thinking this way.

So let’s take a look at how acid reducing medications work and why they are not a good long term solution. Antacids and acid blockers decrease the acidity in the stomach. Low tech versions such as Tums and Rolaids alkalinize the stomach. More powerful versions such as Prilosec and Zantac literally shut down the stomach’s HCl producing cells. In doings so they relieve the burning sensation of heartburn and GERD. However, by altering the naturally acidic environment in the stomach they cause a whole host of other problems in the digestive process.

Remember, the stomach is supposed to be highly acidic. Taking antacids is akin to reducing the blender speed of the stomach which causes all the problems discussed above in the digestive process. So while antacids and acid blockers help relieve the symptoms of burning, they do not address the underlying cause which is actually TOO LITTLE acid in the stomach. Thus they perpetuate the vicious cycle of chronic digestive problems including of course the very conditions they are designed to treat, namely heartburn and GERD. The irony in this is unbelievable! See why acid reducing medications are so profitable?

Supplementing with HCl begins to correct that deficiency and thus reestablish the proper environment for proper digestive health. Furthermore, supplementing with HCl is safe, easy and cheap. Work with your Nutritional Therapist to properly dose the HCl. Everyone is different for how much they need. Some people are mildly deficient and some are extremely deficient. A qualified Nutritional Therapist will know how to help you find your individual dose.

Certainly, there is more to treating digestive disorders than just HCl, but as I hope this article illustrated, it is often an essential component. Other considerations include supporting the pancreas via digestive enzymes, supporting healthy bile flow through a number of natural supplements such as phosphatidylcholine, beet juice and/or bile salts and supporting intestinal health via probiotics and supplements that help soothe and heal the intestinal lining. And of course dietary considerations should always form the foundation of any nutritional therapy protocol. Removing allergens such as wheat and dairy and reducing and/or eliminating sugar are two of the most common and effective dietary approaches. Nutritional Therapy protocols usually combine many of these approaches along with HCl supplementation.

Sources:

Dr Jonathan Wright, Why Stomach Acid is Good for You

Drs. Brenda Watson and Leonard Smith, Gut Solutions

Elizabeth Lipsky, Digestive Wellness

The Nutritional Therapy Association Training Program

September 6, 2012 by gragra 1 Comment

Vitamin D Sunshine & Supplements

Vitamin D has been considered an essential nutrient for humans for quite some time. Only recently, however, has the full array of benefits of this fat soluble nutrient come to be fully appreciated. Recent research indicates that suboptimal vitamin D status is wide spread, particularly in the northern United States and this could be having a significant impact on our health.

Traditionally, nutritionists have recognized the importance of vitamin D in calcium absorption and bone metabolism. Rickets, a pathological deficiency of vitamin D, was one of the first manifestations of urbanization and a highly processed diet. Pregnant and nursing mothers, along with their children, were crowded into dark tenements without access to sunlight. Compounded by a highly processed diet this often led to Rickets, a childhood disorder which is characterized by a softening and weakening of the bones.

Although Rickets is fairly rare in developed countries today, we now know that a deficiency of vitamin D significantly increases the risk of most types of cancer, multiple sclerosis, Type 1 diabetes, Seasonal Affective disorder (SAD), hypertension, and heart disease. Additionally, we now know that vitamin D moderates excessive inflammation by down-regulating the pro-inflammatory molecule NF Kappa B. This in turn implicates a vitamin D deficiency in a host of other chronic inflammatory diseases including arthritis and Alzheimer’s.

So, how can we be sure that our clients are getting enough vitamin D? According to a recent review “The Clinical Importance of Vitamin D (Cholecalciferol): A Paradigm Shift with Implications For All Healthcare Providers”, by Drs. Vasquez, Manso and Cannell (copies available upon request), the safe and reasonable range to promote optimal health and reduce the risk of several serious diseases is 1,000 IU/day for infants, 2,000 IU/day for children, and 4,000 IU/day for adults. The National Institute of Health (NIH) Office of Dietary Supplements has put the upper limit (UL) for vitamin D at 1,000 IU for infants under 12 months and 2,000 IU for all others. Although, in light of recent research, their figures seem to be low, prudence would dictate that Nutritional Therapists recommend at or below these levels for vitamin D supplements unless periodic monitoring of serum vitamin D and calcium are performed.

One of the best ways to get adequate vitamin D is through appropriate exposure to sunlight. Unfortunately, particularly in Northern latitudes, this is often difficult. The ability to produce vitamin D from sun exposure varies with geographical location, skin pigmentation, percentage of body fat, and age.

Humans are exquisitely adapted to produce optimal vitamin D in their indigenous homelands under traditional lifestyles. Unfortunately, we, for the most part, do not live in our indigenous homelands and don’t live traditional lifestyles. This causes big problems with vitamin D status!

Skin pigmentation is adapted to sun exposure. People living in the higher latitudes have developed light skin to help them take advantage of every possibility to produce vitamin D from sunshine. In latitudes greater than 37 degrees (we’re above 40 degrees N here in the Northwest, San Francisco is at 38 degrees N) it is all but impossible to make vitamin D in the winter months. The further north one lives the shorter the vitamin D making season. Typically, vitamin D can be produced from 10am to 3pm during the spring, summer and fall. How many of our clients are regularly getting sun exposure between 10am and 3pm?

On the other hand, people from the lower latitudes with high exposure to sun light have darker pigment to protect them from the dangers of over exposure to Ultra Violet (UV) radiation, which can cause premature aging and several different types of skin cancer. Statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture indicate that African American women have a vitamin D status that is 40% lower than Caucasian women. This is particularly disturbing considering that most Caucasian women are deficient. It has been known for some time that African Americans have a lower cancer survival rate than Americans of European descent. We now understand that vitamin D status plays a significant role in these differing outcomes. Almost certainly this is a factor also in the higher rates of hypertension, heart disease, and perhaps diabetes among African Americans.

On the other hand, lightly pigmented races relocated to tropical and subtropical latitudes have suffered their own ravages. In Australia there is an epidemic of skin cancer. In the last twenty years the already high rates of cancer have doubled in spite of a huge campaign to use sunscreens. In retrospect, the use of sunscreen decreases the skins ability to produce vitamin D by 97% to 100% by blocking the UVB radiation which produces vitamin D. By preventing burning of the skin, sunscreens may prevent certain types of skin cancer such as actinic keratosis (AK) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), but because they are less protective of UVA than UVB radiation and promote longer exposure by preventing sunburn they may actually increase the risk of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and the deadliest form of skin cancer, cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM).

In general, contemporary attitudes towards sun exposure and sunscreens have not served us well. We should get some exposure to the sun every day that it is possible, we should not use sunscreen, but we should never expose our skin to the point of burning. The pain and inflammation of sun burn is our bodies’ way of saying “get out of the sun” and we should respect that. Having said that, it is important to be intelligent about sunscreen. If we are going to be overexposed for our pigment type, in actuality, it is certainly better to use sunscreen than to burn. If we go to Hawaii in the winter months, most of us will not be inclined to sit in the shade except for 5 or 10 minutes per day, so sunscreen should be used to avoid excessive exposure.

According to a recent review on vitamin D, published in the “Alternative Medicine Review”, a respected peer reviewed journal, the economic burden of vitamin D deficiency in the United States in between 40 and 53 billion dollars per year! The economic burden due to excess UVA radiation is only 5 to 7 billion dollars per year. Obviously, these figures could be vastly improved if people would get adequate sun exposure but avoid sun burn and overexposure.

Dietary intake is the only other source of vitamin D intake. If it’s not produced in the skin as a result of appropriate exposure to UVB radiation then it must be ingested either from food or supplements. Although, obviously we would prefer to get our vitamin D from whole foods, this to can be problematic.

The primary dietary source of vitamin D is oily fish or cod liver oil. A 3 ½ ounce piece of salmon contains approximately 360 IU of vitamin D followed closely by mackerel with 340, Sardines with 250 and Tuna with 200. The problem with eating fish as a primary source of vitamin D is that fish often contain mercury and consuming enough fish to supply the optimal amounts could pose a very real risk. Farm raised fish should be avoided. An egg, according to the U.S.D.A., contains about 20 IU’s of vitamin D. It can be assumed that a free-range and grass fed egg would have significantly more. Liver contains 15 IU’s of vitamin D, but again, it would be very important to obtain liver from an organic and grass fed source in order to get the maximum benefit and avoid toxicity.

Industrialized milk, commercial baby formulas, and many processed cereals are fortified with vitamin D2. In the typical highly processed American diet this has been very important in the prevention of Rickets. Whole grains and milk even from organic or grass fed sources does not contain vitamin D in any significant amounts. Since Nutritional Therapists and their clients who are interested in natural health often avoid fortified, processed foods, it is important to recognize that they must get their vitamin D from other sources.

Because of the logistics of getting enough sun exposure and the general lack of vitamin D in most diets, supplementation should be considered for most individuals, particularly in the Northern latitudes. The form of vitamin D produced in the skin and found in whole foods is vitamin D3 (cholecalciferal). Fortified foods and some supplements contain vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol). Vitamin D2 is manufactured by irradiating fungi and although useful, is less efficiently converted into the biologically active form of vitamin D (calcitriol). Cod liver oil is a rich source of vitamin D3, containing 1,360 IU’s per tablespoon. For many individuals this could be a useful supplemental source if they do not object to the taste and have the ability to properly digest fats. It is important to use only sources that have been tested for contamination, particularly mercury. Most of the professional grade supplement manufactures have a vitamin D3 supplement. To ensure efficient uptake, emulsified products should be considered.

Realistically, as Nutritional Therapists, we must conclude that very few of our clients are receiving enough vitamin D from either appropriate exposure to sunshine or diet. In view of the importance of vitamin D for optimal health and the prevention of most of today’s chronic and degenerative diseases, we need to evaluate vitamin D status, make appropriate dietary and lifestyle recommendations, and recommend high quality supplements when appropriate.

Gray L. Graham BA, NTP

August 23, 2012 by YaakovLevine Leave a Comment

Nutritionally Speaking: Myths and Truths About Salt By: Yaakov Levine, NTP

Historically salt has played many roles in our societies other than making our kettle chips taste great. Covenants of Salt were what sealed agreements in Biblical times. The word salary comes from the practice in Roman times of using salt as payment for the soldiers. You have probably heard the phrase “he’s not worth his salt”, which was used to determine the value of slaves in ancient Greece. The mystics believed that salt had powers to prevent illness, and the Latin saying: “Nil sole et utilius” (there is nothing more useful than sun and salt) supports that belief. In my house my mother, who was born in Europe, would toss a bit of salt over her shoulder to bring us good fortune and health. This seems to still be working for her, as she will be 89 on her next birthday. Since salt has been considered very valuable through the ages, it is hard to grasp our society’s vilification of this important nutrient. Unprocessed salt, or the natural amounts found in unprocessed foods, are an integral part of the nutrient dense diets we promote.

What is salt? Sodium and chloride ions combine to make up the chemical composition of salt. Sodium chloride is present in ocean water, and makes up 75% of the “salt” in seawater. In our bodies sodium chloride (salt) teams up with potassium which is our body’s primary intra-cellular mineral. Sodium is found mostly in extra-cellular tissues. When these nutrients are in balance we have the correct amount of fluids in all of our body’s cells. This also correlates with the balance of fluids making up our blood volume. If we have a high salt/low potassium diet we increase the blood volume and as a result our blood pressure may be elevated. Our kidneys are able to remove excess salt as part of our body’s balancing mechanism. The chlorides in salt assist the body to produce hydrochloric acid and activate enzymes needed to digest carbohydrates.

In an article citing various studies on salt use and its affect on blood pressure, Dr. Paul J. Rosch of the American Institute of Stress points out that the population that is affected by higher sodium diet is usually those considered to be obese. According to Dr. Rosch the statistics are often skewed when the participants of the studies are in various states of health and obesity. When he separated out the study participants with normal weight the increase in sodium intake did not necessarily increase blood pressure or hypertension. According to Rosch the researchers in the Intersalt study of 48 groups failed to include some key information. He noted that some of the groups studied had less stress, less obesity, and ate less processed foods. Those groups were healthier and their results were not included in the study findings.

Rosch suggests that the “mined” statistics are reminiscent of Ancel Keys Seven Country study. Keys used data from seven countries of the 15 studied to demonstrate the connection between cholesterol from animal fat and its link to coronary heart disease. If Keys had looked at the other eight countries studied the results would have been the opposite. A major criticism is that Ancel Keys had chosen to study only the countries where saturated fats and the incidence of heart disease where high. He ignored other countries that ate a similar diet but had low rates of heart disease.

In his book, Staying Healthy with Nutrition, Dr. Elson Haas, states that “Where natural foods are the only sources of sodium, there is almost no hypertension. These foods contain more potassium, which is found in high amounts in plant cells as well as in human cells”. In his section on salt he talks about the controversy around salt intake and its effect on blood pressure. Dr. Haas suggests that some researchers believe the key to controlling blood pressure and hypertension is controlling the potassium-to-sodium ratios. The processed foods most of us eat are generally higher in sodium, and lower in potassium.

Dr. Haas suggests limiting the following high salt foods: salt from the shaker (in cooking and at the table), smoked and salted meats, most Chinese restaurant foods (contain soy sauce and MSG), brine soaked foods (pickles, olives and sauerkraut), canned and instant soups, processed cheeses, and other processed foods. The salt used in most of these foods is usually refined and may contain harmful additives such as aluminum compounds to keep the salt dry. Haas suggests we regularly include sea vegetables in our diets. They are “constantly bathed in the mineral-rich ocean water” and are particularly rich in iodine, calcium, potassium and iron.

In Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon points out that, “sun dried sea salt contains traces of marine life that provide organic forms of iodine”. She refers to studies that show that this form of organic iodine remains in the body’s tissues longer than iodide salts. Fallon suggests we all use sea salt sun-dried in grey colored clay lined vats that is sold as Celtic Salt. The Celtic salt is rich in the trace minerals and electrolytes our bodies need. On hot sunny days, instead of drinking electrolyte drinks, I will add a pinch of good quality sea salt to my water bottle which helps to keep my electrolytes in balance.

As nutritional therapists we promote eating foods that are less processed and foods with fewer ingredients. One of those ingredients in our processed foods is the refined salt which can upset our sodium/potassium balance. On a simple diet of healthy fats, organic fruits/vegetables, free range meats, whole grains, and raw dairy our bodies will be able to have the correct balance of the important electrolytes sodium and potassium. As a general rule I suggest we do not eat foods that our grand-parents would not recognize. Add regular exercise, and plenty of pure water and the result is better health and vitality.

Yaakov Levine, NTP

UnBeetable Beets [VIDEO]

UnBeetable Beets Transcript

KOBI: Shopping smart means avoiding misleading label

Digestion and Acidity

Vitamin D Sunshine & Supplements

Nutritionally Speaking: Myths and Truths About Salt By: Yaakov Levine, NTP

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