The Salt Situation, Pt. I

Conventional nutrition wisdom says salt is the ultimate evil concerning hypertension (high blood pressure), but you know me. You know I tend to not agree with conventional nutrition wisdom about 90% of the time. Here I go again...

The theory goes like this. Sodium and potassium ions are needed in a balanced ratio to help your body maintain a homeostatic (neutral) state. If there is too much salt in the body, the kidneys dilute it in water and excrete it in the form of urine. The swelling caused by the retention of water is said to increase blood pressure.

Why is it wrong?

Well, it isn't inherently wrong. It just isn't right. The swelling caused by the retention of water does increase blood pressure, though only temporarily and by very small amounts. The studies linking salt to hypertension are weak and usually examine only the effect of salt on the condition. Basically, the studies are not accurate.

Here's what you need to know before we continue. If you are obese, you are more likely to have high blood pressure. If you are diabetic, you are more likely to have high blood pressure. If you have high blood pressure, you are more likely to be obese and diabetic.

We have to get to the root of the problem. Why is there so much salt in the kidneys? A more plausible theory proposed by Gary Taubes in Good Calories, Bad Calories is that increased insulin from a high sugar diet increases the amount of salt in the kidneys and therefore causes hypertension. Hypertension is just another one of the diseases of civilization like obesity, diabetes, heart disease, etc. Why should we expect the cause to be any different?

Taubes says that, "[e]ating carbohydrates prompts the kidneys to hold on to salt, rather than excrete it. The body then retains extra water to keep sodium concentration of the blood constant... [C]arbohydrates cause us to retain water by inhibiting the excretion of the sodium that is already there. Removing carbohydrates from the diet works... like the anti-hypertensive drugs known as diuretics, which cause the kidneys to excrete sodium, and water along with it." (Taubes, P.149)

These effects are most likely due to an increase in insulin.

So should you still worry about salt?

To be continued...

"You Climb What You Eat"

I've been getting some great feedback and responses to my website these past few months, and I was recently approached by Amanda Fox at Urban Climber magazine about doing a profile on me and my thoughts about athletic performance and diet. After a series of interviews, here it is! Check it out in the November 2009 issue of Urban Climber. Also, if you've just found my site from the article, then welcome and I hope you find my site useful, interesting, or otherwise. Click the thumbnails for larger versions.

Where's the beef?

By now, you've probably grown used to me ragging on corn and soy and more specifically how they and are pumped into "health" food products. Do you really know where tocopherol, xanthan gum, and modified food starch come from and what they are? And more importantly, do you know which of your favorite foods they are in? Today we are going to look at some common "health" food products and their ingredients. The ingredients in green are products that are made from corn or soy, or that can be made from corn or soy.

Special K with Red Berries Cereal

Ingredients: RICE, SUGAR, WHOLE WHEAT, WHEAT GLUTEN, FREEZE-DRIED STRAWBERRIES, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, WHEAT FLOUR, DEFATTED WHEAT GERM, SALT, MALT FLAVORING, ASCORBIC ACID, ALPHA TOCOPHEROL, REDUCED IRON, NIACINAMIDE, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B6), THIAMIN HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B1), RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), VITAMIN A PALMITATE, FOLIC ACID, VITAMIN B12.

The high fructose corn syrup is a no brainer. Malt flavoring can be extracted from corn. Ascorbic acid is a vitamin C additive that almost always comes from corn. Alpha tocopherol is a vitamin E additive that also almost always comes from corn. What we have here is nothing but flour and sugar, which is really just sugar and sugar.

Wheat Thins Crackers

Ingredients: ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE {VITAMIN B1}, RIBOFLAVIN {VITAMIN B2}, FOLIC ACID), SOYBEAN OIL, WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT FLOUR, SUGAR, DEFATTED WHEAT GERM, CORNSTARCH, MALT SYRUP, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, SALT, MONOGLYCERIDES, LEAVENING, VEGETABLE COLOR, SOY LECITHIN

Here, we basically have some flour, sugar, and a bunch of chemicals from corn and soy. Soybean oil is obviously extracted from soy. Cornstarch is the concentrated starch molecules from corn used to thicken baked goods. Malt syrup is a sugar used similarly to malt flavoring. Again, more high fructose corn syrup. Monoglycerides come from soybeans. Leavening almost always contains a starch (usually from corn). Vegetable color usually comes from corn. Soy lecithin is used as a binder and obviously comes from soy.

Dannon Light & Fit Yogurt

Ingredients: NONFAT YOGURT (CULTURED GRADE A NONFAT MILK, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, KOSHER GELATIN, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, VITAMIN D3), WATER, STRAWBERRIES, FRUCTOSE, contains less than 1% of MODIFIED CORN STARCH, BANANA PUREE, NATURAL AND ARTIFICAL FLAVORS, ASPARTAME, SODIUM CITRATE, POTASSIUM SORBATE, ANNATTO EXTRACT, MALIC ACID, SUCRALOSE, RED 40

Lots of modified corn starch is used here to make the product more like regular yogurt since nonfat yogurt by itself is really just a runny mess. More fructose. More flavors. More preservatives.

Lean Cuisine Glazed Chicken Entree

Ingredients: CHICKEN TENDERLOINS (CHICKEN TENDERLOINS, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, WATER, CORN OIL, MODIFIED CORNSTARCH, LEMON JUICE CONCENTRATE, SODIUM PHOSPHATES, SALT, CARAMEL COLOR, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, GARLIC, ONION, PAPRIKA, SPICES), WATER, BLANCHED ENRICHED LONG GRAIN RICE (RICE, FERRIC PHOSPHATE, NIACIN, THIAMIN MONONITRITE, FOLIC ACID), GREEN BEANS, MUSHROOMS, ONIONS, BLANCHED WILD RICE, MODIFIED CORNSTARCH, SUGAR, SALT, CULTURED WHEY, CHICKEN FAT, LEMON JUICE CONCENTRATE, CARAMEL COLOR, DEHYDRATED ONIONS, SPICES, DEHYDRATED GARLIC, PAPRIKA

Pardon my ignorance, but what is all that junk doing in my chicken tenderloins? I'm not even going to try and say anything else about this abomination. (However, it could potentially be a lot worse...)

Still convinced you don't eat that much corn and soy?

Have you actually met a farmer lately?

Whether you are an outspoken liberal or stubborn conservative, I think we can agree that our nation was founded on an ideal that we would establish and foster free market economic practices. The theory is that with a large number of sellers and a large number of buyers, both would benefit. Competition in the marketplace would create lower cost to consumers, but also give all sellers the opportunity to succeed and profit.

Unfortunately, thanks to new Wal-Mart stores and McDonalds restaurants opening on a daily basis, these free market practices have gone by the wayside in our food industry.

Five large corporations control a little over two thirds of the nation's chicken industry. This is a gross statistic that doesn't imply the existence of a free market for the consumer. Companies like Tyson and ConAgra dictate prices and lobby Congress to stay out of their business. They use technology to design species of chickens with unusually large breasts. They ship day old chicks to their "contractors" and send trucks in 8 weeks to pick up sickly, fat chickens that are ready for slaughter. At no point do these contractors actually own the chickens. However, they do own the expensive equipment, the chicken houses, the land, and a whole lot of debt. The initial investment to become a contractor to a company like this is somewhere around $150,000. They can expect about $12,000 a year. Contractors that complain are often fined or even have their contracts cancelled. Most of these chickens find their way into 99 cent chicken sandwiches at fast food restaurants and supermarkets where they are typically sold for less than $1 per pound.

The beef industry is controlled by just four corporations. Eighty-five percent of our beef is processed by ConAgra, IBP, National Beef, and Excel. They use "captive supplies" of beef to encourage prices to stay low. A captive supply is a meatpackers own herd of live cattle that it purchases for a low price and subsequently raises in house. When the prices of beef begin to rise, these companies with their captive supplies begin to slaughter those animals leaving the ranchers with no little other choice than to sell their beef cheaper or simply fold. It's no wonder no one knows any farmers anymore. I'm sure you don't need reminding, but we also feed the cattle our corn surplus. This practices creates sick cows and drastically changes the fat profile in the meat we eat. Corn-fed beef has a much higher saturated fat content and much less omega-3 comapred to natural, grass-fed beef. There's just no chance for the small farmer raising cattle naturally in the Midwest or in the Appalachians to compete with the large corporations.

I know that vegetarianism isn't the answer, but it is sounding pretty good right now.

My Humble Endorsement of Crossfit

I'm a picky guy. I'm picky about my food. I'm picky about my clothes. I'm picky about my music. I'm picky about what I watch on television and what I read. I'm also very picky when it comes to working out. I really don't like to waste my time.

I've been doing some form of workout on a regular basis since I started to get into tennis early in my life. It's only been recently (in the last year) that the world of rock climbing opened up to me the world of Crossfit.

Crossfit is a program that really has no definition. The different workouts posted each day on the main website are designed to utilize maximum effort in short periods of or around 20 minutes (and often less than 8 minutes). Instead of being great at one thing, the goal is to be good at lots of things, which is the definition of fitness in the eyes of a Crossfitter. These things include power, strength, balance, flexibility, endurance, agility, etc.

You'll see lots of aerobic movements like rowing and running. You'll see lots of gymnastic bodyweight movements like pull-ups and push-ups (and the famous "muscle-up"). You'll see lots of heavy barbell training and lots of high repetition, low weight multi-functional movements.

What you won't see is the same thing every day. New and different workouts are posted each day. Sure, they repeat workouts, but you haven't done it for at least a or two month (and sometimes 4 or 5 years).

What you won't see is anything involving weight machines. Crossfit stresses multi-functional movements. Weight machines focus on distinct muscle groups, whereas gymnastic bodyweights movements and barbell training force the entire body to work thereby increasing the amount of work you do and lowering the amount of time you have to spend at the gym.

I encourage you to give it a try for a few days. Not ready yet for the WOD (Workout of the Day)? Try a scaled version. Maybe drop the repetitions, weight, or time to be manageable for your ability. Get used to the lifts and movements. I guarantee that if you push yourself to perform the workout effectively and with maximum effort, it will be a matter of time before you see results and are feeling better than ever. You can find a gym in your area here.

What's for dinner?

I did a pair of posts about a month ago suggesting some options for breakfast and lunch. Now, here's an easy and great dinner for after a good workout or long day. In the mood for a sweet potato, but don't have an hour and a half to bake one? Try this.

Sweet Potato Fries

2 small sweet potatoes (frenched)
1 tblsp. olive oil
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. sea salt

Preheat oven to 400F. Toss potatoes in olive oil and spices and coat evenly. Place skin side down on a aluminum baking sheet. Bake for 35 minutes. Set oven to broil for an additional 4 to 5 minutes.

Broccoli

2 C broccoli
2 tsp. butter

Set a pot of water on the stove on high and bring to a boil. Place broccoli in a colander and create a steamer by placing the colander over the pot of boiling water. Steam uncovered for about 8 minutes. Transfer broccoli to a hot pan with broccoli. Cook until butter melts and coats broccoli evenly.

Orange Dill Salmon

1 large salmon fillet (thawed from frozen)
1 tsp. sea salt.
2 tsp. dill
1 tsp. pepper
juice from 1/2 an orange
2 tblsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 400F. Coat salmon in olive oil, spices, and orange juice. Place on a broil pan skin side down. Bake for about 25 minutes until thoroughly cooked and flaky.


That's it! Get those potatoes goiand salmon going while the oven preheats. Get them in the oven. Walk away for 20 minutes then come back and work on your broccoli. You've got a fantastic meal in about 35 minutes.