Processed vs Unprocessed Salt
Processed salt is 97% sodium and chloride (NaCl).
The remaining 3% is chemical residues from the processing.
Unprocessed salt is 80-84% NaCl. The remaining 16-20% is all the
other elements in the Periodic Table. Processed salt is a
chemical isolate. NaCl does not occur alone in nature.
Similar to processed sugar, which is isolated from the context of
the sugar cane, NaCl is more akin to a drug in its effects on the body
than to a food. Historically, salt (unprocessed) was called
“white gold.” It was taxed and coveted in much the
same way money is today. Poor people died in plagues and famines
because they were not able to pay the taxes on salt and hence suffered
its deprivation.
Salt Deficiency
The Health Equations Blood Test Evaluation
reveals that salt deficiency is linked with hypotension and hypertension;
increased susceptibility to colds, flus and infections; fatigue; inflammation;
hypoglycemia; eczema; dehydration; and elevations in LDL cholesterol.
Cravings for Salt and Aversions to Salt
Both a craving for salt and an aversion to salt
most likely indicate a salt deficiency. The only reliable
indicator for how much salt an individual needs is each
individual’s taste for a whole food unprocessed salt. A
person who avoids salt, or follows a low salt diet for years, often
loses a taste for salt. A whole food salt must be gradually
reintroduced into the diet in order to reacquire a taste for salt.
A 1989 article in the New England Journal of
Medicine (April 6, pp. 904-909) presented the following all-cause death
rates for the corresponding cholesterol levels:
Comment: Lipids, in conjunction with the
immune system, play a critical role in the body's defense mechanism.
The lipid defense includes both fatty acids, such as prostaglandins E2
and leukotrienes, and anti-fatty acids, such as cholesterol,
triglycerides and cortisol. When there is a health lipid defense
fatty acids destroy infectious organisms, eliminate a splinter or rid
the body of a damaged ligament tissue. Anti-fatty acids then act as a
control rod so to speak by down regulating fatty acid activity once
their job is done. Low tissue cholesterol, an anti-fatty, results
in excess persistent fatty acid inflammatory activity in the tissues.
Excess fatty acid activity is now known to both initiate and
perpetuate the cell and tissue damage responsible for most chronic
degenerative diseases, from cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and
emphysema to hypothyroidism, arthritis and Metabolic Syndrome.
Total
Cholesterol Level
180-189
160-179
140-159
<140
All Cause
Death Rate
(per 10,000)
172
174
196
308
Russell L. Smith, PhD,
Letter to the Editor,
Townsend Letter for Doctors,
Jan. 1993
Comment: There are two kinds
of lipids in the body, fatty acids and anti-fatty acids. A balance in
the daily activity of both kinds of lipids is the foundation of a healthy
metabolism. See Understanding Your Metabolism. An excess of activity of either fatty acids or anti-fatty
acids occurs whenever there is any symptom or disease. Estrogen and
progesterone are anti-fatty acids. Additional to their hormonal effects,
estrogen and progesterone will have the same effects on oxygen, electrolytes
and minerals as any other anti-fatty acid. Thus, if a woman has excess
fatty acid activity, she will likely benefit from HRT activity without incurring
the risks. Likewise, if a woman does not have an increase in, or an
excess of, anti-fatty acid activity while using hormones, she will likely
have benefits without the risks. Therefore, monitoring fatty acid and
anti-fatty acids activity before and during HRT will indicate whether the
benefits of HRT outweigh the risks for a woman at any age. Fatty acid
and anti-fatty acid activity have never been considered in any of the studies
fueling the 30 year HRT debate. The Health
Equations Blood Test Evaluation monitors
fatty acid and anti-fatty acid activity.
Nervous exhaustion is an increasingly prevalent
consequence of stress. The hallmark of nervous exhaustion is the
inability to relax in spite of chronic fatigue. An unstable blood
sugar, hormonal and sleep disturbances, decreased ability to handle
stress, and decreased ability to experience pleasure all are common.
Nervous exhaustion occurs when the adrenal medulla is hyperactive
and the adrenal cortex is hypoactive. The hyperactive medulla
results in an increase in adrenalin output and sympathetic autonomic
activity. The hypoactive cortex results in a decrease of
corticosteroids, causing fatigue and loss of sodium in the urine.
The first, easiest, least expensive and most frequently
overlooked remedy for nervous exhaustion is use of a whole food
unprocessed salt. Nervous exhaustion is both caused by, and
causes, a salt deficiency.
FLIP-FLOPS
Innumerable studies over the last 30 years have
fueled the debate whether the benefits of estrogen and progesterone
therapy, or just estrogen therapy, in postmenopausal women outweigh the
risks. The two landmark studies of this controversy have opposing
results. The data from Harvard’s Nurses Health Study in the
1980’s showed menopausal hormone users had as much as a 50%
reduction in heart attacks compared to nonusers. The NIH
Women’s Health Initiative begun in 1991 was stopped in 2001
because women given hormones were having more heart attacks than those
receiving placebos. The controversy has been confounded in recent
years when the results of these two studies were combined and
reanalyzed. The new statistics showed 50-59 year old HRT users
have a decreased risk of heart attacks and overall mortality compared
to older hormone users. However, the National Heart, Lung and
Blood Institute, a division of NIH which oversaw the Women’s
Health Initiative, warns that the potential risk of blood clots, stroke
and breast cancer from HRT outweigh the benefits of preventing heart
disease. Nevertheless, the drop in sales of hormones from six to
four millions women after the cessation of the Women’s Health
Initiative were made public, increases the pressure on and from
pharmaceutical companies to promote and use hormones.
