Salt is a chemical

Nicola · Salt is a chemical

I had been eating salt for a while and now I have not eaten any for 3 day's because I felt that salt was acting up in my system. I asked Dr. Groves about salt and then "the Bear" and this it what I know now...

This is my post to Dr. Groves and his answer:

Hi Mr. Groves

Sorry, I am asking again because I get different answers who ever I ask about salt!!!! I am told that salt is IN any meat:

Meat has the optimal potassium to sodium ratio, about 5:1. Plant
eaters have to add salt to their foods so that this ratio is hit.
When you look in the history of salt you will see that salt was
needed when human started eating big amounts of grains and plants.

Cat and dog owners don't give fresh kill; they get raw meat from the shops...The meat given in the zoo's is not fresh kill...

Even eggs have salt.

You gave your advice to Jimmy More about "zero carb"; well Charles is in grate form on "zero carb" - just meat and water - he stoped using salt because he had cramps in the night. Lex (raw paleo forum) had cramps and has added salt and his cramps have gone (they came again with high fat!!!).

His answer:

They are right that there is salt in meat. But is there enough if the animal has been bled? No other carnivore bleeds its prey before eating it.

I find if I don't add salt, I doc get cramps in the night! So perhaps, people differ in this respect. Or perhaps it depends what the rest of their diet is made up of.

Throughout recorded history, salt has always been highly prized. The word 'salary', meaning our weekly pay, is derived from the word 'salt; Roman soldiers were paid in salt. Admittedly, this was after the agricultural revolution, but it does demonstrate the high regard people had for salt.

No my cat didn't add salt, but she had no need to. If you taste blood, you will find that is salty. But we drain the blood from animals as soon as they are slaughtered. That is why it is necessary to add it.

You are right that Lutz doesn't eat salt. This is because he believes it causes cancer. He hasn 't lived low-carb, however, since he married his present wife, Helen, about 11 years ago. Unfortunately, at 95, Wolfgang is quite frail and has to rely on Helen for everything. She is a type-2 diabetic who won't do what Wolfie or I tell her.

regards

Barry
Author: Natural Health & Weight Loss
Co-producer: Your Perfect Weight: Be slim without dieting (DVD / video)
http://www.second-opinions.co.uk
http://www.diabetes-diet.org.uk
http://www.cholesterol-and-health.org.uk
http://www.theperfectweight.com

Meat eaters do not need to dose themselves with salt. NO carnivore
ever eats salt. The body can control sodium loss to the point that
the loss per day is measured in micrograms.

My instinct is not to answer your nonsensical questions, as it is
blatantly due entirely to food obsession.

One time and no more, ok? If you are not happy and comfortable
eating this way, give it up.

Food is not something you should obsess about and if you do, eating
will be a chore or a worry- give it up and return to comfort, it is
perhaps better to live a short but happy life than a long and unhappy
one.

Salt is in ALL tissues, the blood is not different in any way.
Animals bleed out when torn apart by a carnivore, very few of which
bother to kill their prey before eating them.

Cooking meat a little like searing, causes the juices to evaporate,
increasing the salt content.

Cramps at noght have NOTHING to do with sodium, the culprit is
magnesium, why somw people get low on this element is not something I
can answer, but it has happened to me from time to time. Eat some
magnesium, even a little epsom salts will do the job.
--

Cheers.

Bear

http://www.thebear.org

Avalon

Thanx nicola!

Love that Bear Wow

steve198329

I told you that even Bear supplements with magnesium. I am one that also needes magnesium as well as many others. If I need to supplement on this diet it only proves that there is something else to this mystery.

I believe it is something in the blood. Maybe we need more iron or more sodium. I don't knkow but I know I am definetly missing something.

Kristi31

I'm convinced it's dairy. The Bear includes dairy. I don't and never experience this problem. I don't take any supplements.

Trem

I've always enjoyed exchanging e-mails with Barry Groves. Whenever I've e-mailed Bear with a question regarding his diet, he's always criticized me of having a 'food obsession' also, which is rather annoying to someone wanting to learn. I've found nothing but postives since adding iodized salt to meats and eggs. Bear also told me to ditch the whole milk and yogurt because they 'contain carbs.' Maybe I should just forget that I've improved body composition to < 9% BF with them and increased my strength gains. It sounds to me like he's 'carb obsessing', but hey, what do I know.

jl53563

I think alot of people drink too much water. This can dilute electrolytes. I use to get leg pain and cramps while running, so I started taking potassium and magnesium, which did help. But then I heard about too much water diluting electrolytes, so I decided to cut back on water. It worked! I have cut waaayyyy back on water, drinking when only truly thirsty. Some days I drink almost no water at all. Of course, raw meat does contain alot of water. Also, no water during exercise. I think our bodies can handle a litle bit of dehydration.

Just my 2 cents worth. Wink

cabalco

Yes i have pointed out too that drinking less helps very good against cramps. The more i drink the more salt i need. But more salt is not the solution for me.

Nicola

This is what Dr. Groves has to say to the Bear's answer:

Hello Nicola

It is true that no carnivore ADDS salt, or looks for a salt-lick in the wild as herbivores do. But that is because blood in meat is salty. Meat killed and eaten soon after death contains salt; a lion eats the bloody meat. But our modern methods of bleeding animals and hanging the carcase for weeks, reduce the amount of salt in most store-bought meat.

But, I agree with Bear: why obsess about it? There is no danger from eating more salt than your body needs. The excess is merely secreted, either in sweat or in urine. And, yes, the kidneys do conserve salt quite well. But if you sweat a lot because of physical work or living in a hot climate, it is not just water shortage that can kill you bu the loss of salt.

I add very little salt to my food; I have difficulty getting even close to the 6 grams we are supposed to eat (it's usually struggle to add 1 gram). But do I know when I am not getting enough because I do get cramps, as does my wife and several others I know of. I have proven (at least to my satisfaction). that insufficient salt is to blame for these occurances.

regards

Barry

Well all I can say is that both the Bear and Dr. Groves eat cheese so that will change "the picture" they have of what is going on in the body!

I will reduce this salt water I take and see how that is; I feel a little of this salt water helps the body in many ways, it's just finding out how little it need's.

Nicola

cabalco

Sorry but i don't really understand his sentence:

But do I know when I am not getting enough because I do get cramps, as does my wife and several others I know of. I have proven (at least to my satisfaction). that insufficient salt is to blame for these occurances.

Does he mean that not enough salt gives him cramps?

Nicola

[quote="cabalco"]Sorry but i don't really understand his sentence:

But do I know when I am not getting enough because I do get cramps, as does my wife and several others I know of. I have proven (at least to my satisfaction). that insufficient salt is to blame for these occurances.

Does he mean that not enough salt gives him cramps?[/quote]

Yes, he feels that he needs salt to not get leg cramps!!!!

Nicola

cabalco

I think it depends on what you eat. When i eat cheese (calcium + sodium) cramps go away. When i eat potatoes cramps go away. When i eat salt on meat i get really bad cramps. WIthout salt i just want to sleep.... Bananas help a bit but somehow the cramps get better but never go away. Now i try again to eat carrots, they seem to help. I have tried apples too but i think they contain too much water. Supplements are a bad thing because i have read that first they seem to help but when you stop taking them cramps come back, and get more bad than before.

Nicola

Cheese has a bad calcium/magnesium balance, is a non paleo food, constipating and addictive.

I did "believe" in the Schaubkost but am now over that one and following information threw members following a paleo diet (meat and fat).

We live in a world full of information and it's all human made and looking for "the answer"; that's why Charles or the Bear (if he would just eat meat and fat...) put food in words that I find help me best.

Nicola

Avalon