I've been reading again

[craftyailz]

The Salt Fix

An interesting book. Richard Nixon has a lot to answer for. He demonised fat and and he demonised salt - but sugar - he left alone.

Sugar has now been shown to light up the same centres in the brain as hard drugs - and is at least as addictive. Sugar is to blame for a lot of obesity (according to most of the nutritional literature coming out recently). Salt was said to cause a lot of sugars problems.

If you don't take in enough salt your body suffers - so cut back on salt. If you take in sugar your body suffers - so take in as much sugar as you can. Can you tell which is big business in the USA?

When Nixon was putting nutrition into politics there weren't any real gold standard trials into nutrition. Ancel Keys did starvation trials on Conscientious Objectors and it seemed to be that the 'expert' was he who shouted loudest - or knew the most influential people.

Obesity ran at about 10% throughout known human history. Politicians - of all parties and most 1st world countries - decided to kow tow to big business and persuaded their people that man made had to be better than nature. Butter - which we'd been eating for many centuries was bad for us - margarine - made from old tyres - but man made - was good for us. Processed sugar - hfcs - etc., was so much better for us than that provided by mother nature. Grains had to be genetically modified in the 1940s & 50s - and onward - to make them 'better' than the natural ones.

Mankind is so conceited - yes we've done wonders with science - but mainly by following the natural world - humans used to bathe once a year, watch animals in the wild they wash a lot more often, they clean wounds. Rain washes things clean. Now we believe in washing - us and our things. Antibiotics were a hidden gem for a reason - we took them - messed with them - changed them into chemicals rather than natural things and now a lot of them are becoming useless.

When I had TB in the 1950s I was one of the first generation to get streptamycin in injectable form - my aunt had been given it in its natural state - raw liver to be chewed - those that kept it down survived. I was lucky (though I can still remember the injections, the stuff was very thick and gloopy at that time - before it was made from pure chemical equivalents) some kids got gold injections - which made them blind at the very least, others got something else which gave them brittle bones and the control group of course got nothing. Wouldn't be allowed these days - ethics don't allow such trials.

I find myself cross at the damage that big business has done - and still does - to humankind. Obese children with malnutrition through eating factory made food, big business renting land to grow forced crops that will deplete the soil in 10-15 years - when they'll then give it back to the poor sods who need it now and can't eke out a living, but the soil will be worthless and useless - dead - when Nestle or Unilever or one of the 4 or 5 companies that own nearly every product going.

I am making a determined effort not to buy processed anything. Not even salt. If it costs more - and it will - and I can't afford it then I'll do without.

There are several books that I'd recommend to anyone who would like to see the human race continue for more than the next 100 years

Not On the Label: What RealBad Food Britain: How A Nation Ruined Its Appetite &
Swallow This: Serving Up the Food Industry’s Darkest Secrets by Joanna Blythman
Toxic Oil by David Gillespie
The Salt Fix: Why the Experts Got it All Wrong and How Eating More Might Save Your Life by James DiNicolantonio
The Big Fat Surprise: why butter, meat, and cheese belong in a healthy diet by Nina Teicholz

And there are more, many, many more.

It's not that I have a belief that everyone should eat (or not) as I do, it's that food is no longer anything more than business - it doesn't matter whether it's good for us or not it's how much money can be made out of it.

You need butter - well we've got this chemical that's 400 times the flavour of butter - made of chemicals okay - but think how cheap it is and how much money it will save on every meal bought!!!! That is not how we should be living.

I'd like to say rant over but ...

Comments

[cmcmck]

I'll stick with butter..............

[craftyailz]

me too. I've bought some food flavourings for coconut milk with chia seeds - no calories or carbs or anything - very strong flavours in which you can buy anythins - sticky toffee pudding, espresso, chocolate etc. All made from pure chemicals and used in the food industry because it's cheaper than the real thing.