Tag: wellness

SALT: What Does It Do To The Body?

We hear so often how salt is bad for us, but I can almost guarantee there are a lot of you out there that don’t know WHY.

Back at the very beginning of my weight loss journey, I was borderline hypertensive, with my blood pressure averaging 140/90. I was only 31 years old. My amazing doctor decided I should go on a low sodium diet for a month and see what happened. So I followed the diet to the letter, keeping my daily intake of sodium around 1,000 mg a day. I did a lot of scratch cooking in that time, and completely stayed away from cheese and processed foods. So what happened?

Absolutely nothing.

What whaaaaaat? But Andrea, doesn’t sodium affect blood pressure?! Well, yes, it does. In some people. I’m apparently one of those incredibly lucky individuals to which salt does not immediately skyrocket their blood pressure. (Turns out it was the birth control I was on.) Even though my blood pressure isn’t affected by sodium, it can affect many, and it can cause other problems too.

What Too Much Salt Does To The Body

Your kidneys are the organs tasked with ridding the body of excess sodium. When you eat too much sodium, the kidneys struggle to rid the body of the excess, causing fluid retention in the surrounding cells and an increase in blood volume in your cardiovascular system.

This can lead to kidney disease, high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, and potentially direct damage to the heart. In addition, sodium can leech calcium from your body, leading to osteoporosis.

How To Avoid Sodium

A large majority of the sodium we eat on a daily basis comes from processed and restaurant foods. Only about 10% of it is added when we cook or when we add salt at the table. So it’s pretty easy to avoid salt by avoiding processed foods and going out to eat too frequently. I’ve adapted over time to not even keep salt on the table, and to measure salt when cooking to limit the amount I use. Most restaurant food is overly salted, even when it’s made entirely from scratch, and we’ve grown so used to eating it that way that it can be difficult to adjust at home. And you’d be surprised how much salt there is in CEREAL:

One way to reduce salt in your diet without sacrificing flavor is to replace some of the salt in your recipe with a salt free herb or spice. Vinegar, herbs, spices, chiles, etc. can pack a punch of flavor without all the sodium. Check out my blog Pantry Staples for the Exotic Kitchen to get a really expansive list of flavorful additives!

Add Potassium

Making sure you get your daily dose of potassium is important too. Sodium and Potassium work in conjunction with one another, and the balance of the two is essential for healthy nerve function. Potassium is in higher concentration in the fluids inside your cells compared to the outside, while sodium is in higher concentration in the fluids outside your cells compared to the inside. This imbalance is what allows for electrical impulses in the body, which is used to contract muscle and keep your heart beating.

The best way to maintain this natural imbalance is to consume foods rich in Potassium, and luckily, the best of those foods are healthy fruits and vegetables! Keeping your potassium up and your salt at a reasonable level is an excellent step to keeping your health in tip top shape.

References:

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/salt-and-sodium/sodium-health-risks-and-disease/

http://www.bloodpressureuk.org/microsites/salt/Home/Whysaltisbad/Saltseffects

https://sodiumbreakup.heart.org/sodium_and_your_health

https://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/food-sources-of-potassium.php

http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/right-balance-sodium-potassium-6341.html

 

 

Bone Broth: Beneficial or Just Delicious?

Yeah yeah, I know I’m late to this party. I’m naturally immune to trends, so when bone broth got super trendy in 2015 I just rolled my eyes and proclaimed hipsters just love eating overpriced soup. I still believe that actually, but I figured I’d finally address the issue.

The Difference Between Broth, Stock, and Bone Broth

Standard broth is made with meat and very little bones and cooked for a brief period of time: less than an hour. Its flavor is light. Stock is made with mostly bones with some meat. The bones are usually roasted beforehand and then simmered for 2-3 hours. The roasted and length of simmering gives it a rich flavor and allows the gelatin to dissolve into the broth, giving it a superior mouth feel. Bone broth is technically just stock, simmered much, much longer, until all of the collagen and fat dissolve into a rich, cloudy liquid and the bones crumble when you pinch them between your fingers.

Image from Kristensraw.com

Bone broth should also gel solid when it’s cold.

Health Benefits or Placebo Effect?

People will claim that bone broth will:

  • Heal leaky gut syndrome (which I am personally skeptical even exists)
  • Boost immune system (maybe if it’s chicken)
  • Protect your joints (maybe)
  • Reduce wrinkles (possible as consuming collagen can help your body produce more collagen)
  • Help you sleep better (possible as the amino acid glycine can help you get better rest)

Do you actually get health benefits from bone broth? Some studies show that people who consume a diet rich in collagen have fewer wrinkles, but there’s nothing definitive. Consume bone broth if you like, it’s delicious, but be careful of how much sodium you’re consuming in the process. At the very least, consuming dietary collagen can help your body increase its own collagen production. But a cure all for everything? Doubtful.

Carrots, onions, celery, potatoes, pork round bones and some Vietnamese chili spice blend. Heaven in a bowl!

If you like it, enjoy it! I made some in my pressure cooker, although technically mine wasn’t quite a true bone broth, as there was some meat and marrow to suck tantalizingly from the bones at the end!

Want a really detailed blog about bone broth? Check out this post from Kristensraw.com!

 

How to Work Out Your Legs When Your Knees Hurt

A good friend of mine is dealing with some messed up knees exacerbated by a bad personal trainer, and I wanted to help out a bit and do some research on strength training exercises that won’t cause harm to the knees. I personally do a lot of lunges and squats with heavy dumbbells to get my lower body training done, but I’m lucky to have healthy knees.

One thing I do after my heavy weighted workouts is Pilates, and tons of Pilates exercises can be done without too much knee usage. Here’s my favorite Pilates butt and thigh workout:

You don’t have to totally give up some lower body weightlifting either. The Romanian Deadlift is a bit easier on the knees than a standard deadlift. You start from a standing position and lean down, keeping your back straight, until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings, then, keeping your abs tight, slowly stand back up.

The Single Leg Deadlift is another exercise I do often, usually with heavy hand weights (20-30 lbs per hand), but it can be done without weights to start.

Good Mornings are also a great exercise that isn’t hard on the knees. Similar to the deadlift, the knees are slightly bent, the back is kept straight and the waist hinges while the arms hang with the weights.

And I can’t write an exercise blog without mentioning kettlebells. The kettlebell swing, while LOOKING hard on the knees, is actually a movement focus on the pelvis. The knees only bend slightly in order to aid momentum.

All of these exercises can help strengthen and tone your lower body without overdoing the strain to your knees. Please chime in with any feedback below!