Somehow, people believe they need salt. So the aver¬age person sprinkles it on his food as if he is doing his body a favor. Many athletes are still convinced that per¬spiring causes the body to need more salt—when in actual fact all the body requires is more water. Food manufacturers pour salt on their products in the belief that they are pleasing consumers. As a result the average person eats far more salt than he should, sometimes as much as 20 times more than needed.
But did you know? You do not need salt at all! In fact, if you're anything like the average American salt is prob¬ably killing you.
What you do need is sodium. A normal individual re¬quires about 400 mgs. of sodium per day. Table salt is 40% sodium. Your daily need does not exceed more than 1/20 teaspoon, and by eating almost any unsalted food you will more than meet this requirement.
In the BHMD I make a distinction: Salt is what you add to food. Sodium is what is already in the food.
If you have a "salty" tooth, the BHMD furnishes enough natural salts in its C.C.-rich menus to satisfy your tastes. You can choose from a tempting variety of gour¬met delights and exciting dishes seasoned with flavors from herbs, spices and natural condiments. Through such "salt-ernatives" you will never more reach for the shaker.
I am very serious about reducing your sodium intake for two reasons. Sodium is a retainer of water, and by cutting down on salt you will rapidly shed as much as five pounds. Your body stores this water to dilute the sodium, and with less sodium less water needs to be retained.
Secondly, sodium is a powerful stressor. If the body takes in too much sodium it can take the kidneys up to 48 hours to eliminate the excess. Overloaded with sodium, water flows from the cells into the fluid surrounding them. Then it passes into the blood, and this is what gives some overweight people a bloated look as well as a bloated feeling.
Robbed of their water the cells function less efficiently. But that is not all.
Retention of water leads to high blood pressure and its associated diseases. As the tissues are flooded your heart has to pump harder. The heart literally has to drain a waterlogged body. These pressures contribute to headaches, congestive heart failure, depression, pre¬menstrual tensions, migraine, and that most serious stress condition of all, hypertension.
In northern Japan, hypertension is a leading cause of death. The people there eat about 40,000 mgs. of salt a day! On the BHMD you reform your eating habits in order that your lost weight will stay lost. The high-protein diets with their limited variety of tastes and flavors cannot adequately reform your ingrained disposition for harmful substances. Scarsdale and Atkins perpetuate the un¬wholesome cravings for sugar and salt. Furthermore, be¬cause they contain too much fats and cholesterols and too little Complex Carbohydrates, they maximize the causes of hypertension. With 20% of Americans prone to this stressful disorder, it is a very grave shortcoming, indeed.
While you follow the BHMD your craving for salt diminishes. That is because the diet makes abundant pro¬vision for tasty combinations. It has recipes from all over the world in which the salt flavors are part of the natural ingredients
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