PB on Salt and how much water to drink page

[DPB67]

Hi,

I'm just reading through the PB book and was wondering what the PB idea is on a couple of things.

1. CW makes a big deal about salt being so bad for us. I realize Grok probably didn't have it, but is CW right on this one? It seems if you don't have high BP it probably isn't as big a deal as it's made out to be.

2. What about the CW on drinking 10 glasses of water/day (or whatever it is). Not sure Grok would have had that much water available all the time.

3. Also can anyone point me to some good ideas for increasing fat intake with some sort of afternoon snack? Do most of you go with nuts for that? Almond butter?

Thanks

[Horsewoman]

Water is the one thing I don't agree with PB on. I aim for 5 pints a day and soon notice the difference if I have less. I also notice that if I get dehydrated I don't feel thirsty until I up my water again and then I go water made for a few days until I'm steady again. Kind of like a vegan going steak crazy when they start PB LOL. So in a sense I drink to thirst, but with the caveat that if I am chronically short of water I may not get appropriately thirsty. That may just be my quirk though!

[Grokowitz]

about water: I've been told that too much water isn't good as it may leech minerals from the body. I definitely try to have a minimum becasue with blood sugar steady I don't get thirsty. but i don't drink that much. I try to gauge it by thirst (tough because of bs) and regularity. I think pee is supposed to be pale-ish yellow so i try and avoid too much.

[Travis Culp]

I drink filtered water when I'm thirsty and don't worry about salt intake at all. It seems to me that salt is dangerous for those who have preexisting cardiovascular issues, but my blood pressure was 108/65 last time I was at the doctor. The nurse had to check it twice to be sure it was really that low (I suspect that it is a correct value and that even 120/80 is too high for a human).

[tradawg]

3. Also can anyone point me to some good ideas for increasing fat intake with some sort of afternoon snack? Do most of you go with nuts for that? Almond butter?

If you're getting enough fat/protein in your meals you won't need to snack.

[NorthernMonkeyGirl]

3. Also can anyone point me to some good ideas for increasing fat intake with some sort of afternoon snack? Do most of you go with nuts for that? Almond butter?

Thanks

Try paté on celery sticks fat and liver, all in one! You will have to scrutinize labels though (unless you decide to make your own) as often wheat flour is added :'(
Caviar? See recent blog post
Welfare friendly foie gras?
Chicken drumstick with all the skin?


Nuts make me "snacky" so I avoid, it's also said they upset your omega 3/6 balance.

I presume you're fairly new, but as you adjust you should find less need for snacks (unless you actively decide to go for more fat).
HTH

[Imogen]

I have underlying adrenal insufficiency, so cw salt and water info drives me totally batty.

First, what most people have trouble with is an isolated, contaminated, highly processed product labeled "salt." It is not what Grok ate, and it's not what any of us should be eating. Real, mineral-replete sea salt, dehydrated only, not with added iodine or other "flow agents" is edible and life-supporting. My sea salt is only 32% sodium. That's waaaay less sodium per serving than "table salt," and comes with myriad trace elements, co-factors to the sodium usage in my body.

The salt I've described has never been implicated in any illness, ever (except, unfortunately, for its label association with "table salt", sort of like the whole "fat is bad for you" cw). It does not cause cardiovascular problems. "Table salt" does, because it is no more a food proper for ingestion than, say, antifreeze. Eat it at your own peril.

Always eat good salt to taste. Your tongue is equipped to let you know in rapid real-time, how much of it you need- when to add more and when to stop. Fake salt tricks this sensitivity, like fake sugar, but when eating real salt, you needn't worry that your body is wrong. Some days I crunch whole giant crystals on their own before breakfast, and have it just licked off my hand in addition to on my food. Other days, I don't eat any and find my celery and lamb meat adequately salty as they are. I have had a serious salt issue from adrenal insufficiency for many years, and even so, my salt sensitivity has never let me down, and for me, salt loss can be critical to my well-being and even my survival.

This brings me to water. Cw says 8-10 glasses per day. For whom? My 3 yr old? A 300lb man? My nursing self? In what climate? The tropics? East coast North America? My semi-arid rural area? Eating grains or not eating grains?

Our bodies are also necessarily highly sensitive to fluid balance. With my adrenal condition, drinking too much water is actually more dangerous than too little. Right now I drink 10 8oz glasses of water, but I cannot drink them plain, even though our water is naturally sources from a spring-fed creek, and is mineral-rich already). They must have mineral drops and/or dissolved real salt, and I usually drink it as green tea with a bit of raw, pure honey. I am nursing a 20lb infant, so her fluid needs are met by my fluid intake/output. CW says that I should be drinking about 4 more cups/day. Previous to quitting grains, even while not being pregnant or nursing, I had to drink 12 cups/day in my semi-arid climate, to not be thirsty.

The second day after quitting grain, I spent the day eliminating excess water, and my thirst decreased drastically.

The issue with drinking water is varied like the salt one: which water? Chlorinated, estrogen-and-antidepressant-med-contaminated water? Demineralized bottled water? Remineralized bottled water? Filtered water? What kind of filtration? Reverse-osmosis? Charcoal? Distilled? I don't consider any of that potable, personally. I cannot afford the wreckage it causes me, because my mineral or electrolyte balance is always on edge due to my adrenals. I mean, it's the same for everybody, but it can actually kill me in a much shorter time than others.

Drinking natural water and eating/drinking natural undisturbed sea salt quickly ended any previous confusion I had about how to tell how much of either I need. It just became clear, like just knowing that I need more fat is now. My body's signals were accessible to my intellect once the bad water and bad salt were out of my body, replaced with good salt and good water.

I know that most urban-living people do not have access to clean, natural water, and that's terrible. Unfortunately, this means finding the least terrible source and mitigating it with supplements. I used to buy bottled spring water from my country, then add drops of Concentrace and a few crystals of real sea salt that I order from half-way across the world. That worked well enough, but it was like counting calories. Now I just drink to thirst and eat salt to taste, and that's been the case for just over 2 years now.

People on the PB know (at some point) that our bodies are well-equipped in the signaling department, and it's the same for salt and water.


ETA: DPB67, welcome! I'm new to the board too. I just noticed your post count, so I thought I would greet you at least now that I've bombarded you with stuff I actually know about. I'm so ignorant of other things here, that I love to jump in when I do know something.

[DPB67]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

The water thing has always puzzled me...good to know others trust there body signals as well. Last summer I did a 7 hr hike up and down a Colorado 14er with just a few sips of water...(just wasn't thirsty). My friends thought I was some kind of camel or something.

Imogen: I am new to PB...pretty much a "starting-to-recover" chronic cardio competetive endurance athlete. I love to compete in cycling but have learned that trying to train and live that lifestyle all year long is actually becoming detrimental to my health and well being as I get older. PB has me quite interested...going to give it a good try and see what happens!

[Horsewoman]

Thanks for the info on salt Imogen. When I first went off gluten I found I was craving crisps. I realised because I'd cut out bread and cereals I wasn't eating anything with added salt any more. I bought some sea salt and ate it to taste, including licking it off my hand every now and then if I had the craving for crisps. Problem solved. I was a bit concerned about that since a lot of paleo sources say no added salt, so it was helpful to read your post.

[Dragonfly]

Great post, Imogen!