I was perusing some old emails that I had not previously had a chance to look at. One of the emails I came across was from my Mom about various food items and their healthful benefits. I read through the email as it discussed carrots, grapes, figs, tomatoes and more. The email asks the reader to view the picture of the items and notice how the shape of the vegetable or the pronunciation of the fruit's seeds can be indicative of the beneficiary.
Take a slice of carrot; it looks like a human eye. There are three distinct rings which correspond to the pupil, cornea and white of the eye. Carrots contain many vitamins and minerals that are beneficial to the overall health of the eye as well as healthy vision. Slice a tomato in half width-wise and you will see four chambers. These four chambers resemble the four chambers of the human heart. And guess what? Yep...the tomato has properties that make it very beneficial to the human heart.
Now don't go out and buy all the carrots and tomatoes you can find. Everything must be taken in moderation. It is not proper to eat carrots or tomatoes all day, every day. Tomatoes and carrots do not grow year round and therefore should not be consumed year round. Carrots are ready in the Spring. Springtime belongs to the Wood element which is represented by the Liver and Gallbladder. Wood is representative of movement and growth as well as organization, vision and memory. Tomatoes are ready in the Summer. Summertime belongs to the element of Fire which is represented by the Heart, Pericardium, Small Intestine and Triple Warmer. (The Triple Warmer is an organic system that regulates the functions of the body as a whole.) Fire is representative of joy, laughter and vitality. That is why things that make us happy are said to 'warm the heart'.
One of the items listed in the email was celery. Celery is shaped somewhat like human bones and its chemical make-up is similar to bones in that both are made up of 23% salt. According to a study done by the Mayo Clinic, the average American gets only 6% of their total salt intake from salt that is added at the table. Only 5% comes from salt that is added during cooking, and natural sources in food makeup only another 11 percent. The remaining 77% comes from processed or prepared foods. Many packaged meats, as well as canned and frozen foods, contain a surprising amount of salt. Salt is used so heavily by manufacturers because it acts as a preservative, adds flavor to foods, helps to keep foods from drying out, and can even increase the sweetness in desserts. Soups are often especially high in salt because salt helps to disguise chemical or metallic aftertaste.
So how many people out there conform to a low-salt diet? What is your reasoning behind doing such? Do you have a medical condition that requires you to monitor your salt intake? Do you have a familial history predisposing you to medical conditions that could arise because of salt intake? Or do you subscribe to the hype and propaganda purported by pharmaceutical companies that salt is no good for you?
Foods that naturally contain salt do so because it is necessary for us to consume it. Salts are used by the body for many vital functions such as regulating the heartbeat and blood pressure. (No, I did not type that incorrectly. Realize that it is the pharmaceutical companies, who operate for a profit, who tell us that certain things are not good for us just so they can sell us a pill or create a situation which will require that we purchase their pill.) As stated before, everything in moderation. A well-balanced diet is well balanced because it takes in to consideration the necessary nutrition for the body AND how and when to consume that nutrition. One basic way to look at this is...when you are excessively hot, would it be better to eat jalapenos or cucumbers? If you are cold, would you prefer ice cream or hot tea? Everyone's body is different depending on where you were born, where you live now and your level of health. Don't subscribe to a generalized diet plan. It will never work for you.
The kidneys are of the element Water which includes the Bladder and is represented by Winter. Salt processing within the body takes place in the kidneys. The kidneys regulate the amount of salt that resides in the body and when there is too much, the kidneys will excrete the salt to the bladder to be expelled through urination. Kidneys are also in charge of bone production. When the kidneys have enough salt, bones are strong and well developed. When the kidneys do not have enough salt, bones are weak and improperly developed. Remember that bones are made up of 23% salt. So what do the kidneys do when there is not enough salt coming in from external sources to support healthy function? You guessed it. The kidneys will pull salt out of the bones in order to supply the body with the necessary salt levels.
Imagine prolonged depletion of salt in the body. Eventually, your bones will run out of salt. What will fill the space that is left by the salt voids? Nothing. You have successfully removed 23% of your bone mass. Enter...drug companies. There are currently 98 medications sold by a very small handful of pharmaceutical companies available for the treatment of osteoporosis. Osteo- is derived from Greek and means bone. -Porosis is also derived from Greek and means passage. How many bone passages do you have? Still want to adhere to a low-salt diet?
Learn your self. You are a unique individual. Do NOT let a business tell you what is good for your health.
The information contained herein is not intended to diagnose or treat any condition, nor to insult or demean anyone or any being. Please respect this boundary. Otherwise, anything goes.
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