Columbus, Ohio: An Important Note About Food Condiments and Salt for Detox360.
A condiment is something used to add a special flavor to food, such as ketchup, mustard or spices. In the Detox360 program, here is a list of “condiments and spices” that are acceptable. They are:
• Most herbs and spices
• Basil
• Bay leaves
• Cumin
• Ginger
• Garlic
• Marjoram
• Mint
• Oregano
• Rosemary
• Sumac
• Sage
• Thyme
• Turmeric
PASS (ON) THE SALT!
One of the most important characteristics about this list is the fact that ‘salt’ is missing from it. This is by far one of the biggest and best kept secrets in this Detox360 program, not to mention in the diet/weight loss industry as well. Low salt intake is one of the major keys to eating fresh and overall good health.
Salt is a preservative in most instances meaning that it will allow food to store for longer periods of time, whether in your refrigerator or cupboard. While this may sound like a good thing that will prevent you from running to the story every day to buy fresh food to eat, it’s not the best thing to always be eating food loaded preservatives.
Salt is usually labeled as ‘sodium’ on the ingredients list found on the back of food packages. Though sodium is not actually salt, it combines readily with chloride in our bodies to become salt, i.e. sodium chloride. So for the sake of simplicity just assume for now that salt and sodium are the same and will have the same effect on the body.
And what is this effect that salt has on the body? The most important one is to bind water to it meaning, that wherever salt goes, water will follow and stay. That is a physiological law that can’t be changed meaning, we have to accept it and deal with it or it will have its way with us.
What the means to you then is that the more salt you eat, the more water you will retain. The more water you retain, two things aren’t just likely to happen, but they will happen because, it’s a physiological law. These two physiological reactions to salt in your body are:
1) Your blood pressure will rise because there will now be more fluid retained in your veins and arteries. This naturally increases the pressure within them because the volume will increase.
2) The more fluid you retain, the more you weight you will gain.
So, if you needed two good reasons to lower you sodium intake, there you have it; helps to lower your blood pressure and lose weight. It doesn’t get much better than that!
DETOX360 FOOD AND CONDIMENTS….LOW SODIUM
What you will notice about the Detox360 program is that overall it is very low in sodium. This is because most of the fresh food that is recommended in it comes naturally with low sodium. As mentioned earlier, the condiments that are recommended are also naturally devoid of sodium/salt.
This is great news! Why? Well as we just mentioned, you will more than likely end up losing weight without trying very hard, but even better than that, you won’t have to worry about counting calories in the process!
Plus, once you are on a low sodium diet, your appetite will likely decrease quite a bit because your body won’t always feel stuffed or bloated after eating….that’s what the salt in food used to do to you.
SPICES BY: Mrs. Dash: Pictured below is one of many spices offered by Mrs. Dash. Take a quick look above her name on this bottle. What words to you see? SALT-FREE! That’s right…Mrs. Dash gets it. I am pretty sure that all of Mrs. Dash herbs and spices are salt-free…just make sure to look on the label just in case. But this should make it very easy for you to select your favorite herbs and spices without the worry of adding unnecessary salt to your diet.
SALAD DRESSING: Yes, salad dressing is a condiment as it adds flavor to lettuce etc. and the Detox360 program is already on top of this. On page 4 of your program you will notice that it is recommended, highly, to replace any and all salad dressings with oils, like olive oil. And if that is a bit too much in the beginning, then there are some great salad dressing recipes in the program that will help ease you along.
DON’T BE FOOLED BY THE ‘LIGHT’!
Many products advertise themselves as being “light” or reduced as it refers to calories, fat and yes, salt. But the main question is, “from what initial level of calories, fat and salt have they been reduced from?”. If those numbers are high to begin with, then something sold as being “light” could still be too much for you.
So, with regards to sodium here, the quick rule is to see if any ‘serving size’ is less than 100mg sodium. That is a quick test to determine whether something is light or not with respect to salt. In this case, ranch salad dressing has 290 mg sodium (salt) per 2 TBSP…That’s a lot my friends! How many TBSP do you think you are adding to your salad?
You could be taking a perfectly good food and destroying it my adding 300-600mg sodium to it. You cannot and will not detoxify your body very effectively if you continue to saturate yourself with sodium.
As a general rule, you should try to keep your sodium levels below 1000mg per day, but before attempting this, you should always consult with your health care professional as there are many instances where this may not be advisable.
The Detox360 program will have you averaging between 500-800 mg per day if you follow it strict enough and that is one of the main reasons I really like this program!