Sugar & Salt, revisited

Know your macronutrients. Up your protein, watch your fat, and let the carbs sort themselves out.

It is profitable to demonize one macrotnutrient (like fat, carbs, or protein) because it prevents a bigger conversation that would probably demonize what is profitable:

• hyper processed food
• excess consumption 
• misinformation via advertising

If all food can be demonized for a common macronutrient, then in effect no food can be demonized, either.

All food is made up of some combination of fat, carbs and protein, with a little bit of "other", usually left to the bottom of the ingredient list like flavorings, stabilizers, preservatives, thickeners, enhancers, proofers, anti or pro-coagulants. Of this class, there is one that stands above all else for being as demonized as the big three has ever been. It's not a fat, carb or protein -- it is a mineral. Common wisdom over the years has implied that the level of salt in our diets, due to hyper processing and our taste buds needing more and more to get it's flavor-enhancing effect, is leading to a holocaust of high blood pressure and it's friends, heart disease and stroke.

When I was in culinary school, during the first few days of classes, the chef-instructor told us to throw out everything we knew and feared about salt. The main difference between a home cook and a professional cook is knowing how much salt to use. Using too much salt will make any dish pretty disgusting, but using too little salt vs just the right amount of salt can make the difference between a humdrum dish and a plate of $3 ingredients that'll make someone perk up and say, "Damn, I'd be happy to pay $24 for that again!" When introducing the importance of tasting for salt and it's proper application when I became a culinary instructor myself, I'd stress that unlike any other food additive known to man, it is the only one that we need to live. Without salt, the electrical impulses of our brain would malfunction and the nutrition-carrying services of our saline blood would stop working, and we'd keel over and die. (Do we need a lot? No, even those on "no-sodium" diets get enough to live, to be fair.)

A few years back, my general practitioner was concerned about my year-over-year increase in blood pressure. The year or two before my kidney stones, my doc said I was on the edge of becoming pre-hypertensive, and prescribed some blood pressure meds. I was only on them for a week or so, because every time I stood up I would get dizzy and nearly faint, and there were other disturbing effects in the downstairs plumbing I won't get into here (this is a family-friendly blog, after all!) He also recommended I strive for a salt-free diet, or at the very least, avoid Chinese food.

Several large studies have found little solid evidence that (salt consumption) limits improve health generally, and a few indicate that extremely low sodium intake may be harmful.

Say WAH?!

Yes, salt raises blood pressure....temporarily. If your system takes in too much salt, enough to mess with the chemical balance of your blood, the body literally starts a pleasant combination of holding water (bloating) and/or flushing it out (pee) to dilute or get rid of the salt to bring you back into balance. These fluctuations in the amount of liquid sloshing around the pipes of your veins literally raises the pressure within. However, once it's gone, it comes back into balance - permanently - until you eat too much salt again.

I suffered from high blood pressure for years, but miracle of miracles, I cured myself 100% and in effect lowered my risk of all the horrible things that come with it. How did I do that? I lost a relatively large amount of weight and have retained that loss over a period of time. Big Food would love to sell you low-salt heart-healthy versions of their entire product lines, but they sure as hell would not be interested in selling you the real solution to high blood pressure, which is less of everything.

So if salt ain't no thang, and fat is not the demon that manic pixie dream girl Susan Powter insisted, and carb-free diets are ridiculous, and protein-demonization is a vegan's happy day dream, then a calorie is a calorie is a calorie, right? Too many make you fat, limit them and spend time exercising and you get skinny, right, right?

"A calorie is a calorie is a calorie" is a false equivalency. All calories are equal in the same way a pound of feathers and a pound of bricks weight the same -- I'd much rather be attacked by a mugger with a 10 lb bag of feathers. A 2300 calorie day consisting of a mix of raw fruit and vegetables, cooked green vegetables, lean protein and a tiny dessert is going to be feathers, while a 2300 calorie day mad eup strictly of Coca Cola is going to be bricks.

Big Food would love to sell you low-calorie, diet-friendly versions of their entire product lines, but they sure as hell would not be interested in selling you the real solution to obesity, which is less of most things and none of some. Sugar is special in that it is several things:

• a food that nourishes
• an additive that increases palatability
• a preservative that adds shelf life
• a bulking agent that cheapens costs
• a drug that makes the user feel good
• a drug that creates cravings for a food
• a drug that makes the user want bigger and bigger doses, sooner and sooner together

While certain politicians put on the PR show for people to just get up and exercise, it's really just the equivalent of Nancy Reagan mindlessly chanting, "Just say no." There is a rising tide of popular consciousness that all calories are not equivalent, because unlike the previous decades, the science is finally in, and there is no more need to choose one macronutrient on a dart board to demonize. It's just not as simple as just saying no. Everyone's gotta eat.

Among the many things shuffled in my life during some personal upheaval in late '13/early '14, I put down the book Sugar Salt Fat only about 1/3 of the way into. Since then, I've gotten back into the habit of reading without distraction about 30 minutes a day, and have just picked up this book again. Unlike last time, I'm working through it with a highlighter and pen, and will give you, fine reader, a proper book report whenever I'm damn good and ready!
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The long national nightmare is over. My oven and range has gas again. It only took about 1 week to get the pipe replaced, another week for workers to rebuild and repaint back to better-than original, and almost 2 months for Con Ed to stop sh!tting the bed and get through their inspections.

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2711

Might have been a mistake to formally up my calorie budget, because then I feel obliged to eat up to it -- better to be obliged to eat down to a lower number, and just carve out exceptions on the fly if I can trust that the hunger I feel is real and not sugar-induced cravings, stress looking to be released, or foggy tiredness. Still thinking this through.

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MONDAY COUNT: 3295

SLEPT: 11pm - 5am, 6 hrs
Oven is back on! Dinner did not go as planned and ended up over-eating.

AM SNACK: 5:15am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 9am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, steel cut oatmeal, 400 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, falafel with hummus, health salad, Fairway tomato basil soup, pickles, 720 cal

PM SNACK: 3:15pm, momma salad, Grazebox almond and cornuts, 250 cal

DINNER: 6:15pm: Hake, Stouffer's pizzas, poppa salad with Italian, 1265 cal
Originally had asparagus instead of pizzas, but they went bad in 2 days in the fridge for some reason. Still, first meal out of the oven! Wooo!

EVENING SNACK: 6:45pm, cheetos, one digestive cookie, a little popcorn, +/- 500 cal

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2640

SLEPT: 8:30pm - 4:15am, 7.75 hrs
Baked up a huge batch of granola in the morning. Cheetos slipped in there, wonder if I really ndeeded it.

AM SNACK: 4:30am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, Fage with honey, vanilla and almonds, 490 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, chicken meatballs, steamed string beans, punjab eggplant, pickles, 705 cal

PM SNACK: 3:15pm, momma salad, Grazebox cheesy crackers, 230 cal

DINNER: 6:15pm: sautéed chicken breast, roasted brussel sprouts, poppa salad with Italian, 755 cal

EVENING SNACK: 6:45pm, cheetos, 300 cal

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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2255

SLEPT: 8:30pm - 3:30am, a hour in the afternoon at work, 8 hrs
Baked off granola bars in the AM, damn those things are a lot of work (and expense, non-common raw nuts ain't cheap.)  Felt good about the sub 3000 cal day yesterday, wonder if it has anything to do with coinciding with my gas being back on.

AM SNACK: 3:45am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, steel cut oatmeal, 400 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, grilled chicken breast, brussel sprouts, quinoa, pickles, 595 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, momma salad, Grazebox italian crackers, 220 cal

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, poppa salad with Italian dressing, 180 cal

PM SNACK: 6pm, cashews, 340 cal

DINNER: 8pm: shirataki noodles with shrimp, shitake mushrooms and oyster sauce, 360 cal

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BIKE CREDIT: 640 cal
THURSDAY COUNT: 3005

SLEPT: 10pm - 2:45am, 4.75 hrs
Good ride in the morning, a little too moist so didn't hit it as hard as I would have liked. Cut my granola bars a little small, may double up or take one along in the future.

AM SNACK: 3am, fresh homemade granola bar, 100mg caffeine, iced green tea, 310 cal cal

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, whole Fage with honey, vanilla and extra almonds, 570 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, extra vegetarian meatballs, mushroom masala, roasted brussel sprouts, pickles, 780 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, momma salad, Grazebox Thaicrackers, 180 cal

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, poppa salad with Italian dressing, 180 cal

DINNER: 6pm, Subway 6" veggie burger sub, diet coke, 665 + chips

EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, cheetos, 300 cal

EVENING GORGE: 10pm, chocolate chips, cashews, +/- 800 cal

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FRIDAY COUNT: 2362

SLEPT: 11:15pm - 4am, 4.75 hrs
Ate reasonable during the day, nice early evening with my daughter.

AM SNACK: 4:15, iced green tea, 0 cal 

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9am, Fruit smoothie, 450 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, sardine and avocado on whole wheat toast, heath salad, pickles, 610 cal

DINNER: 5:15pm, cesar salad, hot dog, fries, ice cream, +/- 1300 cal