I think salt is the culprit there.
Salt causes the body to be wasteful of its vitamins and minerals.
Aajonus bashed salt in his last interview at oneradionetwork.com
I personally do not add salt in my diet. I find I am more efficient with my food and drink without salt.
Plus "salted meats" is of course less nutritious than fresh raw meat.
How does salt cause the body to be wasteful of vitamins and minerals?
Anyone have an idea why salted meat wouldn't cure/prevent scurvy?
I think salt is the culprit there.
Salt causes the body to be wasteful of its vitamins and minerals.
Aajonus bashed salt in his last interview at oneradionetwork.com
Im wondering have you heard that just about table salt and not about Himalayan mountain salt or Celtic sea salt? The latter are supposed to be very beneficial re minerals and for overall health..
I somehow doubt that Captain James Cook cured his sailors' scurvy with salted kraut. Anyone find evidence that he salted his kraut?
Hi RawZi
I've made sauerkraut (or choucroute in French) with organic white or red cabbage and a smaller amount of salt than usual (0.5%). ...
How do you sour your cabbage?
1 Gallon Sauerkraut
- 2 large heads of cabbage, red, white or mixed
- 1 beet (optional)
- 3 - 4 ground juniper berries (optional)
- 2 - 3 ounces dulse, arame, or seaweed of your preference, soaked and cut up (optional)
- 1 tsp. kelp (optional)
- 1 tsp. caraway seed ground
1. Grate cabbage and beet in a standard sized grater or food processor. Save 2 or 3 outer cabbage leaves to cover sauerkraut.
2. Place grated cabbage and beet in a sturdy bowl or pail. Don’t fill for easier pounding.
3. With heavy object, baseball bat, 2x4, masher, etc., pound cabbage so the fibers break down and some juice flows out…enzymes are thus set free. Pound 10 to 15 minutes so that each shred is translucent. This can be accomplished faster by using a Champion juicer to grind the cabbage. The more you pound, the more of a smooth velvety taste the sauerkraut will acquire.
4. Mix in rest of ingredients.
5. Place in a gallon sized crock, then cover completely with outer cabbage leaves. Put a plate on top of the leaves and a weight, such as a brick, on top of the plate. Cover the crock with a towel and set it in an evenly heated (55 – 75 degrees), dark, quiet corner for 6 or 7 days.
If no crock is available substitute a wide-mouth, preferably dark, glass jar. Tamp cabbage down and place the outer leaves on top. Place a weight on top and cover the jar with a plastic bag. Put a paper bag on top of that (sauerkraut ferments better in the dark).
6. After a week has passed, open the crock or jar. Discard the outer leaves and skim the residue from the top. Refrigerated, it will keep about a month.
The variations in making sauerkraut are endless. Experiment with your taste buds. Use different combinations of vegetables alone, carrots, beets, celery, turnips and artichokes. Try different spices, thyme, dill or basil. Additions for flavor could be onions, garlic or green peppers. Remember when making sauerkraut, do not use salt. Table salt is inorganic and often remains in the system. A better source of minerals may be found from sea vegetables, such as wakame, dulse, kelp and hijiki. Unlike table salt which is 75% sodium chloride, sea vegetables are about 18 - 20% sodium chloride.
Hi Alphagruis,
Yes, it is difficult to control. Like you say, you are best using organically grown ingredients. You have to be careful every step of the ways for your best chances of the right bacteria. I've made it several ways, from Ann Wigmore. I only made it one of the ways basically at home. I haven't made it recently. I did try eating some of the traditional Amish kraut this past year, and it didn't feel right with my present diet.
One way is with fifty-percent or more red and/or white cabbage, and the rest of the ingredients are other raw crispy vegetables, doesn't matter if celery, carrot, cauliflower, cabbage, whatever you can get. The other way is adding juniper cedar berries and soaked and drained arame seaweed. At another health center I worked at, when ingredients outside of and in addition to cabbage were used, they were onion, garlic, ginger and some napa like a no salt added kimchee. IMO the bacteria grow better without garlic and onion.
This recipe from the creative health institute in michigan is the closest to it I've found on the net. Victorus Kulvinskus adds dairy culture starter to his from his recipe I saw on a site of his, as do Weston Price. I've done it all ways that are written below and in larger quantities:
As far as I know one way James Cook and other sailors prevented their crews from getting scurvy was embarking barrels of sauerkraut which is lacto-fermented cabbage that contains traditionally only a tiny amount of seasalt typically about 0.5%.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauerkraut
I suspect the lacto-fermentation produces more vitamin C than is in the raw cabbage.Have you got sth that vindicates your claim? That could be very interesting
I can't give a url either, but read years ago that sauerkraut has more vitamins and enzymes than raw cabbage.
As to salted meat maybe it doesn't prevent scurvy as fresh raw meat does because the L-ascorbic acid is quite completely destroyed by oxidation during the long period it may be stored before being eaten (salt is a means to preserve)
In contrast L-ascorbic acid in sauerkraut has been shown to remain perfectly intact because of the anaerobic preservation conditions.
I run a family so I make it a point to buy healthy sea salt. My wife once blew too much money to buy himalayan salt. I think salt is for the cooked food eaters to mask the flavorless cooked food.if you drink too much coconut water, your body's already loaded with salt. also some fruits and vegetables has organic salts which is much better (the best salt) than the table salt. people who eat raw meat, they don't need any extra salt. that's nonsense to have extra table salt -v. GS you're very wise man. keep up with you healthy salt free eating habit. thanks.
Yes I've heard a lot of the arguments about sea salt, mountain salt, and the nutrients and that commercial salt is worse than those salts. I also did my personal experiments with salt for quite a good amount of time and found I worked better on a salt free diet.
I think salt is the culprit there.
Salt causes the body to be wasteful of its vitamins and minerals.
Aajonus bashed salt in his last interview at oneradionetwork.com
I personally do not add salt in my diet. I find I am more efficient with my food and drink without salt.
Besides AV's quack science in which I have no faith gs, do you have any further sources of how salt causes the body to be wasteful of vitamins and minerals?
I'm still utilising celtic sea salt or himalayan salt in my meals and water but am conscious that it may not be the best idea. As far as I'm aware, most other vlc/zc raw paleo dieters on here such as Lex, Andrew, PaleoPhil and van are not using salt.
What is the general consensus on salt?
@Michael: One 'evidence' that we probably dont need salt should be the wild animals which cant purchase healthy himalayan salt :) and still do very well.
I still consume some, if I feel like making something more tasty, but generally do not preffer it.
I've done 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off salt to test out what works for me (right now).I'm the same djr. Certainly, my adrenal problems pre-RAF led to salt retention issues and dangerously low blood pressure. I certainly needed salt then! But, following years on RAF I'm not sure these are still issues so maybe I'm clinging onto a psychological memory of previous illness? The other problem is I am repelled by my meals without salt. I guess that's an addiction to it. I will experiment with weaning myself off and/or conducting similar trials to your own.
At least for now I need a bit of supplemental salt to maintain my most optimal health I can right now. It's not much, basically a dash or two of a shaker (fine grained sea salt) over two meals so couldn't be more than 1/16 of a teaspoon, but if I don't do it I start experience hypostatic orthotension and occasional muscle cramping. My issues could be my typically low blood pressure or salt absorption problems, not sure.
Dr. Henry Bieler the healer is against salt. See his book, Food is your best Medicine.
I eat raw sea weed regularly - which is sea salty.
I eat Dulong - small ocean fish 1 centimeter long - which is salty too. (can't eat too much of this, too salty).
Raw oysters are somewhat salty.
Raw live clams are delightfully salty.
Raw ocean prawns are somewhat salty too.
Thanks for your thoughts, raw. I agree that it's wise to listen most attentively to our own bodies over the experiences and needs of other's bodies. I will experiment, as I said. I'm glad for you that you seemingly have no need for it. It's probably a good sign that you're in a healthy state.i've never been seriously ill in my life and people like me to come to this kind of restricted diet its very rare i guess. i just want to be more healthy in true way. probably it runs in my family to live clean life in general. thanks michael.
i've never been seriously ill in my life and people like me to come to this kind of restricted diet its very rare i guess. i just want to be more healthy in true way. probably it runs in my family to live clean life in general. thanks michael.
I'm the same djr. Certainly, my adrenal problems pre-RAF led to salt retention issues and dangerously low blood pressure. I certainly needed salt then! But, following years on RAF I'm not sure these are still issues so maybe I'm clinging onto a psychological memory of previous illness? The other problem is I am repelled by my meals without salt. I guess that's an addiction to it. I will experiment with weaning myself off and/or conducting similar trials to your own.Yeah, I only have 3 1/2 months RAF under my belt so far so I can't say what will resolve itself naturally and what won't.
ive always avoided salt in the past, which may be partially to blame for my failed adrenals?
i use salt now and have developed a taste for it, not necessarily a craving but i do find seaweed or chewing on celery even more satisfying then sea salt so maybe it is a just a need for those minerals.
Yeah, I only have 3 1/2 months RAF under my belt so far so I can't say what will resolve itself naturally and what won't.Thanks djr. That will be helpful. I didn't realise you were so new to RAF! You're making great strides already! I've been eating this way since 2001! :o
I'm perfectly content eating without salt though so I don't think there will a bias or addiction tempering my findings.
I'll keep regular updates in my journal so we can all follow along. :)
Michael,
Does the red meat you eat come with a lot of blood?
I heard the frozen meats in some countries are squeezed out of blood.
Thanks djr. That will be helpful. I didn't realise you were so new to RAF! You're making great strides already! I've been eating this way since 2001! :oIt's been a long time coming due to narrowing plant matter choices as my allergies and intolerances worsened. I'd been eating ~95-99% cooked chicken for most of a year before switching to cooked beef when I began noticing issues with the chicken. At the same time I had found the site so moved right into RAF as my tastes for the beef progressed to rarer and rarer states. :)
It's been a long time coming due to narrowing plant matter choices as my allergies and intolerances worsened. I'd been eating ~95-99% cooked chicken for most of a year before switching to cooked beef when I began noticing issues with the chicken. At the same time I had found the site so moved right into RAF as my tastes for the beef progressed to rarer and rarer states. :)
ive always avoided salt in the past, which may be partially to blame for my failed adrenals?
i use salt now and have developed a taste for it, not necessarily a craving but i do find seaweed or chewing on celery even more satisfying then sea salt so maybe it is a just a need for those minerals.
Hi gs, I do actually avoid frozen meats and all of the grass-fed meat I consume is fresh. Thankfully, this does also mean that it comes with some quantity of blood in it's vaccum packed bag. Only very recently - I think as a response to your own comments on the subject elsewhere, in fact - I have started drinking this blood! I must confess that I found it a very psychologically difficult act to partake in initially. It was as if it was the last great bastion of civilisation after which I would be committing myself to the life of an animal! :o I expect it is indeed a wise thing to consume nutritionally speaking. I wonder how many others here are drinking the blood of their meats?
Hey Michael, not to sound like a worry wart, but I have doubts about vacuum sealed bags. Unfortunately I get most all my meat in them, but I do rinse and scape the outside of the meat with a knife. This may sound obsessive, but the bags without the meat do smell. They are designed to seal properly, and hold a vacuum. This makes me question that in the chemical engineering of the plastic, that some shortcomings may result in their ability to be plastic safe for humans. I haven't researched the plastic myself, but since everything I eat comes in contact with them, I am more comfortable with playing safe by at least minimizing the exposure to possible leaching chemicals. After I rinse meat with warm water while gently rubbing it, I then put it in the fridge on a stainless steel wire rack to dry. In a couple of hours you'd never know it had been washed.
When we buy meats in a regular market or from online, I think if it has red fluid in the meat package, that is not scientifically blood. It's slightly different, and it is called interstitial fluid. I've tried both interstitial beef and chicken fluid and buffalo blood. Psychologically yes it was difficult. I'm not sure if I will try more. I might. I have to think about it, but I probably will take more. I think it is really healthy (if it's good blood), and a shame when the slaughterer basically flushes it down the toilet.I'm not sure it's a practice I want to continue. I would rather not be eating meat at all to be honest but do so because, intellectually, I understand it to be our correct food and because it's restored my health. Drinking blood feels like a bridge too far and is too disconnected from where I'd rather be (tending my own goats, chickens, fruit/veg and eating lacto-ovo-vegetarian).
I thought about the blood drinking because my son was diagnosed with tuberculosis and raw meat blood is part of the old time cure. I can get my 8 year old boy to drink beef blood. You can too.
Traditionally, Filipinos eat cooked pig and chicken's blood in a dish called "dinuguan" aka "blooded." Many people find this delicious and special.
Also street vendors sell cubes of blood barbecued. Blood is quite popular cooked.