Nutritional "advice" entering the Twilight Zone?

[Maharani]

I never knew there was a sea in the himalayas.

.

 

[Orang Utan]

Worrying excessively about healthy food has been characterised as an eating disorder:
Orthorexia Nervosa
I have a relative who seems to do this, spending ridiculous amounts of money on things like Himalayan salt and weird amino acids that only seem to have a placebo effect, if that. There's not much one can do to convince people that it's a waste of time or money though.
It's like arguing about religion or politics.

 

[Maharani]

I canny stand GP. She deserves to get really sick on her stupid fad diets. A terrible role model and an unhealthy looking creature imo. Too much money and time spent on this shit when she could be helping in disaster struck countries or working for amnesty or some shit. At least Jolie does some decent work...sometimes controversial but she's not banging on about food stuffs that are only available on mars.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Pink sea salt is quite nice mind. Which is just as well as I bought 5kg of Amazon. Not worth a silly premium though.

 

[Maharani]

Worrying excessively about healthy food has been characterised as an eating disorder:
Orthorexia Nervosa
I have a relative who seems to do this, spending ridiculous amounts of money on things like Himalayan salt and weird amino acids that only seem to have a placebo effect, if that. There's not much one can do to convince people that it's a waste of time or money though.
It's like arguing about religion or politics.

Himalayan salt is really good for you. I went to brixton whole foods to get some and it was extortionate as it usually is in there. So I went to Nour in the market and it was dirt cheap in there. It has lots of health benefits and we were actually made to drink it in water while I was on retreat.

 

[Orang Utan]

Himalayan salt is really good for you. I went to brixton whole foods to get some and it was extortionate as it usually is in there. So I went to Nour in the market and it was dirt cheap in there. It has lots of health benefits and we were actually made to drink it in water while I was on retreat.

it's just salt with trace elements of various minerals.

 

[Corax]

I looked up Pete Evans because I didn't know who he was. He's an Australian chef. I wouldn't go to his restaurant.

I thought he was a singer/songwriter initially, then realised I was thinking of Pete Doherty.

Now that would be a pretty drastic career change.

 

[felixthecat]

Himalayan salt is really good for you. I went to brixton whole foods to get some and it was extortionate as it usually is in there. So I went to Nour in the market and it was dirt cheap in there. It has lots of health benefits and we were actually made to drink it in water while I was on retreat.

Honestly, it has no more benefits than regular salt. No evidence that its in any way superior. Its prettier mind you

 

[Maharani]

Well it really perked me up while I was juicing for a week (never again).

Table salt is shit. It's bleached and stripped of anything good. I won't bother cutting and pasting from so called experts...I vote for HS as it's more natural and tastes waaaaay better than TS.

 

[Corax]

Himalayan salt is really good for you.

No it's not.

Pink Himalayan sea salt was introduced to me by an e-mail correspondent who questioned the claim that it contained “84 trace minerals that promote health and well being.” I questioned it too, so I did a little research.

Mike Adams, the infamous Health Ranger, explains that Himalayan Pink Crystal Salt contains the full complement of minerals and trace elements “just like Mother Earth intended.” It is an unrefined, unprocessed raw salt mined by hand from salt caves that formed 250 million years ago as ocean salt settled into geologic pockets. It is stone-ground, which apparently doesn’t count as “processing.” Table salt is bad stuff, you see, since it was processed to remove all the good stuff and then they had to replace the iodine because people who ate it started to get goiters. Oh, and incidentally he sells the good stuff on his website and even offers a discount.

I found a website that reports the results of a spectral analysis of Himalayan salt. I think this is where the claim comes from. Even if this analysis is accurate, it is meaningless for health and if anything is worrisome. The amount of minerals in it is too minuscule to make any difference, and we already get plenty of the same trace minerals from other foods. They claim that two double-blind studies were done, but no such studies are listed in PubMed. There is no evidence published in peer-reviewed journals that replacing white salt with pink salt makes a shred of difference or leads to any improvement in health.

If you read down the list of minerals, you will notice that it includes a number of radioactive substances like radium, uranium, and polonium. It also includes substances that act as poisons, like thallium. I wouldn’t be worried, since the amounts are so small; but if anyone believes the trace amounts of “good” minerals in Himalayan sea salt are good for you, why not believe the trace amounts of poisons and radioactive elements are bad for you?

The claim that pink Himalayan salt contains 84 trace minerals may be true, but the claim that it “promotes health and wellness” is false until proven otherwise by legitimate clinical studies. While waiting for evidence, I’d just as soon my salt didn’t contain uranium.

Pass the Salt (But Not That Pink Himalayan Stuff)

 

[Corax]

Re these fads in general: See also - homeopathy.

 

[felixthecat]

Corax got there first dammit

 

[Orang Utan]

This too:
Pink Himalayan Sea Salt: An Update

 

[felixthecat]

This too:
Pink Himalayan Sea Salt: An Update

I'd rather my salt wasn't radioactive tbh

 

[Orang Utan]

'more natural' - lol

 

[EastEnder]

Well it really perked me up while I was juicing for a week (never again).

Table salt is shit. It's bleached and stripped of anything good. I won't bother cutting and pasting from so called experts...I vote for HS as it's more natural and tastes waaaaay better than TS.

Salt is salt, sodium chloride, anything else is impurities. Which "good" impurities are you complaining about being removed from table salt?

 

[UnderOpenSky]

It doesn't contain iodine, so if your wanting to ferment vegetables is quite useful. However I'm happy to be proved wrong and that you can fermentat with cheap salt.

 

[Orang Utan]

Nature is bountiful with harmful substances btw. Natural doesn't necessarily mean better.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Well it really perked me up while I was juicing for a week (never again).

Table salt is shit. It's bleached and stripped of anything good. I won't bother cutting and pasting from so called experts...I vote for HS as it's more natural and tastes waaaaay better than TS.

Going on retreat and eating well and all the other stuff probably helped that as well.

 

[pug]

It doesn't contain iodine, so if your wanting to ferment vegetables is quite useful. However I'm happy to be proved wrong and that you can fermentat with cheap salt.

The normal salt in the uk doesn't have any iodine added to it.

 

[Maharani]

Ok ok.

 

[Maharani]

Going on retreat and eating well and all the other stuff probably helped that as well.

Perked me up from feeling like shit from juicing. That's why I said never again.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

The normal salt in the uk doesn't have any iodine added to it.

My apologies. It has Sodium Ferrocyanide in. I've no idea if that is a bad thing.

 

[Maharani]

I best email Jason Vale at the Juicy retreat to tell him he's poisoning people.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Re these fads in general: See also - homeopathy.

Sort of. Homeopathy at leat does nothing. Some of these fad diets are actively harmful.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

I best email Jason Vale at the Juicy retreat to tell him he's poisoning people.

The name "juicy retreat" should have rung alarm bells tbh

 

[QueenOfGoths]

Home Angry Chef Food Pseudoscience science

Recommended reading as a source for debunking all this crap.

I do like The Angry Chef. Have used his blog to debunk food myths a few times, especially with reference to clean eating.

 

[SpookyFrank]

All this 'wellness' stuff massively pissess me off, it's dangerous and silly. Ruby Tandoh has written some good articles about it and how the language used around wellness is similar to disordered eating.

Have you noticed that people who are into wellness tend to look permanently ill? I meanwhile have never spent a week's food budget on a 300g pouch of 'superfood powder' and yet somehow I'm as fit as a fiddle.

 

[SpookyFrank]

I am virtually the only person who puts milk in tea and coffee, everyone else uses almond (which is appallingly bad for the environment)

You know what else is bad for the environment? Cows.

Don't get me wrong, I still put dairy milk in my coffee because anything else you put in coffee makes it taste like shit and Frank without coffee is a public health hazard.

 

[SpookyFrank]

My sister knows some people who run a little wellness empire in Aussie and has started to call them out on some of their more outrageous health claims. I think I'm going to join her but it feels like a drop in the ocean.

No, that's homeopathy you're thinking of.