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God's dietary laws and salt

tim-from-pa

tim-from-pa

Member
I noticed that there are various threads expressing the interest in eating God's way according to the dietary laws to stay healthy. I sure wish that many Christians who believe this way would use the same scripture to justify using salt. I am so sick and tired of the medical establishment telling me "salt is bad" when I never had any proof that it affected my blood pressure one way or the other.

Salt was considered a clean food in the bible--- used to express eternal covenant (because of its ability to preserve) and in the cereal offerings. God only allowed the Levites to eat clean (kosher) food and that included salt.

So all you folks told to eat bland food because "salt is bad" I would say to bring back those salt shakers. No sense in letting the world, which is contrary to God's Law, take the pleasure out of simple things like that. (And what did Jesus say? "Salt is good" !!

I believe that if we look to the bible for our food questions instead of being bamboozled into believing every fad that comes along, we'd be much better off. I really believe that those people who cannot accept the intrinsic value of salt (and other food advice in the bible) probably have a fundamental problem with accepting what God has to say in favor of so-called evidence that they want to prove their point.
 
Tim
AMEN!
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Not only that, but Scripture says it twice! The words of the Lord himself.

Mark 9:50 Salt [is] good...
Luke 14:34 Salt [is] good....

The world will tell you that there is nothing wrong with eating pork as long as you don't use so much salt.
What a great witness tool for someone who has just had a doctor put them on some sort of bland, salt free diet! Ask them what their doctor said, then show them what Jesus said. then ask; "Who's report will you believe?"

Even God insist on having salt on His steaks.

Lev 2:13 And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.
 
Just use moderation. If you knew how salt worked in your body you need some yes, but too much and you will have problems. I don't know of any situation where a docto would advocate a no salt diet. Limit salt yes. I work with dialysis patients, they can't get rid of salt with their kidneys, but they are only limited, not told to completely exclude salt, that is a near impossibility to eliminate salt.

We need not worry as americans about getting enough salt. We can get the daily recommended amout in one mcdonald's cheeseburger, or a medium fry.

Your body is a temple, raising your blood pressure with too much salt is a bad thing as well.

What a great witness tool for someone who has just had a doctor put them on some sort of bland, salt free diet! Ask them what their doctor said, then show them what Jesus said. then ask; "Who's report will you believe?"
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This is how you use scripture poorly to hurt someone physically. I have seen people with heart problems bring themselves very close to death because they refused to limit their salt.

Salt retains water in the blood, too much water increases volume of blood and the blood pressure goes up, then the heart must work harder to push the blood, then the heart grows to the point that it doesn't pump effectively, then the person is in heart failure. In heart failure the heart can't pump blood effectively then the blood backs up and "leaks" fluid into the lungs, which causes the person not to be able to breath and raises the heart rate, which increases the load on the already overworked heart, which causes more fluid backup. Then the person's heart either stops or the person fails to be able to breath because their lungs are full of fluid.

So after that lengthy explaination, I just ask that you don't hand out medical advice under the guise of Godly wisdom. Use salt in moderation and it is good.
 
Hi Tim,

I had to giggle at your post. You sound fed up! :-D

Anyway, I agree with KnarfKS that moderation is best. The second thing I think that we need to point out is that the stripped down salt that sells so cheaply in the store, and that is in most of our processed food, is absent of some vital nutrients and processes differently in our bodies. A good sea salt is so much better for you, and it tastes better too. We do pay a little more for it, though. The type I get seems to be a bit coarse, so you will need a grinder instead of a shaker, I afraid. :wink:

I think if you are going to cut down on anything it should be processed foods, and soda. Then, the salt issue will nearly take care of itself. There is nothing better than a homemade pizza with whole wheat crust, fresh garlic, tomatoes, onion, etc. Anyway, simple fresh meals, or whole food meals, with a helping of sea salt, or garlic, or whatever...yum, very good, and good for you.

Now I am getting hungry for breakfast. The Lord bless you.
 
Salt retains water in the blood, too much water increases volume of blood and the blood pressure goes up, then the heart must work harder to push the blood, then the heart grows to the point that it doesn't pump effectively, then the person is in heart failure. In heart failure the heart can't pump blood effectively then the blood backs up and "leaks" fluid into the lungs, which causes the person not to be able to breath and raises the heart rate, which increases the load on the already overworked heart, which causes more fluid backup. Then the person's heart either stops or the person fails to be able to breath because their lungs are full of fluid.

So after that lengthy explaination, I just ask that you don't hand out medical advice under the guise of Godly wisdom. Use salt in moderation and it is good.
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Nice explanation, except for one thing--- I don't think anyone has proven that was caused by salt alone. If salt does bring on any one of these conditions, then rest assured that there was a problem to begin with. Fix the condition first.

Whose handing out medical advice? Sounds as if I stepped in a sensitive area here? I just repeated what God's word says, and He's right and everyone else be wrong. Of course we do things in moderation, as we do with alcohol, with other foods and with water. Face it, in spite of the "moderation" rhetoric that comes from out there, there still exists that basic belief that "salt is bad". That idea is what I am trying to convey is wrong.

The second thing I think that we need to point out is that the stripped down salt that sells so cheaply in the store, and that is in most of our processed food, is absent of some vital nutrients and processes differently in our bodies. A good sea salt is so much better for you, and it tastes better too.
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I use sea salt if I shake it onto my food, and I agree. I take vitamins, minerals, and some herbs. As for processed foods, it's the other chemicals in there that scare me the most. When I look at the sodium levels, a lot of them already seem to be reasonable (not all, but many). They suggest in the neighborhood of 2500 mg a day, but the average American gets twice that. I do not think that twice the amount is enough to bring on the horrifying condition our friend above has mentioned--- and many people eat processed foods anyway.

Even God insist on having salt on His steaks.
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Yeah! Shake it baby!

:-D
 
It is all about moderation. For example, water is good, but you can drink so much that you die from it. (It flushes out your sodium too much.) Too little water and you die.
 
Quath said:
It is all about moderation. For example, water is good, but you can drink so much that you die from it. (It flushes out your sodium too much.) Too little water and you die.
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I can't believe you're an Atheist. If not for God's plenary inspiration of scripture, how else could people have known that salt enhances flavor, without the aid of modern science? The Bible says salt is good, so we should push our salt consumption through the roof. But, yet, you're pushing moderation. It's God's diet that you're faulting. With such shame, no wonder you want to hide from God and be an Atheist.
 
Quath said:
It is all about moderation. For example, water is good, but you can drink so much that you die from it. (It flushes out your sodium too much.) Too little water and you die.
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Moderation, yes, but I sense the spirit (and I'm good at things like this) that the prevailing attitude is the same as "moderation of something bad is OK". The advice given about salt is the same as we give to parents about the kids eating twinkies. Sorry, salt is not the same category as twinkies. It's the same category of goodness like vitamins, minerals, and other vital nutrients.

Take vitamin A for example. If I take 2x the RDA, it will not kill me, but many times the RDA of vitamin A can do liver damage. It's the same with salt--- it won't even raise people's BP a point or two at the levels they are getting now. But I am not advocating sprinkling your foods until it is coated white with it, either. That's an altogether different topic.
 
tim_from_pa said:
It's the same with salt--- it won't even raise people's BP a point or two at the levels they are getting now.
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When people with high blood pressure tried the dietary approaches, the results were even more dramatic. Sodium reduction alone lowered blood pressure by 8.3 mm. Going on the low-fat diet alone lowered blood pressure by 5 mm, and together they lowered blood pressure by 11.5 mm.

In comparison, high blood pressure drugs lower mildly elevated blood pressure by about 9 mm, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
link

You eat your salt and take your drugs, and die at 60-something, after a decade of painful struggles with heart disease. I'll eat right and make it past 100.
 
Salt is a preservative. Did it occur to anyone here that salt could preserve the bad in a person? Based on the link supplied above, people are to cut their fat, too. I also have this suspicion that salt and fat do not mix. But that's not a problem with salt. You do not correct a wrong with a wrong (by limiting salt). Lose the weight first.

But that article is even saying for normal weight people to cut their salt intake. That's a bunch of bunk a surely as the day is long. It all goes back to my previous post: the main concept prevailing today is "salt is bad" but we can have some (just like twinkies) if we are good boys and girls.

No, salt is kosher. And Kosher food, God says, is not bad for you!
 
I think that many don't realize how much salt is in their food. A sprinkle of salt for flavor is great, it brings out the flavor of foods. But the massive amounts of salt in many premade foods and fast foods in america is sickening.

Salt is not bad. I do agree that that is a load. The typical american even at a decent weight still consumes way more salt than they should, not from the shaker, but from processed boxed or canned foods or fastfood.

The athletic person eating right and exercising probably shouldn't have a concern of how much salt they are taking in, but the couch potato eating a poor diet should watch their salt intake and change their lifestyle in general.

BTW the stress on your heart of 8.3 mm Hg is huge when you consider it over 20 or 30 years of a poor lifestyle in general.[/b]
 
For those who say we get too much salt, I am not sure the average American is getting way too much salt. Even most processed foods is in the 3 digit mg category per serving. I think the human body can easily take upper 4 or even 5 digits a day (we are not consuming more than that now)--- the exception may be for the very slim minority that has some sort of sensitivity to it. But that comes under the same category as food allergies---- wheat for example, is a clean food in the bible and is harmless, but some people may have a problem with it. But to apply it to everyone is ludicrous.

So, let's use the same medical establishment reasoning that too much salt is bad for you, but lets apply it to edema. Some people are holding too much water, so I say water is needed to live, but let's cut it down to one glass a day! For everyone!!
:roll:

I can't stand bad "science".
 
What education do you have that confirms your opinions on this subject Tim? What exactly is the bad science that you are talking about? I'm throwing up scientific facts, but I'm not seeing scientific reasoning that disproves anything I'm saying.

It is funny that you bring up edema. Did you know the main cause of edema? Salt intake. Sodium is the electrolyte that holds water in the vascular system, causing the edema that your talking about. Excessive water combined with excessive salt causes the edema. The example of edema and water is a very poor one for your case.

There is no sensitivity issues with salt. The problems come with prolonged high blood pressure causing the heart to back up the fluid into the lungs(congestive heart failur). Or damage to the kidneys for some reason that doesn't allow them to filter the fluid anymore or at least as efficiently. You can't have an allergy to sodium, it is the most abundant electrolyte in your body, you can't live without it in the correct quantities. A high or low level in you vascular system can cause severe problems with your heart, such as arrythmias or cardiac arrest.

Your body can take 4 or 5 grams of salt a day. That isn't a problem when it is not every single day and you don't have other medical problems.

A quarter pounder from mcdonalds has 1.1 grams of salt. A grilled chicken sandwich has 1.2 grams of salt. Bacon egg and cheese biscuit 1.25 grams of salt. All of the salad dressings are 0.5 grams of more. This is representative of typical fast food. There are quite a few people eating fast food at least once a day. Their salt intake is probably above even 5 grams. That combined with the saturated fat and lack of nutritional variety isn't a good thing at all.

I would also say that in the times of the old testament and Jesus's day the salt intake was way, way lower than what it is today in the US. Salt was actually very valuable, making it difficult to get. I severly doubt if they consumed even 2 grams a day, which is the recommended daily intake now.
 
KnarfKS said:
What education do you have that confirms your opinions on this subject Tim?
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These aren't my opinions, they are God's facts. So, I need mankind's education to tell me if God's ways are justified?

A few years down the road, at least I won't be changing my beliefs like the chameleon population.

If anyone wants to despise God's dietary laws and call the clean "unclean", then I would imagine they have a lot more to worry about in eternity than getting edema now.
 
tim_from_pa said:
But that comes under the same category as food allergies---- wheat for example, is a clean food in the bible and is harmless, but some people may have a problem with it.....
I can't stand bad "science".
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I have become a label reader since I began to understand God's dietary laws. One of the silliest things that I have noticed lately is the products that have a list of ingredients that are full of chemicals and preservatives with names a mile long. However ~ the warning on the label is..."This the product might also contain wheat, milk, or peanuts."

Go figure.
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Who is saying cut all salt out completely? I'm not. I'm just saying that the large amounts that americans consume is not good for them. Who is calling salt "unclean", I'm saying that it needs to be consumed in moderation. Same thing with fat, sugar, or anything else that may be "clean" but harmful in large amounts consistently consumed, which all of those things are.

I'm personally not changing my beliefs on anything. I don't even see where God is saying eat lots of salt anywhere in scripture. Salt is good and necessary, but not in large amounts(such as the american diet).
 
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