My father is sickly obsessed with eating no salt. He said it was poison to the body. This means: no seasoning of home cooked meals. When I was jogging 15 km per week during high school, craving salty crisps all the time really was no mystery... I felt dizzy and tired all the time, until I moved out.
Given that salt is found in excess in many processed or professionally cooked foods, avoiding it can make sense for some people. But no salt is an awful idea. It tastes good because the body needs it
many endurance athletes take salt tabs part way through workouts. It is no secret salt is a needed nutrient for a healthy human body. Also not seasoning your food is a federal crime
Everyone's sweat has a different salt level, so everyone has different salt needs when doing sports especially long cardio. The problem with normal salt is, you get only natrium but no potassium, which is a bad balance. Therefor i take electrolyte tablets when running long distances. I don't salt at all, canned food (beans, corn) usually provides enough salt and salty flavor.
When I was little I’d always be seeking salt, adding a lott of additional salt to everything , even eating it off of my hand. My family members would watch in horror and say I’m going to dry up my veins or have a heart attack. Became an adult, got pregnant and decided to totally change my diet to a healthier one. Started passing out. Come to find out I have ridiculously low blood pressure & POTS. Cardiologist has me specifically on increased salt intake now 😅 keeps me at (a low) but closer to average blood pressure, and off blood pressure meds. Sometimes, just sometimes, it could be your body telling you you need something. 💟 I enjoyed this video
Hi Adam, l am a 72 year old woman that is still learning so much from all the information you give and research you do for people. And I must say I am so impressed and grateful for all of the important data of every day life, that you give along with your awesome recipes that can still learn from even at my age. A huge Thanks, to you for it, you're an awesome guy with a brilliant mind. Lots of luck. God bless you.
Though not a smoker myself, several family and friends have been and they have always marvelled at how much they can taste the salt once they have quit.
Now, I'm 60. Smoked 3 pack/day cigarettes from 17 to 43. Quit them, picked up smoking 3 pack/day little filtered cigars, and do so now. And I inhale deeply. I've long heard I'm not able to smell or taste due to it, yet in all my life i'm always the first in the group to smell and taste, whether good or bad. Last night I shared some home made bread w a 35 yr old classically healthy friend who only has 5 little filtered cigars/day. He said it's your best yet, but needs salt. I just had a slice again, and the salty was prominent to me. By the way, I grew up in a household wherein both parents chain smoked in a confined unvented space, but I still work out at least an hr a day. I even smoke the little filtered cigars while cycling. If any of u still take cigarettes...stop it now. You need to know that there is no governance regarding what chemicals they can legally add to them. The little filtered cigars (the nonflavored ones in the 20 pack) are 99% pure tobacco. Nicotine does not naturally exist in pure tobacco. It's an additive in cigarettes. At age 9 while living in my smoke filled home, I watched the 99 yr old neighbor walk by daily to attend his hardware store a block away. He fell, broke his hip, after 2 weeks in hospital, decided to stop eating, missed his wife who died earlier, died. At his memorial, I thought about it all and said to myself and God...I'm ready and willing to live 99 yrs; if he can, I can. I still believe that I will, lest Jesus returns before. I hope he does, yet I'll praise Him either way. If you are still reading this, either you already decided you want life everlasting, or you need to decide. Think about it carefully.
@@thefourthwatch6337 hate to break it to you but nicotine is indeed in tobacco. They might add more to cigarettes maybe? But you're just deluding yourself if you think nicotine isn't in cigars lol
My mom often thinks the food she makes is bland, of course she's a smoker and I'm not but because we taste things differently I don't think she completely believes me when I say it's good 😂
I think I've figured out why Adam is so good at this. He LOVES this stuff. Scientific research is his freaking HOBBY. Adam, you are my favorite Mega-Geek. I'm a geek too, but I'm not worthy.
It's comforting to know that geeks can find one another from the solitude of their bedroom. Also comforting to know that others enjoy scientific research just for the joy of it. And also comforting that I don''t have to go to the library - like in days of old - to satisfy that desire.
@@AutraxD Language is so interesting. I have never heard of the Brit version of a Charlie horse. I definitely have experience with the Yankee version of Charlie horses though.
My father loved to put lots of salt on his food, and so do I. And I'm not just imitating my father's example. I'm not salt-sensitive; I've been treated for high blood pressure and heart disease, but my blood pressure doesn't change when i eat something salty. And when I realized my family and I needed iodized salt, I found a company that "iodizes" its salt by blending it with flakes of locally harvested seaweed. I discovered that the seaweed-added salt adds a *HUGE* amount of umami to my food. And seaweed contains all sorts of other minerals and nutrients besides iodide, meaning it's good for me. (I like Japanese seaweed salad also.) My cardiologist didn't believe my BP stayed stable when I ate a very salty food, even though he tested me carefully. But apparently I don't have *sodium sensitive* hypertension. Alas, my gall bladder removal makes it unwise for me to eat a whole mess of bacon, or a lot of heavily buttered popcorn sprinkled with seaweed-salt.
For a calf cramp: Hyperextend the leg and pull the toes towards the shin as much as possible. (bystanders can help with this) - the cramping will subside in seconds. I learned this from scuba where you do this by grabbing the tip of your fin. I get these mid-sleep if I don't drink enough water. Often enough that I have learned to kick my leg straight super fast to cancel it as it comes on.
You don't need to pull the toes, you can just move them up, pulling will help, but you can stop cramps just by moving the toes up and extending the leg, no need to pull it with hands. You should always be "fighting" a cramp by trying to point your toes upward as soon as you feel it happening.
I need to stand up and plant my foot flat on the floor when I have what some term a "Charley Horse." Just pulling my toes upward doesn't do it (usually I start getting a cramp in my foot). Sometimes, the cramp won't stop coming until I consume potassium -- in food or supplement form. Surprisingly, potato chips can relieve leg cramps. I forgot the name, but a baseball ⚾️ player on the 2016 World Series Chicago Cubs went on a potato chip "diet" by a coach to prevent cramps -- apparently, it worked!
Holy shit dude, just a couple nights ago, I kinda half woke up in the middle of the night to stretch my legs, and I stretched them so much that it just cramped so hard. Third time that's happened at night. Terrible.
I really appreciate the little breaks that Adam gives between points. Even just that one second does wonders to finish absorbing everything and get ready to move on.
@@Just_Sara Yes and no. He is probably checking his list during the breaks, but remember: Adam's media background is mostly in radio and podcasts. He's a pro at this stuff, so he knows many of the tricks used by BBC/NPR radio hosts. I think the pauses are a deliberate way to make this huge block of spoken word more interesting and approachable.
I enjoy his speaking style, it scratches my intellectual "itches" in such a good way.. I suspect I may have ADHD and I appreciate these little breaks between main points, because they feel natural to my normal thought process
Yeah I found his cadence on the podcast eps distracting at first, but when he gets deep into the science the pauses are really appreciated I should've trusted the process from the beginning, he's a radio guy after all hahah
As a person with a Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Technology with a Minor in Chemistry, I love every bit of this pod!! The atomic/molecular/quantum explanation was super relevant and interesting to me; I hope the question-asker held on for this portion. I SUPER HOPE she held on for the stomach cancer portion. Had a family member succumb to stomach cancer - it is as horrible as you can (and probably should) imagine. That was ultimately the most important takeaway for her and most everyone else. Let's hope she took it away.
I almost died from heart and kidney failure due largely to high blood pressure. My doctors told me to avoid salt but after seven years of monitoring my blood pressure I haven't found it makes any difference. I had my BP taken a few months ago by a professional and she said it was perfect. I do largely avoid heavily processed food though. It was actually this channel that turned me on to only using salt as a final topping and not in the food itself.
I love how you'll say "I'm just a monkey with a microphone" then proceed drop an hour of well researched educational podcast material that would give most teachers a run for their money! Seriously, I feel like I'm getting more out of listening to your videos than I would've gotten from sitting in a classroom, which if I was American would have costed me an outrageous amount of money. Of course, I understand that you say it to encourage people to do their own research, look into primary sources rather than what you're saying, because there's a non-zero chance you'll misunderstand or misrepresent something. But I seriously mean it when I say I could listen to you ramble on for hours and hours about nutritional research. You're educational and entertaining!
Adam reads negative comments with Pedants saying, "um, actually..." Becomes negatively charged. Name is Adam. Adam is now negatively charged. We must now call him Ion.
Salt as always been a "controversial" topic between my tastebuds and scientist community. Your input and the depth of expertise you provide is amazing. This condensed knowledge in an affordable package (1h podcast) is very appreciable. Thank you. (As an healthy 30yo eating 95% food that i cook from raw vegetable/raw meat and pasta/rice/potatoes, im fine to salt to taste :D)
Salt is tasty because its mandatory, and like everything including water and oxygen its dangerous in excess. (Its just excess salt is much less total salt than say excess water)
@@jasonreed7522 The problem is most people don't eat a varied diet, sodium is literally everywhere in the food pyramid, in food, naturally. We kinda solved this already, according to the biochemical science, you can get more than enough sodium with a varied enough diet, without ever needing to add extra salt seasoning or eat processed junk foods. Adding some extra isn't too bad, but it's very easy to overdue, or worse; be tricked into thinking you need to eat grams of sodium a day. We only require so much sodium, adding more won't give us any benefit, just like with most other nutrients.
All of those foods you mentioned all have sodium in them naturally btw, just keep that in mind. If your diet is varied enough, you wouldn't need to add salt. adding a little for taste is fine, but people get confused about the science and think going overboard will give them gains or something.
I have low blood pressure and hypothyroidism. On hot days I loose feeling in my fingers because I sweat out the salt. Which can only be fixed if I lick some salt.
I just finished the episode on Spotify, but felt the urge to come here, give you an upvote and a comment the expresses my sincerest gratitude, that you do this quality content for me and all the other lucky people on the Internet.
I grew up adding table salt to everything before I ate it, and then quit doing that in my late teens. Everything tasted so bland and flavourless for a few months but then it was all back to normal, except that when I eat at restaurants the food usually tastes really salty to me.
The Gatorade thing reminded me of growing up on a SC farm. In addition to 8-12 hour daus of manual labor in the South, most ppl in my family also have IBS. We would fill a large plastic jug with water, lemon juice, lime juice, table salt and potassium chloride. The juice helped disguise the salt flavor some. It was super useful. Only a little less salty than my normal pasta water.
I do the same but also add in a magnesium salt (I usually use sulphate but it can have a laxative effect for some even at the very small amounts that I use. YMMV) and a Calcium salt (the carbonate is probably in your home if you're reading this.) some vinegar (home made if I have it) and I do sometimes add a little sugar/honey because if I'm drinking it, I'll burn that and much more while working. I try to get the salts to proper ratios and figure it averages out so I don't sweat (punny, right?) it. After that, just pay attention to my body and add more water if I need it.
I grew up in a fishing village on the east coast. Salt was in the air as well as the water. If I eat anything without salt in it, it will taste bland to me. I am a certified "saltoholic." Not that I go crazy and add salt to the point that others can't tolerate it. But I feel environment plays a role in preference too.
Many of these studies are pretty bollocks. Other than the people who need to pay attention to their sodium intake for medical reasons, there's no reason to pay any attention to the amount of salt you consume. Unhealthy food isn't unhealthy because of salt, it's unhealthy and happens to have salt. As they say, correlation does not mean causation. But that's something that seems to be completely forgotten in modern day science where they try to spin it into a way where whenever something they want to correlate correlates, is also the cause. Much like fat, they just wanted to turn salt into a common enemy so that they can sell products that are supposedly 'healthy'. Doesn't really change the fact that almost none of these low-salt products are actually healthier than their regular variants. Of course if you're gonna compare people who eat a lot of processed foods with those that don't... and then ignorantly conclude that salt is the one deciding factor in health... yeah, that's not true at all.
@@thenonexistinghero No there's actually incredibly good reason to believe that regulating your salt intake is important. The reasoning was very watered down in this video. It's just *way more complicated* than just "everybody eats too much". That last part is the bollocks part because "how much is too much" is wildly different depending on daily activities and diet. Reducing salt is functionally useless if your body is just (heathily) excreting the excess without issue. Equally having a certain amount of salt in your body isn't neccecarily the same as having that amount but with a potassium deffeciency. They have difference effects on regulating each other and such. Literally every time people say "eat more/less this" its always oversimplified to the point of being dangerous advice... It's sad
@@Mallchad I read a good chunk of science about it and the fact is... that science hasn't figured it out. Science hasn't figured out much about food, food intake, how food/nutrients are processed by the body, etc. Media, governments, scientific institutions, etc all pretend to know a lot about the human body... but there's far more that we still don't know than what we do know. And most of the recommendations for how much of certain nutrients you need to take in... is as good as based on nothing. And the human body itself is a valuable tool. If you learn how to properly listen to it, you'll be able to figure out if you have enough of something or too much. Your body will tell you. Not that you can't wreck those sensors, but by default someone instinctually knows what they lack.
I must say, the audio quality on this podcast episode is unparalleled! Truly a work in aural processing and presentation! I feel so sorry for those who can't enjoy it....
i never liked broccoli or asparagus until i actually had some that were well-seasoned (salt) and cooked properly. so, in that instance salt can make you eat more healthily. just stay away from the vending machine
@@StoicDivinity and Seth, I never tried it with pepper and never really enjoyed when steamed or boiled. I'll try your suggestions. Usually, I enjoy brocolli, cabbages, and Chinese vegetables, when stir fried with oil and salt. Super simple works well. My brother does a decent job with barbecuing with the same ingredients.
The problem that many of us face is that we consume sodium in a lot of processed foods and the function of that sodium is not to make food "salty" but rather to preserve the food or maintain a good texture/color, etc. So if we reduce the processed foods we can properly season our food with table salt and not consume too much sodium per day
@@nataliajimenez1870 yeah I wonder if there's differences between the types of sodium and how they affect people just like sugar. Might be another video topic. I mean there's different sensations to eating table salt versus rock salt versus pink Himalayan salt so I wonder if it's all just salt at the end of the day or if it actually has different effects. I would assume preservative salts are a specific thing and that they're not just using random normal table salt but that's complete guessing on me
@@sethellett1079 add garlic powder to the mix and its the perfect way too cook most small veggies. (From a person who hates most cooked veggies and would rather just have them raw with creamy blue cheese)
The cyanide almond thing is kind of a misconception It is about bitter almonds Cyanide smells like bitter almonds because bitter almonds are full of cyanide So cyanide smells like cyanide I think nile red made a video on it some years ago for reference
It should also be noted that at one point all almonds were bitter almonds. Humans loved poisonous almonds so much they bred almonds to be less poisonous so they could eat more of them
@@sakamotosan1887 normal almonds just smell like almonds. If you grind them up you get like a nutty scent. They do not resemble cyanide Bitter almonds vaguely resemble cyanide but they have a pretty small amount so it's not actually as similar as people say.
Oh my god, your story of the charlie horse. I have had the identical experience. Luckily it hasn't happened anytime in the last few years that I can remember, but what you described is basically exactly identical to my reactions. I would only rarely get them at any point except for right when waking up. I would stretch when waking up and then you feel that calf tightening and you know its coming and you think "No no no no no god no" and immediately get out of bed to stand up and HOPE beyond everything that this time it will stop it. Sometimes it works great, other times you basically have to ride out the pain for 30-60 seconds and it's EXCRUCIATING. You said giant twisting your leg, I feel it's more like someone put my leg in a vice and is crushing it. That pain is AWFUL
Fun fact: kykeon, the drink of Homeric heroes, was a mix of mulled wine, herbs, oats and salted cheese. Said to restore the body, and it's exactly what you also find in gatorade: electrolites, carbs and water. I got those cramps you mentioned a lot before I sought treatment for my IBD, I was probably depleted constantly...
I’m actually one of the few people who is salt deficient, mostly as a side effect of the meds I’m on. My doctor actually told me to drink LESS water and more sports drinks, vegetable juice, milk, and other drinks with salt and electrolytes.
@@itamarsalhov That too. She said if I’m drinking a bunch, eat more salt, or just don’t drink as much. I’ve been trying to balance the two. Eat more stuff like cured and smoked meats, and drink coconut water or Gatorade with my meals instead of water.
@@JaceAce22 chips have another problem besides salt, the trans fats. Though I have been hearing that fats are in again, but I don’t think that’s trans fats but saturated fats that are in vogue rn
I remember being sick on vacation when I was little. It didn't help that I hated the food there and refused to eat anything besides unseasoned rice and vegetables. I felt terrible, then I got something to drink and I suddenly felt a lot better, I thought it was magical. I think I know what it was now, watching this video.
The most interesting and engaging podcast episode yet! I really think you've hit your stride with your approach to long-form subjects and I look forward to may more saturday afternoons listening to these episodes. The segment on Charlie Horses really struck a chord with me. Around the end of 2019 I was suffering with Stage V kidney failure, and I was just one doctor's visit away from being condemned to dialysis. I turned to intense cardio work outs as an escape mechanism, which in hind sight was not the wisest choice. My body was absolutely thrown into sodium deficiency and I was waking up almost every night screaming in pain from the leg cramps I would get. I couldn't even get out of bed to stretch out the cramp, I just had to ride the pain for several minutes. It's not an experience I would wish upon my greatest enemy. (Bonus happy ending: I received a kidney transplant on New Year's Eve 2019 and have not had a single Charlie Horse since then :) )
Salt sensitivity from under/over consumption is a real thing. I had a normal amount of salt diet, but a kidney issue caused me to have to drop my sodium intake. After about a month of no salt on anything I could taste even the smallest amount. A normal amount of salt is now too strong for my taste buds. A lot of friends are shocked and think I must eat just super bland food, but there are plenty of alternatives to season your food... garlic powder, black pepper, onion powder, cayenne pepper are what I use mostly, but there are many other herbs and spices that are low or no sodium
I have found electrolyte drinks to be a necessity due to my work. There are days when I've sweated so much that my clothing is covered in a white mineral stain. The worst days, I may even consume 3+ grams of sodium in beverages alone, but that's also in about 4.5l (or more) of water, and there are other minerals in the beverage. It's also only when necessary, as I'm sure I otherwise get plenty of sodium from my diet. I used to feel completely wiped out after long days, but the extra electrolyte consumption means I can function after work, drive home safely, and eat. I don't think high sodium intake is very healthy for most people, but if your work or hobbies cause you to lose so much you can barely function, it is a necessity.
Yeah, it's definitely possible to readjust how salty you perceive foods to be. I'm on a low sodium (1500 mg/day) diet for a medical reason and foods taste normal at this point to me, but restaurant and packaged foods are pretty much inevitably salty unless I ask for them to be made with essentially zero salt. It takes a couple of weeks to adjust, though people in the support group for my disease have family members who eat normally at restaurants and stuff who never quite seem to adjust even though they eat low sodium at home, so it sort of needs to be something you commit to for the majority of your meals. Just to put in another plug for eating low salt, if you can avoid giving yourself Meniere's disease, even lowering the chance a little bit, I definitely recommend doing so! Vestibular disorders are pretty terrible. Lol
Adam - salts aren’t molecules, they are ionic compounds. Does this solve your pet peeve? As a former college chemistry teacher, hearing ionic compounds called any kind of molecular is a pet peeve of mine. There are ironically charged molecules like the sulfate ion and phosphate ions that form molecular salts like magnesium sulfate or potassium phosphate etc. Love the thoroughness of your approach, just trying to add to the discourse.
Can't tell if "ironically charged" is a funny typo or an actual scientific term. Still, the image of a molecule getting energy from wearing almost ruined jeans and listening to 90s music is funny to me.
9:51 "These are the kinds of random language problems that make me stay up way too late at night, writing my scripts for my RUclips videos. Because I'll have a line in my script where I say, "The molecules in the food do X, Y, Z." But then I'll stop and I'll think, is some pedant in the comments going to be like, "Well, actually those are ions, not molecules."" Imagine being the type of person Adam is trying to cover his ass for, only to get a comment like this anyway.
I also wanna say that as a person with ADHD, I eat tons of salt, I’ve toned it down in the past few years, but it was concerning as a kid. My mind was craving dopamine so much, if tried to grab any that it could and I guess part of that was seasoning my food to hell.
I have ADHD and am the only one who adds salt to my food at the table. But my husband's family was salt-phobic, though don't admit they add salt by needing high sodium processed bread and crackers that I pass up because of the low quality carbs they add to the diet.
Both my parents adored salt. I adore salt. Growing up with salt'a'holics reinforced my own salt'a'holism. Health problems now require me to not enjoy as much salt as I would absolutely prefer. So every now and then I cut ALL salt for a week (and suffer...), then resume using less salt which then tastes fine...until the cycle completes, lol It's a neverending story.
@@neongooroo no need to be rude. There are legitimate reasons why someone would suggest that. Generally speaking, when you cut something out all at once, when you start back again you tend to rebound back to your usual intake. This is usually a gradual increase at varying rates depending on numerous factors. Usually you have a better chance of not rebounding if you reduce your intake more slowly, over a longer period, so your body has a better chance of getting more accustomed to the new intake. The tradeoff is that it takes longer, and also that for some people its harder to moderate intake than to just cut something out. Also, a week without salt is not very long to change the taste preferences of a long term high salt user. There would likely be much better results if a longer period is used. Reducing slower over a longer period may help this process, if long terms of no salt are too difficult. It’s not definitely a better solution for everyone, but it’s a valid alternative method that could lead to better results if the existing method isn’t working as well as the person would like.
I have low-normal blood pressure to just low blood pressure - particularly if my weekly running volume gets above 10 miles (which is a pretty low weekly run volume). I will actually open up my salt grinder to eat straight salt crystals due to cravings I'll get during periods when I'm not feeling great. I also eventually realized that as a vegetarian, protein deficiency is something that impacts me as I start increasing my exercise to beyond the bare minimum which is probably one of the reasons i struggle to maintain consistent exercising. And I've had to start donating blood in the afternoon because when I donate first thing in the morning my blood pressure is sometimes (like a third of the time) too low to donate. Your blood pressure is naturally higher in the afternoon but also then I can have coffee in the morning without having to worry about too much being in my blood at donation time and caffeine helps boost blood pressure. So no. I don't pay attention to if I'm """"eating too much salt""""""
I'm one of these "sodium sensitive" people. I found that any little bit of salt wood throw my blood pressure out of control and create edema. But trying to eliminate sodium was so much more difficult than I anticipated. Eventually I came to discover salt substitutes that used potassium, and I immediately became aware that I was not sodium sensitive but I was actually potassium deficient. I no longer need to watch my sodium intake at all, as long as I am eating enough potassium I am fine. I hope this helps someone else in the same position, if you find yourself sensitive to sodium or with high blood pressure or edema, try increasing your potassium intake and see what happens. I bet it helps you
@@PepperMind The best way is probably eating dark leafy greens, but a fast way to do it is using Salt Substitutes like Lo-salt. Try adding a couple servings of that to your daily food (instead of using salt) and see how your blood pressure reacts. For me, within about 2 days, I could no longer feel my heart beating strongly as I try to sleep and I also was no longer sensitive to salty foods. Glad to help with any other questions anytime
I’m a huge BYU football fan and apparently, back in the day, the players would drink pickle juice at half time to stay hydrated! When my dad told me that, I was so confused; I was reminded of that when you mentioned players eating salt on the sideline.
Romans and Greeks in antiquity combined dilluted wine or vinegar with honey and salt before or after combat. It's very similar idea when i think about it.
Our ancestors consumed much more salt than we do , I'm with Alton Brown on this - unless you have kidney problems you need only consume enough water to balance your salt intake .
@@debrucey yep, our ancestors also plastered their faces with lead powder and drank radioactive water. I don't know about salt, but what our ancestors did isn't a good justification for anything alone.
My man, you have truly outdone yourself in this video! 25 minutes in, and I'm absolutely amazed by the amount of research you have done, and the way you integrated it in this video. As a chemistry major student, I take joy in hearing this kind of insight being put into videos for all the people who have little knowledge in this field. Keep doing what you are doing, I love this!
I just listened to the first 15 minutes and now I know everything about salt and ions. But I was interested in the health effects. In my opinion he shouldn't try to make the pendants happy, I prefer the information more condensed, even if he omits some information to understand everything in the last detail. This reminds me of times when I look up a historic event on Wikipedia and end up reading the whole history of a decade 😅
@@PepperMind Well, isn't that better, in a way? Now you know all that info about salts and ions, AND you also get the info about health. Of course, if you are looking specifically for condensed info on a specific topic, this might be a bit too broad. But honestly, I think more is better in this context. You can always skip the part you are not interested in. On the other hand, if you are interested in a topic and there isn't enough material in the video, it makes you kind of frustrated - you have to go and do all the research in your own. PS. I am not a pedant, and I agree that people who point out the slightest mistakes in videos and complain about it kinda suck. I just really enjoyed the scientific side of the video, and think that it's a really good direction to head in. Kinda like bill nye spliced with gordon ramsay. Ain't that great?
@@foon-gee-us1884You are probably right. I have to admit that I also skipped parts, which I already knew from my scientific background. In general, I like his video style very much.
Hey Adam, I would like to hear your take on a hypothesis by Dr Rick Johnson that the issue isn't with the amount of total sodium consumed, but with high sodium concentration/osmolality. Dr Peter Attia interviewed him on the topic of blood pressure and sodium and how fructose may tie into it a few years ago and I found it to be extremely fascinating. To quote the relevant shownotes from the podcast (#87-Rick Johnson, MD: Fructose-the common link in hypertension, insulin resistance, T2D, & obesity?): "The relationship between salt and blood pressure (and the role of sugar) [5:45] Does salt raise blood pressure? The prevailing thought is that too much salt elevates blood pressure. And the advice would be to restrict the amount of salt intake. But it isn’t really the salt amount that makes a difference, but the salt concentration. When you eat salt, your serum osmolality goes up. If you drink water in combination with eating salt, you can avoid this rise in serum osmolality and avoid the rise in blood pressure. Rick’s 2018 study showed that drinking water with a salty meal will prevent a rise in blood pressure." Also at around 18:34 in the podcast Johnson talks about an animal study that showed a fascinating link between sodium and sugar through a certain key enzyme (that he later identifies to be aldose reductase). To quote: "What we discovered is that when you give a high salt diet to animals that the high salt increases the serum sodium, and the serum sodium, when it goes up, it activates an enzyme that converts glucose, which is in our blood in our tissues, to fructose. And that conversion to fructose is driven by a high salt diet, and it is driven by an increase in serum osmolality or an increase in serum sodium. Once the fructose is made in the body-- so this is not fructose coming from the diet, this is made in the body-- the fructose gets metabolized and raises blood pressure. And when we gave high salt to animals they developed an increase in blood pressure and they were also making fructose, and when we blocked the metabolism of fructose we actually blocked the rise in blood pressure." It seems that the timing of when you drink the water in relation to the sodium intake is critical as well, since if you drink the water too late after consuming a high amount of sodium, the high sodium concentration may induce this enzyme to activate, and once that happens it is too late to to prevent this process by drinking water to normalize your sodium osmolality, and thus your blood pressure still goes up. There was also a study a few years ago under the name 'Urinary Sodium and Potassium Excretion, Mortality, and Cardiovascular Events' that examined people's urinary sodium excretions, and found that low sodium consumption (
Couldn’t find the 2018 study you’re referring to on google scholar. May have been using the wrong key terms. Any chance you could link it? I have some thoughts that jump to mind but would want to read the study before jumping to conclusions
Adam -- I would love for you to do a video on Japanese curry. I make it from the S&B box at home but haven't found a good way to do it from scratch. Would also love to learn more about it in the informative way you always present stuff!
I have made it from scratch and the secret is making a dark roux almost like you’re making Cajun food you want a milk chocolate color and then you add about 50/50 garam masala and curry power and a pinch cayenne to your personal taste and cook maybe a minute until fragrant. Set that aside and add it back to the pot when everything is cooked and season with salt, soy sauce, and or msg to taste. For the roux I do a 1 to 1 to 1 ratio of fat, flour, and spices and make 6-9 tablespoons for 4 cups of liquid (what the box recommends).
I’m a super taster. In a class in college, we all got paper with a bitter substance on it. If you tasted it strongly, it means you’re a super taster, taste is slightly and you’re a medium taster, etc. I tasted it so strongly, that I gasped and everyone stared at me lol. I am definitely picky and more sensitive to bitter foods, and don’t drink alcohol either. I don’t prefer more salt though. I seek our low sodium potato chips, for instance.
I'm also a super tasters. Don't drink alcohol because I can't stand the taste of it. But unlike you I LOVE salt. So much things I thought I didn't liked as a kid... and I started to love once I started cooking and seasoning to my taste. But it's not only salt. It's pepper, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon... people need to learn how to use spices. Also onion and garlic. Most people's food taste bland to me.
@@MateusAntonioBittencourt try apple-cherry jenever, Don't know the English word but it's sweet as hell. So drinkable, also very useful when diabetic and to drink something. Beer has always been the bane of my existence when cheap drinks where mandatory
Wow, I haven't had one of those super taster tests but I always suspected that I am because I hate bitter foods and can detect it in very low concentrations and also hate the taste of alcohol.
It's a dark joke, but one that stuck with me since childhood: in an episode of the wkuk sketch show, the cast is on the titanic, and it's going down. I believe Zach says "studies have shown that drowning is like the worst way to die." And Sam asks "what's the best?" To which Darren replies "I heard stomach cancer" & Zack says "I think that's true"
Would just like to say Adam that your fitness/personal physical health stories are always encouraging - I'm 25 and not 100% happy with my body, so it is helpful to hear someone who's already made a bunch of the mistakes (like crash dieting) relay their experience.
Likewise, I'm the same age, and even though I've been watching fitness videos for years, I've never even begun my fitness journey during my peak testosterone/HGH years for a lot of reasons... It's nice to see you here, I remember watching your long-form analyses of games before you stopped posting. It was more serious critique than a lot of other channels I used to watch, but more approachable than Noah Caldwell-Gervais or MatthewMatosis. I would place it in the category of Joseph Anderson or Chris Davis. I just checked your 'Community' page and saw that you stopped to focus on your studies, a wise decision. I appreciate the content and will retain my subscription in case you post again.
I have POTS - postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome - and that means my blood vessels are too loose, essentially. So I have to take 3 1-gram salt tablets per day, or all the blood doesn't get to my head and I get dizzy and faint and get migraines. So if you see me eating a pizza for breakfast or carrying broth around like water, that's partially why. Edit: Oh, and I also have muscle spasms! So that bit about the abs going into a spasming little knot I feel in my BONES. When fresh meat is cut it spasms, and sometimes butchers take gifs of "jumping" meat, and i like to look at those when I'm having a really bad day and can't walk because they're satisfying.
Thank you! I've suffered from charley horses on occasion through out all my life, but this is the first time I've heard someone talk about it, and it's the first time I've heard a name for it. Like you, I've found a sort of "counter move" to stop it if I'm quick enough. For me, the issue seems to have gone away since I (more or less) stopped eating sugar. I ate a lot of sugar.
Greetings from the Johnson Space Center Mission Control (ISS)! It's amazing that I actually watched the whole thing without skipping! Such a good personality + very good delivery! Please go on!
When I open this up randomly, because the title got my attention I was excited to see that it is nearly 2 hours of discussion. This shows that Adam takes the time to touch on all of the various associated aspects of whatever topic is at hand. Everything is connected and it takes a while to get to a point because of that. Thanks for taking the time.
yes technically a molecule with non-neutral charge is a "polyatomic ion" my chemistry professor in college said about that entire thing "if you make that mistake in this class, its wrong, but not the worst mistake you could make. if you say polyatomic ion to someone on the street, you're going to look like an idiot"
Hey Adam, I want to thank you for your clear and extensive explanations. I am familiar with the frustrations that come from researching on your own and I am thankful that your channel exists. You are one of the two RUclips cooking channels I watch because the rest seem to barely explain everything. I feel like every time I watch one of your videos I am learning from a master who has vast experience and knowledge on the area. When I think about ideal teachers and communicators I think of people like you. I am 22 and I already had high blood a year ago. Last year I moved and the change of place and diet brought it down from 14 to 12, which is within the healthy zone. I am happy to keep learning about it with help of videos like yours.
Like you said, most of us ingest an excessive amount of sodium, not just from table salt but also from MSG, baking soda etc., which is why nutritional content labels in the US specify sodium content (not salt content like we do in the EU). edit: fixed
I've heard anecdotally from multiple people that straight up potassium chloride tastes "cold". Also that how much you can taste it in your food depends on the particular food. You can taste it more in some foods than others. In one study some (not all) blinded research subjects actually preferred the taste of 50/50 NaCl/KCl over pure NaCl in prepared food, but switching entirely was pretty unpalatable to everyone.
@@Just_Sara I use 1/3 KCl to 2/3 NaCl in dishes where I have to reduce the amount of sodium for those family members that worship at the feet of the medical mafia, and for the most part, we can't tell a significant difference in the flavour of the dish, but yes, it alone does have a generally more bitter flavour than plain table salt. I use monk fruit extract on a binder of erythritol as my general sucrose replacement, and it does have a cooling effect, but since it's in my coffee and iced tea (I don't use sweeteners generally otherwise), I really don't notice it.
A video on salt substitutes and their efficacy, including where they are or are not appropriate, would be super helpful. Also, incorporating some of those substitutes into future recipes, such as you already do with vegan or gluten-free options, would be most appreciated. For example, I cut the amount of salt in my pasta boil water by half and haven't noticed a difference in taste. Nice. Seasoning plain boiled vegetables (peas, corn, green beans, etc.) is still a challenge. However, a little butter, Mrs. Dash, and potassium chloride allows just a tiny sprinkle of table salt to bring it up to a similar level of palatability. Using just 1/3 or 1/4 as much salt is still a win, it doesn't need to be 100%. Other ingredients like garlic powder, vinegar, and spices have been pretty disappointing. However, I feel I don't know enough about where spices like sage, ginger, cumin, celery seed, coriander, thyme, dill, basil, rosemary, etc. would work and where they won't. That's made me avoid some recipes, especially soups, that seem to just require a ton of salt to be any good. I suspect however that some of those spices would be up to the challenge, but figuring out what to use where is the challenge.
Adam’s RUclips career is a masterclass on what to do when you achieve something viral on the internet. I wonder if there are any things he wish he’d done differently on his journey; I fail to see any mistakes he’s made.
I think he mentioned having to spend a lot of time editing videos, but for us thats a good thing because there isnt a thousand cuts in every video with sounds effects and graphics every 5-10 seconds and screaming MOMMY.
I have largely replaced sodium chloride with potassium chloride. The taste of potassium chloride is similar to regular table salt and it’s easy to become accustomed to the taste, just as you can become accustomed to using less salt in general. Morton’s Salt Substitute is all potassium chloride while other commercial substitutes are a mixture with sodium chloride. Like Adam said, most people don’t get enough potassium and it’s an essential dietary element. And your body more easily rids itself of potassium than it does sodium. I still use some sodium chloride because I run and sweat a lot.
@@erzsebetkovacs2527 Bitter? Compared to what? Relatively speaking, side to side, potassium chloride does taste a smidge bitter compared to sodium chloride. Used in cooking, you won’t taste the difference. If you put salt on foods like corn or watermelon, you’ll taste some difference. But like all things, you can habituate your taste to potassium.
I've discovered that using lemon/pepper seasoning replaces the need for salt in savory dishes. Perhaps this wouldn't work for some people, but it's the answer for this diabetic. I no longer reach for the salt shaker in preparing or tasting my dish.
as fellow nerd who reads a lot, apparently europeans (and likely many other regions of the world) used to salt everything like crazy in the medieval and later centuries (for preservative reasons). no health ill effects noted, and this went right up to recent recorded data during 1850 to 1950. So if salt is causing ill effects now, it is because of other health issues occurring concurrently due to other food/diet/exercise habits of the modern western lifestyle and diet, not salt itself. (this observation will not cover any niche cases due to genetics)
Indeed. Also, the salt that they used tended to have a higher mineral composition: it wasn't the purified, snow white stuff that we generally use. Since I switched to using "pink" and other less refined salt and cut out the majority of the refined food stuffs, my blood pressure has been great. And yes, I do account for this in making sure that my iodine intake levels are adequate, as well potassium to keep the sodium-potassium "pump" cycle in balance.
I wonder if this is one of those things where other things like unsanitary living conditions and breathing in industrial smog on a daily basis vastly overshadow any ill effect salt may have had, so the health effects of salt only became apparent after those other factors were eliminated?
@@SacredDaturaa That's very possible, yet I suspect that there's a case to be made that the use of naturally occurring common salt helped offset, if not mitigate, the other harmful things in their lives, even though common salt itself in excess is a potential source of harm; however, the vast majority of the research to date suggests that when it's taken with enough potassium, other minerals and water related to the osmotic balance, it is very difficult to over do it in the short term, with the long term being a potential issue for a small segment of the population. I'd love to see more research into the genetic connections to potential issues with "excess" common salt consumption, with a rigorous examination into what constitutes "excess" in this regard, both daily and over time.
Adam, I found your channel through one of your very, very, long responses to another food youtube. Honestly I really enjoy your content, I believe it adds value and I'm sure you do to - for the most part - and that makes me appreciate your content more. I've watched many - almost all - of your videos over the past few months and that has been no intentional feat; you truly put effort into compelling and digestable (get it) videos that are incredibly informative and respect the intelligence of all your viewers, and I for one quite appreciate that Adam. I'm very envious of the fantastic position you've gotten yourself in and I would like to hereby personally congratulate you for the fantastic raport you've created between your viewership and yourself as well as your consistency in approach to videos. I believe what makes you most reliable as a person - beyond just a content creator - is not that you are always right, but instead that you are ready to be wrong and correct that. This, Adam, garners you incredible respect not just from me, but from all of your viewers - if I may of course speak on behalf of them. I would like to make it be known that this comment was actually written for your "Is breakfast important? .. et cetera" video, just under a minute to its conclusion. I've posted it here because honestly speaking it'd be rather illogical to put a comment that was delivered towards you specifically and not just the greater Ragusea RUclips community on a video that is over several months old at the time of writing. I'm very hopeful that one day I may also find myself in a fortunate position where - through creativity - I can earn a very liveable income, and I hope that comes through the form of content creation on RUclips. I'm ofcourse maturely aware of how to make this a reasonable decision in my life, however, I know that it would be incredibly unhealthy both physically and mentally to strive for that, as to near guarantee success on any creative platform like this one must output an incredibly large volume and quality of content which would mean to reliably move upwards in such an industry one would have to work all day, everyday from the time they wake up until the time they sleep for several years to find any reasonable chance of success outside of blind luck. However I do wish to do some smaller scale form of this in the future, mostly out of a personal interest.
I first got one of those calf cramps when I was in my teens, when I stretched in bed just as I woke up. Over the years I have learned simply not to stretch when I wake up. I never knew the cause until I watched this video.
Pedant mode engaged: at 14:30, you justify the fact that chlorine contributes the majority of the mass of NaCl by comparing the respective atomic numbers of the two elements - their proton count. This is faulty reasoning, as the atomic number only accounts for the protons and not the neutrons. To compare their masses, you would invoke the atomic mass of each element and compare them thusly. To be even more pedantic, you would have to account for the specific atomic mass of the isotopes of the two elements that are able to form NaCl and calculate a weighted average. A simplification can be made by assuming that the formation of NaCl is agnostic to the isotopes of the two elements - in this case, you can use the weighted atomic mass of each element that is found on some periodic tables at the bottom of the respective element's table cell. Btw I love that you put so much real scientific information in your videos. You tend to script your lines very accurately with respect to your research. Love from a long time fan and Electrical Engineer in Louisiana. Your videos were always a treat back when I was in college.
I'd never heard the term Charley horse before but I've definitely had them in my calf several times, usually while in bed. I find that when it's coming if I point my toes towards my head, stretching out my calf muscle it pretty much stops it. Took me way to long to figure that out. If anyone has one in their calf try this, hope it helps you like it did for me.
I always got these in bed and found if I jumped out of bed and just stood in my bare feet, that would make it pass immediately like magic. Totally counter-intuitive based on how it is feeling, but it worked for me after I discovered this accidentally.
I imagine that in the Nordics you could see a pretty big difference in Sodium and Chloride in salty liquorice lovers. It's actually Ammonium chloride that makes up the salty part of the liquorice.
Just for your reference Adam, I'm a particle physicist and have never heard anyone say an ion isn't an atom. Anyone who tries to get smart with you over something like that is probably insecure about their own knowledge and projecting it by 'correcting' things that aren't wrong and don't need to be corrected. Clarity in communicating to people is far more important than using the right jargon - 'charged molecule' and 'charged atoms' are perfectly fine things to say. Same thing goes for the different mass of sodium vs chlorine; anyone who would try to 'well ackshually' you on that is more interesting in making themselves feel smart than clarity or educating people. tl;dr: you do you and the pedants need to find something better to do.
The electrical engineer in me really loved how much time, and how well, you committed to explaining atoms at the start of this episode. I was very impressed at how well you distilled what you were trying to convey. Maybe it's because I spent so much time studying it but, I could not have done it as succinctly and benificially to people. I'd get caught up in the things I find important... but are maybe irrelevant distinctions for the topic at hand.
When talking about passing away it was kind of hard, my father passed away a couple of months ago (age 63) because of a heart attack, being a chef he really enjoyed his food and it was likely a significant contributor as much as it is hard at least he passed on pretty quick without significant suffering and it was something he enjoyed doing which did him in. But even so look after yourselves people and stay healthy.
Hey Adam I don't have time right now to watch this but I will do when I have. Just about the topic salt: A few months ago I got diagnosed with a kidney disease, after that a whole lot has changed for me. Food is my biggest change because most importantly to get your kidney running as long as possible is to avoid salt. That's really hard. I found lot of ppl only that go through the same. And there is like zero awareness about it, it's kind of weird. Maybe you can make a video about stuff like salt and food/recipes with less salt (
Kidneys heal themselves in healthy people, as with every organ. When something fucks them up beyond their own healing capacities is that you need to avoid salt and protein to not overburden them and postpone their eventual failure. The salt and protein are not the cause, they're just the main thing kidneys work with, when you have failing kidneys, you need to eat less of them to avoid them failing earlier. Thats it.
@@Bramble20322 As we get old, kidneys function less well. It’s a mistake to believe someone 60 years old has the same function as someone 20 years old. It’s a mistake to think we don’t damage our organs by overdoing things like salt and protein throughout our lives.
@@Bramble20322 i know but it just blows my mind how many ppl suffer from a chronicle kidney disease (CKD) at the same time there is like zero awareness of the public about this topic.
@@Bramble20322 This remind me of a comparision I once hearld about why salt is not THAT bad. It lie saying gluten is bad because people who have celliac disease suffer due to gluten, THEREFORE gluten must be bad. That, to me, is like saying moving you arm is bad because people with broken bones are advised not to move their bone, therefore not moving you bones must be good for you (you could do this example with like nuts for example).
Before my mother died she was on dialysis and throughout the final near decade of her life after she lost kidney function, trying to maintain a low salt diet was one of the hardest things and she slipped up a lot. That and potassium I think.
I am a salt fiend! As a young married mother, I had to learn not to season dishes with salt the way I like it because it's too much for most people.I tell every one who eats what I cook that they will have to add their owñ salt amount because I don't.I am discriminating about the amounts I personally prefer on certain foods,the more bland usually the more salt I like ,such as potatoes and eggs.Please remember that our bodies are mostly water based ,and salt is important for all the processes to function electrically in our bodies.I basically pay attention to my body and what it tells me I need...I don't just salt for pleasure or idly.The same way I listen to my cravings for salads,fruits,or greens.The one wonderful difference I've discovered recently is sea salt added to dark chocolate.It simple,we are evolutionary beings that come from the salt sea millions of years ago.
I love biltong because it fits my medical needs really well: I need lots of salt (POTS and other autonomic issues), I need lots of fat and protein because of a carnitine genetic defect, and I need a way to keep my mouth busy so that I don’t default to obsessive grooming behaviour. Admittedly even now I don’t eat enough salt day to day but I’m working on it.
I'm riddled with chronic illness, and one fun thing that I have is daily charlie horses since high school, mostly in the back of my calves and feet, but other places as well. Here's how you can get rid of the calf ones (and the foot ones, too.) Pull your big toe back, towards your shin. That's it. If you're hypermobile enough to just casually reach it even when in excruciating pain, do that. But you can also grab a nearby blanket/shirt/towel/whatever and fling it over your foot like a sling, where the bottom is on the bottom of your food and the two handles of extra fabric are on either side, which you can pull up with your hands. Doing that will pull your whole foot up, towards your shin, and begin loosening it. Then you can shimmy the cloth up your foot as you're able, eventually being able to focus the pulling on your toes. This works, every time, no matter how bad the charlie horse it. As long as it's the back of your calf or in your foot itself. Front of your calf requires the opposite, where you push your toes down towards the sole of your foot. But I prefer the 'for all other cramps' method, which is to have a spiky ball on a stick that you roll around on affected areas. It loosens them all and while you will still have residual pain, it's great for all those other muscles that you can't quite find the exact release movement.
Wow this episode covers many things that related directly to me! Enjoying lots of salt and finding a plethora of things bitter/tasting everything 'too much', in the super taster section and talks of stomach/colon cancer which I am already genetically predisposed to with Lynch syndrome makes me wonder if there's a link between those two genotypes cause Lynch syndrome, despite the main area of research/concern with it being the increased riskk of many types of cancers, has a plethora of other linked genes that influence so many other things that seem not at all related.
I made a couple of changes to how I make mashed potatoes. Slow and low boil to get tender and adding milk powder. Everyone loves them. Thankyou. I really enjoy these podcasts.
Hey Adam I love the podcast and look forward to it every week to listen to while I am doing laundry and other chores. I hate to be one of those “pedants” you speak of, but the “bicarbonate” ion is HCO3 -, while the carbonate ion is CO3 2-. My friend (a geochemistry graduate student) and I were recently wondering why bicarbonate got its name when there is nothing “bi” about it. Thanks for your explanation!
Also, “Bisulfate” is HSO4-, while sulfate is SO4 2-. Bicarbonate is very common in natural waters, especially “hard” waters, since hard waters are usually “hard” due to the dissolution of limestone (calcium carbonate)
Adam, you are one of the kind. From one man to another, you are as nerdy as I can be. This long read of you is out of the ordinary. I have always kind of know about the salty part of NaCl but through your keenness I have now even more awareness of this thing. 49 year old ;)
One other thing you can become desensitized to is sugar. Take that into account if you struggle with weight loss or diabetes. I always loved sweet things but after becoming more sensitive, I can't handle a fruit without an unsweetened drink.
Cramps in your calves, that starting happening to me about 10 years ago when I woke up and stretched. I thought a charly horse is a type of bruising but OK. What to do about a cramp in your calves. Raise your toes and feet pulling up with the muscles in the front of your lower legs, the side opposite to your calves. This stops the cramps. Pretty much instantly. I read this somewhere and finally remember one morning to try it. It works, really well. Don't know about other kinds of cramping but it sure does work for cramping in the calves.
Pretty much. I'm suspected to have POTS and salt is my jam. Extra salt and extra fluids help to combat blood pooling and low blood pressure that might cause one to pass out, which is never a fun thing to experience. Gatorade and other such drinks are a fantastic thing for POTS folks.
Hey Adam, I really appreciate the way you explain and dissect the topics! Do you think it will be doable for you to mark the different time points for future videos? It will be really easy to find if we need to go back and check them when needed. Thank you for your time!
Sometimes people are so afraid to give old people too much salt, that they end up getting too little of it. There was an old guy they thought was getting dementia, but then it turned out he just needed to eat more salt. Sadly I didn’t get this from an article I can link, this is from talking to my grandpa and hearing about what happened to his friends.
Your experience lines up with the studies I've seen. A low salt diet is more dangerous for heart disease than a high salt diet. Ofc balance is ideal, but so many people die from a low salt diet. It would be nice if more people knew this. Outside of the US salt is a lot less controversial at least.
10:45 Minor nitpick I remember from my chemistry class. There are ions that are molecules. For example, bleach salts break into sodium (Na+) and hypochlorite (ClO-) ions. Na+ is a monoatomic ion and ClO- is a polyatomic ion. The more you know!
It’s a misconception that salt alone is the reason blood pressure rises in some folks. It’s actually the relationship between salt and the other electrolytes. A pronounced electrolyte imbalance produces fatigue and cramps, often dizziness. A mild imbalance will not do those things but it will cause your blood vessels, not arteries, to constrict. If this imbalance becomes chronic then chronic hypertension will occur. The higher pressure isn’t from “to much water” in the blood. The higher pressure is from this chronic constriction. The body will naturally use water and electrolytes to relax muscles. This is why high blood pressure patients are often on diuretics. This medication will pull more water into the blood stream to relax those blood vessels however, it does not address the actual problem which an electrolyte imbalance. Cutting salt is usually not necessary for most people, even those with high blood pressure, and can make the problem worse for some. Highly processed food adds to problem of imbalances by being heavy on the sodium and low in potassium and most importantly magnesium. People with high blood pressure should instead avoid processed food and consume home cooked food that is salted to taste and contains higher amounts of potassium and magnesium, like leafy greens and yes, root veg. Bottom line is nobody suffers from “salt sensitivity” however many suffer from “Chronic Electrolyte Imbalance Syndrome”.
That whole discussion on ions and salts was kinda weird to me. I was taught in high school chemistry that a salt was specifically ionic bonds between a metal and a nonmetal.
I actually listened to the audio only version of this podcast before coming here to comment. It is interesting to watch you when you are listening. I came to comment that I use to struggle with Charlie horses for years, but no longer since I figured out that my electrolyte balances were off. Now I take "light" salt, potassium in a salt shaker, magnesium and calcium and my Charlie horses are a thing of the past. When I did have them, I found that flexing a countering muscle: stretching upward for a rib cramp, doing a calf stretch to ease a calf cramp stopped the Charlie horse. I recently had severely low sodium levels because of a new health issue that is now under control. It felt like I had low blood sugar: weakness, dizziness, but only after I ate something sweet, I didn't feel any better. After I ate some chicken and kept wanting to add more and more salt, I realized what was going on. A blood test to figure out the overall cause of my health issue is what proved the salt deficiency to me. By the time I had the blood test, my sodium levels were low, but near normal, so the doctor didn't realize the significance at first. He was more concerned with the bigger health issue that was going on, that was a lot more dangerous than sodium levels that would come back on their own on a typical American diet.
i like the maj9 chord in the ask adam jingle, you should add another note to it every week like the #11, 13, etc (more and more notes from the "super lydian" chord if youve heard of it, goes on forever)
Yes, one can get accustomed to not adding extra salt to much of one's food. I have done it. There is enought natural salt in many vegetables. I have never confirmed this but was once told that one stalk of celery has enough salt to sustain the average person. Of course that would also depend on one's activity level. I have reduced the amounts of processed food greatly, but I still eat bacon, ham, and sausage on occassion. I usually salt meat before cooking, especially fish. I use hot sause on my eggs and that in itself has enough salt for me. When I saute onions or mushrooms I use some salt, though I am not even sure that is necessary.
I use bouillon when fasting, it doesn't contain sugar, wich usually affects me negatively. It helps almost immediately, as I imagine gatorade does, and makes an intermittent fasting diet very doable.
What about someone like me, who's blood pressure is chronically way too low, in the 90/50 area and could really benefit from a higher blood pressure through a high sodium intake?
Actually, yes! There are actually certain salt supplements with lots of different electrolytes made for this exact purpose. I actually am about to start on a regimen of these saltsticks to help manage a suspected case of POTS (to oversimplify, standing up makes my heart rate increase uncontrollably and I pass out anywhere from once a month up to 5 times a day). Vitassium is a brand I hear tossed around fairly frequently. Wouldn't hurt to speak with your doctor about potentially starting on some. Best of luck, fellow commenter.
As I am mostly listening to the podcast whilst im doing something else, I sometimes don't get through the full cast in one time listen, but the funny thing is that this TAB of the cast which I keep open so I can continue when I can. When I start my browser however it always starts playing at a certain time (not where I left it last time) and that time is 11:10 . Which means that for about 3 days I have heard Adam say "MURDUR" a few times 😂
This topic came at the perfect time for me, because i just started to evaluate my salt intake. (Side note: This video was jampacked with interesting and useful facts and I loved it). I recently concluded that the easiest way to cut back sodium was NOT adding salt to cooked food, which I feel like is the opposite of what Adam would endorse hahaha. But a lot of general stuff I eat has moderate amounts of sodium, like vegan coffee creamer, etc. Whereas adding even a TINY tsp of salt has a whopping 2,000+ mg of sodium. It was a no brainer for me. I could just not salt any salads or meals I'm making. And like the mention of taste buds "adjusting," I truly did not miss it. It's like I never even needed it. Not worth it. So my advice is only add salt to cooked food if you really really need it, which you often do, I realize. And then, yeah, don't go crazy on bags of chips, which isn't always easy for me either haha.
A teaspoon of salt is a lot of salt. It's not as tiny as what gets shaken on top by someone adjusting their food at the table, unless they are very strange.
@@MilwaukeeWoman True but I wasn't suggesting people dump that on their food. I mean like in a recipe. It's not uncommon for an entire dish to have close to that much. I googled some random recipes just now, sweet and savory, and about half of them called for 3/4 teaspoon of salt. My point was just how quickly the mg of sodium adds up. And that's ONE meal. So if you add 3/4 teaspoon to a dish and have 1/4 of the whole dish, say, because you're in a family of four, that's already 431 mg of sodium you added yourself just from the recipe. At that point, you're already about a third of the way to your daily safe limit, and that's not counting ANYthing else you eat that day, especially snacks. My point is adding less/no salt to cooked food is actually a pretty easy way to drastically reduce sodium.
My father is sickly obsessed with eating no salt. He said it was poison to the body. This means: no seasoning of home cooked meals. When I was jogging 15 km per week during high school, craving salty crisps all the time really was no mystery... I felt dizzy and tired all the time, until I moved out.
Yeah, I have to find high salt fuel for long runs because I just sweat out too much salt and get dizzy. its almost magicial if i take a salt tablet.
Given that salt is found in excess in many processed or professionally cooked foods, avoiding it can make sense for some people.
But no salt is an awful idea. It tastes good because the body needs it
that's crazy, why was he stopping you from consuming it?
many endurance athletes take salt tabs part way through workouts. It is no secret salt is a needed nutrient for a healthy human body. Also not seasoning your food is a federal crime
Everyone's sweat has a different salt level, so everyone has different salt needs when doing sports especially long cardio.
The problem with normal salt is, you get only natrium but no potassium, which is a bad balance. Therefor i take electrolyte tablets when running long distances. I don't salt at all, canned food (beans, corn) usually provides enough salt and salty flavor.
When I was little I’d always be seeking salt, adding a lott of additional salt to everything , even eating it off of my hand. My family members would watch in horror and say I’m going to dry up my veins or have a heart attack.
Became an adult, got pregnant and decided to totally change my diet to a healthier one. Started passing out. Come to find out I have ridiculously low blood pressure & POTS. Cardiologist has me specifically on increased salt intake now 😅 keeps me at (a low) but closer to average blood pressure, and off blood pressure meds.
Sometimes, just sometimes, it could be your body telling you you need something.
💟 I enjoyed this video
Same. When I was in my early teens, I decided that salt was “poison”. Welp that sure worked out well 😂
Well yeah, I think he even addressed that in the pod
@@DanielSultana I came to the comment section seeking a summary, the pods are too long and I usually ignore them but salt is my favorite food group.
I wonder if there's some possibility that you can acclimate to (and essentially become dependent on) high salt intake if you start early.
Similar story and also have POTS!
Hi Adam, l am a 72 year old woman that is still learning so much from all the information you give and research you do for people. And I must say I am so impressed and grateful for all of the important data of every day life, that you give along with your awesome recipes that can still learn from even at my age. A huge Thanks, to you for it, you're an awesome guy with a brilliant mind. Lots of luck. God bless you.
Bless you too Thelma, you sweet ol' bunch of happiness
A kindred spirit! Yay!
God bless you as well! ♡
Though not a smoker myself, several family and friends have been and they have always marvelled at how much they can taste the salt once they have quit.
I didn't notice it with salt in particular (but it's been a while). Other flavors, particularly aromatics, came back with a force though.
Now, I'm 60. Smoked 3 pack/day cigarettes from 17 to 43. Quit them, picked up smoking 3 pack/day little filtered cigars, and do so now. And I inhale deeply. I've long heard I'm not able to smell or taste due to it, yet in all my life i'm always the first in the group to smell and taste, whether good or bad. Last night I shared some home made bread w a 35 yr old classically healthy friend who only has 5 little filtered cigars/day. He said it's your best yet, but needs salt. I just had a slice again, and the salty was prominent to me. By the way, I grew up in a household wherein both parents chain smoked in a confined unvented space, but I still work out at least an hr a day. I even smoke the little filtered cigars while cycling. If any of u still take cigarettes...stop it now. You need to know that there is no governance regarding what chemicals they can legally add to them. The little filtered cigars (the nonflavored ones in the 20 pack) are 99% pure tobacco. Nicotine does not naturally exist in pure tobacco. It's an additive in cigarettes. At age 9 while living in my smoke filled home, I watched the 99 yr old neighbor walk by daily to attend his hardware store a block away. He fell, broke his hip, after 2 weeks in hospital, decided to stop eating, missed his wife who died earlier, died. At his memorial, I thought about it all and said to myself and God...I'm ready and willing to live 99 yrs; if he can, I can. I still believe that I will, lest Jesus returns before. I hope he does, yet I'll praise Him either way. If you are still reading this, either you already decided you want life everlasting, or you need to decide. Think about it carefully.
@@thefourthwatch6337 I'll not smoke, thanks.
@@thefourthwatch6337 hate to break it to you but nicotine is indeed in tobacco. They might add more to cigarettes maybe? But you're just deluding yourself if you think nicotine isn't in cigars lol
My mom often thinks the food she makes is bland, of course she's a smoker and I'm not but because we taste things differently I don't think she completely believes me when I say it's good 😂
Adam should have said "I'm not a medical Dr, so take this with a pinch of salt"...😊🤔🤔
I think I've figured out why Adam is so good at this. He LOVES this stuff. Scientific research is his freaking HOBBY. Adam, you are my favorite Mega-Geek. I'm a geek too, but I'm not worthy.
+++
It's comforting to know that geeks can find one another from the solitude of their bedroom. Also comforting to know that others enjoy scientific research just for the joy of it. And also comforting that I don''t have to go to the library - like in days of old - to satisfy that desire.
As a Brit, we call punching someone to give them a dead arm, a Charlie horse .. I was like Huh?? When you mentioned it
😂😂 I think the fact that you listen to Adam's podcast means you are well on your way to Mega-Geek status. Don't sell yourself short! 😂😂
@@AutraxD Language is so interesting. I have never heard of the Brit version of a Charlie horse. I definitely have experience with the Yankee version of Charlie horses though.
My father loved to put lots of salt on his food, and so do I. And I'm not just imitating my father's example. I'm not salt-sensitive; I've been treated for high blood pressure and heart disease, but my blood pressure doesn't change when i eat something salty. And when I realized my family and I needed iodized salt, I found a company that "iodizes" its salt by blending it with flakes of locally harvested seaweed. I discovered that the seaweed-added salt adds a *HUGE* amount of umami to my food. And seaweed contains all sorts of other minerals and nutrients besides iodide, meaning it's good for me. (I like Japanese seaweed salad also.)
My cardiologist didn't believe my BP stayed stable when I ate a very salty food, even though he tested me carefully. But apparently I don't have *sodium sensitive* hypertension. Alas, my gall bladder removal makes it unwise for me to eat a whole mess of bacon, or a lot of heavily buttered popcorn sprinkled with seaweed-salt.
For a calf cramp: Hyperextend the leg and pull the toes towards the shin as much as possible. (bystanders can help with this) - the cramping will subside in seconds. I learned this from scuba where you do this by grabbing the tip of your fin. I get these mid-sleep if I don't drink enough water. Often enough that I have learned to kick my leg straight super fast to cancel it as it comes on.
You don't need to pull the toes, you can just move them up, pulling will help, but you can stop cramps just by moving the toes up and extending the leg, no need to pull it with hands.
You should always be "fighting" a cramp by trying to point your toes upward as soon as you feel it happening.
Water + Magnesium bro
I need to stand up and plant my foot flat on the floor when I have what some term a "Charley Horse." Just pulling my toes upward doesn't do it (usually I start getting a cramp in my foot). Sometimes, the cramp won't stop coming until I consume potassium -- in food or supplement form.
Surprisingly, potato chips can relieve leg cramps. I forgot the name, but a baseball ⚾️ player on the 2016 World Series Chicago Cubs went on a potato chip "diet" by a coach to prevent cramps -- apparently, it worked!
Holy shit dude, just a couple nights ago, I kinda half woke up in the middle of the night to stretch my legs, and I stretched them so much that it just cramped so hard. Third time that's happened at night. Terrible.
I wasn't aware of the advice but learned to do it after it happened a few times. I gained that same instinct
I really appreciate the little breaks that Adam gives between points. Even just that one second does wonders to finish absorbing everything and get ready to move on.
I think it's him checking a list on his computer, and I totally agree. It seemed odd at first, but it actually seems to help, doesn't it?
@@Just_Sara Yes and no. He is probably checking his list during the breaks, but remember: Adam's media background is mostly in radio and podcasts. He's a pro at this stuff, so he knows many of the tricks used by BBC/NPR radio hosts. I think the pauses are a deliberate way to make this huge block of spoken word more interesting and approachable.
@@matnovak yeah for sure and teaching at university also a good way to get really good at explaining complex information well.
I enjoy his speaking style, it scratches my intellectual "itches" in such a good way.. I suspect I may have ADHD and I appreciate these little breaks between main points, because they feel natural to my normal thought process
Yeah I found his cadence on the podcast eps distracting at first, but when he gets deep into the science the pauses are really appreciated
I should've trusted the process from the beginning, he's a radio guy after all hahah
As a person with a Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Technology with a Minor in Chemistry, I love every bit of this pod!! The atomic/molecular/quantum explanation was super relevant and interesting to me; I hope the question-asker held on for this portion. I SUPER HOPE she held on for the stomach cancer portion. Had a family member succumb to stomach cancer - it is as horrible as you can (and probably should) imagine. That was ultimately the most important takeaway for her and most everyone else. Let's hope she took it away.
I almost died from heart and kidney failure due largely to high blood pressure. My doctors told me to avoid salt but after seven years of monitoring my blood pressure I haven't found it makes any difference. I had my BP taken a few months ago by a professional and she said it was perfect. I do largely avoid heavily processed food though. It was actually this channel that turned me on to only using salt as a final topping and not in the food itself.
Adam puts a lot of salt in cooking though. You can't salt noodles except while cooking, for example.
@@puppieslovies Oh Nooooos. Salt in the noodles.
I love how you'll say "I'm just a monkey with a microphone" then proceed drop an hour of well researched educational podcast material that would give most teachers a run for their money! Seriously, I feel like I'm getting more out of listening to your videos than I would've gotten from sitting in a classroom, which if I was American would have costed me an outrageous amount of money.
Of course, I understand that you say it to encourage people to do their own research, look into primary sources rather than what you're saying, because there's a non-zero chance you'll misunderstand or misrepresent something. But I seriously mean it when I say I could listen to you ramble on for hours and hours about nutritional research. You're educational and entertaining!
Adam reads negative comments with Pedants saying, "um, actually..." Becomes negatively charged. Name is Adam. Adam is now negatively charged. We must now call him Ion.
*Iain
Made me laugh way harder than it should have
Atom Ragusea
Negatively charged ions are good for you
You win the comments, your majesty! *Applauds*
Salt as always been a "controversial" topic between my tastebuds and scientist community. Your input and the depth of expertise you provide is amazing. This condensed knowledge in an affordable package (1h podcast) is very appreciable. Thank you. (As an healthy 30yo eating 95% food that i cook from raw vegetable/raw meat and pasta/rice/potatoes, im fine to salt to taste :D)
Salt is tasty because its mandatory, and like everything including water and oxygen its dangerous in excess. (Its just excess salt is much less total salt than say excess water)
@@jasonreed7522 The problem is most people don't eat a varied diet, sodium is literally everywhere in the food pyramid, in food, naturally. We kinda solved this already, according to the biochemical science, you can get more than enough sodium with a varied enough diet, without ever needing to add extra salt seasoning or eat processed junk foods.
Adding some extra isn't too bad, but it's very easy to overdue, or worse; be tricked into thinking you need to eat grams of sodium a day. We only require so much sodium, adding more won't give us any benefit, just like with most other nutrients.
All of those foods you mentioned all have sodium in them naturally btw, just keep that in mind. If your diet is varied enough, you wouldn't need to add salt. adding a little for taste is fine, but people get confused about the science and think going overboard will give them gains or something.
I have low blood pressure and hypothyroidism.
On hot days I loose feeling in my fingers because I sweat out the salt.
Which can only be fixed if I lick some salt.
I just finished the episode on Spotify, but felt the urge to come here, give you an upvote and a comment the expresses my sincerest gratitude, that you do this quality content for me and all the other lucky people on the Internet.
I grew up adding table salt to everything before I ate it, and then quit doing that in my late teens. Everything tasted so bland and flavourless for a few months but then it was all back to normal, except that when I eat at restaurants the food usually tastes really salty to me.
The Gatorade thing reminded me of growing up on a SC farm. In addition to 8-12 hour daus of manual labor in the South, most ppl in my family also have IBS. We would fill a large plastic jug with water, lemon juice, lime juice, table salt and potassium chloride. The juice helped disguise the salt flavor some. It was super useful. Only a little less salty than my normal pasta water.
Disgusting
Ibs can be cured through gluten suppression. You prob acquired it through glyphosate constant exposure.
@@skippityblippity8656 I mean that’s literally just lemon-lime Gatorade without the sugar
Sounds delicious and refreshing.
I do the same but also add in a magnesium salt (I usually use sulphate but it can have a laxative effect for some even at the very small amounts that I use. YMMV) and a Calcium salt (the carbonate is probably in your home if you're reading this.) some vinegar (home made if I have it) and I do sometimes add a little sugar/honey because if I'm drinking it, I'll burn that and much more while working.
I try to get the salts to proper ratios and figure it averages out so I don't sweat (punny, right?) it. After that, just pay attention to my body and add more water if I need it.
I grew up in a fishing village on the east coast. Salt was in the air as well as the water. If I eat anything without salt in it, it will taste bland to me. I am a certified "saltoholic." Not that I go crazy and add salt to the point that others can't tolerate it. But I feel environment plays a role in preference too.
Many of these studies are pretty bollocks. Other than the people who need to pay attention to their sodium intake for medical reasons, there's no reason to pay any attention to the amount of salt you consume. Unhealthy food isn't unhealthy because of salt, it's unhealthy and happens to have salt. As they say, correlation does not mean causation. But that's something that seems to be completely forgotten in modern day science where they try to spin it into a way where whenever something they want to correlate correlates, is also the cause.
Much like fat, they just wanted to turn salt into a common enemy so that they can sell products that are supposedly 'healthy'. Doesn't really change the fact that almost none of these low-salt products are actually healthier than their regular variants. Of course if you're gonna compare people who eat a lot of processed foods with those that don't... and then ignorantly conclude that salt is the one deciding factor in health... yeah, that's not true at all.
@@thenonexistinghero No there's actually incredibly good reason to believe that regulating your salt intake is important. The reasoning was very watered down in this video.
It's just *way more complicated* than just "everybody eats too much".
That last part is the bollocks part because "how much is too much" is wildly different depending on daily activities and diet. Reducing salt is functionally useless if your body is just (heathily) excreting the excess without issue. Equally having a certain amount of salt in your body isn't neccecarily the same as having that amount but with a potassium deffeciency. They have difference effects on regulating each other and such.
Literally every time people say "eat more/less this" its always oversimplified to the point of being dangerous advice... It's sad
@@Mallchad I read a good chunk of science about it and the fact is... that science hasn't figured it out. Science hasn't figured out much about food, food intake, how food/nutrients are processed by the body, etc. Media, governments, scientific institutions, etc all pretend to know a lot about the human body... but there's far more that we still don't know than what we do know. And most of the recommendations for how much of certain nutrients you need to take in... is as good as based on nothing.
And the human body itself is a valuable tool. If you learn how to properly listen to it, you'll be able to figure out if you have enough of something or too much. Your body will tell you. Not that you can't wreck those sensors, but by default someone instinctually knows what they lack.
I must say, the audio quality on this podcast episode is unparalleled! Truly a work in aural processing and presentation! I feel so sorry for those who can't enjoy it....
HUGE missed opportunity at 4:48 to say "take that with a grain of salt"
i never liked broccoli or asparagus until i actually had some that were well-seasoned (salt) and cooked properly. so, in that instance salt can make you eat more healthily. just stay away from the vending machine
Fresh cracked black pepper and salt on steamed broccoli is quite possibly the most underrated snack in existence
@@StoicDivinity and Seth, I never tried it with pepper and never really enjoyed when steamed or boiled. I'll try your suggestions.
Usually, I enjoy brocolli, cabbages, and Chinese vegetables, when stir fried with oil and salt. Super simple works well.
My brother does a decent job with barbecuing with the same ingredients.
The problem that many of us face is that we consume sodium in a lot of processed foods and the function of that sodium is not to make food "salty" but rather to preserve the food or maintain a good texture/color, etc. So if we reduce the processed foods we can properly season our food with table salt and not consume too much sodium per day
@@nataliajimenez1870 yeah I wonder if there's differences between the types of sodium and how they affect people just like sugar. Might be another video topic. I mean there's different sensations to eating table salt versus rock salt versus pink Himalayan salt so I wonder if it's all just salt at the end of the day or if it actually has different effects. I would assume preservative salts are a specific thing and that they're not just using random normal table salt but that's complete guessing on me
@@sethellett1079 add garlic powder to the mix and its the perfect way too cook most small veggies. (From a person who hates most cooked veggies and would rather just have them raw with creamy blue cheese)
The cyanide almond thing is kind of a misconception
It is about bitter almonds
Cyanide smells like bitter almonds because bitter almonds are full of cyanide
So cyanide smells like cyanide
I think nile red made a video on it some years ago for reference
Cyanide smells like almonds because almonds smell like cyanide.
It should also be noted that at one point all almonds were bitter almonds. Humans loved poisonous almonds so much they bred almonds to be less poisonous so they could eat more of them
@@sakamotosan1887 normal almonds just smell like almonds. If you grind them up you get like a nutty scent. They do not resemble cyanide
Bitter almonds vaguely resemble cyanide but they have a pretty small amount so it's not actually as similar as people say.
@@chestersnap Classic humans. We always be selectively breeding the poison out of our favourite edible poisons.
Meyeeeeehhh!
Oh my god, your story of the charlie horse. I have had the identical experience. Luckily it hasn't happened anytime in the last few years that I can remember, but what you described is basically exactly identical to my reactions. I would only rarely get them at any point except for right when waking up. I would stretch when waking up and then you feel that calf tightening and you know its coming and you think "No no no no no god no" and immediately get out of bed to stand up and HOPE beyond everything that this time it will stop it. Sometimes it works great, other times you basically have to ride out the pain for 30-60 seconds and it's EXCRUCIATING. You said giant twisting your leg, I feel it's more like someone put my leg in a vice and is crushing it. That pain is AWFUL
Fun fact: kykeon, the drink of Homeric heroes, was a mix of mulled wine, herbs, oats and salted cheese. Said to restore the body, and it's exactly what you also find in gatorade: electrolites, carbs and water.
I got those cramps you mentioned a lot before I sought treatment for my IBD, I was probably depleted constantly...
I’m actually one of the few people who is salt deficient, mostly as a side effect of the meds I’m on. My doctor actually told me to drink LESS water and more sports drinks, vegetable juice, milk, and other drinks with salt and electrolytes.
why not just... eat salt?
So would eating chips actually benefit your health more than others?
@@itamarsalhov That too. She said if I’m drinking a bunch, eat more salt, or just don’t drink as much. I’ve been trying to balance the two. Eat more stuff like cured and smoked meats, and drink coconut water or Gatorade with my meals instead of water.
@@JaceAce22 Yes, it would. Although it’s obviously not as healthy as other salty foods like salted nuts or cured ham.
@@JaceAce22 chips have another problem besides salt, the trans fats. Though I have been hearing that fats are in again, but I don’t think that’s trans fats but saturated fats that are in vogue rn
I remember being sick on vacation when I was little. It didn't help that I hated the food there and refused to eat anything besides unseasoned rice and vegetables.
I felt terrible, then I got something to drink and I suddenly felt a lot better, I thought it was magical. I think I know what it was now, watching this video.
The most interesting and engaging podcast episode yet! I really think you've hit your stride with your approach to long-form subjects and I look forward to may more saturday afternoons listening to these episodes.
The segment on Charlie Horses really struck a chord with me. Around the end of 2019 I was suffering with Stage V kidney failure, and I was just one doctor's visit away from being condemned to dialysis. I turned to intense cardio work outs as an escape mechanism, which in hind sight was not the wisest choice. My body was absolutely thrown into sodium deficiency and I was waking up almost every night screaming in pain from the leg cramps I would get. I couldn't even get out of bed to stretch out the cramp, I just had to ride the pain for several minutes. It's not an experience I would wish upon my greatest enemy.
(Bonus happy ending: I received a kidney transplant on New Year's Eve 2019 and have not had a single Charlie Horse since then :) )
Salt sensitivity from under/over consumption is a real thing. I had a normal amount of salt diet, but a kidney issue caused me to have to drop my sodium intake. After about a month of no salt on anything I could taste even the smallest amount. A normal amount of salt is now too strong for my taste buds. A lot of friends are shocked and think I must eat just super bland food, but there are plenty of alternatives to season your food... garlic powder, black pepper, onion powder, cayenne pepper are what I use mostly, but there are many other herbs and spices that are low or no sodium
I have found electrolyte drinks to be a necessity due to my work. There are days when I've sweated so much that my clothing is covered in a white mineral stain.
The worst days, I may even consume 3+ grams of sodium in beverages alone, but that's also in about 4.5l (or more) of water, and there are other minerals in the beverage. It's also only when necessary, as I'm sure I otherwise get plenty of sodium from my diet.
I used to feel completely wiped out after long days, but the extra electrolyte consumption means I can function after work, drive home safely, and eat.
I don't think high sodium intake is very healthy for most people, but if your work or hobbies cause you to lose so much you can barely function, it is a necessity.
You can just say you’re a gigolo, man. Sex work is just work, nothing to be ashamed of 😅
@@hopsonkim4952 that's just a hobby after work
Yeah, it's definitely possible to readjust how salty you perceive foods to be. I'm on a low sodium (1500 mg/day) diet for a medical reason and foods taste normal at this point to me, but restaurant and packaged foods are pretty much inevitably salty unless I ask for them to be made with essentially zero salt. It takes a couple of weeks to adjust, though people in the support group for my disease have family members who eat normally at restaurants and stuff who never quite seem to adjust even though they eat low sodium at home, so it sort of needs to be something you commit to for the majority of your meals.
Just to put in another plug for eating low salt, if you can avoid giving yourself Meniere's disease, even lowering the chance a little bit, I definitely recommend doing so! Vestibular disorders are pretty terrible. Lol
Adam - salts aren’t molecules, they are ionic compounds. Does this solve your pet peeve? As a former college chemistry teacher, hearing ionic compounds called any kind of molecular is a pet peeve of mine. There are ironically charged molecules like the sulfate ion and phosphate ions that form molecular salts like magnesium sulfate or potassium phosphate etc.
Love the thoroughness of your approach, just trying to add to the discourse.
Can't tell if "ironically charged" is a funny typo or an actual scientific term. Still, the image of a molecule getting energy from wearing almost ruined jeans and listening to 90s music is funny to me.
Am I crazy or does Adam address this exact question in the video?
9:51 "These are the kinds of random language problems that make me stay up way too late at night, writing my scripts for my RUclips videos. Because I'll have a line in my script where I say, "The molecules in the food do X, Y, Z." But then I'll stop and I'll think, is some pedant in the comments going to be like, "Well, actually those are ions, not molecules.""
Imagine being the type of person Adam is trying to cover his ass for, only to get a comment like this anyway.
walter white
I also wanna say that as a person with ADHD, I eat tons of salt, I’ve toned it down in the past few years, but it was concerning as a kid. My mind was craving dopamine so much, if tried to grab any that it could and I guess part of that was seasoning my food to hell.
I have a strong suspicion that I'm ADHD and I have always had the habit of over-seasoning my food.
I have ADHD and am the only one who adds salt to my food at the table. But my husband's family was salt-phobic, though don't admit they add salt by needing high sodium processed bread and crackers that I pass up because of the low quality carbs they add to the diet.
When I was younger I loved to nibble on salty seasoning mixes such as Maggi or Vegeta 😅
Both my parents adored salt. I adore salt. Growing up with salt'a'holics reinforced my own salt'a'holism. Health problems now require me to not enjoy as much salt as I would absolutely prefer. So every now and then I cut ALL salt for a week (and suffer...), then resume using less salt which then tastes fine...until the cycle completes, lol It's a neverending story.
The best way of fixing that is lessening the dose with each use.
@@oneblacksun he says that he literally cuts all of it out and then he still little by little wants more. Do you even read
@@neongooroo no need to be rude. There are legitimate reasons why someone would suggest that.
Generally speaking, when you cut something out all at once, when you start back again you tend to rebound back to your usual intake. This is usually a gradual increase at varying rates depending on numerous factors.
Usually you have a better chance of not rebounding if you reduce your intake more slowly, over a longer period, so your body has a better chance of getting more accustomed to the new intake.
The tradeoff is that it takes longer, and also that for some people its harder to moderate intake than to just cut something out.
Also, a week without salt is not very long to change the taste preferences of a long term high salt user. There would likely be much better results if a longer period is used.
Reducing slower over a longer period may help this process, if long terms of no salt are too difficult.
It’s not definitely a better solution for everyone, but it’s a valid alternative method that could lead to better results if the existing method isn’t working as well as the person would like.
I have low-normal blood pressure to just low blood pressure - particularly if my weekly running volume gets above 10 miles (which is a pretty low weekly run volume). I will actually open up my salt grinder to eat straight salt crystals due to cravings I'll get during periods when I'm not feeling great. I also eventually realized that as a vegetarian, protein deficiency is something that impacts me as I start increasing my exercise to beyond the bare minimum which is probably one of the reasons i struggle to maintain consistent exercising. And I've had to start donating blood in the afternoon because when I donate first thing in the morning my blood pressure is sometimes (like a third of the time) too low to donate. Your blood pressure is naturally higher in the afternoon but also then I can have coffee in the morning without having to worry about too much being in my blood at donation time and caffeine helps boost blood pressure.
So no. I don't pay attention to if I'm """"eating too much salt""""""
I'm one of these "sodium sensitive" people. I found that any little bit of salt wood throw my blood pressure out of control and create edema. But trying to eliminate sodium was so much more difficult than I anticipated.
Eventually I came to discover salt substitutes that used potassium, and I immediately became aware that I was not sodium sensitive but I was actually potassium deficient. I no longer need to watch my sodium intake at all, as long as I am eating enough potassium I am fine.
I hope this helps someone else in the same position, if you find yourself sensitive to sodium or with high blood pressure or edema, try increasing your potassium intake and see what happens. I bet it helps you
How do you increase your potassium intake?
@@PepperMind The best way is probably eating dark leafy greens, but a fast way to do it is using Salt Substitutes like Lo-salt. Try adding a couple servings of that to your daily food (instead of using salt) and see how your blood pressure reacts.
For me, within about 2 days, I could no longer feel my heart beating strongly as I try to sleep and I also was no longer sensitive to salty foods.
Glad to help with any other questions anytime
@@mrfoodaramaOk, Thank you!
I’m a huge BYU football fan and apparently, back in the day, the players would drink pickle juice at half time to stay hydrated! When my dad told me that, I was so confused; I was reminded of that when you mentioned players eating salt on the sideline.
Romans and Greeks in antiquity combined dilluted wine or vinegar with honey and salt before or after combat. It's very similar idea when i think about it.
I heard about swimmers doing that to avoid cramps 😇
Our ancestors consumed much more salt than we do , I'm with Alton Brown on this - unless you have kidney problems you need only consume enough water to balance your salt intake .
Our ancestors who lived to be 100?
“Our ancestors did X” is rarely a good argument for dietary choices
@@debrucey yep, our ancestors also plastered their faces with lead powder and drank radioactive water. I don't know about salt, but what our ancestors did isn't a good justification for anything alone.
This is the longest podcast I've ever voluntarily sat through, thank you, it was worth it. Been wondering these things a long time!
My man, you have truly outdone yourself in this video! 25 minutes in, and I'm absolutely amazed by the amount of research you have done, and the way you integrated it in this video. As a chemistry major student, I take joy in hearing this kind of insight being put into videos for all the people who have little knowledge in this field. Keep doing what you are doing, I love this!
I just listened to the first 15 minutes and now I know everything about salt and ions. But I was interested in the health effects. In my opinion he shouldn't try to make the pendants happy, I prefer the information more condensed, even if he omits some information to understand everything in the last detail.
This reminds me of times when I look up a historic event on Wikipedia and end up reading the whole history of a decade 😅
@@PepperMind Well, isn't that better, in a way? Now you know all that info about salts and ions, AND you also get the info about health. Of course, if you are looking specifically for condensed info on a specific topic, this might be a bit too broad. But honestly, I think more is better in this context. You can always skip the part you are not interested in. On the other hand, if you are interested in a topic and there isn't enough material in the video, it makes you kind of frustrated - you have to go and do all the research in your own.
PS. I am not a pedant, and I agree that people who point out the slightest mistakes in videos and complain about it kinda suck. I just really enjoyed the scientific side of the video, and think that it's a really good direction to head in. Kinda like bill nye spliced with gordon ramsay. Ain't that great?
@@foon-gee-us1884You are probably right. I have to admit that I also skipped parts, which I already knew from my scientific background. In general, I like his video style very much.
When you said "the long answer will be the rest of this podcast episode" i looked at the time remaining and fully laughed
Hey Adam, I would like to hear your take on a hypothesis by Dr Rick Johnson that the issue isn't with the amount of total sodium consumed, but with high sodium concentration/osmolality. Dr Peter Attia interviewed him on the topic of blood pressure and sodium and how fructose may tie into it a few years ago and I found it to be extremely fascinating.
To quote the relevant shownotes from the podcast (#87-Rick Johnson, MD: Fructose-the common link in hypertension, insulin resistance, T2D, & obesity?):
"The relationship between salt and blood pressure (and the role of sugar) [5:45]
Does salt raise blood pressure?
The prevailing thought is that too much salt elevates blood pressure.
And the advice would be to restrict the amount of salt intake.
But it isn’t really the salt amount that makes a difference, but the salt concentration.
When you eat salt, your serum osmolality goes up.
If you drink water in combination with eating salt, you can avoid this rise in serum osmolality and avoid the rise in blood pressure.
Rick’s 2018 study showed that drinking water with a salty meal will prevent a rise in blood pressure."
Also at around 18:34 in the podcast Johnson talks about an animal study that showed a fascinating link between sodium and sugar through a certain key enzyme (that he later identifies to be aldose reductase). To quote:
"What we discovered is that when you give a high salt diet to animals that the high salt increases the serum sodium, and the serum sodium, when it goes up, it activates an enzyme that converts glucose, which is in our blood in our tissues, to fructose. And that conversion to fructose is driven by a high salt diet, and it is driven by an increase in serum osmolality or an increase in serum sodium. Once the fructose is made in the body-- so this is not fructose coming from the diet, this is made in the body-- the fructose gets metabolized and raises blood pressure. And when we gave high salt to animals they developed an increase in blood pressure and they were also making fructose, and when we blocked the metabolism of fructose we actually blocked the rise in blood pressure."
It seems that the timing of when you drink the water in relation to the sodium intake is critical as well, since if you drink the water too late after consuming a high amount of sodium, the high sodium concentration may induce this enzyme to activate, and once that happens it is too late to to prevent this process by drinking water to normalize your sodium osmolality, and thus your blood pressure still goes up.
There was also a study a few years ago under the name 'Urinary Sodium and Potassium Excretion, Mortality, and Cardiovascular Events' that examined people's urinary sodium excretions, and found that low sodium consumption (
Couldn’t find the 2018 study you’re referring to on google scholar. May have been using the wrong key terms. Any chance you could link it? I have some thoughts that jump to mind but would want to read the study before jumping to conclusions
@@huckthatdish The name of the study is 'Acute effects of salt on blood pressure are mediated by serum osmolality'.
Adam -- I would love for you to do a video on Japanese curry. I make it from the S&B box at home but haven't found a good way to do it from scratch. Would also love to learn more about it in the informative way you always present stuff!
Mmm. S&B.
I have made it from scratch and the secret is making a dark roux almost like you’re making Cajun food you want a milk chocolate color and then you add about 50/50 garam masala and curry power and a pinch cayenne to your personal taste and cook maybe a minute until fragrant. Set that aside and add it back to the pot when everything is cooked and season with salt, soy sauce, and or msg to taste. For the roux I do a 1 to 1 to 1 ratio of fat, flour, and spices and make 6-9 tablespoons for 4 cups of liquid (what the box recommends).
I’m a super taster. In a class in college, we all got paper with a bitter substance on it. If you tasted it strongly, it means you’re a super taster, taste is slightly and you’re a medium taster, etc. I tasted it so strongly, that I gasped and everyone stared at me lol.
I am definitely picky and more sensitive to bitter foods, and don’t drink alcohol either. I don’t prefer more salt though. I seek our low sodium potato chips, for instance.
I'm also a super tasters. Don't drink alcohol because I can't stand the taste of it.
But unlike you I LOVE salt. So much things I thought I didn't liked as a kid... and I started to love once I started cooking and seasoning to my taste.
But it's not only salt. It's pepper, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon... people need to learn how to use spices. Also onion and garlic.
Most people's food taste bland to me.
@@MateusAntonioBittencourt try apple-cherry jenever, Don't know the English word but it's sweet as hell.
So drinkable, also very useful when diabetic and to drink something.
Beer has always been the bane of my existence when cheap drinks where mandatory
Wow, I haven't had one of those super taster tests but I always suspected that I am because I hate bitter foods and can detect it in very low concentrations and also hate the taste of alcohol.
It's a dark joke, but one that stuck with me since childhood: in an episode of the wkuk sketch show, the cast is on the titanic, and it's going down. I believe Zach says "studies have shown that drowning is like the worst way to die."
And Sam asks "what's the best?"
To which Darren replies "I heard stomach cancer"
& Zack says "I think that's true"
Would just like to say Adam that your fitness/personal physical health stories are always encouraging - I'm 25 and not 100% happy with my body, so it is helpful to hear someone who's already made a bunch of the mistakes (like crash dieting) relay their experience.
Likewise, I'm the same age, and even though I've been watching fitness videos for years, I've never even begun my fitness journey during my peak testosterone/HGH years for a lot of reasons...
It's nice to see you here, I remember watching your long-form analyses of games before you stopped posting. It was more serious critique than a lot of other channels I used to watch, but more approachable than Noah Caldwell-Gervais or MatthewMatosis. I would place it in the category of Joseph Anderson or Chris Davis.
I just checked your 'Community' page and saw that you stopped to focus on your studies, a wise decision. I appreciate the content and will retain my subscription in case you post again.
I have POTS - postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome - and that means my blood vessels are too loose, essentially. So I have to take 3 1-gram salt tablets per day, or all the blood doesn't get to my head and I get dizzy and faint and get migraines. So if you see me eating a pizza for breakfast or carrying broth around like water, that's partially why. Edit: Oh, and I also have muscle spasms! So that bit about the abs going into a spasming little knot I feel in my BONES. When fresh meat is cut it spasms, and sometimes butchers take gifs of "jumping" meat, and i like to look at those when I'm having a really bad day and can't walk because they're satisfying.
Thank you! I've suffered from charley horses on occasion through out all my life, but this is the first time I've heard someone talk about it, and it's the first time I've heard a name for it. Like you, I've found a sort of "counter move" to stop it if I'm quick enough. For me, the issue seems to have gone away since I (more or less) stopped eating sugar. I ate a lot of sugar.
Greetings from the Johnson Space Center Mission Control (ISS)! It's amazing that I actually watched the whole thing without skipping! Such a good personality + very good delivery! Please go on!
When I open this up randomly, because the title got my attention I was excited to see that it is nearly 2 hours of discussion. This shows that Adam takes the time to touch on all of the various associated aspects of whatever topic is at hand. Everything is connected and it takes a while to get to a point because of that. Thanks for taking the time.
yes technically a molecule with non-neutral charge is a "polyatomic ion"
my chemistry professor in college said about that entire thing
"if you make that mistake in this class, its wrong, but not the worst mistake you could make. if you say polyatomic ion to someone on the street, you're going to look like an idiot"
Hey Adam, I want to thank you for your clear and extensive explanations. I am familiar with the frustrations that come from researching on your own and I am thankful that your channel exists. You are one of the two RUclips cooking channels I watch because the rest seem to barely explain everything. I feel like every time I watch one of your videos I am learning from a master who has vast experience and knowledge on the area. When I think about ideal teachers and communicators I think of people like you.
I am 22 and I already had high blood a year ago. Last year I moved and the change of place and diet brought it down from 14 to 12, which is within the healthy zone. I am happy to keep learning about it with help of videos like yours.
Like you said, most of us ingest an excessive amount of sodium, not just from table salt but also from MSG, baking soda etc., which is why nutritional content labels in the US specify sodium content (not salt content like we do in the EU).
edit: fixed
huh? USA Nutrition labels have always specifically listed quantity of sodium.
@@Nyx773 Oh shit, I mistyped. I meant it the other way around.
I've heard anecdotally from multiple people that straight up potassium chloride tastes "cold". Also that how much you can taste it in your food depends on the particular food. You can taste it more in some foods than others.
In one study some (not all) blinded research subjects actually preferred the taste of 50/50 NaCl/KCl over pure NaCl in prepared food, but switching entirely was pretty unpalatable to everyone.
Lithium salts are good too, just insanely expensive and probably not good to consume a lot. It messes with your neurochemistry.
@@369Sigma Lithium salts are awesome! My family and friends just wouldn't be the same without them! 😜
I've tasted potassium chloride, it tastes nasty bitter as heck. Erithyritol, though, tastes/feels cold to me.
@@Just_Sara I use 1/3 KCl to 2/3 NaCl in dishes where I have to reduce the amount of sodium for those family members that worship at the feet of the medical mafia, and for the most part, we can't tell a significant difference in the flavour of the dish, but yes, it alone does have a generally more bitter flavour than plain table salt. I use monk fruit extract on a binder of erythritol as my general sucrose replacement, and it does have a cooling effect, but since it's in my coffee and iced tea (I don't use sweeteners generally otherwise), I really don't notice it.
A video on salt substitutes and their efficacy, including where they are or are not appropriate, would be super helpful. Also, incorporating some of those substitutes into future recipes, such as you already do with vegan or gluten-free options, would be most appreciated.
For example, I cut the amount of salt in my pasta boil water by half and haven't noticed a difference in taste. Nice. Seasoning plain boiled vegetables (peas, corn, green beans, etc.) is still a challenge. However, a little butter, Mrs. Dash, and potassium chloride allows just a tiny sprinkle of table salt to bring it up to a similar level of palatability. Using just 1/3 or 1/4 as much salt is still a win, it doesn't need to be 100%.
Other ingredients like garlic powder, vinegar, and spices have been pretty disappointing. However, I feel I don't know enough about where spices like sage, ginger, cumin, celery seed, coriander, thyme, dill, basil, rosemary, etc. would work and where they won't. That's made me avoid some recipes, especially soups, that seem to just require a ton of salt to be any good. I suspect however that some of those spices would be up to the challenge, but figuring out what to use where is the challenge.
Adam’s RUclips career is a masterclass on what to do when you achieve something viral on the internet. I wonder if there are any things he wish he’d done differently on his journey; I fail to see any mistakes he’s made.
Fr
He used to be very combative in his comment sections, when he used to post q and as he'd be pretty aggressive for a content creator in his replies
I think it's kind of like Strong Bad. He has never actually made a mistake, but there may have been a few "stnanks" along the way.
Being sponsored by verifiable scam products constantly
I think he mentioned having to spend a lot of time editing videos, but for us thats a good thing because there isnt a thousand cuts in every video with sounds effects and graphics every 5-10 seconds and screaming MOMMY.
I have largely replaced sodium chloride with potassium chloride. The taste of potassium chloride is similar to regular table salt and it’s easy to become accustomed to the taste, just as you can become accustomed to using less salt in general. Morton’s Salt Substitute is all potassium chloride while other commercial substitutes are a mixture with sodium chloride. Like Adam said, most people don’t get enough potassium and it’s an essential dietary element. And your body more easily rids itself of potassium than it does sodium. I still use some sodium chloride because I run and sweat a lot.
Isn't it bitter like Adam said?
@@erzsebetkovacs2527 Bitter? Compared to what? Relatively speaking, side to side, potassium chloride does taste a smidge bitter compared to sodium chloride. Used in cooking, you won’t taste the difference. If you put salt on foods like corn or watermelon, you’ll taste some difference. But like all things, you can habituate your taste to potassium.
I've discovered that using lemon/pepper seasoning replaces the need for salt in savory dishes. Perhaps this wouldn't work for some people, but it's the answer for this diabetic. I no longer reach for the salt shaker in preparing or tasting my dish.
as fellow nerd who reads a lot, apparently europeans (and likely many other regions of the world) used to salt everything like crazy in the medieval and later centuries (for preservative reasons). no health ill effects noted, and this went right up to recent recorded data during 1850 to 1950. So if salt is causing ill effects now, it is because of other health issues occurring concurrently due to other food/diet/exercise habits of the modern western lifestyle and diet, not salt itself. (this observation will not cover any niche cases due to genetics)
Indeed. Also, the salt that they used tended to have a higher mineral composition: it wasn't the purified, snow white stuff that we generally use. Since I switched to using "pink" and other less refined salt and cut out the majority of the refined food stuffs, my blood pressure has been great. And yes, I do account for this in making sure that my iodine intake levels are adequate, as well potassium to keep the sodium-potassium "pump" cycle in balance.
I wonder if this is one of those things where other things like unsanitary living conditions and breathing in industrial smog on a daily basis vastly overshadow any ill effect salt may have had, so the health effects of salt only became apparent after those other factors were eliminated?
@@SacredDaturaa That's very possible, yet I suspect that there's a case to be made that the use of naturally occurring common salt helped offset, if not mitigate, the other harmful things in their lives, even though common salt itself in excess is a potential source of harm; however, the vast majority of the research to date suggests that when it's taken with enough potassium, other minerals and water related to the osmotic balance, it is very difficult to over do it in the short term, with the long term being a potential issue for a small segment of the population. I'd love to see more research into the genetic connections to potential issues with "excess" common salt consumption, with a rigorous examination into what constitutes "excess" in this regard, both daily and over time.
Adam, I found your channel through one of your very, very, long responses to another food youtube. Honestly I really enjoy your content, I believe it adds value and I'm sure you do to - for the most part - and that makes me appreciate your content more. I've watched many - almost all - of your videos over the past few months and that has been no intentional feat; you truly put effort into compelling and digestable (get it) videos that are incredibly informative and respect the intelligence of all your viewers, and I for one quite appreciate that Adam.
I'm very envious of the fantastic position you've gotten yourself in and I would like to hereby personally congratulate you for the fantastic raport you've created between your viewership and yourself as well as your consistency in approach to videos. I believe what makes you most reliable as a person - beyond just a content creator - is not that you are always right, but instead that you are ready to be wrong and correct that. This, Adam, garners you incredible respect not just from me, but from all of your viewers - if I may of course speak on behalf of them.
I would like to make it be known that this comment was actually written for your "Is breakfast important? .. et cetera" video, just under a minute to its conclusion. I've posted it here because honestly speaking it'd be rather illogical to put a comment that was delivered towards you specifically and not just the greater Ragusea RUclips community on a video that is over several months old at the time of writing.
I'm very hopeful that one day I may also find myself in a fortunate position where - through creativity - I can earn a very liveable income, and I hope that comes through the form of content creation on RUclips. I'm ofcourse maturely aware of how to make this a reasonable decision in my life, however, I know that it would be incredibly unhealthy both physically and mentally to strive for that, as to near guarantee success on any creative platform like this one must output an incredibly large volume and quality of content which would mean to reliably move upwards in such an industry one would have to work all day, everyday from the time they wake up until the time they sleep for several years to find any reasonable chance of success outside of blind luck. However I do wish to do some smaller scale form of this in the future, mostly out of a personal interest.
I first got one of those calf cramps when I was in my teens, when I stretched in bed just as I woke up. Over the years I have learned simply not to stretch when I wake up. I never knew the cause until I watched this video.
Pedant mode engaged: at 14:30, you justify the fact that chlorine contributes the majority of the mass of NaCl by comparing the respective atomic numbers of the two elements - their proton count.
This is faulty reasoning, as the atomic number only accounts for the protons and not the neutrons. To compare their masses, you would invoke the atomic mass of each element and compare them thusly.
To be even more pedantic, you would have to account for the specific atomic mass of the isotopes of the two elements that are able to form NaCl and calculate a weighted average. A simplification can be made by assuming that the formation of NaCl is agnostic to the isotopes of the two elements - in this case, you can use the weighted atomic mass of each element that is found on some periodic tables at the bottom of the respective element's table cell.
Btw I love that you put so much real scientific information in your videos. You tend to script your lines very accurately with respect to your research.
Love from a long time fan and Electrical Engineer in Louisiana. Your videos were always a treat back when I was in college.
I'd never heard the term Charley horse before but I've definitely had them in my calf several times, usually while in bed. I find that when it's coming if I point my toes towards my head, stretching out my calf muscle it pretty much stops it. Took me way to long to figure that out. If anyone has one in their calf try this, hope it helps you like it did for me.
I wouldn't say it stops it, but rather it stops the pain associated with it. Just gotta hold it like that for the entire duration.
@@Appl_Jax Fair, that's what I meant. It does stop the pain for as long as you hold it. For me that only lasts 5-10 seconds at most
I always got these in bed and found if I jumped out of bed and just stood in my bare feet, that would make it pass immediately like magic. Totally counter-intuitive based on how it is feeling, but it worked for me after I discovered this accidentally.
I imagine that in the Nordics you could see a pretty big difference in Sodium and Chloride in salty liquorice lovers. It's actually Ammonium chloride that makes up the salty part of the liquorice.
I think this was my favorite of your podcast episodes so far. Thanks, Adam!
Just for your reference Adam, I'm a particle physicist and have never heard anyone say an ion isn't an atom. Anyone who tries to get smart with you over something like that is probably insecure about their own knowledge and projecting it by 'correcting' things that aren't wrong and don't need to be corrected. Clarity in communicating to people is far more important than using the right jargon - 'charged molecule' and 'charged atoms' are perfectly fine things to say. Same thing goes for the different mass of sodium vs chlorine; anyone who would try to 'well ackshually' you on that is more interesting in making themselves feel smart than clarity or educating people.
tl;dr: you do you and the pedants need to find something better to do.
Alinea rocks... So thankful for Grant's culinary abilities and recovery! The most fabulous morsel of food I ever had was at Alinea
The electrical engineer in me really loved how much time, and how well, you committed to explaining atoms at the start of this episode. I was very impressed at how well you distilled what you were trying to convey. Maybe it's because I spent so much time studying it but, I could not have done it as succinctly and benificially to people. I'd get caught up in the things I find important... but are maybe irrelevant distinctions for the topic at hand.
"hypo" meaning "low" "natri" coming from the greek word "natrium" meaning "salt" and "-emia" meaning "presence in blood". "low salt presence in blood"
A cooking RUclipsr downed three containers of Morton salt. This is what happened to his kidneys.
When talking about passing away it was kind of hard, my father passed away a couple of months ago (age 63) because of a heart attack, being a chef he really enjoyed his food and it was likely a significant contributor as much as it is hard at least he passed on pretty quick without significant suffering and it was something he enjoyed doing which did him in. But even so look after yourselves people and stay healthy.
Hey Adam I don't have time right now to watch this but I will do when I have.
Just about the topic salt:
A few months ago I got diagnosed with a kidney disease, after that a whole lot has changed for me.
Food is my biggest change because most importantly to get your kidney running as long as possible is to avoid salt. That's really hard.
I found lot of ppl only that go through the same. And there is like zero awareness about it, it's kind of weird.
Maybe you can make a video about stuff like salt and food/recipes with less salt (
Kidneys heal themselves in healthy people, as with every organ. When something fucks them up beyond their own healing capacities is that you need to avoid salt and protein to not overburden them and postpone their eventual failure.
The salt and protein are not the cause, they're just the main thing kidneys work with, when you have failing kidneys, you need to eat less of them to avoid them failing earlier. Thats it.
@@Bramble20322 As we get old, kidneys function less well. It’s a mistake to believe someone 60 years old has the same function as someone 20 years old. It’s a mistake to think we don’t damage our organs by overdoing things like salt and protein throughout our lives.
@@Bramble20322 i know but it just blows my mind how many ppl suffer from a chronicle kidney disease (CKD) at the same time there is like zero awareness of the public about this topic.
@@Bramble20322 This remind me of a comparision I once hearld about why salt is not THAT bad. It lie saying gluten is bad because people who have celliac disease suffer due to gluten, THEREFORE gluten must be bad. That, to me, is like saying moving you arm is bad because people with broken bones are advised not to move their bone, therefore not moving you bones must be good for you (you could do this example with like nuts for example).
Before my mother died she was on dialysis and throughout the final near decade of her life after she lost kidney function, trying to maintain a low salt diet was one of the hardest things and she slipped up a lot. That and potassium I think.
Oh man. Lauren did an amazing job on that background of yours. I find myself never getting bored assessing it from episode to episode.
I am a salt fiend! As a young married mother, I had to learn not to season dishes with salt the way I like it because it's too much for most people.I tell every one who eats what I cook that they will have to add their owñ salt amount because I don't.I am discriminating about the amounts I personally prefer on certain foods,the more bland usually the more salt I like ,such as potatoes and eggs.Please remember that our bodies are mostly water based ,and salt is important for all the processes to function electrically in our bodies.I basically pay attention to my body and what it tells me I need...I don't just salt for pleasure or idly.The same way I listen to my cravings for salads,fruits,or greens.The one wonderful difference I've discovered recently is sea salt added to dark chocolate.It simple,we are evolutionary beings that come from the salt sea millions of years ago.
If you don't salt your food respectively throughout the cooking process. People are really going to hate your food.
I love biltong because it fits my medical needs really well: I need lots of salt (POTS and other autonomic issues), I need lots of fat and protein because of a carnitine genetic defect, and I need a way to keep my mouth busy so that I don’t default to obsessive grooming behaviour. Admittedly even now I don’t eat enough salt day to day but I’m working on it.
Damm we were so fast that it has no sound
I just got an error instead 😂。
I don’t even have the stream
Same here. This is a problem...
@@Great_Olaf5 I closed it out and re-entered the video. Its good now.
I'm riddled with chronic illness, and one fun thing that I have is daily charlie horses since high school, mostly in the back of my calves and feet, but other places as well. Here's how you can get rid of the calf ones (and the foot ones, too.)
Pull your big toe back, towards your shin. That's it.
If you're hypermobile enough to just casually reach it even when in excruciating pain, do that. But you can also grab a nearby blanket/shirt/towel/whatever and fling it over your foot like a sling, where the bottom is on the bottom of your food and the two handles of extra fabric are on either side, which you can pull up with your hands. Doing that will pull your whole foot up, towards your shin, and begin loosening it. Then you can shimmy the cloth up your foot as you're able, eventually being able to focus the pulling on your toes. This works, every time, no matter how bad the charlie horse it. As long as it's the back of your calf or in your foot itself.
Front of your calf requires the opposite, where you push your toes down towards the sole of your foot. But I prefer the 'for all other cramps' method, which is to have a spiky ball on a stick that you roll around on affected areas. It loosens them all and while you will still have residual pain, it's great for all those other muscles that you can't quite find the exact release movement.
Wow this episode covers many things that related directly to me! Enjoying lots of salt and finding a plethora of things bitter/tasting everything 'too much', in the super taster section and talks of stomach/colon cancer which I am already genetically predisposed to with Lynch syndrome makes me wonder if there's a link between those two genotypes cause Lynch syndrome, despite the main area of research/concern with it being the increased riskk of many types of cancers, has a plethora of other linked genes that influence so many other things that seem not at all related.
I made a couple of changes to how I make mashed potatoes. Slow and low boil to get tender and adding milk powder. Everyone loves them. Thankyou. I really enjoy these podcasts.
Hey Adam I love the podcast and look forward to it every week to listen to while I am doing laundry and other chores. I hate to be one of those “pedants” you speak of, but the “bicarbonate” ion is HCO3 -, while the carbonate ion is CO3 2-. My friend (a geochemistry graduate student) and I were recently wondering why bicarbonate got its name when there is nothing “bi” about it. Thanks for your explanation!
Also, “Bisulfate” is HSO4-, while sulfate is SO4 2-. Bicarbonate is very common in natural waters, especially “hard” waters, since hard waters are usually “hard” due to the dissolution of limestone (calcium carbonate)
Adam, you are one of the kind. From one man to another, you are as nerdy as I can be. This long read of you is out of the ordinary. I have always kind of know about the salty part of NaCl but through your keenness I have now even more awareness of this thing.
49 year old ;)
One other thing you can become desensitized to is sugar. Take that into account if you struggle with weight loss or diabetes. I always loved sweet things but after becoming more sensitive, I can't handle a fruit without an unsweetened drink.
Immediately after a bit of cake that was just too sweet, coca cola didn't taste sweet to me at all anymore
I have to force myself to eat fruit (other than avocados.) I severely dislike sweets.
Cramps in your calves, that starting happening to me about 10 years ago when I woke up and stretched. I thought a charly horse is a type of bruising but OK. What to do about a cramp in your calves.
Raise your toes and feet pulling up with the muscles in the front of your lower legs, the side opposite to your calves. This stops the cramps. Pretty much instantly. I read this somewhere and finally remember one morning to try it.
It works, really well. Don't know about other kinds of cramping but it sure does work for cramping in the calves.
there are also medical conditions that cause you to crave salt, POTS, mainly. because it has to do with low blood pressure, iirc
Pretty much. I'm suspected to have POTS and salt is my jam. Extra salt and extra fluids help to combat blood pooling and low blood pressure that might cause one to pass out, which is never a fun thing to experience. Gatorade and other such drinks are a fantastic thing for POTS folks.
Hey Adam, I really appreciate the way you explain and dissect the topics! Do you think it will be doable for you to mark the different time points for future videos? It will be really easy to find if we need to go back and check them when needed. Thank you for your time!
Sometimes people are so afraid to give old people too much salt, that they end up getting too little of it. There was an old guy they thought was getting dementia, but then it turned out he just needed to eat more salt.
Sadly I didn’t get this from an article I can link, this is from talking to my grandpa and hearing about what happened to his friends.
Your experience lines up with the studies I've seen. A low salt diet is more dangerous for heart disease than a high salt diet. Ofc balance is ideal, but so many people die from a low salt diet. It would be nice if more people knew this. Outside of the US salt is a lot less controversial at least.
our body can regulate the amount salt in our body really well with water intake. i wonder when we will ever get rid of salt fear.
@@mkl126 maybe when people start drinking more water
10:45 Minor nitpick I remember from my chemistry class. There are ions that are molecules. For example, bleach salts break into sodium (Na+) and hypochlorite (ClO-) ions. Na+ is a monoatomic ion and ClO- is a polyatomic ion. The more you know!
Definitely here to learn all the interesting things along the way to the big thing.
It’s a misconception that salt alone is the reason blood pressure rises in some folks. It’s actually the relationship between salt and the other electrolytes. A pronounced electrolyte imbalance produces fatigue and cramps, often dizziness. A mild imbalance will not do those things but it will cause your blood vessels, not arteries, to constrict. If this imbalance becomes chronic then chronic hypertension will occur. The higher pressure isn’t from “to much water” in the blood. The higher pressure is from this chronic constriction. The body will naturally use water and electrolytes to relax muscles. This is why high blood pressure patients are often on diuretics. This medication will pull more water into the blood stream to relax those blood vessels however, it does not address the actual problem which an electrolyte imbalance. Cutting salt is usually not necessary for most people, even those with high blood pressure, and can make the problem worse for some. Highly processed food adds to problem of imbalances by being heavy on the sodium and low in potassium and most importantly magnesium. People with high blood pressure should instead avoid processed food and consume home cooked food that is salted to taste and contains higher amounts of potassium and magnesium, like leafy greens and yes, root veg. Bottom line is nobody suffers from “salt sensitivity” however many suffer from “Chronic Electrolyte Imbalance Syndrome”.
That whole discussion on ions and salts was kinda weird to me. I was taught in high school chemistry that a salt was specifically ionic bonds between a metal and a nonmetal.
Nonmetals tend to be anions and metals tend to be cations.
Ammonium nitrate is a salt with nonmetallic, polyatomic ions forming each component
Finally, someone who understands the terrible calf cramps. People who witnessed mine when I was in agony thought I was taking the piss.
I am not a salt fiend but I am very partial to savoury foods. Although more likely related to food addiction than any sensory deficit.
Food addition seems to favor cakes and sweets for most.
I actually listened to the audio only version of this podcast before coming here to comment. It is interesting to watch you when you are listening.
I came to comment that I use to struggle with Charlie horses for years, but no longer since I figured out that my electrolyte balances were off. Now I take "light" salt, potassium in a salt shaker, magnesium and calcium and my Charlie horses are a thing of the past. When I did have them, I found that flexing a countering muscle: stretching upward for a rib cramp, doing a calf stretch to ease a calf cramp stopped the Charlie horse. I recently had severely low sodium levels because of a new health issue that is now under control. It felt like I had low blood sugar: weakness, dizziness, but only after I ate something sweet, I didn't feel any better. After I ate some chicken and kept wanting to add more and more salt, I realized what was going on. A blood test to figure out the overall cause of my health issue is what proved the salt deficiency to me. By the time I had the blood test, my sodium levels were low, but near normal, so the doctor didn't realize the significance at first. He was more concerned with the bigger health issue that was going on, that was a lot more dangerous than sodium levels that would come back on their own on a typical American diet.
i like the maj9 chord in the ask adam jingle, you should add another note to it every week like the #11, 13, etc (more and more notes from the "super lydian" chord if youve heard of it, goes on forever)
I love 9ths and add 9s. So spicy yet still pretty.
Yes, one can get accustomed to not adding extra salt to much of one's food. I have done it. There is enought natural salt in many vegetables. I have never confirmed this but was once told that one stalk of celery has enough salt to sustain the average person. Of course that would also depend on one's activity level. I have reduced the amounts of processed food greatly, but I still eat bacon, ham, and sausage on occassion. I usually salt meat before cooking, especially fish. I use hot sause on my eggs and that in itself has enough salt for me. When I saute onions or mushrooms I use some salt, though I am not even sure that is necessary.
fatsecret says one large stalk of celery has 50 mg of sodium, and another page says the minimum needed is 200-500 mg of sodium a day.
As a salt lover, I appreciate coverage of this topic
I use bouillon when fasting, it doesn't contain sugar, wich usually affects me negatively. It helps almost immediately, as I imagine gatorade does, and makes an intermittent fasting diet very doable.
What about someone like me, who's blood pressure is chronically way too low, in the 90/50 area and could really benefit from a higher blood pressure through a high sodium intake?
Actually, yes! There are actually certain salt supplements with lots of different electrolytes made for this exact purpose. I actually am about to start on a regimen of these saltsticks to help manage a suspected case of POTS (to oversimplify, standing up makes my heart rate increase uncontrollably and I pass out anywhere from once a month up to 5 times a day). Vitassium is a brand I hear tossed around fairly frequently. Wouldn't hurt to speak with your doctor about potentially starting on some. Best of luck, fellow commenter.
Yes
As I am mostly listening to the podcast whilst im doing something else, I sometimes don't get through the full cast in one time listen, but the funny thing is that this TAB of the cast which I keep open so I can continue when I can. When I start my browser however it always starts playing at a certain time (not where I left it last time) and that time is 11:10 . Which means that for about 3 days I have heard Adam say "MURDUR" a few times 😂
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This topic came at the perfect time for me, because i just started to evaluate my salt intake. (Side note: This video was jampacked with interesting and useful facts and I loved it). I recently concluded that the easiest way to cut back sodium was NOT adding salt to cooked food, which I feel like is the opposite of what Adam would endorse hahaha. But a lot of general stuff I eat has moderate amounts of sodium, like vegan coffee creamer, etc. Whereas adding even a TINY tsp of salt has a whopping 2,000+ mg of sodium. It was a no brainer for me. I could just not salt any salads or meals I'm making. And like the mention of taste buds "adjusting," I truly did not miss it. It's like I never even needed it. Not worth it. So my advice is only add salt to cooked food if you really really need it, which you often do, I realize. And then, yeah, don't go crazy on bags of chips, which isn't always easy for me either haha.
A teaspoon of salt is a lot of salt. It's not as tiny as what gets shaken on top by someone adjusting their food at the table, unless they are very strange.
@@MilwaukeeWoman True but I wasn't suggesting people dump that on their food. I mean like in a recipe. It's not uncommon for an entire dish to have close to that much. I googled some random recipes just now, sweet and savory, and about half of them called for 3/4 teaspoon of salt. My point was just how quickly the mg of sodium adds up. And that's ONE meal.
So if you add 3/4 teaspoon to a dish and have 1/4 of the whole dish, say, because you're in a family of four, that's already 431 mg of sodium you added yourself just from the recipe. At that point, you're already about a third of the way to your daily safe limit, and that's not counting ANYthing else you eat that day, especially snacks. My point is adding less/no salt to cooked food is actually a pretty easy way to drastically reduce sodium.
Also lemon does a good job of seasoning food, as an alternative to salt. Or at least a way to use less of it.