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salt concerns?
Started
by Sylvia S.
on November 5, 2009
Hello everyone..i've been a vegan for awhile now, and was really excited to find Alicia's book, I'm really happy to see so many people embracing veganism too! I'm liking the book because it relies so heavily on healthy, whole foods, not processed soy products like a number of other vegan recipe books I have. I've noticed though that a lot of the recipes have a very high salt content, because of the shoyu, or umeboshi plum vinegar...perhaps some people have found brands with a lower sodium content, but the ones I found, the umeboshi plum vinegar contained over a 1000 mg of sodium per teaspoon, and the Shoyu contained 960 mg per tablespoon...this just seems so high to me, from what I've read a person actually doesn't need more than 500 mg of salt per day to be healthy.
One of the recipes, the Baby Bok Choy Drizzled with Ume Vinaigrette calls for a tablespoon of umeboshi vinegar, and a teaspoon of Gomashio which is also made out of salt. This dish would contain thousands of mg of sodium, I dont see how this can be healthy long term? Perhaps I'm misinformed, I know it's made from sea salt which has nutrients the body needs, but I thought salt was still salt, and too much is bad for you. I would really like to hear some other comments about this? thanks!
I agree with you Sylvia and I try to stay away from salt as it makes me very puffy. I use Braggs Amino acid instead of soy sauce which is lower sodium. I found it at Whole foods. I went to get the umeboshi vinegar and noticed the same thing.
oh, by the way.. i've been eating miso soup every day and an umeboshi plum a few times a week, and i don't feel.... bad.
usually if i have a salty snack like movie theater popcorn or something like that, i feel horrible afterwards. but i don't with the miso and umeboshi.
but yes, i still wonder how much is too much.
I have similar concerns. Supposedly, we only really 'need' 1 tsp of salt per day! That said, in the book, Alicia mentions making a hot drink out of water and a dried shiitake mushroom. This is supposed to help your body eliminate extra salt if you feel you've had too much. I made it last night and, not only was it super-tasty, but it seemed to have a bit of a diuretic effect! Can't be sure it was the drink and nothing else, but after allllll the miso, shoyu, sea salt, ume, etc., I did feel sort of evened out after having the mushroom drink. Will definitely have it again!
A relatively small number of those with high blood pressure find a benefit from reduced sodium diets. Traditional Asian diets associated with lower overall blood pressures consume relatively high amounts of sodium. In the absence of concentrated fat and protein associated with the western diet, higher levels of sodium don't appear to be associated with high blood pressure. There are concerns about osteoporosis and high sodium diets but they also associated the effects with a western diet. Eastern women eating lots of salty soy foods enjoy relative immunity.
Hi all! i was reading the post about Umboshi plums and thought of asking about the salt then i found this question!! im a nutritionist-well studying to be one-- and sodium is only like 2400 a day, and on the ETL diet, which i was kinda getting into before this--sodium is supposed to be kept to a minimum. it did kind of scare me that the plums have 30% sodium.
BUT- after reading what Justin said- i kind of can see the point. We arent getting sodium from junk food or processed food or anything like that...its purley sea minerals. which is true- in asia they have realtively good health and no incidence of high blood pressure.
So- i think i'll try it and not worry about the sodium, its all about balance right?? where are we getting most of our nutrients, and how well are we following the kind diet?
was cool to find this post.. my family has a history of high blood pressure and i don't want to overdo the salt for obvious reasons
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