Low-Carb Living

Lesson 3: What Not To Eat

Sugars, Salt, and Other Additives

Refined Sugars. Honey was the only sweet (besides fruits and berries) our paleolithic ancestors ate, and they didn’t eat much of them, because they are seasonal foods. Today, sugars and sweetners are a regular part of our daily diets. Besides causing cavities, refined sugars are high-glycemic carbohydrates without nutritional value. Sweet cravings are nature’s way of leading us to nutritious fruits and berries. When we reach instead for refined-sugar products, our cravings are not satisfied as they would be with fruit so we reach for more and more sugar.

Salted Foods. In paleolithic times, salt was consumed only as it occurred naturally in meats and fruits and vegetables. These natural sources contained a healthy balance between sodium and potassium with potassium existing in greater levels than sodium. These levels of sodium and potassium are proportioned oppositely in our modern diet. Salts should also be limited because they are acid-producing foods which contribute to the loss of calcium from our bones. See page 111 in The Paleo Diet, for a list of salt-containing foods.

“Humans are the only free-living terrestrial mammals who ordinarily consume more sodium than potassium, the only species to commonly experience rising average blood pressure with increasing age, and the only mammals to commonly develop hypertension. Stone Age humans consumed only one fourth the sodium average Westerners now do (Eaton, 1997). About 90% of current sodium intake results from food processing, preparation and flavoring: only 10% is intrinsic to the foods themselves. Many groups of hunter-gatherers, pastoralists and rudimentary horticulturalists who lack commercially available salt have been studied in this century: these ancestral human surrogates experience neither rising blood pressure with age nor clinical hypertension. (Eaton, 1988)”–S. Boyd Eaton, MD and Stanley B. Eaton III.

Food Additives. Monosodium glutamate (msg), aspartame, sulfites, and nitrites are among the many food additives that negatively impact our health. They can even be fatal for some people.

MSG is a flavor-enhancing, refined amino acid made from starch, corn sugar, or molasses. When ingested, MSG can cause neurons in the brain to become overstimulated and die. MSG is also known as textured vegetable protein (TVP) or plant protein extract. The word ‘hydrolyzed’ always refers to MSG. MSG is commonly added to frozen foods in which enzymes have been broken down rendering the food bland-tasting.

Aspartame is used in some sugar substitutes. It changes to formaldehyde, phenylalanine and methanol in the body, and in products when they are heated to more than 30 degrees C. Ingestion of aspartame may cause vomiting, anxiety attacks, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), and death.

Sulfites are a preservative commonly used in dried fruits. They occur naturally through the process of fermentation of alcohol. Many people are allergic to sulfites, and asthmatics are sensitive to them. They can be used in a wide variety of products.

Nitrites are commonly used in cured meats such as luncheon meats, ham, sausage, and hot dogs. They are implicated in causing cancer.

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