Why exactly is too much salt bad for you?

I put salt on everything. Even things im not going to eat. even things that arent edible. I’ll salt my remote control sometimes just out of habit. Literally every food item either needs or will benefit from the addition of salt except beverages. I’m always told how bad salt is for you, though its never explained exactly why. Today a Facebook friend came to the rescue with this status update explaining what too much salt does to you and why its not good in a short and easy to understand way:

But what happens when you eat more salt than your body needs? Your body retains fluid simply to dilute the extra sodium in your bloodstream. This raises blood volume, forcing your heart to work harder; at the same time, it makes veins and arteries constrict. The combination raises blood pressure.

A commenter added:

Sodium Chloride and (grey) Celtic Sea Salt act totally different in the body, The Sea Salt has 80 total minerals, all vital to human cellular function..

and now we all know. and of course the government is going to fix it for us.

if you’ll excuse me, i have to go refill the salt shaker i keep in my room.

In the video: Robin Miller, Food Network host, tells Headline Health (a FoxNews.com internet show) her No. 1 goal when cooking with spices: its all about the flavor. doesn’t matter how good something is for you if you’re not going to eat it, she astutely observes. salt is the new buzz word on whats bad but its real easy to replace evidently.

“Salt eaters live longer” is something i’d like explored more… for kids too:

KFC testing sandwich using fried chicken as “bread”

The LA Times had similar thoughts to mine when first hearing of this on the Consumerist website, as I did, saying We were dubious when we first read that Kentucky Fried Chicken was coming out with a new sandwich that does away with the bread in favor of two fried fillets. And that the “sandwich” part of the sandwich involved was made of cheese, something called Colonel’s sauce .. and bacon? – But, after the initial omg-factor, I don’t see what the big deal is, health-wise.

Yes, it’s funny that KFC has a sandwich, in limited release or not, that contains bacon and cheese (not renowned for being health food) and uses fried chicken as “bread” but I’m still left saying “and?…” Chyea, fried chicken is fried. And the nutrient-less flour patty that constitutes fast food “bread” is any better than this “bread”? I don’t think so.

In the video below, Willy Geist places the KFC Double Down in a lineup of actual food atrocities, including my arch nemesis, the stuffed crust…

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“The brain of an addicted smoker treats nicotine as if it is essential for survival.”

The summary: The brain of an addicted smoker treats nicotine as if it is essential for survival. Genetic traits may predispose some smokers to stronger addiction. Most smokers try to quit unaided, resulting in a high failure rate.

If you smoke, no one needs to tell you how bad it is. So why haven’t you quit? Why hasn’t everyone?

Because smoking feels good. It stimulates and focuses the mind at the same time that it soothes and satisfies. The concentrated dose of nicotine in a drag off a cigarette triggers an immediate flood of dopamine and other neurochemicals that wash over the brain’s pleasure centers. Inhaling tobacco smoke is the quickest, most efficient way to get nicotine to the brain.

“I completely understand why you wouldn’t want to give it up,” said Dr. David Abrams, an addiction researcher at the National Institutes of Health. “It’s more difficult to get off nicotine than heroin or cocaine.”

Smoking “hijacks” the reward systems in the brain that drive you to seek food, water and sex, Dr. Abrams explained, driving you to seek nicotine with the same urgency. “Your brain thinks that this has to do with survival of the species,” he said.