Imagine everyone sitting down for a big family feast. The best china set gently upon silk cloth, crystals brimming with fresh apple-cinnamon-ginger juice. An array of baked, steamed and sautéed vegetables decorate the table. Suddenly Grandma reaches for the salt, startled she rears back and exclaims, “Why is the salt PINK?!” Oh Grandma, “Its Himalayan salt, and it's wonderful!” Origins The Himalayan mountain range stretches across Asia passing through China, Nepal, Myanmar, Pakistan, Bhutan, Afghanistan, and India. Most people associate the Himalayans with Mount Everest, the highest peak on this planet, but here is something new to think about - salt. Once upon a time (a couple of hundreds of millions of years ago) crystallized sea salt beds, now deep within the Himalayans, were covered by lava. Aside from being kept it in a pristine environment that has been surrounded by snow and ice year round, the lava is thought to have protected the salt from modern-day pollution leading to the belief that Himalayan Pink salt is the purest salt to be found on earth. It is now hand-mined from the mountains and brought to the culinary market. Why Pink? The many hues of pink, red and white are an indication of this salt's rich and varying mineral and energy-rich iron content. Benefits In the same manner that vitamins and minerals are perfectly packaged in fruits and vegetables, because this salt was formed naturally the minerals within the sodium work in synergy. (Synergy is the interaction of multiple elements in a system to produce an effect different from or greater than the sum of their individual effects.) Iodine - Natural salts are rich in iodine, so it doesn't need to be artificially added in. Less sodium consumed per serving - Himalayan salt is made of the same components as table salt but since the crystal structure is larger than refined salt, and by volume- this salt therefore has LESS sodium per 1/4 t. serving- because the sea salt crystals or flakes take up less room on a teaspoon than highly refined tiny table salt grains. Packs a hearty 80+ minerals and elements - Himalayan salts are mineral packed crystals which formed naturally within the earth made up of 85.62% sodium chloride and 14.38% other trace minerals including: sulphate, magnesium, calcium, potassium, bicarbonate, bromide, borate, strontium, and fluoride (in descending order of quantity). Because of these minerals Himalayan pink salt can: Create an electrolyte balance Increases hydration Regulate water content both inside and outside of cells Balance pH (alkaline/acidity) and help to reduce acid reflux Prevent muscle cramping Aid in proper metabolism functioning Strengthen bones Lower blood pressure Help the intestines absorb nutrients Prevent goiters Improve circulation Dissolve and eliminate sediment to remove toxins It is even said to support libido, reduce the signs of aging, and detoxify the body from heavy metals. Pink Salt vs. Sea Salt Even though pink salts come from the mountains, they are technically sea salts as well. All salt comes from a salted body of water—namely, an ocean or salt-water lake. However, Himalayan salt is said to be the purest form of sea salt. Why Table Salt is Inferior Commercial refined salt is not only stripped of all its minerals, besides sodium and chloride, but is also chemically cleaned, bleached and heated at unnecessary high temperatures. In addition, it is treated with anti-caking agents which prevent salt from mixing with water in the salt container. These agents also prevent dissolving within our system leading to build up and then deposit in organs and tissue, causing severe health problems. Finally, the iodine that is added into salt is usually synthetic which is difficult for your body to process properly. Shockingly under U.S. law, up to 2% of table salt can be additives. The Many Uses of Pink Salt Cooking and curing - use pre-ground salt or grinders like any other salt. Salt Slabs - used as serving platters, the slabs will impart an enhanced salt taste and mineral content. Chilled: decorate with fruits, sushi, vegetables or cheese. Frozen: present cold desserts and even sorbets. Heated: use the slabs to sear vegetables, shrimp, fish fillets or thinly sliced beef or even to fry an egg. The dense salt blocks conduct heat beautifully with near perfect heat distribution. Best of all, Himalayan salt is naturally anti-microbial, so clean up requires just a quick scrub or rinse. Decoration - use the salts in containers, as décor crystals and sprinkled on food for presentation. Bathing - throw in the tub for a detoxifying Himalayan salt bath. The replenishing nutrients stimulate circulation and soothe sore muscles. Naturally rich in 80+ nourishing and skin-replenishing minerals, bathing with pink bath salt is a healing and therapeutic experience for mind and body. Potpourri Holders and Essential Oil Diffusers- many on-line sites sell beautiful home décor featuring the pink salt as crystal rocks. Air purification - crystal rock lamps for air purification are also found and sold on-line. Hopefully now you will not be as shocked as Grandma when you reach for the salt shaker and find pink crystals staring back at you! If you eat meat, brining should be in your bag of tools. Brining makes meat very juice and succulent! Here's is an extremely simple recipe for it. Basic low sodium brine for pork and poultry. (Brine will work for up to 8 lbs. of protein.) Ingredients: 1 gallon water 3 ounces sea salt 3 ounces sugar (optional) 1 Tbsp. citrus zest (lemon, lime or orange – optional) Instructions: Add the salt, sugar and other aromatics to a pot and bring the water to a simmer until the salt and sugar have dissolved. Remove the pot from the heat and chill before using the brine. Let your protein brine for 6 hours. Drain the protein, and let it rest and air dry in fridge for 2 hours. Roast, broil or grill as you would! Related: Sea salt and baking soda, best all natural remedy for curing radiation exposure and cancer Activated Charcoal: Medicine of the Egyptians, Greeks, and Native Americans Spirulina Explained: What You Need To Know About This Healing Superfood 600 Reasons Turmeric May Be The World's Most Important Herb Credits: FitLife.tv 15 You Might Also Like New Muscle Building Science Lets Smaller Guys Bulk Up Fast Tricks Car Insurance Agents Don't Want You to Know How to Stop Snoring and Improve Your Health How to Check and Manage Your Credit Score for Free ? Top 5 Haunted Places in S'pore: Tang Dynasty inSing.com 8 Sleeping Positions and Their Effects on Health Daily Health Post Celebrities Without Makeup CrazeCentral 10 Ways Men Flirt That Women Don't Notice Womanitely by TaboolaSponsored Content Categories: Health Read More: http://www.whydontyoutrythis.com/2014/05/10-amazing-benefits-of-pink-himalayan-salt.html
Aiming for something lighter, Weiner replaced it with Italian ices. The cups at his supermarket listed their calorie content as 100—calculated by multiplying 25 grams of carbohydrate by four calories per gram. "One evening, in a burst of insight," Weiner writes, "I realized that this calculation was incorrect. The manufacturer of the ices did not calculate the energy required to melt the ice, and did not deduct this from the calorie calculation." By Weiner's math, he was actually only consuming 72 calories, or "icals," his term for the net caloric content of ice-containing foods after considering the calories that the body burns to produce the thermal energy that melts the ice.
Weiner reviewed the medical literature. "I found that no one has clearly identified this oversight," he writes. "I could not locate references to considerations of the implications of the energy content of ice as food."
After discussing the issue in detail with his son, an engineering student at Rutgers who vetted his father's calculations, Weiner submitted his story as a letter to editors of the widely-read medical journal Annals of Internal Medicine. They published it. In the article, Weiner said the idea could be of real importance to people trying to lose weight. It's meant as a supplement to overall diet and lifestyle that go into maintaing a healthy physical form. "While eating ice, you are serving two purposes," Weiner explains, "you are burning calories and not eating positive-calorie foods."
Now Weiner has also written an e-book, The Ice Diet. It's free—part of his stated wish "not to get lumped in with the counter-productive fad diet (snake oil) promoters."
As a practicing gastroenterologist, Weiner says he regularly avoids micromanaging food selection. He manages obesity as an illness and diets as part of a holistic approach to good eating. "I would usually cringe when patients brought up the weight loss diet of the day, usually some poorly documented and improbable strategy. I never thought I would be actively promoting and discussing weight loss diets."
But now he is, so, what's to know about using Weiner's ice diet?
By Weiner's calculations, ingesting one liter of ice would burn about 160 calories, which is the energy equivalent of running one mile. So you get to eat and burn calories. Ever since the death of upward mobility, that has been The American Dream.
What's more, it's probably safe. "Ingesting ice at this level should not have any obvious adverse consequence in otherwise healthy persons," Weiner, who trained at Johns Hopkins, writes. "For the vast majority of adults and children, there does not appear to be any contraindication to the use of the Ice Diet right now."
One piece of evidence for the safety of ingesting substantial amounts of ice, Weiner notes, comes from the case study of the 32-ounce 7/11 Slurpee, from which he concludes, "The ingestion of one liter of ice per day appears to be generally safe."
At some point beyond that liter, too much ice can be a problem. In the case of one obese person who attempted to eat seven quarts of ice per day, Weiner says, "Not surprisingly, this person suffered an uncomfortable feeling of coldness." In his professional opinion, that much ice per day would, for most people, be a "toxic dose." He recommends avoiding eating much more than the Slurpee-tested one liter of ice daily, "to avoid hypothermia or unusual cooling of the body. ... Some organs do not work optimally when the body temperature drops too much."
"For children using the Ice Diet, the amount of ice ingested should be monitored and related to their body weight and ability to report any problems that they might be having by ingesting ice." Do not put ice into the mouths of children who can't tell you if their brain has frozen.
For much the same reasons, use caution when using the ice diet during cold weather, Wiener says. Don't eat ice on the ski slopes or while shoveling the walkway.
Don't eat ice when you're too hot, either. After running, for example, the body actually exerts energy through the active effort of dissipating excess heat that builds up during exercise. "If one were to ingest large amounts of ice as one was cooling off from exercise," The Ice Dietwarns, "some of the heat that had been generated by the exercise would be neutralized by the coolness of the ice, minimizing some of the energy burning benefits of the exercise."
Physics writer Andrew Jones offers more skeptical calculations as to the caloric benefits of the ice diet, determining that eating a kilogram of ice would burn 117 calories. "To reach the 3,500 calories required to lose a pound of weight, it would be necessary to consume about 30 kilograms [66 pounds] of ice," Jones writes. "Not exactly the most efficient diet plan." That means, if you ate a liter of ice every day, you would lose about a pound of weight every month, all other things in life being equal. That's not bad. And all other things wouldn't be equal. Everything in your life would be different because you would be eating a liter of ice every day.
Also, of course, chewing ice can cause dental problems. Beyond full-blown cracking of teeth, the practice can damage the gums and enamel or injure the temporomandibular joint. To avoid dental damage, Weiner writes, "I would recommend that ice be allowed to melt in your mouth, as with ice pops, or consumed with the texture of shaved ice, as in the 7/11 Slurpee or the frozen margarita."
Except don't actually drink a liter of Slurpee every day because that sugar load would more than undermine this entire venture, and drinking a daily liter of margarita is this whole other thing. Weiner recommends making the process less onerous by making your own ice-pops using calorie free liquids instead of sugary concoctions or fruit juices. "For those with a larger budget, the Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville machine shaves ice into a very fine slurry, which can be consumed as-is or flavored with artificially flavored products."
It's that easy and, assuming the artificial flavoring you use is totally safe, you're good to go. You don't even have to worry about this fad diet becoming uncool. If anyone tells you it's uncool, you can just cross your arms and say, "It's objectively the coolest diet around in terms of temperature." Pass the slurry.
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