The effects of Michelle Obama’s “Healthy, Hunger-Free Food Act of 2010”
A close friend of mine works at a local public school. That school is mandated by the “Healthy, Hunger-Free Food Act of 2010” to restrict salt in the school lunches. He contacted me after he read my last blog. He said that it was unbelievable how much food the kids are throwing into the garbage cans each day. Evidently the elimination of salt has made the food so bland and tasteless that the kids would rather not eat, than consume the “healthier” food. So, if the kids won’t eat the food, how is that solving the hunger problem? And, are they healthier if they do not eat salt?
Michelle Obama led the fight against junk food in schools and helped pass the 2010 law. Now, Donald Trump appointees are working to remove those restrictions and are being heavily criticized for it. Both sides are claiming the scientific/nutritional high ground, but who is right?
Mrs. Obama means well, and I applaud her desire for the children of our country to eat better, it is a great need. She advocates for whole grain bread instead of white bread and I heartily agree. She wants to lower the amount of sugar the kids consume and I say, yes and Amen! But when Michelle is advocating for the lowering of salt intake, she is simply following the advice of mainstream medical and nutritional “experts”. Unfortunately, most of those experts do not have a Biblical world view, and it does make a difference.
A Biblical world view makes a difference in how you see the world.
Everyone has some kind of a world view. Most scientist have understandably chosen a “science is king” world view and it has been to their detriment, and now it is to the detriment of our children. Why? Because they are mandating a nutritional standard that is not only opposed to what God has said, but dangerous!
Last week we talked about saturated fats and how the idea that we should avoid saturated fats has been completely debunked. How that philosophy was born in a lie and has shortened the lives of thousands, if not millions of people who followed that advice.
This week I want to focus on salt. Salt enhances or brings out the flavor in almost all food. It also is a necessary nutrient; we will die if our body salt content gets too low.
What has been the initial effect of the 2010 law that lowered salt intake for our school children?
The School Nutrition Association, estimates that about 1 million fewer students participated in the school lunch program last year — in part due to the new 2010 requirements. “Forcing students to take a food they don’t want on their tray has led to increased program costs, plate waste, and a decline in student participation,” 1 Schools were told to cut the salt in foods they sell, even in campus vending machines. [2]
What are reputable sources saying about salt?
According to the American Heart Association, excess sodium (salt) in our diets causes (stroke, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, stomach cancer, kidney disease, kidney stones, enlarged heart and headaches) They also claim that excess sodium causes (puffiness, bloating and weight gain [4] Wow who would want to expose their kids to those risks? That puts salt (sodium) in the category of junk food or worse, a poison. (It should be noted that the American Heart Association can’t seem to make up it’s collective mind. It has made statements that are exactly opposite of those above. See the full article about salt from last year.
Is salt (sodium) an evil chemical to be avoided like the plague or is it an essential nutrient that we need to consume in order to thrive and survive? With experts on both sides of the issue, who are you to believe? It is interesting that whenever “experts” want to restrict salt they call it sodium. It is kind of like calling a baby a fetus instead of a baby, so it is easier to abort it. If we call it sodium, it makes it easier to restrict.
What does the Bible say about salt?
The Bible tells us that Moses, Aaron and Levi were all priests before God. Moses lived to be 120, Aaron lived to be 123 and Levi lived to be 137. According to…
Deuteronomy 34:7, “Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.”
What did Moses, Aaron and Levi have in common? They were all priests, consequently, they all consumed lots of salt. Why? Because God had commanded that all the meat and grain they consumed (the offerings) be thoroughly salted.
Leviticus 2:13 “Add salt to all your offerings”
Mark 9:50 “Salt is good.”
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its strength, its quality), how can its saltness be restored? It is not good for anything any longer but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men.”
Matthew 5:13
Salt makes food taste better.
Every chef knows that food without salt is bland, salt enhances the flavor of all foods. That is why virtually every dinner table in the world has a salt dispenser of some sort. That being said, everyone has a different idea of how much salt in their food makes the food taste best. If my wife Shary, put as much salt on her food as I put on mine, she would gag. I always put more salt on my food. Why? Probably because I sweat a lot more than Shary does.
Lost salt, must be replaced, if it isn’t, strength is lost and sometimes life itself!
When you sweat, you sweat out salt. That is why athletes drink Gatorade, (a heavily salted drink), it replaces the salt they have lost though sweating. God designed our taste buds to respond to nutritional needs. When we need more salt, we crave salty food. When we need less, we are repulsed by the salty taste. Salt is a necessary nutrient and your body has a mechanism designed to regulate it. That is why it is a dangerous practice to restrict salt.
There were only 5 player deaths in America 1931-1959 from heat, that amounted to only .18 deaths per year. Since we have been restricting salt, there were 103 player deaths in America from 1960-2000, that is 2.57 per year. Since we started restricting salt, player deaths has gone up a whopping 1400%. Similar statistics are found when we look at the population as a whole. It has become routine practice for hospitals to immediately start a salt water IV. Why? Because we aren’t getting enough salt!
My mother is in her nineties, she lives in a nursing home that feeds her typical food service fair. In the last year, we have had to take her to the emergency room twice. Each time she complained of excruciating pain all over her body. Each time we have taken her to the emergency room they give her a salt IV and she immediately recovered with all the pain gone.
What is the latest research telling us about salt?
In an article found in US News and World report [4] by K. Aleisha Fetters. She sites new research published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports. They found that salt filled energy bars, drinks, and gels are not enough to sustain people’s need for salt.
“For the study, scientists from the Exercise Physiology Laboratory at the Camilo José Cela University in Spain studied 26 athletes competing in a Half Ironman – which consists of 1.2 miles of swimming, 56 miles of cycling and 13.1 miles of running.
During the race, half of the triathletes drank their regular sports drinks along with 12 salt capsules divided into three doses, while the rest drank their regular sports drinks and took 12 placebo capsules.
On average, those who consumed the extra salt ended the competition 26 minutes before those who stuck to sports drinks.”
“Sodium, for all the bad press it gets, is critical both to performance and staying healthy during particularly sweaty workouts. “When sodium levels get too low, total body water drops and blood volume drops, which leads to fatigue and performance declines,” says board-certified sports dietitian and certified strength and conditioning coach Marie Spano. “An athlete may experience muscle cramps, decreases in strength, and hyponatremia – dangerously low blood-sodium levels, which leads to edema, headache, confusion and can cause brain swelling and death.”
In a study, published in the August 2011 issue of the American Journal of Hypertension, 6,250 Patients were sampled. They concluded that there was no strong evidence that cutting salt intake reduces the risk of heart attacks, strokes or death. Actually they did find that the risk of heart disease was 56% higher for people who restricted salt intake as compared to the people with the highest salt consumption. The less salt you consume the more likely you are to die from heart disease. “You might as well salt your food to taste. It is a meaningless exercise (a low sodium diet). Don’t get paranoid about salt. It has nothing to do with blood pressure problems. There has never been a single iota of proof that restriction of salt has any benefit.” [5]
So who are you going to believe, when it comes to the health of your children?
Once again well-meaning people like Michelle Obama have listened to non-Christian scientists, and put our children in danger. Let me explain why there is a huge difference between Christian scientists and non-Christian scientists.
Non Christian scientist are more motivated to pay their mortgages and feed their families than please a God who sees all and will judge us when we die. Christian Scientist trust God to take care of their needs even when telling the truth may not please the person who writes their checks.
Christian scientist also have a book written by the creator of the earth. They can compare their research to what God has said and save a lot of time following dead end research.
Millions of people die each year because they lack Biblical knowledge. Knowledge about the care and feeding of their physical bodies!
Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”
The Idea, that to be a Christian is to be unscientific, or opposed to scientific knowledge, is not only incorrect, but is just the opposite of the truth. It would be like saying that Martin Luther King was a racist. Or that Einstein was opposed to math and physics.
The Word of God is not in opposition to the world of God.
Jesus, the creator, is referred to as “the Word”. In John chapter one, the Bible states that all wisdom and knowledge are found in Jesus Christ.
Colossians 2:3 “in him (Christ) are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
To love and know Jesus is to love knowledge because he is the author of it.
Why is this important to health and wellness?
Because millions of people believe that the God of the Bible is mostly concerned with our souls and is not really that concerned about our physical bodies. Millions do not believe that the Bible has any valuable information concerning the care and feeding of their bodies. Many people also believe there is no difference between God fearing scientist and those who reject the idea of a creator and ultimate judge of mankind. Many people think that to be Christian is to be unscientific and this could not be farther from the truth.
Some of the greatest scientific minds that ever lived, were children of God.
Solomon, Louis IV of France, Isaac Newton, Raymond Vahan Damadian, and Joel Wallach are all men who loved God, were guided by the scriptures and who investigated the nature of things. Below is another great Christian, scientific mind that helped change our world for the better.
In conclusion
Our schools need to return to biblical training and biblical/scientific eating. We need to promote and encourage God-fearing doctors and scientists who are more concerned about pleasing God and helping people than they are about furthering their careers. The greatest minds that ever lived, were guided by God and by his word. That is why we bring this information to you each week. Information from the word of God and from honest scientists that love God and love people.
Truly; the only way to exceptional emotional and physical health and wellness, is to spend time each day with the Great Physician, Jesus Christ!
If you have any questions or comments about this or any other Wellness Gospel article, please feel free to send an email to chrisschauermann@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you.
If you believe God knows what is best for us, join us and the Wellness Gospel team and spread the word, share this with your friends on social media and may God bless you richly.
If you want to keep improving your health and enjoy this kind of biblical, scientific information, then I would like to recommend three must-read books.
- “God’s Guide to Biblical Health and Healing” by Rev. Chris and Shary Schauermann http://tinyurl.com/zvkbfau
- “Let’s Play Doctor” by Dr. Joel Wallach http://tinyurl.com/j8ybt8r
- “None of These Diseases” by S.I. McMillen, M.D. and David E. Stern, M. D. http://tinyurl.com/hh7ezs2
You can get all these books at Amazon.com or simply click on the URL next to each book title.
References
- http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/05/20/313983587/lawmakers-seek-delay-on-healthy-lunch-rules-for-schools
- http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-school-lunch-20150422-story.html
- Salt matters usnews.com/health-news/health-wellness/articles/2015/03/20/is-salt-the-newest-workout-supplyment.
- Sodium is bad https://healthyforgood.heart.org/eat-smart/infographics/effects-of-excess-sodium-infographic
- May 22nd 1996 edition of the New York Times, the article was abstracted from the Journal of American Medical Association.