Tamari thoughts?

[Jordan Glasser]

I'm curious on what people's thoughts are on wheat free Tamari as a staple in a paleo diet.

Concerns are the high sodium levels. But, the rest would seem good....

[Scott Kustes]

I use it a few times a week. I get the low sodium kind, but it's still quite salty. All in all, it's a decent condomint and if it helps you eat your vegetables, it can't be all bad.

[Garrett Smith]

Sea salt is also high in sodium...

It all depends on what you mean by "staple". I use it once a week. I also eat anchovies about once a week (lots of salt there). Due to things like that, I often consciously reduce or try not to add extra salt to other dishes.

[Jordan Glasser]

Since I bought a bottle, I've been using to make sauces and dressings. I quite like mixing it with ginger, garlic and ACV. I can see it making it's way into my diet a few times a week. I bring up the topic because of concern regarding too much sodium. Lately I have been attracted to salty tastes, and don't want to go overboard, which is usually the case!

[Tony Ferous]

Pretty much the only high sodium foods i eat are canned fish - tuna and salmon.
I cant find wild sodium free salmon in oz so If i eat 6oz of it that gives me 700mg, more than enough for a whole day.
Dr Michael Colgan is an anti sodium nazi, in his book 'nutrition for champions'(slightly cringworthy title) and from memory, he wrote '30% of your bodies resting calories a used in pumping sodium out of your bodies cells to maintiain the NA/K balance'. Which sounds amazing frankly.

Eat almonds/avocados/yams/dried apricots - all high in potassium.

[Garrett Smith]

I agree with Tony--get more potassium.

I do think that we as humans have gotten way too liberal with sodium usage, just like sugar. People will justify their salt cravings with sea salt, however, we often don't see those people saying that it's okay to have organic evaporated cane juice (the sugar equivalent of sea salt, IMO.).

Just as we have screwed up the O-3/O-6 balance, we've majorly screwed up the sodium/potassium balance in our diets.

[Bo Bolund]

Originally Posted by Garrett Smith

I agree with Tony--get more potassium.

I do think that we as humans have gotten way too liberal with sodium usage, just like sugar. People will justify their salt cravings with sea salt, however, we often don't see those people saying that it's okay to have organic evaporated cane juice (the sugar equivalent of sea salt, IMO.).

Just as we have screwed up the O-3/O-6 balance, we've majorly screwed up the sodium/potassium balance in our diets.

Totally agree, western diet provides something like 2.5:1 Na/K ratio while a paleo diet provides a 1:10 - 1:100 Na/K ratio.

[Bo Bolund]

Where do you find salt free tamari?

[Garrett Smith]

Bo,
There is no such thing as salt free tamari. From Wikipedia on soy sauce, which includes tamari:

Low-sodium soy sauces are produced, but it is impossible to make soy sauce without using some quantity of salt.

There's a lot of interesting stuff in that entry, such as

A study by National University of Singapore shows that Chinese dark soy sauce contains 10 times the antioxidants of red wine, and can help prevent cardiovascular diseases.[3] Soy sauce is rich in probiotics of lactic acid bacteria and of excellent anti-allergic potential.

[Bo Bolund]

Originally Posted by Garrett Smith

Bo,
There is no such thing as salt free tamari. From Wikipedia on soy sauce, which includes tamari:

There's a lot of interesting stuff in that entry, such as

Thanx for info Garret.