Trina's Kitchen: National Salt Awareness Week

Did you know it was Salt Awareness Week?

Our 11th World Salt Awareness Week will take place Monday 12th - Sunday 18th March 2018!

Many people are aware that eating too much salt is bad for their health, but think that it’s only a cause for concern in our later years. This isn’t true, as eating too much salt during childhood increases blood pressure which then tracks into adulthood and later life, increasing the risk of strokes and heart attacks. That’s why it’s so important to reduce salt intake across all ages. By doing so we can reduce our risk of heart disease and avoid the unnecessary and extortionate healthcare costs associated with treatment.
However, it is looking increasingly unlikely that WHO member states will reach their target of a 30% reduction in population salt intake by 2025. Therefore this World Salt Awareness Week, we will be reminding the world of the harmful effects of eating too much salt and highlighting how the salt present in everyday foods can really add up. We also encourage the public to play their part and make simple changes to their eating and purchasing habits, and will be providing 5 ways to 5 grams - simple actions you can take to bring your salt intake, along with your family's intake, down to safer levels.
Through this collaborative effort we are sure to improve diets, and in doing so save many more lives and millions of pounds in health care costs. If we can all work together towards bringing salt intake down to 5 grams per day, we could prevent 1.65 million deaths from cardiovascular disease each year - so let's use World Salt Awareness Week to reinvigorate governments, the food industry and our communities in their salt reduction efforts!

In the UK we will also host a Parliamentary Reception at the House of Commons to discuss the future of salt reduction in the UK, with attendees from the Department of Health, NGOs and the food industry.

How will you get involved?
Help us to spread the word about salt and its effects on health by organising your own event with your government or your community, write to your health minister to ask what action they will take on salt, write to your favourite food brands and ask if they will reduce salt levels, or even send out a press release. Have a look at the activities which have taken place previously for ideas, and remember to let us know what you plan to do in 2018!

Check out our resources for the week (click on Resources link in left-hand menu) and make sure you follow us on Twitter @WASHSALT for updates.
For World Salt Awareness Week 2018, we have some infographics for use on social media. Please email wash@qmul.ac.uk to request these

Some of you may say, “Trina, that’s all very well and good but I don’t know what to do to reduce salt.”

From Harvard, here are five tips to reduce salt intake:

1. Use spices and other flavor enhancers. Add flavor to your favorite dishes with spices, dried and fresh herbs, roots (such as garlic and ginger), citrus, vinegars, and wine. From black pepper, cinnamon, and turmeric to fresh basil, chili peppers, and lemon juice, these flavor enhancers create excitement for the palate — and with less sodium.

2. Go nuts for healthy fats in the kitchen. Using the right healthy fats — from roasted nuts and avocados to olive, canola, soybean, and other oils — can add a rich flavor to foods, minus the salt.

3. Sear, sauté, and roast. Searing or sautéing foods in a pan builds flavor. Roasting brings out the natural sweetness of many vegetables and the taste of fish and chicken. If you do steam or microwave some dishes, perk them up with a finishing drizzle of flavorful oil and a squeeze of citrus.

4. Get your whole grains from sources other than bread. Even whole-grain bread, though a healthier choice than white, can contain considerable sodium. Bread contains quite a bit of salt — not just for flavor, but to ensure that the dough rises properly. You can skip that extra salt when you look for whole grains outside of baking. For example, instead of toast with breakfast, cook up steel-cut oats, farro, or other intact whole grains with fresh or dried fruit.

5. Know your seasons, and, even better, your local farmer. Shop for raw ingredients with maximum natural flavor, thereby avoiding the need to add as much (if any) sodium. Shop for peak-of-season produce from farmers' markets and your local supermarket.

Need something even more straightforward? The National Kidney Foundation offers ten easy tips.

Okay, true story time. I have a friend who needs to reduce her weight. We’ve been friends for five years now. She cannot get started. It seemed so overwhelming to her. She weighed 360 pounds. Thing is, she now weighs over 400. And she has kidney failure. And, as of this week, Afib. I’m not her nag. But I did tell her if you need to do something you need to do it.

So what was her problem?

Overwhelmed.

We made a list of two things she could focus on this week.

She’s doing the treadmill (gym at her apartment) five days this week. Two minutes each day.

She’s giving up her sandwich meat this week.

These are not big steps.

But you have to start. And what’s the whole saying about a great journey begins with just one step?

So my point is, if the list is too much for you, don’t try to do it all. Grab one thing on it that you can do to reduce salt. Work with that one thing for a few days or weeks and then consider adding another. All or nothing mind-sets defeat a lot of us. You don’t have to do everything at once.

One more thing to note.

Eat more color from the American Heart Association:

The best way to get all of the vitamins, minerals and nutrients you need is to eat a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables. Add color to your plate each day with the five main color groups.

Red & Pink

beets
cherries
cranberries
pink grapefruit
pomegranates
radicchio
red radishes
red apples
red grapes
red peppers
red potatoes
rhubarbs
strawberries
tomatoes
watermelons

Blue & Purple

blackberries
blueberries
black currants
dates
eggplants
grapes
plums
prunes
purple figs
raisins

Yellow & Orange

acorn squash
butternut squash
apricots
cantaloupes
carrots
corn
grapefruit
lemons
mangoes
nectarines
oranges
orange peppers
papayas
peaches
pineapples
pumpkins
summer squash
sweet potatoes
tangerines
yams
yellow apples
yellow peppers
yellow squash

White

bananas
cauliflower
garlic
Jerusalem artichokes
mushrooms
onions
potatoes
parsnips
shallots

Green

artichokes
asparagus
avocados
bok choy
broccoli
Brussels sprouts
celery
collard greens
cucumbers
green beans
green cabbage
green grapes
green onions
green peppers
kale
kiwis
leeks
limes
mustard greens
okra
pears
peas
romaine lettuce
snow peas
spinach
sugar snap peas
watercress
zucchini

heart.org/addcolor

This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Thursday:

Thursday, March 15, 2018. Election madness all over the world.

Let's start with elections.

This year, those of us in California, have a chance to make a real change. We can jettison the Iraq War supporting, torture hand holding Senator Dianne Feinstein and support Kevin de Leon to be our next US Senator. In June, we will hold a primary and all running for the US Senate will be on the ballot. The top two vote getters will then face off in the November general election. Kevin de Leon is a Democrat. Dianna says she's a Democrat. Yes, they can face off. Don't believe rat f**kers from Canada who hide in New York after their art galleries fail (fail like everything else in their lives). This is how the election will work in California.

As noted in yesterday's snapshot, Dianne can't decide whether to vote against "Bloody Gina" Haspel or go to third base with her. Kevin de Leon has made clear that torture is not a value we want to embrace or to teach.

‏Verified account @theintercept

Feinstein, who oversaw the Senate Intelligence Committee's investigation of the CIA's torture program, said Gina Haspel has been "a good deputy director."

4 replies40 retweets58 likes

‏Verified account @SeanMcElwee

I just asked Kevin de Leon about this tweet. He tells me he would vote NO on confirming Gina Haspel if he were elected to the U.S. Senate and notes that following orders is a poor excuse for carrying out policies and practices that tear at the fabric of our democracy. 

Kevin de LeόnVerified account @kdeleon

It is very concerning Senator Feinstein is ‘open to supporting’ CIA nominee Haspel, who ran a ‘black site’ prison that waterboarded and beat prisoners. Believes she has been a ‘good’ deputy CIA Director. twitter.com/desiderioDC/st…

8 replies122 retweets566 likes

Show this thread

It's amazing how so many who cannot vote in the election want to influence it. It's amazing how stupid they are.

‏ @RodStryker

Remember that time California Senator Kevin De Leon admitted that half his family fraudulently assumed fake identity & didn't apply for citizenship?

#BuildTheWall

#DeportThemAll

@ICEgov @POTUS

#MAGA

Maverick says he lives in Indiana. He's not hurting Kevin. It might hurt him in Indiana, I don't know, I don't live there. But in California? If his family did not go through the recommended process to come to California (and the US)? It's not a blow against him. I guess Mavrick's home area is 'pretty White' (all White?). But I don't think you can live in California without knowing a first generation American whose parent or parents did not jump through whatever hoops. That's why Dreamers is not a divisive issue in California the way it might be in Iowa (95% Anglo White). So while Maverick thinks he's hurting Kevin with that Tweet, he's actually helping to make Kevin even more relatable to those of us who vote in California.

Kevin is an American citizen. The worst Maverick is saying for those of us in California is that Kevin had a parent who so loved the United States that they were willing to do anything to get here. Don't see why we'd hold that against Kevin. Is Maverick anti-American?

Kevin de Leόn‏Verified account @kdeleon 14 hours ago

The @USSenate should not equivocate on rejecting Trump’s pro-torture CIA nominee. John McCain understands that. Why doesn’t Dianne Feinstein?

The HillVerified account @thehill

McCain slams Trump's CIA pick: She was involved in “one of darkest chapters in American history" hill.cm/rfroJy0 

11 replies51 retweets130 likes

PHOTOS: California Advocates Condemn Trump as He Visits Golden State for First Time as President americasvoice.org/blog/trump-cal… via @AmericasVoice with @kdeleon @chirla @CalEndow @ACLU_SoCal

3 replies7 retweets20 likes

Thank you to #CAPoli State Senator @kdeleon for speaking up about Haspel's unacceptable record of torture. Congress, take note: The only vote on Haspel is no.

Kevin de LeόnVerified account @kdeleon

It is very concerning Senator Feinstein is ‘open to supporting’ CIA nominee Haspel, who ran a ‘black site’ prison that waterboarded and beat prisoners. Believes she has been a ‘good’ deputy CIA Director. twitter.com/desiderioDC/st…

1 reply9 retweets13 likes

Now let's move over to another US election.

VoteVets‏Verified account @votevets 15 hours ago

Mission: @JoshButnerCA50 enlisted at 19, became a combat medic and served with the SEAL teams in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now this veteran will be part of the #BlueWave18, running for Congress in California’s 50th district. #CA50 #FlipItBlue

2:03

3,626 views

17 replies281 retweets549 likes

Josh Butner was in Iraq.

Hmm.

That's reason to vote for him?

Doubt it.

But, help us out, Vote Vets, what did he do there?

He is, after all, using that time as 'experience.' So what exactly did he do there?

As Patrick Martin (WSWS) pointed out earlier this month, he is among many people the Democrats are running as "experienced" but they can't seem to talk about their experience:

Josh Butner, running in the 50th District of California against Republican Duncan Hunter, Jr., “served for 23 years in the United States Navy where he saw multiple combat deployments, most recently in Iraq and Afghanistan.” The career Navy SEAL says almost nothing about what he actually did in the top military assassination unit, but that is to be expected. His campaign website features the slogan “Service, Country, Leadership,” alongside a photograph of Butner in desert fatigues.

I cannot endorse him or not endorse him. I don't live in that district (Nancy Pelosi's my House Rep). But if you're running for election on your "service" and your "leadership," you damn well should explain what that is. If you can't explain, you shouldn't run on it. And be sure to check out all three installments of Patrick Martin's "The CIA Democrats:"

PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE

Iraq is gearing up for elections as well. They will hold elections May 12th.

Hayder al-Abadi? He wants a second term as prime minister. In the fall of 2014, Barack installed Hayder as prime minister prompting the world to ask: "Hayder who?"

The watery figure hasn't grown any clearer in the years since.

But the US installed him and still backs him which prompts Tweets like this:

‏ @BigAsso2

Replying to @kurdistanm1 @cngsgnc @brett_mcgurk

America will rig Iraqi elections for Abadi. Hopefully it won’t be a success.

1 reply

Hayder wants a second term and is running on defeating ISIS.

It's shaky ground for him to stand on.

Adnan Abu Zeed (AL-MONITOR) reports:

The Islamic State (IS) appears to be staging a comeback in parts of Iraq, which could endanger the country's oil deal with Iran.

Hamid Hosseini, the Iranian secretary-general of the Iran-Iraq Chamber of Commerce, warned in late February that the countries' plan can't be implemented fully because of security concerns. The countries signed a bilateral agreement in July 2017 to install a pipeline to transport Kirkuk’s crude oil to Iran to be refined. In the meantime, the oil is being transported by trucks, which are vulnerable to attacks.

The Kurdish military, or peshmerga forces, took control of Kirkuk in 2014 after Iraqi forces fled as IS swept through the area. But in October, Iraqi forces reclaimed the oil-rich territory from the Kurds.

IS has been blamed for numerous recent attacks in the area. On Feb. 19, IS fighters ambushed a convoy of the Baghdad government's Shiite Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) in the Hawija district, southwest of Kirkuk, killing 27. On Feb. 27, gunmen had targeted the Turkmen Front with a rocket shell. Since Hosseini's warning, security has deteriorated both in Kirkuk and Hawija. Local authorities have called for military enforcement.

Masrour Barzani, the head of Kurdistan security, stressed that the “IS offensive in Kirkuk province is not coming to an end anytime soon.”

Oops.

And XINHAU reports:

Iraqi security forces on Wednesday killed at least seven Islamic State (IS) militants in clashes at a village near the city of Shirqat in Iraq's central province of Salahudin, a provincial security source said.

The clashes erupted at dawn when about 10 IS militants attacked a military base at the village of Mseihli in southern Shirqat, some 280 km north of Iraq's capital Baghdad, Col. Mohammed al-Jubouri from the media office of the provincial police command told Xinhua.

Again, oops.

It was always a mistake for Hayder to run for re-election with nothing to show for it. Even worse was to run claiming ISIS was defeated. That might have worked for two weeks but for a campaign that's going to last months, it was a big mistake.

We've noted Moqtada al-Sadr's election alliance for two weeks now but here's a video report so let's include that.

Shi'ite cleric and movement leader Moqtada will be teaming with the Communist Party in this election cycle. His followers and the Communists will be joined by four other groups -- at least four -- for a political slate (the way Nouri al-Maliki has a political slate State of Law made up of various Shi'ite groups).

MIDDLE EAST MEDIA RESEARCH INSTITUTE has posted the following clip from a BBC ARABIC broadcast earlier this month of an interview with the co-founder of the Iraqi Council for Interfaith Dialogue Jawad al-Khoei.

Jawad al-Khoei: Violence in our region has its origins here. We are all in the same boat. There is no difference between Syria, Iraq, and so on. Some of the violence is the outcome of the injustice of the dictatorships that ruled us. Poverty, ignorance, deprivation and oppression all stem from that. Some of the violence is religious violence. It exploits religion. The birth of ISIS is not an anomaly. ISIS is deeply rooted in Islam. It's roots can be traced back 1400 years to the first century of Islam. When you read history, you find that people would kill someone, then exhume the body, cut off his head, and then burn the body.

BBC ARABIC presenter: But all nations experienced this kind of violence.

Jawad al-Khoei: Fine. But violence is a bad thing. And when it dons the cloak of religion, it is a hundred times more evil.

BBC ARABIC presenter: From what you are saying, it sounds as if violence is predestined to remain in this region because it is so deeply rooted.

Jawad al-Khoei: No. This depends on our determination, our resolve, and the will of our rulers. If our rulers really want -- I mean, is it really conceivable that to this day there is not a single page in the religious curricula in Iraq about Christianity or about the Yazidi faith?

BBC ARABIC presenter: Even though the first Christians were --

Jawad al-Khoei: They were the owners of this land and the Muslims came in as their guests

The following community sites -- plus Jody Watley and PACIFICA EVENING NEWS -- updated: