Road to Optimal Health and Human Longevity: Step up your SALAD and SALT game!

By Frank Forza Curreri

Consistency is king — and so SUPER SALADS are a consistent part of my Extreme Eating repertoire.

What exactly is a super salad? In ForzaFit lingo, it’s a salad consisting of at least 20+ high-qualtiy ingredients — heavy on micr0-nutrients and often packed with north of 30 ingredients (ideally you’ll be eating two Super Salads each day).

Today’s lunch exemplifies this habit of Nutritional & Age-Defying Excellence:

1:15 p.m

I went strong at Whole Foods salad bar with some organic kale, rainbow chard, spinach, onions, a rainbow radish of sorts (whose technical name escapes me at the moment), pumpkin seeds, peas, avocado and some endothelial-enhancing balsamic vinegar.

That was just a warm-up:

I topped the salad off with some REDMOND organic sea salt — my new favorite seasoning. Came across this gem of a company during a recent trip to Utah. I carry their salts and seasoning in my backpack with me pretty much everywhere I go (if you’re serious about being an Enlightened and Age-Defying Eater, I highly recommend you do the same; having an emergency stash food will protect you when you’re hungry and healthy eating options are otherwise nowhere in sight).

Redmond’s https://realsalt.com/why-real-salt/ organic season salt is packed with high-quality precious spices and natural minerals such as:

REAL sea salt;

Garlic;

Onion;

Coriander;

Mustard;

Celery seed;

Black Pepper

Paprika;

Turmeric and Parsley.

I’m telling you what — topping off my salads with their Ancient Fine Sea Salt and Organic Season Salt is GAME-CHANGINGLY GOOD!

Also amazing for my health, that here I am in this blog singing their praises.

I often say, “If your salad doesn’t contain AT LEAST 20 ingredients then you’re salad-ing (sic) all wrong!”

For awhile now I’ve been ringing the cowbell for “More Salt Please,” realizing that most of us get too little of this precious mineral and Energy Enabler. Salt, like fat, has gotten a totally BAD RAP, mainly because most salt — like the vast majority of our commercial food supply — is FAKE salt.

But your body needs lots of salt, particularly if you’re super active and athletic and regularly pushing your body to higher levels.

Generally speaking, I shoot for two tablespoons of a Himalayan or Redmond sea salt per day (but I’m only 141 pounds, so some of you might require even more). Here in the Vegas summertime heat, where temps often hit 106, 110 or 115 degrees, I pretty much put sea salt on everything I eat, with the exception of breakfast.

It’s possible, in the future, that I’ll consume even more salt for optimal performance, energy flow and cell signaling. In recent weeks I’ve listened to several podcasts featuring Dr. James DiNicolantonio, who is probably the most passionate person you’re ever going to meet on the topics of salt and fat, and how both for decades have been wrongly demonized — to the detriment of Americans’ health.

Video of Dr. Joseph Mercola interviewing Dr. DiNicolantonio:

In the coming weeks I intend to read Dr. DiNicolantonio’s book,

”The Salt Fix: Why the Experts Got It All Wrong and How Eating More Might Save Your Life,”

Those interested can find the book here:

https://www.amazon.com/Salt-Fix-Experts-Wrong-Eating/dp/0349417385

COMMONLY ASKED QUESTION: “Frankie, do you put Olive Oil on your salad? Do you consider olive oil to be healthy?”

First, let me say that I have tremendous respect for both Drs. Mercola, DiNicolantonio and someone like Dr. Eric Berg. I’ve learned a lot from all three and consider them to be honest and expert at their crafts.

However, while I agree with them that FAT can be a fantastic fuel, I disagree with them on olive oil. Much like Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn and Dr. Michael Greger, I believe that regular salad eaters might happen to be healthier IN SPITE OF olive oil, not because of olive oil.

So if I were among the 70% or so of adult Americans who classify as clinically obese or overweight, if I were among the vast majority of adult Americans who are not very healthy, well I would definitely do my best to skip the olive oil.

There are much HEALTHIER FATS worth consuming (avocado, nuts, seeds, ghee butter, raw unpasteurized milk from a TRUSTED AND SUPER-CLEAN SOURCE)… so I must give olive oil a THUMBS DOWN.

Given my Italian heritage and lineage, it is almost blasphemy for me to speak ill of olive oil, but I’ve yet to find an Olive Oil I truly trust.

I’m sure that somewhere out there they are making super high-quality, top-shelf olive oil that is good for you — somewhere in Italy, Spain or Greece — but until I find and verify that pristine Olive Oil, I can’t endorse something that is liquid fat and is going to hit your veins and, despite all the wonderful polyphenols that unrefined, extra virgin organic olive oil can offer… to me that alone doesn’t pack enough bang for my buck. Olive oil, to my knowledge, is not loaded with minerals and vitamins. It’s not loaded with micronutrients. It’s far, far, far from an essential food. I’d much rather eat the olives — which at least might mean slower absorption into the bloodstream and some trace of fiber and a more natural digestion of it.

At nearly 140 calories per tablespoon, olive oil is also an easy food for people to overindulge. Most people can easily add 280-420 calories to their salad by adding olive oil — and that’s ill-advised in my mind.

Now, if you happen to be super healthy and love olive oil, then have at it. Knock yourself out. But if you’re concerned about your health and wellness, why take the risk on a food that is completely non-essential?

This is more of a play-it-safe Philosophy on Fat, a stance I’ve taken because, thus far, I’m not sold yet sold on any of the science I’ve seen that defends bacon, olive and coconut oils being consumed on a regular basis by a population of people who, overall, are sub-healthy. In my mind, telling the vast majority of people to consume lower-quality fats strikes me as a REALLY BAD IDEA. Not gonna’ cut it in the ForzaFit Elite Eaters system. We hold ourselves to a much higher standard and the bar stands a lot higher.

For the record: While I’m a fan of fat, I tend to be much more discriminating about which fats I eat; I believe the KETO crowd are way too generous and lenient and l0w-standard with their fats. They embrace a lot of fats that I don’t (bacons, certain butters, cheeses, oils, etc..).

I’m not saying the KETO fats aren’t superior to the gook and gunk and fake foods that most Americans are eating — I’m just saying that a lot of those fats, in my mind, quality as “the lesser of evils” rather than actually being healthy food. I don’t consider most of the fats they endorse to be remotely healthy — just healthier than the average SUGAR-INFESTED diet that enslaves most Americans.

If you’re worried about heart health, optimal living and promoting good circulation, I say consume olive oil super sparingly or not at all. That’s the ForzaFit philosophy and that’s what I believe until some expert proves otherwise to me beyond a reasonable doubt. And I’ve listened to some highly intelligent people talk about Olive Oil, and no olive oil proponent has yet to change my mind on that one.

That day has yet to come — and if it does, I’ll happily write a blog explaining why, or at least endorse the olive oils that I believe qualify as the exception to the rule.

Dr. Michael Greger of NutritionFacts.org, video on Olive Oil & Artery Function:

https://nutritionfacts.org/video/olive-oil-and-artery-function/