Goomba wrote:
>> I never eat salted pretzels or any other overly salted snack food.
>> Neither does my sister in law now. She's been warned off such snack
>> foods by her doctor since her first stroke. Now tell me her doctor is
>> wrong!
>
> Umm... maybe he was just giving pat advice. There are more reasons for
> stroke then just hypertension. Did she have a history of hypertension
> before the stroke?

Many in the medical profession are very good at what they do, but not so
much on the dietary end of things. When the doctor wanted my wife to go to
a dietary class for CHF patients, I went with her. Some of the advice was
just plain silly.

On the list of food to avoid was milkshakes. When I asked why, they said it
was not good for you, too much fat. They later said it was OK to drink
milk. They also said it was OK to eat ice cream in moderation. They said
to avoid sausages too. I asked if I could make my own, they said no, for
the same reason. Too much fat, too much salt. I asked if it was OK to eat
ground or chopped beef and/or pork and they said yes. It was OK to season
it with herbs and spices. I asked about salt and they said minimal,
according to the guidelines for daily intake. Of course, me being me, had
to ask what happed if I take that meat and stuffed it into a casing. Why is
it suddenly bad? Same with the milk and ice cream together.

Most of the other advice as OK, such as avoiding processed foods, but that
was never a problem in our case. We seldom use them, but others do all the
time. Common sense though, meant nothing.