The Truth About Salt

SALT:

A crystalline compound NaCl, the chloride of sodium, called common salt.  This simple product is on the table in most every American home. This salt (table salt) pervades a huge portion of the packaged and prepared food industry and when required by law is identified as sodium on food labels. Our diets are almost dependent on salt to prepare, preserve, can and flavor our foods.

Now here is our dilemma; salt is bad for you, salt causes high blood pressure, salt causes edema fluid to collect in the body, etc.. These statements and warnings are coming to us from the medical community and are not new news.  When health challenges are identified, it is common to immediately alter the diet to either a salt-free or salt-restricted diet. It is in our best interest to learn what we can about salt and apply some common sense as to its value and use it in our daily diet.

The table salt we use in our daily lives in not a natural element. Table salt is an altered form of salt we call refined salt. This refined salt has been brought through a process of extreme heat, bathed in a chlorine solution and then has a sulfate or silicate of aluminum added so it doesn’t clump in the shaker. Some salt has dextrose added to buffer the bitter taste from chemical processing. Knowing what this salt is made of and how it is processed, let’s examine how our bodies might respond to it.

Chlorine is a toxic chemical commonly used as a bleaching agent. Chlorine is also commonly used in municipal water treatment to kill bacteria and waterborne pathogens present in stored water systems. Even though white salt may look really good in our salt shakers, our bodies are challenged by the chlorine and aluminum elements present. It is not the salt the body is rejecting, it is the chemicals present with it, causing our concerns.

Salt in the form of a normal saline solution is the most common stabilizer for a body in trauma or shock. This same saline solution is called electrolyte and allows for good cell communication and is the common treatment for dehydration through IV’s. So, if water and salt are commonly used for stabilizing us and for properly hydrating us, then why are we told to stay away from or limit our intake of salt?  The answer is that the salt (salts) in the IV are not common table salt with its altered chemical structure but rather a pure form of sodium chloride and sometimes other essential elements such as potassium and magnesium.

SEA SALT & OCEAN SALT:

Salts derived from drying sea water or ocean water. This is a mineral rich salt sometimes marketed as a wet or moist salt or a dry form either dried by natural sun or commercial drying process. There are basically only two drawbacks to this type of salt. First, the fact that pollution exists in any ocean or sea and that pollution becomes a part of the resultant salt product. Second, is the fact that process, sun dried or commercial drying, causes many of the valuable trace minerals to be burned off or lost in the process.  Other than these two issues, ocean salts are far better for us than common table salt. Be aware that SEA SALT commonly sold in stores is common table salt from an ocean source and the label will reveal: CALCIUM SILICATE, POTASIUM IODIE, ALUMINUM SULFATE or SILICATE, DEXTROSE AND ANTI-CAKING AGENTS added. Your body will not fully utilize these salts because of their un-natural composition.

MINED SALTS FROM ANCIENT SEA BED DEPOSITS:

Salts mined from natural ocean deposits either on the surface or underground.  Salt mined from surface deposits share some of the same problems as wet ocean salts meaning compromised purity because of pollution and UV rays from the sun burn off many essential trace elements. Salts mined from underground sources using good mining practices are our richest source of unrefined salt. Depending on the location of the deposits, these salts contain most of the trace elements and minerals our body requires and in the most bio-available form. Be prepared to invest a few dollars more for these unrefined natural salts and as you incorporate them into your healthy diet, you will be pleased with the results.

I recommend a product called REALSALT.  you can order it directly from their website at www.realsalt.com or find it at your local grocery store.

To Learn More Visit: www.My-HealthyChoices.com