Historically, salt has always been a very important part of many culture’s societal interactions. Chinese harvested it over 8000 years ago. Egyptians placed salted offerings in the tombs. Roman soldiers even took it as payment or salarium, which is where the word “salary” comes from. So why is it shunned in modern diets, when we need it for our bodies?
Let us first discuss what salt I am referring too. I am not referring to regular table salt, which is refined and contains only sodium and chloride, without any other minerals. I am talking about unadulterated, whole salt that hasn’t been heated beyond enzymatic action (104 degrees) and contains 60-80 different trace minerals. Unfortunately, the former type of salt is overused in all of our foods and cause a massive inbalance in our bodies. The later actually helps balance the minerals and osmotic pressure in our blood.
Osmosis is the movement of water through a semi-permeable membrane to an area of low water/high particles. So when there is limited minerals in one area, there is decreased fluids in that area. This is detrimental because in order for most cellular functions to occur, there has to be a good amount of fluids to keep the “gears” of your body lubricated.
Of those trace minerals in sea salt - magnesium, calcium and potassium are essential. Deficiencies in these minerals (and obviously complicated by other deficiencies) can cause serious dental issues, hip fractures, poor coagulation of blood, and chronic fevers in children. Nerve issues including transient pain all over the body, hyperirritability, arrhythmia, and aberrant muscle contractions.
The list can go on and can get worse if regular table salt is consumed. Nature gives a balance of all minerals and to eat only NaCl or regular iodized table salt, offsets the countless other minerals of the body. When you cry, sweat, salivate, take showers, urinate, defecate, you excrete many minerals and you need to replace them readily. It is a misconception to think salt causes high blood pressure when in fact a lack of body fluids is the culprit (which intuitively you think: dehydrated, you need more minerals to RETAIN the water). So when looking for salt, make sure it is unrefined, not white and powdery, and in the case of the celtic sea salt, it is still damp. Also make sure when you drink water, you sprinkle a little of it in you glass, because being thirsty is not necessarily a water craving.
