It’s not just table salt you should be wary of, there’s a lot of fake table salt on the shelves of supermarkets and discount stores. For a lot of consumers salt is used as a seasoning. Some veins of salt are meant for livestock feed.
Despite its intended use as a seasoning, real salt can harm you. Salt is composed of two elements, H2O and pure sodium Chloride. Consumption of real salt balances the functions of these two elements, thus real salt is beneficial to human health.
Salt is a food item obtained from water and is essential for maintaining the body’s water balance. More than 70% of the body’s energy comes from the digestion of carbohydrates, main source of energy is carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates are sugars. One carbohydrate contains one hundred and twenty seven glucose molecules. Sodium, Potassium, Chloride and other elements are combined to make salt. Sodium occurs naturally in many of the foods we eat.
The use of table salt as a preservative is a widespread practice today. Food manufacturers use salt for preservatives in order to reduce the cost of their products and also to improve the taste of the food items they produce.
Too much salt in our diet causes us to excrete high levels of hydrochloric acid which causes buildup and hardening of the cellular walls of our digestive system. This causes chronic stomach pains, indigestion, heartburn, obesity and many additional symptoms. Chloride also causes calcium loss from the bones which weakens existing skeletal structure and contributes to osteoporosis.
Thearding table salt as a preservative has been widely practiced for many years. In World War II, salt was used to cause food cravings in British soldiers.
I recently read in a wonderful book on the history of salt “The Great Saltcersrowing Down” by throatymagic.com. It was a great read and, I believe, will be a helpful tool for those on a salt restriction diet.
I started my own research on salt and it’s affect on mind function. I threw out all the salt I ever had and steadily cut my salt intake to the recommended minimum. My mental function improved. I noticed the lack of mental fatigue and Briefly, a sense of clarity and happiness rose in my being.
Salt is also beneficial for cooking and baking. Adding salt to your food enhances it, in turn, contributing to your well-being. Do not add salt late in the game. A glass of hot lemon juice will assist enzymes when added at the time of cooking.
Finally, I would like to share with you a personal story. My wife was suffering from fibromyalgia, allergies, and memory loss. She often felt dead and could not recall her last meal. We often ate out, and she would inevitably get the dreaded cold or flu, as was her habit. Frequently, when she came home I would pour a glass of warm salt soup over her favorite soup bone, and she would sit for hours eating.
When I found out about her salt habit, I made an appointment to talk to her doctor. Once the doctor understood my problem, he prescribed a dietitian. She was so excited when she learned she could continue eating her favorite foods….salt and legumes. She forgot all about the legumes and the colds and it literally took less than a week for her to forget about them.
There are numerous benefits of including salt in your diet. It provides the mineral potassium, needed for nerve and muscle function. All those electrolytes are needed by the body for circulation. Those are also important to poor blood circulation and we all know the consequences when the heart is not getting enough oxygen. The liver is responsible for getting rid of waste products like uric acid and formaldehyde when it is inadequate in sodium. When you are low on sodium, the liver gets overloaded and can not remove these waste products efficiently.
One of my goals with helping people to get off the salt habit is to point out to those who may be experiencing these symptoms because they are not making an effort to reduce their salt intake. It is never too late to improve your health! Start reading labels and counting your salt intake. Lower your salt intake to where it should be for a healthy heart and you will be taking a tremendous step toward whole foods and a healthy life.
About The Author
Helena Eater
How much does the quality of food really matter? If you eat food that tastes good, your life will be better. If you eat food that tastes bad, your life will be worse. The difference between good and evil is partly subjective: what tastes good to me might taste bad to you. The difference is also partly objective: what restaurants I think serve good food might serve lousy food to you. But if we stick to objective measures — measures such as how much weight people gain or lose — we can cut through some of the subjectivity.
