This is one of those bits of info that everyone will love me for. Well not everyone, someone will always rear their head and take issue, BUT FOR THOSE OF YOU who love salt.

You're going to love this.

Sodium Chloride (salt) is actually essential for our bodies to function. Our kidneys have a little machine in them called a potassium/sodium pump, and it can't function without sodium!!!

Our adrenals can't hold their hydration and function properly unless they have adequate sodium.

Our tummies cannot make HydroCHLORIC acid which is essential for digestion without sodium CHLORIDE! HydroCHLORIC acid, Sodium CHLORIDE. See where I'm headed with this??

So why do docs always sell us on the LOW SODIUM, NO SALT diets etc etc…

Well, somewhere along the way of commercial production of salt, the companies that made it only made a small percentage for commercial consumption, the rest was mined and processed for industrial usages of which there are MANY.

One of the steps in processing salt is to disinfect it and in order to do this they would heat it to extremely high temperatures causing the molecule bond of the salt (sodium + chloride or NaCl) to melt together. When you eat this, the body has no idea what it is, and it will treat it like a foreign invader storing it as fat or wrap it in cholesterol to immobilize it OR worse, it will try and use it for it's proper function and wreak havoc on that organ, like the kidneys. Kind of like when you eat bad Chinese food and your hands and feel swell up. Well the kidneys were attempting to use all that salt, but because it was 'garbage' salt it backed up the kidneys and created water retention.

Same goes for clogged arteries. The body is actually trying to do you favor by wrapping the 'garbage' salt in cholesterol and keep it from running amuck in your heart and if you keep eating bad salt, well that bad cholesterol will eventually just clog up those pathways. It's not always the cause of clogged arteries but it certainly doesn't help. That's why docs say to people with heart problems and blood pressure issues, AVOID SALT.  Well I'm not here to tell those people to start eating healthy salt, but I AM HERE to say that if that 'garbage' salt was never consumed in the first place. It may have helped avoid that issue to begin with. 

So what kind of salt should I be eating and if I stop eating table salt where will I get my iodine?

Well it's best to use air-dried sea salts that do NOT have any anti caking agents in it. Even better if you can use Himalayan or Pink Sea Salt. AND EVEN BETTER, the salt that comes in chunks and you can grind yourself as you use it.  These salts tend to be higher in trace mineral content which is AWESOME, and when it isn't already ground you don't have to worry about it having been ground with nickel plated grinders and having shreds of metal shavings in it. Ewww...

As for Iodine, well guess what my friends, we were never meant to get our iodine from salt anyway. They started adding it ARTIFICIALLY to salt in 1924 because people were having deficiencies. Here is a link of a list of foods sources for iodine and a supplement if you are interested. 

http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/iodine-foods/

A good teaspoon of healthy pink salt per day, in food or even down it in a glass of water (blech) is a great way to make sure you are getting enough. And if you sweat as much as I do in a day, well you can increase it! 

My mad nutritionist friend Healthy Gut Girl, Catalina Martone even suggests that parents supplement healthy salt for children because it's all a healthy child really needs as a basis for so many functions in the body. My own daughter is a testament to that fact! 

Hope this sheds light on your day.

Enjoy 

SamX