Myths About Salt

The myths about salt are being debunked every day.

Read on to learn why your body needs it more than you think (or what you’ve been told)

You may hear constantly about the dangers of sodium intake, and see articles online discussing how we have too much sodium in our diets. While the general consensus among medical & nutritional professionals has been that reduced sodium intake is best^[1], the opposite is what’s completely true.

Processed foods will typically contain high amounts of salt.

The issues below affect people who live on a diet of highly refined or processed foods that contain grains, flours, starches, seed oils, and sugars.

These issues are a bit of a chain reaction…

1. High sodium intake can be dehydrating: The more salt you consume on a standard Western/American diet, the more your body tries to hold onto its own fluid.

2. Dehydration leads to heart problems: Fluid retention in the body leads to high blood pressure, which means the heart has to work much harder to pump your blood around your body.

3. High blood pressure can cause a stroke: High blood pressure is dangerous because it narrows the blood vessels in your brain, causing those vessels to get blocked, and as a result, can make them burst, which is what it means to have a stroke.

In order avoid this trifecta, eating a diet of low-inflammatory foods such as meat, fish, eggs, non-starchy vegetables and some dairy (if you tolerate either of these), helps keep your body from retaining excess fluid and avoiding inflammation, which then lowers your blood pressure to normal levels.

Is salt bad for you? No.

High amounts of salt in our diet isn’t what’s bad for us ^[2], but highly refined/processed foods full of sugar, starch/flour/grains, seed oils ARE.

Do you NEED these “real” salts or is table salt OK?

Any salt is fine, whether table salt, Kosher flake salt, grey Celtic sea salt, or pink Himalayan salt.

Unrefined salts:

• Are 100% natural and not chemically treated, which is why they’re available in different colors and textures.
• Contain 5% magnesium, potassium, and calcium.
• Additionally, whole, unrefined salts can contain up to 84 minerals readily used by the body as needed.

Focusing your keto diet lifestyle around buying whole, nutrient-dense meat, fish, eggs, and vegetables means they do not have any added salt, just a small amount of naturally-occurring sodium, potassium, and magnesium.

Sodium, potassium, magnesium are the electrolyte trio to keep balanced when you are following the keto lifestyle.

Ever experience weird aches, pains, or tiredness when you started keto?

That’s because once you kick sugar, starch, and grains, and other processed foods out of your daily diet, your body craves electrolytes (salt, potassium, magnesium, and other minerals) because you have flushed them away from the excess water you lose once you rid your body of dietary carbohydrate.

The lack of electrolytes makes you feel rotten, but adding your own real, healthy salt to these foods while cooking and serving will ensure you get the kind of sodium intake that’s best for your body, and you’ll avoid the general aches & pains many refer to as the keto flu.

Additionally, if you exercise or live in warm temps and find yourself sweating a lot, that’s another way you can knock your electrolyte balance out of whack.

Feel free to liberally add salt to your meals of real, whole, unprocessed foods, and it can help you avoid this “flu” and salt is not bad for you, like you may have been told. In fact, enjoying salt in your new lifestyle will help you feel better.

Sources:

1. CDC.Gov – http://www.cdc.gov/VitalSigns/Sodium/?s_cid=bb-vitalsigns-111#Problem

2. The Salt Scam, Dr. Jason Fung -https://drjasonfung.medium.com/the-salt-scam-1973d73dccd