Foundations of Nutrition – Salt
Salt has earned a bad reputation in our modern world because of the effects of highly heated and highly refined salts. Like my last post on healthy fats, I believe that salt is one of the building blocks of our health.
Salt plays many important roles in the body. The chloride fraction of salt -Sodium Chloride – is what goes on to build hydrochloric acid – which is essential for digestion. HCl kills off unwanted bugs in the stomach that are in our foods so that these bacteria and viruses can’t travel further into our digestive tracts. The secretion of HCl also starts a cascade, a domino effect, of digestive juice production. When foods cannot be digested, our bodies tends to hold onto the undigested food particles and it eventually rots leading to an overgrowth of bacteria, fungus, parasites and can lead to leaky gut syndrome. Leaky gut is often times an underlying cause of eczema, psoriasis, acne, fatigue, etc.
Regular table salt is refined and bleached and thus only contain sodium and chloride and contain anti-clumping agents such as aluminum hydroxide, refined sugar, stearic acid, sodium ferrocyanide, calcium phosphate and dextrose. Yes! They put refined sugar in the refined salt! Also, man salts are kiln dried at high temperatures (over 500 degrees) which bond the minerals so tightly that our bodies cannot separate them for utilization! Not all white salt is bad. As long as it has been air dried and not kiln dried and is in its natural state, it should be okay.
However, I believe that pink salt is better. Pink sea salt is an unrefined form of salt that comes from naturally formed sea and mountain beds. It is commonly found in the Himalayas, Mediterranean, and Hawaiian islands. Unlike table salt, pink salt contains, on average, over ninety health-promoting trace minerals, including phosphorus, bromine, boron, zinc, iron, molybdenum, manganese, copper and silicon. And here is a bit of controversy, that these 90 minerals are only a small percentage of the salt. Yes! The main minerals in all salt are sodium and chloride as it should be. The rest are trace minerals. They are called trace minerals because we only need them in trace amounts. Some of the functions of these minerals aren’t widely known. However that doesn’t mean we don’t need that small amount. We do! I have included things like molybdenum and selenium in nutrition programs because many of us are deficient.
Good quality salt and lots of dark leaky greens is where we should be getting our minerals from. Green juices are another way as are green smoothies. Green powders (make sure you get a good quality organic one) are a great addition to your supplement regime as they are whole foods and most of us have a hard time getting in our greens!
Regular consumption of sea salt is necessary for nerve transmission, fluid/electrolyte balance, energy production, skin health, an alkaline pH and kidney health. I have used pink salt to remedy constipation, muscle cramps, insomnia, reduce inflammation and bloating, improve skin quality, hydrate, aid in weight loss, clear asthma symptoms, and target some infectious microorganisms.
Sprinkle our Premier Research Lab’s pink salt in your water and food daily. I recommend at least 1 tsp a day.
