Health Alert 305
For years you’ve heard people telling you that salt is bad for you. “Don’t put salt on that – it’ll kill you!”
But doesn’t salt taste good to you? Why would nature sabotage you and make you crave something that will cause disease?
Today, you’ll discover a simple truth about salt you may not know.
Let’s get one thing straight. Salt itself is not an evil. Salts occur widely in nature, in all body fluids, and of course, in the oceans. It’s a general term and natural salts usually have mixtures of many compounds. In fact, natural salt contains vital minerals your body needs. In its original form, salt is a healthy part of your diet.
But the salt you find on your table is anything but natural. Modern salt is processed to the point of being toxic. Commercial salt producers take out all the good minerals and add dozens of harmful chemicals.
You should avoid processed salt. Its concentrated sodium and lack of potassium can lead to high blood pressure and other health problems. These high sodium salts hide in thousands of products that you eat everyday. Even if you don’t add salt yourself, many of the foods you eat are swimming in sodium.
Do you think that salad is healthy? Many commercial salad dressings have more sodium in a serving than a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder with cheese!(1)
Real salt, on the other hand, comes from the earth or ocean, not a factory. It has health benefits and brings out the flavor of your favorite foods.
How do you avoid too much sodium? As always, simply avoid processed foods. Don’t eat anything that is canned, frozen or sealed in a bag. Aside from sodium, they are full of other chemicals, the wrong carbs and the wrong fats.
Switching to “sea salt” is easy to do. You can find it in most grocery stores and nutrition stores. It’s much better than table salt because it has a mixture of sodium and potassium with traces of other minerals.
You can also balance the effects of processed sodium, by eating foods rich in potassium. This can be therapy for your heart and it will help lower high blood pressure.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD
(1) Liebman B. Pressure cooker, the scoop on salt. Nutrition Action. July/August 2005.