We hear it all the time, that salt is bad for us, but this is one of the biggest misconceptions of all in the health world. Salt is so beneficial for us, which is why it’s time to start reassessing our relationship with salt. Here are a few things that we all need to consider, and why we shouldn’t demonise it.
The Benefits of Salt in Your Diet
When we are using salts in recipes, we are told to keep it to a minimum and can work wonders in a number of recipes, including this tomato juice recipe. But it is vital to remember that salt has so many benefits:
- It helps you to stay hydrated. To be hydrated properly you need to have a balance of potassium and sodium. Water in your body will follow sodium and potassium works to balance this out; this is why you need to have good quality sea salt in your food, but also have a tiny amount in a glass of water first thing in the morning as this can work wonders to balance you out.
- It can support a healthy nervous system. Sodium will regulate water flow through your body, which is crucial for a healthy nervous system. The water in your system demands salt for electrical conduction and is vital for many functions in the body such as balancing electrolytes, which can help with preventing certain issues such as muscle cramping.
- It can be fantastic for your sleep. Sea salt can improve your sleep because of the electrolytes which regulate your hormones.
Why We Need to Reassess Our Relationship With Salt
The problem most people have is that they’ve been used to having table salt, however, it isn’t as effective as Himalayan pink sea salt or sea salt in general. If you make a swap from your table salt to natural sea salt, you should see a big difference in your general well-being.
Bringing Salt Into Your Life
Because we are told that we shouldn’t have to add sodium and that it causes hypertension or heart disease, the fact is that salt is essential to maintaining blood pressure. A meta-analysis conducted found that there was no link between high blood pressure, risk of heart disease, and their intake of salt. Therefore, we need to reassess our beliefs around salt. For example, when we look at the importance of electrolytes, and how many athletes and people who exercise need to put electrolytes back into their bodies, this is just a very modern way of saying that they need some more salt. And there are so many things salt does for us, but there are also risks of salt deficiency in light of salt restriction, such as irritability, muscle cramps, and headaches.
It’s important that we don’t demonise salt, and when you start to address exactly what salt can do for you, you might find that you need to start putting more into your diet and have a healthy attitude towards this common table ingredient.
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