The Importance of Good Ocean Sea Salt in the Diet

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The Importance of " Good " Ocean Sea Salt in the Diet

You need salt to live! A healthy, active lifestyle demands sufficient

salt intake. Human life is dependent on the presence of sodium.

If you were to ask anyone to pass the salt, it is a given that in

most restaurants you would receive a shaker full of processed sodium

chloride. This modern salt is not what it used to be. It is not, in

fact, the composition that it was when it became our condiment of

choice.

Today's table salt is 98% sodium chloride - no trace minerals, no

natural balance. Ordinary table salt is a chemical as clean as

Heroin or White Sugar. It almost always contain additives, like

0.01% of potassium-Iodide (added to the salt to avoid iodine

deficiency disease of thyroid gland), sugar (added to stabilize

iodine and as anti-caking chemical), and aluminum silicate.

However sodium, in the form of sodium chloride, plays an important

part in the primary processes of digestion and absorption. Salt

activates the first enzyme in the mouth, salivary amylase.

Sodium chloride is used to make hydrochloric acid, a secretion needed

for digestion. Sodium functions best when other minerals, such as

magnesium, calcium and potassium, which are also contained in good

ocean sea salts like Celtic and Himalayan.

We need salt to live. Our own cellular makeup is very similar to sea

water. Much more than a solution of salt water, the ocean's waters

contain a complex combination of minerals and elements. It is this

coincidence that has likely made salt, which is essential to life,

the condiment most used for thousands of years.

" Salt " is actually a chemical term for a substance produced by a

reaction of an acid with a base. The terms, " salt " and " sodium " are

used interchangeably, but technically this is not correct. " Salt " is

sodium chloride. By weight, it is 40% sodium and 60% chloride. Sodium

is an essential nutrient, a mineral that the body cannot manufacture

itself but which is required for life and good health. Human blood

contains 0.9% sodium chloride, or salt -- the same concentration as

found in saline solutions used to cleanse wounds. That coincidence is

why we crave it and why man came to covet it.

Dr. Bernard Jensen, author of Come Alive, stated, " All cellular

structures become alive through electrolytic activity. Life begins

with electrolytes. Trace minerals carry the life force in our bodies

more than any other substance. "

Mineral salts create electrolytes. Electrolytes, often called the

spark of life, are what carry the electrical currents throughout our

bodies - sending messages to the cells in all of the different

systems.

Electrolytes are also necessary for enzyme production. Enzymes are

responsible for breaking down food, for absorbing nutrients, muscle

function, hormone production and more. Our biological need for salt

that contains a balance of naturally occurring minerals and trace

elements is very real. These minerals must be replenished regularly

in order to maintain health.

Water and salt regulate the water content of the body. Water itself

regulates the water content of the interior of the cell by working

its way into all of the cells it reaches. It has to get there to

cleanse and extract the toxic wastes of cell metabolisms. Salt forces

some water to stay outside the cells. It balances the amount of water

that stays outside the cells. There are two oceans of water in the

body; one ocean is held inside the cells of the body, and the other

ocean is held outside the cells. Good health depends on a most

delicate balance between the volume of these oceans, and this balance

is achieved by " good " unrefined ocean sea salt.

If you were to ask anyone to pass the salt, it is a given that in

most restaurants you would receive a shaker full of processed sodium

chloride. This modern salt is not what it used to be. It is not, in

fact, the composition that it was when it became our condiment of

choice.

Today's table salt is 98% sodium chloride- no trace minerals, no

natural balance. is 99.9% NaCl (sodium-chloride), (chemical as clean

as Heroin or White Sugar) . It almost always contain additives, like

0.01% of Potassium-Iodide (added to the salt to avoid Iodine

deficiency disease of thyroid gland), Sugar (added to stabilize

Iodine and as anti-caking chemical), Aluminum silicate. and it

contains aluminum

For thousands of years, we have known that salt intake can affect

blood pressure. But scientists disagree over how much is too much.

For years many researchers have claimed that salt threatens public

health by contributing to high blood pressure. Over time, studies

investigating the relationship between sodium and high blood pressure

have produced mixed results. Most doctors and major health

organizations around the world recommend a diet low in sodium. Some

veer toward the extreme and prescribe a no-salt diet.

What science is now telling us is that a balance of minerals is

necessary and is more beneficial than eliminating sodium. The

featured study in the September, 2002 issue of the British Medical

Journal states that significant sodium reduction would lead to only

very small blood pressure changes in the limited sodium-sensitive

populations and would not produce the health benefits presumed.

After years of promoting what may be unhealthy low levels of sodium,

science may soon prove that it is a diet with a balance of mineral

salts that is the answer. Eating a diet with a balance of sodium,

magnesium and potassium may actually help to lower blood pressure and

promote good health. Sodium, potassium and magnesium help to regulate

fluid balance in the body and allow nutrients and oxygen to travel to

their necessary destinations within the body.

The saying that " rubbing salt into a wound, " may come to mean

something different. Sea salt is linked to healthy immune and

adrenal function. Doctors at one hospital have discovered that a

treatment for chronic fatigue includes sodium supplements and plenty

of pickles and other salty foods. A number of medical studies suggest

that soaking in sea salt baths rich in minerals such as magnesium,

potassium, and calcium may be beneficial in the treatment of various

diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and

osteoarthritis.

Some people find that adding Celtic Sea Salt to their diets helps to

re-establish proper regulation of bodily fluids. According to Dr.

Esteban Genoa, a Miami physician, " a lot of people are not overweight

because of excess body fat; they are overweight because of excessive

bodily fluids. This type of person may go on a starvation diet and

gain weight.

But these people are mineral depleted, and are unable to maintain

homeostasis (the process by which an organism regulates internal

conditions in the face of a changing external environment).

These people will benefit from adding the right salt to their foods

because their kidneys are not working correctly, the water exchange

between the body's organs, as well as between the extra cellular

fluid and the intracellular fluid, does not flow properly. These

people are not moving fluid through the system, they are water

intoxicated, and they are really going to benefit form the proper

salt. In addition, a person with this sort of weight problem should

limit carbohydrates. "

Given the latest health findings that a balance of minerals is the

healthiest choice, it makes good sense to switch to natural salts

which contain magnesium and potassium. Not only do these salts

promote good health, they also taste better. The metamorphosis of sea

water into salt allows sea salt to keep all of its essential

components, thus the benefits and flavor of the minerals that typical

table salt is lacking.

The goal of optimum health, a balance of nutrition and lifestyle, can

go a long way to preventing illness. This goal begins with our

everyday decisions, such as what kind of salt to use and to regard it

as a very important nutrient to have daily.