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‘Salt’ is a general term we usually refer to when taking about Sodium Chloride, or NaCl, table salt. It is actually the form of a mineral as magnesium, potassium and calcium are available as a salt, but are in no way the ‘salt’ that we use to cook or flavor food.
Not all salts are created equal. Rock salt taken from the sea or from mining deposits left by the oceans contain numerous essential trace minerals and is very beneficial. These salts are packed with flavor are more easily utilized by the body. During the refining of table salt (NaCl), natural sea salt or rock salt is stripped of more than 60 trace minerals and essential macro-nutrients. It is also heated at high temperatures that the chemical structure of salt changes. It is chemically cleaned and bleached and treated with anti-caking agents that prevent salt from mixing with water in the salt container. The anti-caking agents perform the same function in the human body so that refined salt does not dissolve and combine with the water and fluids present in our system - it builds up in the body and leaves deposits in organs and tissue, causing severe health problems. One example would be kidney stones. To make matters worse, the anti-caking agents are made with aluminum, with the bad taste of the aluminum being covered by refined sugar.
About 2400 mg, or 1 teaspoon of sodium is needed in our diets daily. The problem is that sodium is added to so many processed foods for flavor and as a preservative. Most industrialized citizens intake entirely too much salt. If you have salt softened water at your home you absorb sodium through your skin every time you bathe or shower, brush you teeth, drink tap water, wash dishes, wash you face, soak your feet or even through your clothes from washing laundry. Just this simple change would reduce so many problems with high blood pressure.
The benefits of sodium when consumed in proper balance are numerous. Sodium permeates the space between cells and with potassium on the inside of cells regulates cell permeability, allowing for free passage of nutrients and waste. It bathes cells in a ‘salty ocean’. It is important to the healthy functioning and balance of the fluids in blood and lymph and critical to pH balance in the body. Sodium is necessary to the production of hydrochloric acid used in the stomach for digestion and is required for proper nerve functioning and muscle contraction.
Because sodium is found in fruits and vegetables we can meet our daily needs from the healthy foods we eat. To flavor foods a rock/sea salt is recommended. Hawaiian sea salt is plentiful. Salt deposits from Utah that contain a bounty of minerals is another good source of sea salt.
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