Which Salt Should I Use?

Some sources advise you to remove salt from your diet altogether, but salt is an essential mineral that our bodies need to function. Salt is necessary for cellular hydration and plays a vital role in nerve and muscle function. Recent studies have shown that areas of the world where people consume the highest salt levels actually have longer lifespans! That being said, it's the type of salt, not the salt itself that is the problem.

According to this article from Medical News Today, there is a balance needed and they say that:

“Most Americans consume too much salt and sodium, due to a high intake of processed, restaurant, and convenience foods.”

We Americans are comfortable, easy-to-grab eaters. If it requires a lot of work, chances are we might not feel like making it. But what is this doing to our bodies? What is wrong with the salt contained in all these foods?

Normal iodized table salt is in fact only one-third salt, the other two-thirds are made up of equal parts sand and micro-glass fragments. Here’s what Natural News Today says about it:

This may come as a shock, but table salt is comprised of sodium chloride and along with that often contaminated with sand and glass. Herein lies the problem. When you consume this lovely mixture the sand and glass are abrasive. They scratch and make small tears in your body including your veins. Your body reacts by trying to patch and heal with fats (cholesterol).

(Click here, for the full article)

Photo by Adrien Olichon from Pexels

“This may come as a shock, but table salt is comprised of sodium chloride and along with that often contaminated with sand and glass. Herein lies the problem. When you consume this lovely mixture the sand and glass are abrasive. They scratch and make small tears in your body including your veins. Your body reacts by trying to patch and heal with fats (cholesterol).”

(Click here, for the full article)

Yes, glass fragments are added to table salt, and these fragments are the real culprits. Although you would never want to eat salt in large quantities, having a little salt would never hurt you except for the fact that table salt contains glass. These glass fragments are absorbed with salt into the bloodstream, where they proceed to create small lacerations on the inside of the veins. Cholesterol, the little repair compounds, come in to fix the damage created by the glass particles. But because there is so much damage done, it takes a lot of cholesterol to fix it, resulting in high cholesterol levels, which leads to prescriptions for cholesterol medicine.

National Geographic says that:

New research shows microplastics in 90 percent of the table salt brands sampled worldwide.

(Click here for the full article)

Though they’re unsure what this means for us yet, it might be safe to assume that since plastic contains Xenoestrogens, a form of synthetic estrogen, which alters our normal hormone balances in both men and women and can cause a cascade of health problems such as impaired thyroid and estrogen dominance, it's probably nothing good. Add this to the fact that they mix nanoparticles of glass and sand into the salt and add chemicals to prevent caking.  It’s a wonder we are all still here.

Compared to salts mined from the earth, sea salts typically contain higher levels of heavy metals and other toxins. This is due to pollution that is washed into seawater, which is evaporated, and thereby concentrated, in the production of sea salt. Celtic sea salt was commonly thought to be a better option due to its high mineral content. However, a recent investigation found that this product has high levels of heavy metals, which led to a class action lawsuit. 

“[Laboratory testing has shown that Selina Naturally’s Fine Ground Celtic Sea Salt and Light Grey Celtic Sea Salt contain significant levels of lead and arsenic.”

(Click here for the full article)

Refinement processes are used to remove these heavy metals in the production of Kosher salt, but this deprives the salt of the natural trace mineral profile that is necessary for optimal health. Kosher salt is pure sodium chloride, which can be harmful in significant quantities because there are no minerals to carry the sodium out of the bloodstream and into use. Consuming salts with a balanced mineral profile prevents the negative effects of pure sodium chloride. 

What forms of salt contain these trace minerals? Himalayan pink salt and Redmond Real Salt both have relatively low levels of heavy metals and other contaminants. The pink coloring of these salts is indicative of their wide trace mineral profile. According to Healthline, Himalayan pink salt contains 84 trace minerals. Redmond Real Salt contains 60 trace minerals.

Traditional table salt is laden with contaminants and additives. Thankfully this is a simple issue to fix by switching your salt to a healthier form, which I like to call The Salt Switch. This means you use organic Himalayan pink salt instead of regular table salt. Himalayan pink salt is pure salt mined from the earth. It does not contain glass or sand, and since microplastics are being found primarily in sea salt, we’re safe in that area as well.

The switch is not hard and you will find yourself using less salt because Himalayan pink salt is real salt, so you won’t need to use as much to achieve the same saltiness. It’s incredible how much flavor salt has when it’s all salt and not two-thirds glass and sand.

Are you going to make The Salt Switch?