Salt series VIII: Conclusions and final thoughts, how do I know if I might be salt deficient and my personal experience
Salt is the new fat.
We are scared of an essential micronutrient that our body needs.
We are scared of something we have been consuming for thousands of years.
We are scared of the most natural antimicrobial and preservative out there.
And we rather have our kids eat artificial preservatives and junk food. As long as it's labelled low salt, it must be healthy, right? Because the American Heart Association says so, right?
This is really what pisses me off. The governmental "health" institutions. They just put out bullshit and everyone believes it! We should not blame the salt for the processed food and sugar debt! Salt is not bad per se!
If everyone thought about sugar and processed food like they think about salt now, this would just be incredible!! Everyone would be avoiding sugar like crazy!
But salt is the gateway to eating healthy and exercising. It signals us food high in minerals, and it delivers us these minerals.
Don't get me wrong here. I don't tell you that just because salt is not as bad as we thought, you can eat salty fries and chips and junk food all day long. But salting your food with a high-quality salt or taking some before a workout might change the game for you.
There's something you need to now though: When blood vessels are leaky, salt is going through into the interstitial fluid, which can cause your legs to swell up. That's bad. The leakiness is mostly due to a diet high in sugar and refined carbs causing insulin problems. If you experience something like that when increasing your salt intake, you might want to speak to your doctor.
But in general, by cutting salt we are doing more harm than good! We are blaming salt for the very disease states it could prevent! Is the decrease in blood pressure (which might not even be a good thing in view of how this comes to be) really worth all the other detrimental side effects that a low salt diet can have?
As for my part, I don't think so.
Your body is intelligent, it LETS YOU KNOW when something is missing! Don't consciously restrict your salt intake when you feel like you are craving it!
How do I know if I have low salt?
Okay, this is by no means medical advice here. But there are indicators of a low salt state.
Pinch your fingernails. If blood flow does not come back within 1 or 2 seconds, you have decreased capillary blood flow, which is an indication for low salt.
Are you fatigued, dizzy when you get up, light headed? Take a teaspoon of salt, preferably not table salt, and see how you feel. This was a game changer for me!
My personal experience
I once, some years back, believed that salt was very, very bad. I avoided it! As a consequence, my muscles were always sore, I was tired all the time and had to sleep 10 hours a day!
At the same time, I excercised like crazy, which contributed to mineral loss.
When I got up in the morning, I almost fainted. I had cravings. I had gut issues. I had no energy. Really none. My skin was very bad, pimples everywhere. I was thirsty all the time but did not really feel hydrated when I drank. And I was depressed and anxious. Probably due to the constant stimulation of my adrenal hormones and the sympathetic nervous system.
Adding salt back into my diet definitely helped me combatting these issues.
Maybe I could take away some of the fear that has built up around salt and I really hope you could draw some helpful information from The Salt Series. I highly recommend listening to this podcast or reading the book that I linked to further down.
If you decide to give salt a try, don't hesitate to contact me! Tell me about your experience, what changed for you, how you feel, your energy levels, your cravings, whatever you notice!
Untill then, have an awesome day :)
