Edit Your Food Additives

What is a standard feature of your kitchen or dining room table? Do you have salt and pepper shakers on your table at home, or are you nervous about the effect of salt on your health?

I would agree that too much salt is not good for you, provided we are talking about the chemically-produced table salt that is added to most processed foods, meats and snacks.

Table salt – which is 97% sodium chloride – is chemically produced, bleached and devoid of most other nutrients. Would you be surprised to know that table salt also contains aluminum, which is counted among the heavy metals that can wreak havoc in the body? Table salt is not naturally occurring, and in fact, when salt-water fish are placed in salt water made with table salt … they die.

Just as table salt is bad for our bodies, natural salt is not only necessary for our bodies to function, but it is extremely important in the right concentration for optimal health. Naturally occurring salt has just 85% sodium chloride as well as many trace minerals that your body needs. The trace minerals provide key benefits, such as ….

Still can’t get the doctor’s warning out of your mind? Perhaps it would help to know that all of the studies that linked salt to hypertension and other diseases were conducted using table salt.

If you have any table salt around your house, please don’t eat it. But don’t throw it out either. Table salt can be useful in stain removal and cleaning.

What are your options for “natural” salt? My first recommendation is that you purchase salt in a transparent container so that you can see that it is colorful. White salt of any variety has been chemically bleached – blech! Himalayan pink salt, Redmond Real Salt, and Celtic sea salt are not white, and can provide nutritional support for your body in addition to great flavor. Just keep tabs on the amount you are using.

And how much is not too much? There are differing opinions, but I believe that aiming for no more than 1 teaspoon (2300 mg) per day is a good level. That means checking the nutrient labels on food packages, and generally avoiding quick-cooking prepared foods – these usually include much higher levels of table salt.

We all want to eat tasty food, and I think you would agree that it’s important to eat food that both tastes good and nourishes your body. Natural salts are a win-win for taste and nourishment.