There are too many myths about salt being bad for us, and it just isn’t true. Salt is needed in the human diet. It’s table salt that is unneeded, as after it’s processed it holds little to no significance health wise, and it is actually considered to be counterproductive and unhealthy. Listed below you’ll find some common salt myths and the lack of truth behind them. When salt was once considered to be precious and healthy for the body, it’s amazing how many people believe the myths listed below, when salt in fact is a helpful part of any diet.
COMMON MYTHS:
SALT IS BAD FOR YOU
Salt isn’t bad for you at all, and natural salt is actually good for you. Table salt is not good for you at all because it is not natural. Sea salts and other forms of natural salt need to be incorporated into your diet, and there are many illnesses related to a lack of salt. Sodium is important to our body’s health. Without salt we would not be able to keep the right balance of fluids in our body, resulting in illness. Salt also helps the muscles and nerves function properly, and has many more uses that are essential to keeping our body running.
SALT CAUSES HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
Salt does not cause high blood pressure, and actually a lack of sodium can affect blood pressure poorly. An increased risk of high blood pressure often relates back to poor nutrition and too much table salt. This salt is not natural salt and should not be categorized the same. It may be linked to bad blood pressure, but such as sea salts are essential to keep the body running.
SODIUM ISN’T HEALTHY
Sodium is healthy, but salt does not consist solely of sodium or sodium chloride, not unless you’re taking table salt. Again, this salt is not considered good for you. Sodium helps to regulate your blood, your fluids in general, helps your muscles, helps your nerves, and helps with mucus. Sodium is actually very healthy for you in the right amounts, but is not everything that you need from salt, and don’t need as much sodium as is found in everyday table salt.
YOUR BODY DOESN’T NEED SALT EVERYDAY
This is not true. Your body actually does need salt every day. Your body needs at least 200mg of salt a day to stay healthy, and this is referring to natural salts. You can use anything from flake salt to Hawaiian sea salt, and it’ll be healthy for you to add it to your food. So long as you are ingesting natural salts, your body will run smoothly, as salt is needed in your diet.
SODIUM-FREE & SALT-FREE MEANS NO SALT
Even in products that are labeled sodium-free or salt-free there are traces of salt. There are traces of salt in a lot of products in the grocery store, and you need to watch out, as it’s not the type of salt that is considered to have a lot of healthy benefits. This is the type of salt that needs to be regulated. A product can be labeled sodium-free or salt-free if it has less than five milligrams of salt in it.
TABLE SALT IS GOOD FOR YOU
Table salt is terrible for you because it has been too highly processed, and it is not necessary to have in your diet. Switching to sea salt can actually help you to become a healthier person, and incorporating natural salts into your diet is considered a healthy idea. The first mentioned salt is not natural, and it was actually only created in recent times.
SEA SALT AND TABLE SALT ARE NEARLY THE SAME
Table salt has been processed a lot more than sea salt, making them very different. Sea salt is considered to be a natural salt, and therefore healthy for you, but the refined salt is not. It consists mostly of sodium chloride, when sea salt has many trace minerals that are healthy and needed in your body.
TABLE SALT IS NATURAL SALT
Table salt is not considered a natural salt because of the way it has been processed. Natural salt still contains its trace minerals, and the other salt has been completely stripped of them and then further refined. The later is even sometimes sprayed with iodine to add some nutritional value back. It is not able to be broken down by the body in the amounts that it is consumed because its structure has been changed and the minerals needed are no longer there.
SALT AND SODIUM ARE THE SAME
Salt and sodium are not the same thing. Sodium is an important part of salt, but salt consists of more than just sodium. Even table salt still has chloride in it. Sodium is found in other places besides salt as well, and that is the reason that sodium can be in your food without salt being there.
SODIUM AND SALT MOSTLY COME FROM COOKING
Salt doesn’t mostly come from cooking, not in the way that people think. Many people think that the salt we add is the majority of the salt that we intake, but this isn’t true. Even most medications have a significant sodium content. However, as discussed, sodium is not exactly salt, but it is still not healthy for you. Natural salts are still considered to be much healthier. Processed foods and restaurant foods are high in sodium, and this can be from adding salt before it’s cooked.
IS SALT BAD?
The simplest answer to this question is No. Salt is not bad for you, only processed salt is. Natural salts are important to keeping the human body functioning properly, so salt and sodium should not be cut out of our diets completely. We should strive to incorporate more natural salts into our diets instead of refined salt. Salt isn’t bad for you, and the trace minerals found within salt will actually help keep you healthy.
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