It's common knowledge these days that too much salt in your diet isn't good for you. Our doctors and a lot of literature warn us that it can cause high blood pressure (hypertension), which could lead to a heart attack. In fact it can cause many more problems than that and with our modern, fast food, ready meal diets, high salt is certainly a concern. However, swing too far the other way and you could start experiencing the symptoms of hyponatremia, or low sodium.
Salt is actually vital to our health and regulates the water in our bodies. That fact that we like the taste of it in our food so much is a natural survival instinct, which has, unfortunately, become a potential problem for us now it is so easily available. However, it is worth remembering that it is mostly only going to be a problem if you're eating a diet high in processed foods. If you eat a healthier diet, with mostly home prepared meals, then there is a chance you might actually need to add a bit more salt into your diet.
There are two main ways that our bodies excrete salts and it's via fluids; namely urination and perspiration that's sweating and peeing, to me and you. So, as you can probably imagine, a hot environment can cause low sodium. We might remember to drink plenty of fluids when it's hot, water being deemed the most important, but we don't always think to replenish the salts being flushed out with it as we sweat.
Living in England for most of my life, it was never even something that crossed my mind, but since moving to South Australia it's become something to be reckoned with. Again, not so much when we were still eating ready prepared meals and takeouts, but as I've moved over to cooking at home more, I'm often surprised at how much salt goes into a meal in order for us to be able to taste it. It also makes sense to me now why traditional foods from hot countries, Mexican and Indian for example, are highly flavoured and salted.
Over the last half a year and more, I've been getting bad headaches which usually last for a day and a half and come as often as once a week. Quite often I'll feel nauseous as well, but can still eat. Sometimes I'll start to feel better after eating and recently I've started to realise that I'm craving salty foods when I feel this way. So after a long time grasping at different reasons as to why these headaches might be happening, I finally looked up the symptoms of low sodium.
• Nausea and vomiting
• Headache
• Confusion
• Loss of energy, drowsiness and fatigue
• Restlessness and irritability
• Muscle weakness, spasms or cramps
• Seizures
• Coma
There it is! In fact, apart from the seizures and coma, they were all looking a little familiar.
While I've been cooking more at home for a few years, looking back, I realise a few other things have changed recently. I've been detoxing when I can, which is causing me to empty my bladder more than usual. It's common knowledge that dehydration can cause headaches, so we in turn drink more, without realising that salt helps us to retain hydration and without it we may merely be flushing water straight through wig little benefit.
My question now is, how do I add more salt to my diet in a healthy way?
First it's worth mentioning that not all salt is equal. Much of the salt already in prepared foods is refined and has additives such as anti-caking agents. It's why I often buy salt free products and add salt at home. My preference is to use a salt mill for sea salt or Himalayan salt crystals, because these haven't been refined.
My main hurdle is likely a psychological one. Having spent so many years hearing and reading that we need to cut down on dietary salt, it's hard to reconcile that it's okay to add salt to my cooking. So when I under salt something, I then tell myself it's okay because we're not meant to have too much salt anyway and avoid adding any on the plate. Perhaps my first step should be to make sure I'm tasting as I cook so that I add enough. On occasion I've also over salted food, so tasting should help avoid that issue too.
There are also other minerals which help to balance your electrolyte retention, in particular potassium, so maybe I should make sure I'm including foods rich in that. I haven't eaten bananas or sweet potatoes for a while now, come to think of it.
Sources and further reading:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hyponatremia/symptoms-causes/syc-20373711
https://www.drnorthrup.com/why-you-need-salt-in-your-diet/
Image courtesy of @izzydawn
Lovely article! I feel similar about having had to push myself to add salt to my diet - definitely notice immediately in hot weather if I'm a bit 'undersalted' ;-) and I love using raw salt - it's part of the culture here and widely, affordably available. I use it in bathing and in steaming (sitting over a pot of herbs - high level of absorption directly into the pelvic area) :-D Big happy health vibes to you!
😆 "undersalted!" My new favourite word for the day! Now I have boffins of rubbing myself in salts to salt me.😁
I love salt XD especially the colourful ones.
I also love the ocean but only in summer or back home where it's always warm. Swimming in salt water for the entire day counts as salt right XD
I had a banana yesterday, but only because I realised it's been A Very Long TimeTM since I'd eaten fruit x_x
I'm sure swimming in it is the best way to absorb it! 😁
If it's not in a 24 pack of McDonalds nuggets or Nescafe Blend 43; then it's not in my diet at all.
I'm sure the nuggets contain everything you need. 😉
Soaking your feet in a salt footbath can be a great way of adding the much-needed minerals to your system without trashing your kidneys. A handful of epsom salt is great. A handful of Himalayan or sea salt also great. Don't mix them cos you get a weird chemical reaction LOL that creates rust.
Sea salt is 39% pure magnesium - the symptoms you describe also suggest acute magnesium deficiency.
Good that you're ON IT. And yes, so much to unlearn from so-called "medicine".
Feel better. 😊
I always add Epsom salts to the bath. Thanks for the tip on not mixing salts, I wasn't aware of that.
https://www.westonaprice.org/book-reviews/the-salt-fix-by-james-dinicolantonio/
More conditioning to undo!
One of my favourite things about the Weston Price Foundation is getting to red pill mainstream diet believers - especially on saturated fats!
https://www.westonaprice.org
I've been learning a lot from WAPF over the last years, but that was the first I'd read from them on salt.
An important contribution to our body of knowledge. Thank you.
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This was very educational. I learned a lot thank you. Like all things, salt is good in moderation too much is just as bad as too little. Good luck and I hope you feel better!
Thank you. I'm trying to become a bit more aware of my salt intake now.