Stop Avoiding Salt: Common Misconceptions Debunked
Do you avoid putting salt on your food because you’re afraid it’ll raise your blood pressure or make you retain water? 🧂Surprise! Salt aka sodium does the EXACT opposite. It’s the REAL unicorn powder! 🦄
Salt is a mineral and electrolyte, meaning it’s one of the many “spark plugs” of the body.⚡Without minerals, the body’s many enzymes and hormones CANNOT run correctly.
Our whole lives we’ve been taught to look at salt as a villain, but it’s so amazing for: 🔥Lowering inflammation and cramping
💧Helping magnesium absorption
❎Suppressing stress hormones (and boosting anabolic ones!)
🍬Improving insulin sensitivity
🐣Increasing womb healing (hello mommas!)
😴Helping you sleep
💩Relieving constipation
🩸Promoting healthy blood pressure!
Blaming salt for high blood pressure is like blaming firemen for the water damage they caused to put out the fire burning down your house.
The LOWER the salt, the more STRESS. In short, when we’re low in sodium, a few things happen:
🔁Our kidneys work to retain sodium, increasing blood pressure
🔂Our adrenal glands release aldosterone (stress hormone), which works retain sodium (and excrete potassium), increasing blood pressure AND water retention
🔀Dopamine levels decrease, allowing adrenaline and noradrenaline (stress hormones) to rise, increasing blood pressure
It’s also important to note that the above mechanisms are turned on when you have low blood pressure (hypo-metabolic state) and are in “fight or flight” mode (sympathetic nervous system). Suffice to say, someone in a chronically stressed state NEEDS salt. It's ANTI-STRESS!
This DOES not mean go H-A-M on salt. If you’ve been avoiding it, it should be added very SLOWLY back into food and water. I always eat to taste but never over-salt. Adrenal cocktails are a tasty way to get it in too.
And quality MATTERS! The whiter the SEA SALT (not table salt) the better, as pink and grey versions contain undesirable impurities.
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This is not medical advice. Always consult your healthcare professional before pursuing any changes to your personal healthcare regime.
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References
Deering, Kate. (2014). How to Heal Your Metabolism.
Tortora, J. Derrickson, B. (2015). The Human Body. Danvers, MA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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