Salt Substitute? Or Healthy Salt?

The overuse of high sodium products has been conclusively linked to many health problems including high blood pressure and heart problems.

Yet sodium is an essential mineral that our body requires. It plays an important role in healing, cleansing and fluid balance. So how do we handle this intricate dance between the need for sodium and the risks posed by its overuse?

We must understand the role salt plays in our diet, the difference between natural salt and refined salt, and which whole foods make a great salt substitute.

The Problems with Table Salt

This is the type of salt that has been tested extensively, and is linked to so many modern health problems. Like all other highly processed substances, refined table salt is denatured and lacking all the benefits of its whole food version. Whole foods provide an intricate, complex balance of nutrients that can not be duplicated or even completely understood by science.

During the early 1900s hypothyroidism and goiters (an enlargement of the thyroid gland) became a widespread problem in the Midwestern United States. The refined salt used by inlanders lacked iodine and many other essential minerals and natural compounds. Iodine is needed to regulate thyroid hormones. This trace mineral is naturally occurring in whole sea salt, sea vegetables and other foods, but it was missing in refined table salt.

To combat the deficiency, iodine was added to common table salt in 1924. This remedied the widespread problem with goiters. But how can we be sure of other possible effects caused by consuming a denatured and isolated food substance?

The additional problem with refined salt is its excess and pervasiveness in the modern diet. It is used so extensively in the modern onslaught of packaged, refined, and toxic food, that most Americans eat over 5 times the recommended guideline for salt consumption. This high sodium intake leads to high blood pressure, fluid retention and can damage the kidneys and other organs.

When a food is not in balance, people tend to overeat it. Your body will crave more as it attempts to capture the wholeness that is missing. With refined salt, it will never satiate the body’s need for the complex minerals of whole healthy salt or a mineral-rich salt substitute.

What is a Healthy Salt Substitute?

Just because a product is labeled as “sea salt” doesn’t mean it’s a whole food. It may still be refined and pure white. Whole natural salt is slightly grey and may even have pinkish, bluish or other mineral hues. It will be either large granules, crystals or a powder. Celtic sea salt, Dead Sea salt and Himalayan sea salts are examples of whole food varieties found in health stores and online at Mountain Rose Herbs.

Sea vegetables, including dulse or kelp flakes, make a great salt substitute because of their high sodium/mineral content and salty taste. High in iodine, kelp is known to bring balance and health to thyroid function. Beets, turnips, greens, seafood and most animal products also have high sodium content and can be incorporated into your diet in place of salt. Because so many foods are high in sodium, sodium deficiency is very rare. But we still crave salt …

Why Do We Crave Salt?

One of these critical minerals is potassium. Our cells require an intricate balance of sodium and potassium for fluid balance. The potassium resides inside of our cells while the sodium bathes outside and between our cells. When we have an appropriate balance, our nerves and muscles are healthy and strong. When this balance is off, muscles become weak, we lose muscle tone and our reflexes become poor.

Greens, potatoes, whole soy, millet, all grains, legumes, bananas and most other fruits and vegetables have good potassium content. They provide a good salt substitute by balancing this critical mineral and others. Coffee, alcohol and refined sugar deplete potassium.

Tips for Using Whole Salt

Thus using a whole sea salt, as long as you don’t have high blood pressure, is a healthy refined salt substitute in your detox diet. Follow these tips to optimize your use of healthy salts:

• Moderation is essential. Appropriate salt intake is highly individual – but in most people it should be moderated. It should enhance the taste of your food and not dominate it. If food tastes salty, it is probably too much.
• Curb salt cravings with sea salt. If you crave a lot of salt and have been using refined salt or refined salt products, adding whole unrefined salt to your diet should lessen cravings after several weeks.
• Discover the natural flavor of whole foods. When you shift to using more cleansing herbs and detox foods as part of your recipes, you will rely less on salt and experience a greater variety of natural flavors and tastes.
• Eat a wide range of mineral rich foods. Use a variety of foods as a salt substitute. Seaweeds, miso, tamari, beets, celery, chard, parsley, spinach and kale all contribute to sodium and other mineral intake and provide varying amounts of salt-enhanced taste.
• Take an annual break from salt. Cooler climates and cooler seasons tend to increase the need for salt in the diet. If you use more salt during the winter months, try eliminating salt from your diet for one week in the Spring. This will cleanse stored salt reserves and reset your taste buds for the summer season.
• Seek a sweet/salt balance. Consuming refined salt and refined sweets/alcohol causes a yo-yo of cravings as the body seeks balance between these extremes (thus the popularity of salty pretzels and chips consumed with alcoholic drinks). Use natural and subtle sweet foods and drinks – like fruits, grains, tubers, sweet herbs, honey – and whole food salt substitutes for a more gentle and healthy balance. This will reduce cravings for either extreme.
• Cut out refined salt. Avoid all common table salt and other refined, salty or sweet foods (most sugary carbohydrates also contain high amounts of refined salt).
• Use Herbal Gomasio. Make our recipe for herbal sesame salt and use it in place of table salt to reduce sodium intake and clear excess sodium from the body.

¹Healing With Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition (3rd Edition), by Paul Pitchford