Not All Salt is Created Equal

If you listen to the experts you're likely believe that salt is public enemy number one on every kitchen table and should be avoided at all costs. But while salt is implicated as the cause for high blood pressure and most of us take far too much of it, that stuff you by at the supermarket hardly qualities as pure sodium chloride.

Like most processed food, the stuff you buy at the store is refined and synthesized in a laboratory before it gets to your table. It is adulterated with other chemicals and has been stripped of the minerals that are present in real salt. Of course taking too much is bound to have some unhealthy consequences.

But there is a difference between table salt and sea salt. Both consist of sodium chloride. Sodium chloride is necessary and required by the body. But sea salt retains healthy minerals like potassium, iodine, magnesium, zinc, copper, iron and other trace minerals. Table salt is much the same as the salt you use to de-ice your driveway.

Sea salt is healthier as it exists in water that gets evaporated from the sea and rivers and is naturally purified. It retains the minerals, all of which help your thyroid, muscles, heart and pancreas function normally.

If you're looking for sea salt, there are two types of sea salts that will make better substitutes for common table salt.

Himalayan salt comes from salt veins in the Himalayan mountains in Pakistan. If mined correctly it possesses the widest variety of minerals with well over 83 minerals. This kind of salt carries a slight pink hue. It's the iron content that gives it its pinkish color.

Celtic salt, also called French Gray Seas salt doesn't have quite as many minerals as Himalayan but it has the highest concentration of minerals.

You're unlikely to get much health benefit from common table salt. If you use "iodized" salt, you won't improve your health much. Iodized salt has iodine added to it. But you'll need to consume a great deal of iodized salt to get any benefit. More than likely the amounts you'd have to consume would kill you. Iodine is a mineral needed by the body, but the addition of the mineral in table salt doesn't do much good when all the other minerals have been stripped away.

You won't find sea salt at your local supermarket. Check your local health food store for it. If it's not available, you can order it online. Both Salt Works and Real Salt provide you the healthier sea salt.

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