There are 4 vital elements needed for life:
- Oxygen
- Water
- Sodium
- Potassium
I ask all my clients, “How much water do you drink?” The most common answers are, “I don’t like water,” “Not much,” and “I don’t drink water because it makes me pee too much.” I get it. Sometimes we just aren’t thirsty or have a water bottle on hand. Just take a second to think about how you feel on a daily basis. If you answer yes to any of the following questions, you may not be absorbing water properly:
- Do you have headaches?
- Do you have high blood pressure?
- Do you feel sore and achy?
- Do you have a hard time recovering from workouts?
- Do you feel tired throughout the day or at all?
- Do you feel hungry all the time?
- Do your fingers, feet, and ankles swell?
- Do you have trouble losing weight; more specifically fat cells?
If you answered a minimum of one yes to the above questions, continue reading.
Your cells may be closed off to absorbing vital minerals and water. So, how do we get water inside the cell? To do that, we need to look at sodium in its purest form.
Sea water contains 92 minerals. Of those 92 minerals, 30% is made up of sodium and 50% is made up of chloride. When water evaporates through industrial drying, sodium chloride crystals form. What happens is, these crystals are scooped up, bleached white and aluminium is added leaving no natural minerals left in the salt. It is then bottled up and sold as table salt. Table salt contains two minerals: Sodium Chloride. These two minerals alone are such harsh minerals that if you were to inject them into the veins, you would risk death. Sodium chloride is meant to be taken into the body as it’s found in nature, with all of it’s other minerals 1.
Celtic Salt contains 82 minerals
Himalayn Sea Salt contains 82 minerals
The cells in our bodies have sodium and potassium pumps. We need an equal balance of sodium and potassium in our bodies to absorb water and minerals. Where do we get potassium you ask? Fruits and vegetables. Remember in January how we had the 800g Fruits and Vegetables challenge? You think we did that just for funzies? Consider if someone eats an American diet with little to no fruits and vegetables, their potassium levels drastically decrease. But table salt is added to everything and can be found at every restaurant and family dinner table and preservative. As potassium levels decrease and sodium levels increase, sodium starts to enter the cells at high levels causing swelling. Also known as hypertension→ high blood pressure and other cardiovascular diseases 2.
Not so fast. This doesn’t mean you should STOP eating salt all together. Too little sodium will cause another imbalance, still causing the cell to swell. Problem still not fixed.
Just how important is sodium? Sodium is the main transport system of glucose across the small intestine lining into the blood 3. This is how nutrients get absorbed into the rest of your body! Yes, sodium can be found in animal sources and some plant sources, but not enough for optimal sodium levels and definitely not enough for optimal nutrient absorption 1.
Celtic Salt and Himalayan Sea Salt are rich in three types of magnesium: magnesium bromide, magnesium sulfate, magnesium chloride. Magnesium is a water hungry molecule and helps to pull water into the cells in balanced amounts. I often advise my clients to have a few crystals of one of these two salts before and/or after exercise to help with water absorption after high intensity, high perspiration exercise to assist with intracellular rehydration 4. If your cells are properly hydrated, your body will function more efficiently. What happens when the body functions efficiently? You answer NO to the questions in the beginning of this article!
Key takeaway? GET RID OF THE HARMFUL TABLE SALT! Replace it with Celtic Salt or Himalayan Sea Salt and start feeling better.
In Health,
Noelle McConnell
References
- https://repositorioaberto.uab.pt/bitstream/10400.2/7537/1/which-table-salt-to-choose-2155-9600-1000701.pdf
- http://cmsa-ascv.ca/documents/Salt%20Review%20-Huang%20and%20Bohrer_June%202017.pdf
- https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/physrev.00055.2009
- https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-0348-5523-5_41