When I was a young, immortal, junk-food junkie, I ate plenty of salt as my diet consisted of 99% processed food with an occasional apple here and there for good measure. I really believed "an apple a day kept the doctor away" regardless of whatever else I consumed. My blood pressure was amazingly low considering the damage my diet was doing to my body.
While in college I went to work at a health food store and with the indoctrination that comes with being around healthy-minded people, I had some basic health-food-store principles beaten into me. One was salt was bad. Salt would kill you. Is that why it makes me blow up like a balloon with water retention? I knew it made me feel fat. I gave it all up. I stopped eating potato chips, canned soups, frozen dinners, processed popcorn, pizza, and beef jerky: the staples of my diet. I banned table salt from my salt shaker. My blood pressure remained low, but I was convinced all that self-denial was doing some good.
Many years later when chemical sensitivity was rearing its ugly head, my environmental medicine specialist suggested I eat sea salt. With my indoctrination still intact I was horrified,
Oh no, salt is BAD! He disagreed.
SEA SALT hasn't been bleached and processed, nor has it been soaked with chemicals and enhancing additives, therefore, it still retains its natural ratios of nutrients, especially trace minerals. He explained we need minerals, especially trace minerals, to keep our bodies in balance which helps in the detoxification of poisons. My chemical sensitivity was based on my inability to detoxify. He suggested my lack of natural salt might have contributed to my chemical sensitivity. It's pretty shocking to hear all that self-denial I thought was helping my state of health might have been doing more harm than good. I tried sea salt and had no side effects. My body didn't swell with water retention and my blood pressure remained low. And OH! It tasted so good!
I rarely eat processed or canned foods now so my salt intake is probably lower than an average American. My consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables also adds potassium to my diet which is the great equalizer to sodium. I do, however, use a salt shaker full of sea salt and sprinkle it on beef, chicken, rice, squash, and eggs. Yum. And it makes vegetables edible. Bonus. I've grown to love salt! Lately I switched from Celtic sea salt to Himalayan pink salt. This pink salt is still considered sea salt although found in the mountains that were once under water. Hmmm...sounds like fancy sales mythology, but it still makes food taste good and I still have no reaction to it.
Throughout the years I've heard about how salt causes high blood pressure, or what is known as hypertension. There is some debate on whether sea salt is better than regular iodized table salt. Conventional medical doctors say it isn't and the only difference is sea salt tastes better. Some say it's the sodium levels and the chloride ratios that cause the problem regardless of the source. In other references I've read some people are predisposed to being "salt sensitive." African Americans, in particular, tend to accumulate excesses of sodium and it is highly advised they limit their salt consumption to avoid associated health issues. Even salt sensitive people can have low blood pressure.
I still have low-ish blood pressure, although not as low as when I was younger. However, I was rather athletic in my youth which I'm sure contributed to my readings. Not so much now. I have been diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis which is an autoimmune condition that affects the thyroid and with diet I have been able to control it. I am told iodine can trigger autoimmune attacks in people with Hashimoto's. So I wonder...if sea salt has natural levels of minerals, it probably has its share of natural iodine. Would it make a difference if I stopped using it? Since giving up dried fruits, I haven't been tired, but I could use a little more energy. It's time for another elimination test!
I started my experiment three weeks ago by going to the nearest hospital to have my blood pressure checked. It read 118/75 which is considered normal, although getting suspiciously close to prehypertension. Then I gave up my salt shaker and went salt-free!
Observations:
Rice is only edible with salt.
Eggs taste better with salt.
Second day: My whole body is in pain. At first I thought it was from crawling around under my house, but the first time I did the crawl I had no pain. Then I thought maybe it was from the very minor exercising I do, but I've never been in pain before from simple stretching or walking. Every muscle in my body hurts.
Third day: Muscle pain, thirst, nausea, sweating, and headaches. Although I'm still skeptical that this is all from eliminating salt from my diet, it's too coincidental. I've increased my water intake. I don't know if that will help or make it worse as I have read about ramifications of the lack of salt, or hyponatremia. For instance, marathon runners or anyone who exercises vigorously shouldn't consume enormous amounts of water as it will flush the salt from their blood creating problems such as confusion, nausea, seizures, coma and even death. I'm only in pain and experiencing slight nausea at this point. If I get confused or start feeling dead I might eat some salt just to see if it makes a difference. I'm guessing my body is adjusting and it'll take couple days or it's something totally unrelated causing all this discomfort.
I searched online and found out I'm going through salt withdrawals! Ha! Who would have thought? Symptoms may include headache, nausea, loss of appetite, depression, and anxiety, to name a few. Food will taste disgustingly bland, but eventually will start tasting good so I look forward to that. Most people intensely crave salt during withdrawals. I'm not craving salt. Well, not yet. The headaches can last 3-5 days or longer because my aldosterone (hormone) levels are adjusting to compensate for the lack of sodium in my body. The remedy is drinking sea salt water because it's assumed the addict is giving up regular, processed table salt and sea salt has minerals to counteract the withdrawals. So I did the next best thing: I took a scalding hot bath with Epsom Salts. I figured that should help with the muscle pain. It did for about fifteen minutes.
Fifth day: Headaches and nausea have gone away. Muscle recovery is still slow. Any exercise, even minor, makes my whole body hurt as if I've exercised vigorously for a full eight hours. I know athletes who exercise a lot must replenish their bodies with salt which is how Gatorade and other sports drinks have become so popular. Maybe it's a type of dehydration? Maybe the sea salt stored in my system keeps my muscles hydrated? I am more thirsty.
Seventh day: Severe leg cramps and legs are freezing cold from the knees down and I can't seem to warm them up no matter what I do. Leg cramps are another symptom of hyponatremia, which is low blood sodium. This kind of worries me. I'd like to think it's just coincidental or maybe I exercised too much yesterday, but I didn't do so much it should cause pain. I also read conditions associated with hyponatremia include hypothyroidism, which is a symptom associated with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. Now that is weirdly coincidental. Maybe that doctor was right in more ways than one: salt is not only good for detoxing and chemical sensitivity, but will also keep my autoimmune condition in check? Maybe I NEED sea salt in my diet? Everything I'm reading says too little salt is as bad as too much and this constant discomfort is rather worrisome. I'm still not craving salt. Not sure if I should stop this test, or keep going and see if the symptoms all go away.
I stuck my fingertip in water and then in salt and ate that much one night. Didn't make a difference with the leg cramps and I'm not willing to stop the diet just yet.
Week Two: I'm still getting leg cramps, but no headaches, thirst, or muscle pain. I'm feeling a little down, apathetic, and lethargic. I don't normally feel this way so maybe it's a by-product from lack of salt? It always amazes me how people don't trust their own body's clues. Most people would think they are just feeling down ignoring it could be a symptom of something else entirely. These days depression is erroneously considered a disease instead of a symptom and treated with drugs without questioning the cause.
I'm still not craving salt either, but I'm feeling inclined to eat butter! Years ago when I was salt-free I craved butter and although I bought unsalted butter, butter is naturally salty. The Hashimoto's diet doesn't allow dairy so butter isn't even on my radar (nor in my refrigerator), but I'm still thinking about it.
I don't know if food tastes better in general, but I know rice and eggs still aren't tasting as good as they did with salt. In fact, no matter how I prepare rice, it's just not good without salt. I've never liked rice.
Week Three: Leg cramps have nearly gone away. No longer feel horrible, but I don't feel better either which I had hoped might come from less iodine. No surprising amounts of energy or stamina. Still lethargic.
At the end of week three I went back to the hospital to get my blood pressure checked. No one was at the emergency reception desk. I waited. Again, as I have many times in the past, I exclaimed in the privacy of my head
I am so glad I've never had a medical emergency while living in Rathole! I was warned early when I first came to the edge of civilization, if something goes wrong, start driving in any direction out of town. It takes an hour to get to the next hospital and hopefully I won't die along the way. There is more than one reason I have no desire to stay and retire in Rathole.
I finally found a nurse at the nurse station at the far end of the hospital. She was sitting around with four other nurses gossiping. She took my blood pressure. 144/61. REALLY? The diastolic went down slightly, but the systolic went up? I've never had such a high reading. I had read giving up salt can raise your blood pressure. Well, OK. I guess I'll just accept that I NEED salt and it'll probably make me feel better, too.
Then I went toilet paper shopping and on the way to squeeze the Charmin I passed one of those automatic blood pressure machines just outside their pharmacy. Hmmm...I went back. I've always been told these machines are notoriously inaccurate and are rarely calibrated, but what the hell? Not that I had any confidence in a hospital (known as a "temple of doom" by some) let alone the whole medical system, but if you can't get an accurate reading at a hospital, what is left? I don't have anything to lose. The reading at the grocery store was 113/53. The diastolic seems a little low, but that could be what is causing the lethargy.
Forget the readings. I'll trust myself and my symptoms before I'll trust a machine. I don't like feeling lethargic. Pardon me while I go eat some salt.
I feel so much better!
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