salt intake

[lambe]

im curious about how much salt you guys use on a daily/weekly basis. im not so much interested in the exact measurement as i am in how many times a day you use salt on your food.

im worried that im using too much in that i don't use olive oil on my salads ever because it sort of makes me feel rotten, & rather i sprinkle my salads with sea salt. this is usually twice a day, though sometimes just once. the rest of my diet is mostly fresh fruit based, but im still a little concerned & wondering if i should be.

thanks for reading.

[annavon]

My salt intake really varies. Some days I eat a lot of salt. I like Celtic Sea salt or Himilyian salt. I current use some Braggs Liquid Aminos which is salty, but I don't recommend it (its not raw and not healthy as it is a soy product). I use it because I had it in the house. I pretty much let my body tell me how much salt I need. In the hot weather here I tend to need a little more to keep from getting dehydrated. Lately, I have been eating about a 1/2 to 3/4 a tsp a day in dishes like Not Tuna (I make the recipe and it lasts two days).

[rawstrength]

Please . . . don't worry about a few pinches of salt on your food per day. You're doing way better than most people.

[juliebove]

I generally only salt salad, maybe tomatoes and maybe carrots or peppers. Not a lot.

[sport]

I avoid it.
It makes no sense to me to use it. I think that all people should reduce gradually to the point of not using it.
If it helps to keep you raw while you transition then continue to use it sparingly.

[srsarri]

Sport, why do you completely avoid salt? or think that we should?

Just curious

[annavon]

I avoid it.
It makes no sense to me to use it. I think that all people should reduce gradually to the point of not using it.
If it helps to keep you raw while you transition then continue to use it sparingly.

Sport, I would like to politely disagree. I avoided salt judiciously for years when I was eating a SAD diet because my parents had high blood pressure and I wanted to avoid that. However, I have been advised by several doctors, both naturopathic and alopathic that I SHOULD eat salt. I have been told that salt has gotten a bad rap because there are some people who should not eat it, but not everyone. I have been told that sea salt is the best because it contains additional minerals that are good for the body.

The reason I was told to eat salt was that my blood pressure was on the low side and I was having trouble keeping hydrated--like a sieve pour the water in the top and it comes out the bottom. The salt helps my body hang on to the water. I even pop a bit of coarse salt when I feel a migrane comming on, it sometimes helps. Of course there are ways to get salt more naturally, celery is naturally high in sodium and of course kelp and other sea veggies.:)

I think it needs to be an indiviual type of thing.

[Ilse W.]

I cut up an entire bunch of celery the other day and dehydrated it. Then I put the pieces into a coffee grinder and made it into celery salt. It works great, especially on salads. The reason you shouldn't use too much additional salt (your vegetables contain salt) is that your body will have to stay in its natural balance. If you add to much salt, it needs to balance with other things. It has to do with the balance of fluids inside and outside cells. I'm not a professional, plus I have ADD so I forget details. The internet is so full of information, google "salt intake" and I'm sure you come up with loads of stuff.

[Raine]

Even though I avoid salt, I do keep sea salt on hand should it be needed for a recipe.

On my first water fast, I felt the need for salt for a few hours on day 3 because I constantly felt thirsty regardless of how much I drank and a bit nauseous so I licked my fingertip a couple times and whatever amount of salt stuck was what I placed under my tongue. Within 10 minutes I was feeling better.

As I had read somewhere, sometimes the body needs a bit of sodium to get water to hold so you don't feel so dehydrated. On my 2nd water fast, this did not happen.

[Erika]

I actually crave salt now that I eat raw and I never ate salt before. I now sprinkle the course ground sea salt in my hand and eat it. I don't know how much I have a day but I'm doing fine so far.

Erika

[TaupeRawMan]

I, too, have been told by some raw medical practitioners to add a bit of salt. I use Celtic Sea Salt a few times a week (should probably use more) and seaweed almost daily (rotating between dulse and wakame).

[unbent]

I encourage everyone to read any of Dr. Batmanghelidj's (sp) books on water. He also has a website called watercure.com. He highly recommends using salt (earth salts not table salts) in the diet, especially in our water. If you drink distilled water you definitely should add salt to it to remineralize it. If you do not it will actually leach minerals from the body. He recommends adding a pinch of salt with your water, I don't remember the ratio but I use a pinch per 24 oz bottle. Salts are great for getting rid of and avoiding migraines. Your brain is floating in salt water. Your eye clean themselves with it when they tear up. When you go to the hospital with dehydration, and numerous other ailments and traumas, they give you an I.V. of saline solution to rehydrate the body. Saline is salt water.

I used to avoid salt even when I started going raw, with the exception of when it was called for in recipes until I read two of Dr. Batmanghelidj's books at the library. He also has a lot of information on his website along with some videos which can also be found on youtube.com.

Andy

[sport]

I have read all the replies but it does not make any sense to me. Salt is something that our ancesters evolving in the middle of Africa would not have so why would our brain have evolved to need it. We must be able to make it from the foods that we eat.
I also read (I have posted this before) that drinking salt water will kill you whereas if you remove the salt then the water is life giving. The only differance is the salt.

[Eva]

I think it would be unnecessary to have salt in the past when the soil was rich and full of minerals. But now, I don't know, seems we live in a different world than our ancestors.

I find that I sometimes crave salt, and I listen to the craving. Just as often, I don't crave it. I have a history with ADHD and with iron deficiency, so I don't see a conflict in using sea salt when it appeals to me. I try really hard to listen more to my body than ideals beyond just raw.

If I listened too closely, I would not eat carrots, bananas, salt, non-organic food, etc. I'm not there yet. I'm "just" raw.

I have read that reverse osmosis water is best when it is kept out for 24 hours and that minerals are more important when drinking purified water rather than spring or mineral water. Rather than add extra salt for this, I balance this out by alternating -- sometimes (about 2/3 of the time) I drink reverse osmosis water, and sometime I have mineral water. And it's very rich mineral water, so much that it almost tastes carbonated. This is no inconvenience and works well for me at the moment.

Just my input. I think that in a few years' time I may change to lower the salt intake. But I really just don't know.

sport -- I think you have been living this lifestyle for longer than many of us, so I am keeping your advice in mind for a later date or for a time when what I am doing stops working so well for where I am.

[Vaclare79]

I do agree with y'all about the salt & hydration in the hospital when they give you the IVs. You do need salt just not a lot of it. Although Victoria Boutenko wrote in her book about GS that they eliminate the need for salt when you get the right nutrition from GS.

[debilana]

I think the idea of eating so pure like our ancestors did is a noble idea, but I am not so sure that diet appeals to me- and you KNOW they ate bugs and grubs and stuff as well:D

I think listening to your own body and using ones own intuition is always the best bet. The worlds is different all over- I have read that the first humans living in prehistoric europe eagerly ate salt from the ocean when they would make special hikes to the ocean to fish. Salt is a very natural product, straight from MOther Earth, and like anything else, if used in moderation is certainly great for some rawbies. We eat seaweed, which is also very saltly.

It's what I love about this way of eating- its so intuitive and different for all of us. Its interesting to hear how everyone else eats and likes.

[saxmaam]

Salt is something that our ancesters evolving in the middle of Africa would not have so why would our brain have evolved to need it. We must be able to make it from the foods that we eat.

It goes back further to our really distant ancestors that lived in the ocean. Life started there. The salinity of our blood is believed to match the salinity of the oceans in ancient times. The oceans are saltier now than they were then.

I read an article once about the varying amounts of salt in human diets all over the world. I'm probably getting the quantities all wrong, but the Japanese effectively eat multiple tablespoons of it a day while people in the Andean mountains traditionally get a fraction of a teaspoon a day from their foods. There is huge variation from society to society.

Personally I don't skimp on salt because my blood pressure is in the low normal range regardless. Other people have blood pressure problems from too much salt, so of course it's a consideration for them.

Susan

[MOTH]

Hmm...I've cut out all salt for about two months without missing it. I recently had some the other day on some broccoli and got ill and "dried out" afterwards. I guess for me, my body just feels "cleaner" without it. It doesn't feel necessary for me, but everyone is different.

I do eat a lot of tomatoes, and I hear they have high levels of natural sodium.

I might return to regular use of salt one day, who knows. But for now, I don't seem to require it.

[samariah]

yeah too much salt makes me feel dried out as well. and it triggers my vertigo so i dont add it to anything 95 percent of the time. i figure i get a decent amount naturally in my foods.