Have you kicked the salt habit? Help! :)

[smiley]

Hi! :)

I have been 100% raw now for almost 6 years and am now working on kicking my salt addiction.

I noticed that many of you have said that you also have kicked the salt habit. If you have, I appreciate your support.

I have some questions...I hope you don't mind. I really want to kick it but am struggling right now and could use some support. If you don't mind answering my questions, I greatly appreciate your time. :)

How did your health or body change after salt?
Did your energy level change?
Did anything specific change in your health or body?
What foods do you use for salty flavor?
How do you eat daily?
Do you eat whole foods only? Do you ever make recipes? (pie, cake, savory foods such as burgers, etc)
Would you mind sharing your favorite salt-free recipes?
Do you ever miss salt? get cravings? If so, how do you handle it?
Have you had salt since you kicked the habit? If so, what was your body's reaction?
Anything else you are willing to share?

Again, THANK YOU so much!!!! Verawnika

P.S. It has been 9 days for me now without salt, oil, or nuts. I have been eating avocado/young coconut as a substitute for oil and nuts; and celery, olives, and seaweed for salt. So far, my whole body is achy and I've had stomach pains but I completely believe in detox, so I'm not worried. I also notice that my skin is much softer and my cuticles are coming in softer and look nicer.

P.P.S. It has been 6 months since I've had any garlic. It was natural for me to stop. I had a tiny taste of a dish with garlic in it a couple weeks ago, and it overwhelmed my senses in a bad way. It confirmed to me that my body doesn't need it anymore.

[Humanist]

You are half way there because you admit that you are addicted. Most salt addicts are not willing to do that. Too many of them still cling to the myth that they need salt.

[T-Bird]

Hey man.....

This white powder here is fricken awesome....you gotta try it......it's good stuff....


Listen, the first hit is free, ok? You look cool.

[snoops]

T-bird, you kill me:)

[iluvmangos]

Hey man.....

This white powder here is fricken awesome....you gotta try it......it's good stuff....


Listen, the first hit is free, ok? You look cool.

Can you share some with me? I need my fix and I'm out. I'm shakin' like a leaf from the withdrawls over here, man.

[Cerellia]

Hi,

I kicked the salt habit together with going raw so I can't really say which of the changes come from eliminating the salt and which from raw in general.

I eat mostly whole foods and salads and just eat them without salt, Inever had particular cravings but in the beginning, they tasted very bland to me. Once I had adjusted to that, I found out that many veggies are quite salty by themselves. Cucumbers, for example, I always used to eat with salt, when I now eat them without, they taste the same as they used to taste with.
After three month without salt, I have started eating algae for the iodine. They taste extremely salty.
When I eat out in a raw food cafe (yes, there is one in Irelad!), I can't avoid having a small bit of salt. It won't kill me and I have not noticed any negative reactions, although I think the dishes would taste better without salt.

[freshlight]

Oh if you would know how easy it is! You don't need any substitudes, nothin..

Just eat lots of juicy fruit and enjoy. Eat whole foods mainly. I don't have any receipes to share because I prefer whole foods. You can make some tomato soup if you like that kind of thing.
If you go saltfree for a while, you'll start tasting the "salt" in spinach, dill and garlic. You'll start enjoying your food even more. Your senses will get so purified that you'll be enjoying every bit of life more and more. All the cravings will disappear too. Sounds unbelievable, I know.....but it's the truth.

Enjoy :)

[freshlight]

This is important: try to incorporate lots of greens into your diet, esp. wild greens like dandelions and nettels.

[freshlight]

I just remembered: tomatoes and parsley will start tasting salty to you soon as well.

[RawBabie]

Hi Smilie, Ive been raw for 1 year and 7 months and salt free for three weeks. Believe it or not, I went salt-free unintentionally. I visited my dad back home and he decided to eat raw with me. He hasn't eaten salt since the 80's so I decided to nix the salt for everything we ate that week. I was SHOCKED that after 5 days I could taste the sodium in celery. When I got back home I decided to forget the salt/nama shoyu/braggs/etc., suddenly seaweed also tasted salty to me, lol! I'm beyond ecstatic, and not just because of this....my Dad decided to go raw after the week I spent with him!!! :D Im really blessed, my mom is raw as well... (btw, Im also working on cutting out agave/honey and use home-made date paste to sweeten my desserts)

How did your health or body change after salt? I feel even more of that great rush during exercise but my joints have been a little achey which research tells me is due to salt deposits being released.

Did your energy level change? Im not sure my energy level changed at all.

Did anything specific change in your health or body? my taste buds are more sensitive to any natural sodium, which I couldn't taste before. I am eating greens without dressing because each unique flavor stands out all of a sudden! :)

What foods do you use for salty flavor? I use raw kelp granules and celery if I feel the need to 'up' the savory flavor.

How do you eat daily? I eat fruit for breakfast, a salad or veggie tortilla wrap for lunch/dinner. I eat lots of cashew ice-cream sweetened with date paste. For veggies, I am pretty basic, lots of avocado, tomato, carrots, celery, squash and greens.

Do you eat whole foods only? No.

Do you ever make recipes? (pie, cake, savory foods such as burgers, etc) I go through phases, right now I eat pretty simply. But at times I make extravagant recipes (burgers, breads, desserts, etc.) from Living on Live food and my many other raw books.

Would you mind sharing your favorite salt-free recipes? I simply cut salt from all my recipes. Like I said your tastebuds will change, so the recipes don't taste salt-free :)

Do you ever miss salt? get cravings? If so, how do you handle it? You don't miss it because you can now taste the natural sodium that the sea salt was masking. It's really one of the easiest habits to kick IMO.

Have you had salt since you kicked the habit? If so, what was your body's reaction? Im sure I had salt at a raw restaurant and raw potluck in the last couple weeks. The only impact is that the foods tasted like there was TOO MUCH salt in them. It didn't impact how my salt-free meals taste at home. So no need to worry that a little salt will dash (no pun intended) all of your progress.

Anything else you are willing to share? My response is pretty late, have your tastebuds changed yet?

Good luck and enjoy your new tastebuds!:)

[EZ rider]

How did your health or body change after salt?
I lost weight and bloat.



Did your energy level change?
I didn't notice any major change.



Did anything specific change in your health or body?
My elbow pain disappeared. I found I could sweat more easily. Headaches disappeared. My tastes improved tremendously.



What foods do you use for salty flavor?
I don't use anything as there is already plenty of sodium taste to suit me in raw foods.



How do you eat daily?
Presently about 70% of my diet (by quantity as I don't measure anything) is fresh "as is" whole raw fruits eaten as one food meals and about 30% is the rest. I like to juice daily. I alternate between green juice one day and veggie juice the next because I use a different juicer for each. I don't eat nuts but I do eat some of the fresh seeds that come inside the fruits I eat.



Do you eat whole foods only?
No, I juice too.



Do you ever make recipes? (pie, cake, savory foods such as burgers, etc)
If you consider a recipe as having two or more ingredients then yes. Some of my juices have combinations like for example one of the green juices that I like is made with celery & romaine. As far as pie, cake, burgers etc then the answer is no.



Would you mind sharing your favorite salt-free recipes?
I like apple & tomato juice.



Do you ever miss salt? get cravings? If so, how do you handle it?
Normally day to day no. I have noticed the "slips" I have had have been mostly about salt cravings. I have learned that at the first sign of a craving I put more high sodium foods into my juices for example making straight celery juice on my green juice day and lots more tomato on my veggie juice day and that seems to satisfy my body and avoid a "slip"



Have you had salt since you kicked the habit?
Only on my "slips".



If so, what was your body's reaction?
I became very thirsty and drank much more water then usual.



Anything else you are willing to share?
I know that we are all different and so I think each one of us needs to experiment with salt and other issues to see what works best for us as individuals.

[smiley]

Thank you SO MUCH for your support!

It has now been 12 days salt-free! Yay! :D

I find that I'm eating more seaweed, olives, and celery. I have been rinsing the olives and soaking the seaweed...although,

I ate 2 whole bags of sea palm straight yesterday. It's crunchy and salty. I ate it until my mouth/lips started to burn. Not sure how good that was for my body.

I found a delicious recipe that satisfied my salt craving:

Olive Pesto

1/2 cup olives
1/4 cup basil
1 T lemon juice
1 T olive oil
1/2 tsp. chili powder

Put in a food processor and pulse so that it is mixed and chunky, not blended. I used this as a salad dressing for sunflower sprouts, lemon cucumber, and green onions.

As everyone is telling me, I am noticing the saltiness in whole foods. My tastebuds are definately changing.

[Patch]

Sorry to be so ignorant but why is it necessary to kick all salt, I say this because I thought Celtic salt and Himalayan salt where suppose to be okay. I have a fear of giving up salt because years ago I was working really hard and sweating truck loads and ended up with such bad palpitations that they put me in hospital. The outcome was that I hadn't been having any salt so they told me my potassium was dangerously low and that's because the little salt I had been getting from food was been sweated out. Of course I was not raw then so I know that would have a huge effect on everything but is it still not okay to have a little bit of those pure salts?

[Humanist]

The outcome was that I hadn't been having any salt so they told me my potassium was dangerously low and that's because the little salt I had been getting from food was been sweated out.

If your potassium was low you needed potassium, not salt. There is no potassium in salt. In fact, there is nothing bio-available in salt.

[T-Bird]

Patch,

Some people think one way, others the opposite.

You'll need to research and see what you think.

I hated salt with a vengeance from early childhood. As a teenager I remember waiting till they made new batches of fries at the high school fast food hangout so I could get an order without any salt. I also had a lot of light headedness and almost passing out and things like that. I generally feel much better with a bit of salt, and I've gotten used to the taste now. I also have had very low blood pressure and body temperature historically, haven't measured it in years though...I exclusively use the hand harvested celtic sea salt.


I also have great faith in raw, in that you are drawn to what you need. So I feel no need to "force" myself to eat something or not eat something. I'll keep sampling things that are "good for you" and if my body wants it - it will tell me to have more than a taste.

So I don't see a need to be overly controlling on this front. Cut out cooked, and eat whatever you like....

[kaybee]

hey smiley just wondering.... i thought most olives were cured in salt/soaked in a salt brine solution to make them edible... are there some that arent?

thanks

kaybee.

[freelive]

But what about seaweeds- they have bunch of salt in them. Is that bioavailable kind? Also Braggs Aminos(I know it has naturally occuring MSG). They all taste very salty.

[T-Bird]

I would never touch braggs - it's weird and unnatural imo.

hand harvested sea salt - seems very natural to me.

[Humanist]

But what about seaweeds- they have bunch of salt in them. Is that bioavailable kind?

The sodium INSIDE seaweeds is bioavailable. The salt clinging to the outside, probably not. But seaweeds sold in stores are washed well.

Bioavailable means part of a living organism. Carrots are living organisms. Therefore the calcium gluconate in carrots is bioavailable. Blackboard chalk is not living. Therefore, the calcium carbonate in them is not bioavailable.

[smiley]

I just read this about salt and period cramps and wanted to share. :)

Following a healthy balanced diet that is high in zinc, calcium and B vitamins, especially vitamin B6 (just don't consume more than 100mg per day) should help to relieve cramps as well as bloating. It is also a good idea to cut back on your salt, sugar and caffeine intake during the week leading up to your period. Less of these items means less severe menstrual cramps.

I've always had a problem with major cramping. It has gotten better with raw food but still a problem. Since I've cut out salt, I hope my next period will be much better.

FYI...in my entire life, I have had a total of 2 pain-free periods...both earlier this year. Prior to this, I had cut out cashews from my diet. But, after these 2 periods, I added cashews back in and my next period was bad again. So, no more cashews for me. :)

[T-Bird]

FYI...in my entire life, I have had a total of 2 pain-free periods...both earlier this year. Prior to this, I had cut out cashews from my diet. But, after these 2 periods, I added cashews back in and my next period was bad again. So, no more cashews for me.

Where they the really raw cashews specially for raw fooders?

[smiley]

i thought most olives were cured in salt/soaked in a salt brine solution to make them edible

Yes, you are correct. They are usually soaked in salt brine. I do rinse the olives to help get rid of some salt. The sodium in olives is less than adding a 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt.

Where they the really raw cashews specially for raw fooders?

No, I was using Trader Joes cashews. Not anymore though. My body seems to be ok with almonds though. I found out that almonds is part of the peach family and not a true nut.

Seaweeds?

I've been rinsing the seaweed. Except for the sea palm which reminds me of french fries (crunchy and salty). I ate another bag last night. I believe that the salt in the seaweed is also less than a 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt.

By the way, a 1/4 teaspoon of Real sea salt (brand name) has 537 mg. of sodium.

By comparison, 6 kalamata olives has 230 mg. of sodium. A large stalk of celery has 32 mg. of sodium.

[smiley]

I feel confident that I have kicked the salt habit. It was much easier than I thought it would be. It has been 22 days now and I'm noticing saltiness in whole foods such as parsley, dillweed, tomatoes, celery, etc. It has definately changed my eating habits. I'm eating less nuts, more whole foods, and a little bit less food overall. TMI...but I also notice that I"m peeing more (probably because I"m not intaking salt and retaining water). My energy level is also increasing. Yay!

THANK YOU to everyone who helped me with support. I LOVE this forum and consider it a great support to me and others! :D

[Humanist]

Congratulations, Smiley, on your important rite of passage. Keep up the good work and enjoy the trip.

[freshlight]

Well done, keep enjoying it. I love this place as well, it's full of helpful people and interesting info.