Nutrition has always been a battleground of back-and-forth debate and contradictory advice. Even so, the discussion around sodium and salt can challenge some longest-standing and least-questioned advice in all of health and fitness. Few pieces of health advice are more widely accepted than to avoid salt in your diet. This could not be further from the truth. 

Sea salt, in general, is salt derived from ocean water or salty lake water through evaporation. The taste of salt is familiar to everyone and it is most commonly used to season food since it enhances taste and adds flavor. It’s been used worldwide for cooking since the prehistory times.

The Difference Between Sea Salt and Table Salt

You have most probably heard of the common health warning about the amount of sodium needed. Authorities encourage sticking to a low-sodium diet or watching your sodium intake for better heart health. While there is some truth to salt causing hypertension, this only applies to the refined white table salt that you’ll often see in salt shakers at restaurants. The reason this salt is not healthful is due to its being stripped of its beneficial minerals and contains only sodium, chloride and some anticaking agents and preservatives, which create imbalances in the body.

Real sea salt has been used for thousands of years by ancient cultures and have been a precious commodity to season food and boost health for generations. This refers to unrefined, health-promoting salt that are gray, black, or pink in color. These salts are actually very helpful in balancing the body and providing the essential nutrients the body is lacking from the modern diet. And as an added bonus, it adds flavor your food!

Common Types of Sea Salt

While there are many different varieties, these are the three most common types of salt that are unrefined and minimally processed: 

·       Celtic sea salt is gray, and sometimes purplish. It has a high percentage of magnesium than other sea salts, in addition to 34 trace minerals.

·       Himalayan sea salt is pink in color, is a rich source of iron and can have as many as 84 trace minerals. It’s mined by extracting natural salt deposits from the mountains.

·       Redmond Real Salt is unrefined sea salt mined from an ancient seabed in Utah where it’s safe from modern pollutants. It’s pure, unprocessed, and full of trace minerals that give similar nutritional benefits to Himalayan salt with a subtle flavor.

Health Benefits of Sea Salt

A high-quality sea salt has up to 84 trace minerals that nourish and strengthen the body. Historically, humans were able to get enough minerals from the food they ate. However, with monocropping and improper farming methods, much of the soil has been depleted of these essential minerals and no longer provides the nutrients to food like it used to.

It is possible to supplement with sea salt and replenish the body’s reserves with these easily absorbable minerals. Adding a pinch of sea salt to your daily drinking water is an easy way to add that extra nutrient profile!

Thanks to these essential nutrients, some of the top benefits of a high-quality sea salt include:  

Maintains Hydration

Contrary to popular belief, sea salt is extremely beneficial in keeping you hydrated. The amount of nutrients in sea salt also satisfies your thirst for a longer period of time and keeps you effectively holding on to the fluids for appropriate lengths of time.

Table salt, on the other hand, dehydrates the body and actually leeches from essential minerals stores. It also increases salt cravings because the body needs nutrients that it wants in natural sea salt that cannot be satisfied by processed table salt. This is why you usually need to watch your sodium intake if you are only consuming table salt.

Reduces Fluid Retention

Some people think that salty food makes you bloat or retain water, and yes, this happens when you consume white table salt and refined salt used in processed foods, especially when combined with carbohydrates. You might have experienced waking up feeling groggy and bloated after eating lots of pizza or Asian food with its added soy sauce.

On the contrary, with real sea salt, the opposite happens because of its balanced ratio of minerals, especially potassium and sodium, which help release retained water. Eating real food and salting your own food with sea salt will help eliminate bloat and water retention.

Balances Electrolytes

Because of its amazing mineral content, electrolytes in salt include magnesium, calcium, potassium, and sodium. These electrolytes are vital for muscle, brain and heart health, as these nutrients play critical roles in the nervous system. Instead of the typical sugar-filled electrolyte drinks you can find at the supermarket, try adding sea salt to water with a squeeze of lemon juice.

Prevents Cramping

When your electrolytes are low, you can experience muscle soreness, cramps, charley horses, and even restless leg syndrome. The lack of minerals keeps the muscles from relaxing and results in contractions that are out of your control. This is why Epsom sea salt baths are recommended for any kind for muscle fatigue. The magnesium in Epsom salt plays a huge role in loosening and calming the muscles and your entire body.

If you know you’ll be doing a strenuous activity, make sure to add sea salt to your water before and after to replenish your body with the minerals that it loses, especially whilst sweating during the exercise. Sea salt baths can also help with muscle cramps!

Improves Digestion

Sea salt is necessary in the role of digestion, and it starts in the mouth. The salivary enzyme amylase, which helps break down carbohydrates in the mouth as they are being chewed, is activated by the flavor of salt.

Furthermore, salt plays a huge role in the making of hydrochloric acid, which is secreted in the stomach for the breakdown of food, especially protein. Most people are lacking in hydrochloric acid, and this can cause numerous digestive issues including bloating, gas, heartburn, indigestion, constipation, fat malabsorption, and can eventually lead to leaky gut and chronic disease.

Regulates Blood Pressure

Yes, you read that right -  high quality sea salt is greatly beneficial for regulating blood pressure. High blood pressure is the result of inflammation in the body, which is primarily caused by a high sugar, processed food diet, which also includes white table salt that’s devoid of most nutrients.

Real sea salt actually reduces inflammation by bringing in the necessary minerals that the body uses to boost its immunity. According to many functional medicine and holistic health experts, providing the body with sufficient water and potassium, actually helps prevent heart disease and improves cardiovascular health.

Supports Skin Health

Thanks to its potent mineral content, sea salt has anti-inflammatory properties that are beneficial for skin health. There are many beauty products that use sea salt, because it has the power to detoxify the skin, while exfoliating, increasing circulation, and providing the skin with nutrients. Sea salt has been shown to be especially beneficial for acne, psoriasis, eczema, and anti-aging.

Nourishes The Adrenal Glands

Adrenal imbalance and dysregulation of varying degrees is extremely common in the modern world due to many factors including stress and poor diet. With adrenal insufficiency, one of the main symptoms is salt cravings. This is because the body is craving the nutrients it needs from sea salt.

Among their numerous demanding functions, the adrenal glands release hormones that regulate sodium and potassium in the body. This means that in order to make this particular job easier, the adrenals need a balance of these minerals through high quality sea salt. This is especially important when they are already tired from the daily stressors of living in today’s world.

To receive all the healing and health-boosting benefits of sea salt, make sure to purchase quality brand as opposed to mass produced generic varieties which may have additives and bulking agents. Always reach for salt that has color. It definitely should not be perfectly white, as this is an indication that it has been refined and may not contain all its beneficial minerals.

Don’t be afraid to incorporate sea salt into your diet every day, because it truly is a nourishing and healing superfood!