This is an Article from one of my favorite ministries, No Greater Joy, which is lead by a couple named Micheal and Debie Pearl. Their daughter owns the Bulk herb store, an online bulk herb supply store. This is very informative so I thought it well worth sharing! I hope you learn something new, like I did!
Salt is Good
by Debi Pearl of No Greater Joy Ministries
February 2011
Both my parents had problems with salt. Too much salt and they would swell, then their blood pressure would go sky high. “Salt is bad,” Mom would say as she shook her head in perplexity, “But the Bible speaks so highly of salt. Why did God say, ‘Salt is good… Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another’ (Mark 9:50) if salt is bad? Hummm…”
Unfortunately I inherited the salt problem. I was in my early 40s when I noticed my wedding ring was tight; then I noticed my ankles seemed to stay fat, and next… well, next I noticed a great swelling other places. I had always had very low blood pressure, but with the swelling came a quick, dramatic change. My doctor said, “No more salt.” Food became very boring. I still ended up getting too much salt because some of my meals didn’t originate in my own kitchen. To reduce the swelling, I started eating lots of fresh celery and drinking Stinging Nettle tea. They act as diuretics, causing the body to flush fluids. It worked amazingly well, but keeping up the celery thing was not practical, and I sure missed salt. Furthermore, the root of the problem was not being addressed.
Then a few years ago I started noticing dirty looking salt available on the shelves of some of the more health-minded markets. I began to read what researchers were discovering about processed salt.
WOW! Salt is not bad; salt is very good; it is a key to good health—that is, unrefined, natural salt is good. God was right after all. Wouldn’t you know it?
Bad Salt
Refined salt is harvested from salt mines as brine, which means the salt is in water. Chemicals are added to the salt brine to remove the minerals. Ironically, in the salt industry minerals are referred to as impurities. The minerals (impurities) are sold to be used in other industries. Then the brine is evaporated by using high compression and heat. This disrupts the molecular structure of the salt. After the drying process, toxic chemicals are added to prevent clotting. Iodine is also added (iodine is depleted from the soil so should be added to every diet). The purity of food-grade salt is between 99.7-99.95%. Pure means that the content of the refined salt is sodium (39%) and chloride (60%). Herein is the root to many health problems—maybe even most.
Balance
For the human body, balance is everything. Minerals work in concert with each other; if your intake of one or two minerals rises all the other minerals must rise to proportionate levels, otherwise the body suffers. For example, if you eat a bag of salty (bad salt) popcorn, your body will be flooded with high amounts of sodium and chloride. Suddenly all other minerals need to be increased to match the oversupply of sodium. The body can’t produce minerals; they must be supplied by food. Now, with all this sodium and chloride from the bad salt the body finds itself struggling to continue its functions without being damaged. It can’t.
Here is one example of what happens when even just two of the many minerals are not in balance. Potassium and sodium work as a team to create a vital plumping function within the individual cells of nerves and muscles. The two minerals must be in perfect balance to function properly. The normal diet cannot supply the large amounts of potassium it would take to match the high sodium in processed salt. This imbalance quickly causes skin problems, such as acne and very dry skin, chills, constipation, depression, water retention, nervousness, and high or low blood pressure depending on how the body tries to recover.
Research shows there is a direct link between chronic levels of low potassium (due to high sodium driving the need for potassium ever higher) and kidney disease, lung disorders, heart stress, hypertension and stroke. The body is slowly but surely dying. This is an example of what happens when only two minerals get out of balance. The more you learn how minerals work together the more you will see the critical importance of keeping a balance and why refined salt is truly deadly.
In summary: The human body requires a balance of minerals. When there is an imbalance of minerals the body starts to break down causing the pH of the body to become unstable. The immune system gets faulty, sleep patterns are disturbed, hormones go nutty, even your hair will be affected, and of course the kidneys can’t function properly, which means swelling and high blood pressure. A balance of minerals is critical for good health.
Salt By Divine Design
God designed the entire animal kingdom, and especially those of us who sit on couches, to have a natural craving for salt. All natural salt is loaded with minerals in a balance that works well with the body. The pink, grey or brown speckled look of natural salt indicates the presence of minerals. Salt comes from the earth. Like all earth (dirt, coal, clay, etc.) the quality of the salt varies based on where it is harvested. In my garden, the upper end is less fertile than the lower end because the nutrients are prone to wash down hill. The same is true with good natural salt. Some salt comes from areas of the world where it is loaded with minerals; other salt has less mineral content.
Celtic Sea Salt has been tested and shown to have a very high percentage of minerals. It comes from France and is harvested by channeling ocean water into clay-lined ponds. It is an ugly gray, large grain salt. For anyone with health issues this is the salt I would recommend.
Redmond’s Real Salt comes from the mines in Utah. It has a pinkish color and has a somewhat lower mineral content than Celtic Sea Salt, but still offers life-giving minerals. I also make sure I take iodine or kelp (sea weed high in iodine) every day.
Switching to natural salt is an easy and smart thing to do. Keep your eyes open for products that are now using natural salt; it is a rising star that will eventually take over the market once word gets out to consumers. Be the first to learn and live well.
