Swap Out Your Table Salt
Replace it with: Unrefined, Natural Sea Salt
Navigating this Blog Post:
The "Why"
Have you ever been told to watch your sodium intake or to make an effort to cut back on salt, and then thought to yourself "but why? I thought our bodies needed salt?" Plus, let's be honest, salt is delicious. I personally love salty foods!
In the case of regular refined table salt, it's unfortunately true: a high amount of of this type of salt is actually terrible for your health in many ways, and if this is what you're using to season your food, or you're eating processed foods daily that contain a high amount of this type of salt, then it's probably best to cut down the amount you're intaking...like, way down.
However, luckily for us, not all salt is created equal, and there are actually types of salt that we can swap this table salt with that are not only tasty, but are great for our health! Score! Read on to see why refined salt is bad for you, why unrefined, natural sea salt is good for you, and where you can find them!
Get rid of these products:
Iodized Salt
Refined Table Salt
Some Refined Sea Salts
Processed Foods containing high amounts of Salt
Why It's Bad For You
The Short Answer:
Most white table salt goes through heavy processing, which strips the salt of its naturally-occurring nutrients & minerals. Salt is meant to be consumed with all of these nutrients and minerals - without them, we're getting a lot of straight up sodium. This type of salt is usually combined with additives (some help with anti-clumping) and other chemicals (like bleach, to keep it pretty and white), which can create heart-related health issues and other imbalances in your body.
The Long Answer:
Our bodies need good quality salt for several reasons: the sodium in it helps prevent dehydration by maintaining a healthy balance of water in your body [1], it supports normal muscle movement and nerve functions [2, 3], and it helps keep your sodium & potassium ratios in balance [1].
The great thing about unrefined sea salt, is it not only provides us with the sodium our bodies need to function properly, but it also is a great source of trace minerals and electrolytes (magnesium, potassium, and calcium, to name a few). Oh, and it also tastes good (very important, let's be honest).
When we choose refined, iodized, or regular table salt over unrefined sea salt, all of the processing that salt goes through to get on our table (or in our processed foods) leaves us with salt stripped of its beneficial minerals, making it mostly sodium and chloride. In most cases, this salt is also full of additives and anti-clumping agents, of which include aluminum (which is a harmful heavy metal that's been linked to serious health issues, including Alzheimer's).
A helpful way to look at it is this: with unrefined sea salt, you're not getting straight up sodium, you're getting sodium along with other nutrients and minerals. When it's been stripped down to table salt, though, you're getting mostly sodium and chloride, and that's why it's easy to over-do it with regular table salt; by only using a little amount, you're still getting a lot of sodium, which means it's very easy to over-do it and only a little can leave you with very salty food.
Eating high amounts of this kind of salt produces an imbalance in your body, causing it to retain excess fluid. This excess fluid forces your organs to work harder, which can lead to an increased risk of high blood pressure [3]. Consuming high amounts of sodium can also "double our risk of heart failure, increase our risk for obesity" and increase "the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes," [4] as stated in this blog post titled "The Dark Side of White Salt" by Josh Gitalis.
Why These Replacements Are Good For You
There are so many great health benefits to swapping out your table salt and using unrefined sea salt instead!
Great source of Trace Minerals (the Redmond Real Salt I use contains over 60 naturally-occurring minerals! And unrefined sea salt is a great source of essential electrolytes) [6]
Helps Keep You Hydrated (whereas processed table salt can dehydrate you) [5]
Helps Your Brain, Muscles and Nervous System to Communicate Properly [1]
Helps Your Digestive System (HCL, or hydrochloric acid, is an important component of stomach acid, which your stomach needs in order to digest properly. Since sea salt also contains chloride, eating the recommended amount of sea salt can help your body make a healthy amount of HCL) [1]
Helps Your Body Properly Absorb Nutrients (the proper amount of stomach acid can help our bodies also absorb and use the vitamins and nutrients in our food & supplements) [1]
Helps Your Skin Health (sea salt can be beneficial for your skin both as a food and as a topical treatment)
Helps with Adrenal Fatigue (by helping keep a balance of your sodium and potassium ratios)
Helps Regulate Your Blood Pressure and Helps to Prevent other Heart-Related Issues
Dr. Axe has a fantastic blog post where he breaks down several different types of natural sea salt and their health benefits (click here to read!) in a few, easy to read charts. I definitely encourage you to look through the charts to see what sea salt may provide the best health benefits for you! I personally love the Redmond Real Salt brand, and my boyfriend and I use the Redmond Ancient Fine Sea Salt that they offer. We have a shaker and love that we can buy a pouch to refill our shaker whenever we need. I also love that they offer other seasonings (such as organic seasoning salt and organic garlic salt), which you know are used with good quality salt as opposed to most seasonings that are used with processed table salt. I promise I'm not affiliated with them, I just really love their products! To learn more about Redmond Real Salt and see if it's right for you and your family, click here!
Some other great unrefined sea salts to try are:
Celtic Sea Salt (full disclosure, we love this salt but it does tend to clump up)
It's important to keep in mind that not all natural sea salts are created equal, and that when looking for sea salt, you want to choose an unrefined option. Click here to read a great article that breaks it down!
Links to Cited Articles
Here are the articles that I used for research to write this blog post.
The Nutrition Source: Salt and Sodium, Harvard School of Public Health
Is Sodium the Same Thing as Salt? Eat Right. Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
The Dark Side of White Salt, Josh Gitalis
8 Awesome Healthy Benefits of Including Sea Salt in your Regular Diet, Jean Choi
What is Ancient Sea Salt? Redmond Life
19 Amazing Benefits of Sea Salt, Meenakshi Nagdeve
The Benefits of Unrefined Sea Salt, Dr. Susan Lan
5 Reasons to Avoid Aluminum, Hotze Health & Wellness Center
Why I Started "Healthy Swaps" for 2022
I've always found when wanting to make a major health or lifestyle change, it's easier to take it in little steps than to try and make a massive change on the spot. Mastering little steps has always been more successful in making the change a lasting habit for me, as opposed to a temporary phase. I've had friends ask me about my diet & eating habits, and as soon as I tell them, they come back with different variations of "Oh that's too hard," "That's so much work," and "I could never do that!"
Believe me, when I started down this path to a healthier lifestyle, I felt the same way! When I have food or beauty/household products that I love, I never want to give them up. However, slowly but surely, I made little changes here & there and now, it's a lifestyle I'm happy to embrace. Sure, it's still very hard some days to make the healthier choice, even with the research I'm learning on why [insert food/product] is bad for you, but it's definitely not as hard as it used to be and I'm still striving to improve every day.
So this year I decided to create the Healthy Swaps series! Every month, I will post a new blog post with a simple swap to make, and with these small changes made every month, we can be living a healthier lifestyle by the end of the year!
***Full disclosure: this blog post contains affiliate links that may be commissionable.