Interesting Facts About Salt

Salt has many other functions than just regulating the water content of the body. Here are some of the more vital functions of salt in the body:

1. Salt is most effective in stabilizing irregular heartbeats and, contrary to the misconception that it causes high blood pressure, it is actually essential for the regulation of blood pressure - in conjunction with water. Naturally the proportions are critical.

2. Salt is vital to the extraction of excess acidity from the cells in the body, particularly the brain cells.

3. Salt is vital for balancing the sugar levels in the blood; a needed element in diabetics.

4. Salt is vital for the generation of hydroelectric energy in cells in the body. It is used for local power generation at the sites of energy need by the cells.

5. Salt is vital to the nerve cells' communication and information processing all the time that the brain cells work, from the moment of conception to death.

6. Salt is vital for absorption of food particles through the intestinal tract.

7. Salt is vital for the clearance of the lungs of mucus plugs and sticky phlegm, particularly in asthma and cystic fibrosis.

8. Salt is vital for clearing up catarrh and congestion of the sinuses.

9. Salt is a strong natural antihistamine.

10. Salt is essential for the prevention of muscle cramps.

11. Salt is vital to prevent excess saliva production to the point that it flows out of the mouth during sleep. Needing to constantly mop up excess saliva indicates salt shortage.

12. Salt is absolutely vital to making the structure of bones firm. Osteoporosis, in a major way, is a result of salt and water shortage in the body.

13. Salt is vital for sleep regulation. It is a natural hypnotic.

14. Salt is a vitally needed element in the treatment of diabetics.

15. Salt on the tongue will stop persistent dry coughs.

16. Salt is vital for the prevention of gout and gouty arthritis.

17. Salt is vital for maintaining sexuality and libido.

18. Salt is vital for preventing varicose veins and spider veins on the legs and thighs.

19. Salt is vital to the communication and information processing nerve cells the entire time that the brain cells work - from the moment of conception to death.

20. Salt is vital for reducing a double chin. When the body is short of salt, it means the body really is short of water. The salivary glands sense the salt shortage and are obliged to produce more saliva to lubricate the act of chewing and swallowing and also to supply the stomach with water that it needs for breaking down foods. Circulation to the salivary glands increases and the blood vessels become "leaky" in order to supply the glands with water to manufacture saliva. The "leakiness" spills beyond the area of the glands themselves, causing increased bulk under the skin of the chin, the cheeks and into the neck.

21. Sea salt contains about 80 mineral elements that the body needs. Some of these elements are needed in trace amounts. Unrefined sea salt is a better choice of salt than other types of salt on the market. Ordinary table salt that is bought in the super markets has been stripped of its companion elements and contains additive elements such as aluminum silicate to keep it powdery and porous. Aluminum is a very toxic element in our nervous system. It is implicated as one of the primary causes of Alzheimer's disease. Back to Salt Intake is Vital or Back to Home

22. Twenty-seven percent of the body's salt is in the bones. Osteoporosis results when the body needs more salt and takes it from the body. Bones are twenty-two percent water. Is it not obvious what happens to the bones when we're deficient in salt or water or both.

Salt Intake is Vital

Salt is a vital substance for the survival of all living creatures, particularly humans. Water and salt regulate the water content of the body. Water itself regulates the water content of the interior of the cell by working its way into all of the cells it reaches. It has to get there to cleanse and extract the toxic wastes of cell metabolisms. Salt forces some water to stay outside the cells. It balances the amount of water that stays outside the cells. There are two oceans of water in the body; one ocean is held inside the cells of the body, and the other ocean is held outside the cells. Good health depends on a most delicate balance between the volume of these oceans, and this balance is achieved by salt - unrefined salt. See number 21 below.

When water is available to get inside the cells freely, it is filtered from the outside salty ocean and injected into the cells that are being overworked despite their water shortage. This is the reason why in severe dehydration we develop an edema and retain water. The design of our bodies is such that the extent of the ocean of water outside the cells is expanded to have the extra water available for filtration and emergency injection into vital cells. The brain commands an increase in salt and water retention by the kidneys. This is how we get an edema when we don't drink enough water.

Initially, the process of water filtration and its delivery into the cells is more efficient at night when the body is horizontal. The collected water, that mostly pools in the legs, does not have to fight the force of gravity to get onto the blood circulation. If reliance of this process of emergency hydration of some cells continues for long, the lungs begin to get waterlogged at night, and breathing becomes difficult. The person needs more pillows to sit upright to sleep. This condition is the consequence of dehydration. However, you might overload the system by drinking too much water at the beginning. Increases in water intake must be slow and spread out until urine production begins to increase at the same rate that you drink water.

When we drink enough water to pass clear urine, we also pass out a lot of the salt that was held back. This is how we can get rid of edema fluid in the body; by drinking more water. Not diuretics, but more water!! In people who have an extensive edema and show signs of their heart beginning to have irregular or very rapid beats with least effort, the increase in water intake should be gradual and spaced out, but not withheld from the body. Naturally, salt intake should be limited for two or three days because the body is still in an overdrive mode to retain it. Once the edema has cleared up, salt should not be withheld from the body.

* The information on salt intake is taken from Dr. Batmanghelidj's taped seminar, "Water: Rx for a Healthier Pain-Free Life".

Everything is poisonous if overdosed.

Also remember that all is relative. George Ohsawa said "There are no poisons in nature, only too much Yin or Yang." It's all about balance - health IS balance. And balance is always, on any level, about Yin and Yang. Modern science has not understood this, so it just calls stuff that disturbs your balance at one or another level "poison", without being aware what it actually is that makes stuff poisonous: its ability to create imbalance at some level in the body's chemistry. Any physical or chemical system must be in a state of balance in order to function and remain stable, too much imbalance and it will either cease to function correctly, or disintegrate (or both).

As for salt, it is Yang - in fact the most Yang food eaten by humans. Himalayan salt is probably much more Yang than common sea salt because it has been under pressure for millions of years (pressure makes things more Yang). My personal experience with Himalayan salt also seem to indicate this.

The Yin antagonist (the opposite) to salt in the body, is potassium. If the balance between sodium and potassium is disturbed, you'll get ill. It doesn't take much excess potassium to kill you actually - about 8 grams of potassium chloride, dissolved in water and injected into the bloodstream, will cause instant heart failure. It's actually the lethal ingredient in those injections given to people sentenced to death. So be careful with potassium chloride - also ingested orally. I never take more than ½-1 gram at a time, if I feel I need some to balance myself.

Salt is generally tolerated in a much larger amount than potassium. Actually, many years ago I ate from 40 up to 60 grams (and the high doses only occasionally) of unrefined sea salt a day during several months, and as you can see I'm still alive. I did drink a lot - including a lot of carrot and dandelion juice, which contain a lot of potassium. If you only drink water and don't eat food with a lot of potassium, you may get into trouble with such doses.

One of the reasons I did this was that I discovered that I was very imbalanced at that time - much too Yin. In order to remedy that, I started eating a lot of salt and other Yang foods. Because I was so Yin, my body could also tolerate (neutralize) large amounts of salt (Yang) - in fact, it gave me an incredible energy (this is obvious, actually, if you understand how Yin and Yang works). I was almost a "salt addict" at that time, I literally got an energy kick from eating these large amounts of salt.

However, as I became more balanced over time, both from eating much salt and other Yang foods, the effect changed. Too much salt and I got tired instead (can be a sign of both too much Yin or too much Yang btw). I still eat a fair amount of salt - 5-10 grams a day, since I'm Yin "by nature" but I can't handle those large doses anymore, because I've become much more Yang over time. I simply get sick from too much Yang if I eat those amounts now.

So how much salt you need and can tolerate depends very much on your current Yin Yang balance. If you want to know how to determine your Yin Yang balance, read some books on Macrobiotics (don't believe everything in those books, the Yin Yang stuff is generally OK though). Yin Yang theory is very simple really, and when you understand this Yin Yang balance thing and how is expresses itself physiologically and mentally, you'll find that there a many different ways to balance yourself, keeping yourself healthy. Food, drugs and chemicals is just some of them.

Ormus will also affect your balance - I haven't tried the stuff myself but I'd guess it's either Yang (Yang produce light, energy, activity), or has a very strong capability to restore your overall balance. Anyway, like they say, don't try this at home. It was sort of an experiment, and one of the things I learned from it is not to exaggerate anything, in order to get faster results, it can be hazardous and it usually don't work very well.

BTW, Kervran made some experiments back in the 1959 that seem to indicate that the body can actually transmute elements into others, including sodium
(salt) into potassium, under certain circumstances. Here's a chapter from his book " Biological Transmutations" where he describes this experiment.

~ Rado