Whole Salt Helps You Sleep and Keeps You Strong

Hi everyone!

I did not want to keep you waiting too long for the third part of our series about the life-affirming qualities of whole salt. So, I’m back and I think you will be surprised by some of what you learn today. Maybe it will take off some of the pressure you have been feeling about salt, but again, all of this applies only to whole-salt, not ordinary table salt.

Our body is still on the biochemistry auto-program it has been using for most of human evolution. Only in the last 10,000 years has human diet changed and our body is not coping well with the changes.

Our original Paleolithic Diet had approximately seven  important characteristics, according to Dr. Mark Hyman, MD. In his book, “Ultrametabolism”, he outlines the work of Dr. Loren Cordain, PhD. who says our natural diet is one that is:

• low glycemic (i.e. not sugary) (sweetness only came periodically from fruit and a little honey, at times)
• high Omega-3 essential fats (from fish, wild plants and game)
• balance of fats, protein and carbohydrates, slowly-absorbed and only as they naturally-occur in foods
• treasure trove of vitamins and minerals from a wide variety of seasonal plants
• alkaline foods centered (plants — leafy vegetables and coconuts — were the mainstay of our diet) which kept our blood from being acidic, a condition which would have killed us
• naturally occurring sodium in foods and from ocean salt; each were in small amounts compared with today’s factory-food
• high fiber content – soluble and unsoluble types - depending on the plants eaten

N. B. I would also add pristine, natural water sources. The quality of our water now is nothing like what we had in Nature. That will be a new discussion, soon.

Meanwhile, we need to learn more about the benefits of whole-salt,  while understanding it is a basic, foundational human food.

___ Whole-salt is vital to maintaining the structural integrity of your bones. The minerals supplied by whole-salt are what keeps your bones strong, and lack of these minerals causes bone to weaken and melt-way as osteoporosis. This threatening bone condition is caused daily, by:  too little mineralization, too high protein consumption and too little alkaline water.

Bones are 27% alkaline minerals and 22% alkaline water. When your body is too acidic, pH in the blood must be maintained at all costs. So your bones are “robbed” of these vital alkaline minerals to maintain blood pH and our life. A better strategy is to reverse your daily acidity and not let it accumulate to the point of having to rob your bones. Excessive protein intake can add to tissue acidity.

___ Whole-salt is vital to getting a good night’s sleep, as it is a natural hypnotic. Of course, you can help yourself even further by having quiet time for at least the last half-hour before you turn out the light and by having a small, not sugary, snack before bedtime to help your blood sugar stay stable throughout the night. If you still use dairy, then this is the best time to use it. Dairy and other high trytophan foods help initiate sleep.

___ Whole-salt aids the pancreas to release the alkaline buffering agents you need in the digestive process. Without these alkaline compounds, you could not digest your food at all. A burdened pancreas needs all the help it can get. Whole-salt is also helpful in metabolism by providing the raw materials you need to burn your food for energy inside your cells and thereby keep blood sugar levels normalized in your blood.

___ If you have persistent, dry coughs, try putting a little salt on your tongue to change this. Whole-salt is important in the prevention of the acidic conditions known as gout or gouty arthritis, too.

___ Whole-salt will help prevent spider-veins in the legs or varicose veins. These show weakness in your circulatory system. Pay attention.

___ Whole salt is vital for the proper operation of your salivary system. Saliva is an alkaline substance that starts your digestive process and takes a little of the burden off your pancreas to finish the job, later.

If you have too little whole-salt, you will have an excess of a too-watery form of saliva, almost to the point of drooling, because the saliva must lubricate your alimentary pathway to the stomach.

But, when your salivary glands sense there is too little whole-salt, they start triggering the storage of water in nearby tissues. This produces the famed double-chin (which is really a warning flag that you are deficient not only in salt, but interestingly, that you are dehydrated, too.) So, to reduce a double-chin, normalize your whole-salt and alkaline water or spring-water intake.

___ Whole-salt creates the ability for nerve and brain cells to operate and to communicate for every moment that you are alive.

Make sure that your salt has NO added substances. Aluminum silicates are often added to commercial table-salt to keep them flowing well. I have read that beans and some other foods contain some natural aluminum silicates in ionic form, but I do not know how the ratio of these naturally-occurring ones are in comparison to what is blithely added to salt, in factories, for the sole purpose of keeping it “flowing”. Most forms of aluminum are poisonous to our bodies, so I try not to ingest it  as an additive.

I look at over-the-counter medications (check antacids, especially) and I do not apply it to my skin in deodorants. I ask you to please reconsider using it as cookware, too, if you still do. (What we use as the metal in our pots and pans does leach into the food, especially in more acidic type recipes. That is one reason why people use cast-iron, as its metal’s contribution is healthier. Surgical-grade stainless steel is OK, but recycled stainless steel is a mixed bag-of-tricks.)

The perceived  ”need for free-flowing” is not an issue with whole-salt. Instead, the whole-salts are usually crystalline when purchased. Get a little salt mill, grinder or mortar and pestle to grind the crystals to the fineness you desire at the time of use. This takes a second or two, only. If you want to make a supply of ground whole-salt, then keep it in a simple wooden box where it can adapt to the humidity. In the past, the Grain and Salt Society have carried these boxes (all supply links are in “So, Is Salt Bad For You?” posting below).

I sincerely hope that this will encourage you to find whole-salt offline or online and to respect it for the miracle food it truly is.

Best to all —

Em

References:

http://paleodiet.com/FoodVendors/

(c)2007 Em http://diabetesdietdialogue.wordpress.com

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