“The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea.”
- Isak Dinesen’s
There’s a poetic truth to this, but it also speaks to our biological reality.
Salt is an essential nutrient that our body depends on to live. Its proper balance is an equilibrium that our bodies strive to return us to, again and again.
But over the past few decades, salt has gained a bad reputation.
We’ve all heard the guidelines. We know that we’re supposed to eat low-saturated-fat diets, say no to cigarettes, go for a run, learn to stress less—and dramatically cut down on salt.
While there may be some truth to a few of these admonishments, most of us don’t need to eat low-salt diets.
Sodium Vs. Salt
We usually refer to “sodium” and “salt” interchangeably, but we shouldn’t.
Sodium is merely one component of salt. Salt is composed of 40% sodium and 60% chloride. So, one teaspoon of salt (5,000 mg) provides about 2,300 mg of sodium.
Why is sodium so important?
If we don’t get a minimum amount of sodium, we die. Therefore, it’s essential to obtain some from our diets. Luckily, sodium deficiency is rare. On the flip side, your body needs to regulate sodium tightly. If this balance is out of whack – we die.
We require it for nerve impulse transmission, muscle contraction, cardiac function, fluid regulation, nutrient transport, blood volume expansion, and of course, blood pressure regulation.
What about blood pressure?
Yes, dietary salt plays a role in regulating blood pressure. More sodium means higher blood pressure and lowering sodium lowers blood pressure too.
But it’s not the salt sprinkled on home-cooked meals that’s the problem. When we talk about an over-salted population, we mean processed foods. 80% of our sodium intake comes from these.
While keeping your sodium intake to under 2300 mg a day is a great recommendation for most folks, especially the ones who are hypertensive – it’s important to not cut it down too much.
The salt fix
Cutting salt too much when you don’t need to isn’t a good idea. If you exercise and sweat a lot, you need more. And folks getting restrictive with salt intake are at risk for iodine deficiency.
We need some sodium, especially if we’re active. We need at least half a teaspoon of salt each day for normal functioning. If you are really fit and lean, you can get by with about 1 teaspoon of daily added salt.
Summary and recommendations
Many folks get hyper-focused on salt when it comes to blood pressure. But we all respond to it differently. A high salt intake is usually just a symptom of a crappy overall diet.
The people over-consuming sodium are eating processed foods, like microwave meals, canned foods, restaurant food, snack foods, processed meats, dairy, deli meats, frozen meats, etc.
If you eat a diet based on unprocessed and whole foods, sprinkling some salt on your veggies or rice for flavour is fine.
In fact, if you eat a very unprocessed diet and stay physically active, you’ll want to drink electrolyte-rich fluids before, during, and after workouts.
All in all, as long as the majority of your intake comes from home-cooked whole foods, you needn’t worry too much about your salt intake!
I know… the health and fitness world can sometimes be a confusing place. But it doesn’t have to be.
If you’re looking to improve your heart health – we can help!