subject: Salt Health Effects - How Important Is Salt to You? [print this page] Salt Health Effects - How Important Is Salt to You?
A few years ago, I fainted a couple of times. Passed out cold in the middle of work. This was not only embarrassing, but troubling (because I didn't know why) and potentially problematic (because although I wasn't working as a pilot, I still fly for fun and the aviation authority doesn't look well on pilots who faint).
Luckily, there was absolutely nothing wrong with me, except that I have chronically low blood pressure. A lot of you are probably thinking, 'wow, you're lucky!' Well, if you see me get up too quickly and have to hang on to something you might understand that it's not that great.
When it comes to health, there are very few black and whites. High blood pressure is bad, but low blood pressure causes problems too. Being overweight is bad, but being underweight can also cause some serious problems. It's all about staying in balance.
The same is true of salt, and there are many positive salt health effects. In fact, the cardiologist I went to when I had to rule out heart problems to keep my pilot's license told me I should eat more salt. Since people with cardiovascular disease are told to drastically reduce their salt consumption, salt is usually seen as a bad thing and almost everyone consciously reduces their salt intake now on a healthy eating plan.
But - some salt is necessary for your body to function properly. Sodium, which is the main component of salt, works in balance with potassium to regulate the pressure of all the fluids in your body - including blood. If there was absolutely no sodium in your blood, you'd be in trouble.
Luckily, there's not a very good chance of that happening. There are natural salts in foods, and sodium in forms other than salt - like baking soda. The absolute minimum amount of sodium you need is half a gram but standard recommendations put it at 1-3g per day.
The average American diet contains about 3-6g of sodium per day. This comes, on average, 30% from naturally occurring salt in food, 40% from processed foods, and 30% from adding salt in cooking or at the table.
If you take that average and do the math, someone eating 6g of sodium per day can cut back to 3.6g just by eliminating processed foods from diet plans. Of course, not everyone will fit neatly into these average numbers, but it's a pretty good incentive to move from processed foods to cooking your own healthy recipes with whole foods, right?
I get a ton of questions and comments about the use of salt in cooking. Salt is not evil - it plays an important role in your body, and brings out flavors and softness in your meal that make a healthy dish more appetizing than it would be otherwise. I use it every day in my cooking (and I teach you how to use it in the 7 Day Healthy Eating Challenge).
If you eliminate processed foods and salt added at the table, you can feel free to enjoy the natural salts in foods and a small amount added during cooking, in order to get those positive salt health effects. I've also read that increasing the potassium is actually more important for a healthy diet plan than reducing sodium.
The best source of potassium is fresh vegetables and fruits. Cooking vegetables with a pinch of salt makes them so much more appetizing that you can eat more of them - overall I think that's a good thing!
