Salt as a Wellness Solution

Salt has shaped civilisation from the beginning. Homer called it a divine substance and Plato linked these pale crystals to the gods. Wars have been fought over salt and salt taxes have secured empires and inspired revolutions across Europe and Asia. In fact, it was Gandhi’s salt march in 1930 that initiated the overthrow of British Rule in India. The horrendous 500 year Salt Famine in the Dark Ages resulted in multiple killings for the purpose of drinking the salty blood of the victims – this is what inspired the early vampire legends!

Unprocessed natural salt is a superfood absolutely essential to the health of us all, but when it is bastardised to make industrial table salt, it is a very different story. It becomes one of the four white poisons that are key players in the nutritional degradation of our food and associated increases in degenerative disease.

The white, processed versions of flour, sugar, rice and salt are a mere shadow of their former selves. White flour is so depleted of nutrients following conversion from the wholemeal version (a nutrient loss of over 80%) that it actually becomes something that is technically called an anti-nutrient. This means that when you send your children off to school with white bread sandwiches (as 89% of Australians do) there is a net loss of nutrients when they eat their lunch. It takes more from their bodies to digest that depleted food than what they just introduced.

The Slaughter of a Superfood

Salt must be electrically active and contain a broad spectrum of minerals in the correct ratios relevant to blood plasma. The first cell emerged from the ocean and sea salt contains the correct ratio of trace minerals and major elements that is required for humans.

Refined industrial table salt is not only stripped of all its minerals, with the exception of sodium and chloride, but it is also heated at such high temperatures that the chemical structure changes as a result. It is then chemically cleaned and bleached before the addition of anti-caking agents that prevent salt from mixing with water in the salt container. Unfortunately, the major anti-caking agent is aluminium and this toxic metal has been repeatedly implicated in Alzheimer’s disease, a plague neurological disorder now impacting one in four Australians over 65.

The other major problem created in the name of free-flowing salt is that the anti-caking agents perform the same function in the human body. The industrial table salt does not dissolve and combine with the water and other fluids in our body. Instead it accumulates in our bodies, often leaving deposits in tissue and organs that can cause serious health problems. Throwing out your salt shaker won’t eradicate this toxin from your diet because it is present in most processed foods and, of course, in most fast food.

Unrefined Salt and Cell Health

Natural salt is able to transport substances into and out of cells, across the cell membrane. This is one of the most important functions of this food. This traffic across the membrane must not be hindered, as this is the essence of cellular detoxification and cellular nutrition. Herbs, supplements and nutrients from food need salt and water for their successful delivery. Even essential fatty acids like omega-3 cannot be utilised properly without salt to emulsify them and transport them across the cell membrane.

Unhindered metabolism is a prerequisite for effective nutrient supplementation and it is an incredibly inexpensive insurance to ensure that you have the right salt and water available to utilise what can be a major investment in supplements. The pituitary, adrenals, kidney and pancreas all suffer when the right salt is lacking. In this context, a lack of natural salt can be a root cause of hormonal imbalance. Cellular fluidity is, in fact, a function of natural salt where sodium chloride is perfectly balanced with other minerals; this allows sodium to leave the tissues when its work is done.

Industrial table salt cannot perform the same function, hence the many documented negative effects of this material. This salt does not exit the cell easily and disturbs the osmotic pressures and synergistic balances between intra and extra cellular fluids. This can result in nervous and electromagnetic disturbances and it is a direct cause of acidity. Unrefined salt is also necessary for the dissolving and utilisation of iron, an essential blood constituent. It is also needed for the full action of magnetism in the body’s electromagnetic system, which can be so closely linked to energy levels.

Salt, Rehydration and Digestion

Salt intake is an often unrecognised, vital component of rehydration. Just as calcium correction is the first step in any soil restoration project, rehydration is the first step in health restoration. If this is not addressed as an essential part of any wellness program, nothing else will be properly effective. Adults require two to three litres of filtered water each day and at least one teaspoon of solé (a water-based concentrate involving a 26% saturation of natural salt).

Eating in a dehydrated state is a principle cause of several health problems, including indigestion and acidity. Sufficient water and salt are needed to enable the manufacture of the watery bicarbonates that are necessary to neutralise the acidified stomach contents. This neutralisation is critical because the partly digested food cannot move on into the duodenum until it is made less acidic, as the stomach is the only part of the intestines able to protect itself from hydrochloric acid.

Insulin production is finely tuned in relation to hydration and watery bicarbonate production. The body prioritises the neutralisation of hydrochloric acid in the stomach to allow the pyloric valve to open to move the food into the duodenum for the next stage of production. Therefore, if water and salt are lacking then blood sugar/insulin balance is also disturbed.

Salt Therapies – Solé

There is a remarkably simple and inexpensive strategy to remineralise and maintain the perfect balance of minerals in you body. It involves a 26% saturation of salt in water, called solé. One teaspoon of this solution, in a glass of water each day, provides the perfect supply and balance of all seventy minerals and it is also a great source of key electrolytes. If you are in need of extra electrolytes due to sport, exercise or due to loss of perspiration at work, then the daily dose of solé might increase to two teaspoons per day.

A 26% solution is achieved by mixing 260 grams of natural salt with 1 litre of water. The salt concentrate can be stored indefinitely in a bottle in your pantry as it does not need refrigeration (no spoilage organisms can survive in this much salt). The cost of remineralising your family can be as little as a few cents per day per person. Adding solé to your drinking water, at the recommended rate, creates an appealing flavour that tends to encourage a higher consumption of water and, of course, cellular hydration is always about water and natural salt.

The Salt Detox

A natural salt detox has been part of Ayurvedic medicine for centuries. Often called “the salt peel” this involves covering the entire body in a paste made from coconut oil and salt and generating a sweat which pulls toxins from the tissues. Some natural health practitioners claim that this technique has the equivalent detox benefit to a full week of fasting and yet the practice takes just 40 minutes and is so much easier than starving for a week!

The Salt Detox involves the following:

Make a paste by combining 2 parts coconut oil with one part salt and half a teaspoon of lavender oil.
Cover your entire body with this paste, preferably in an area where the associated mess on the floor is not an issue (e.g. standing in a bath).
Now wrap a large beach towel around your body and then wrap yourself in a blanket.
During the next 40 minutes you will sweat profusely and will feel tingling sensations associated with extra blood flow to your skin.

The easy option – if you own, or can access a far infra red sauna – is to bypass the towel and blanket and sit with your paste-covered body in the sauna for 40 minutes instead.

There is a tremendous sense of wellbeing at the completion of each session associated with both the detox effect and the remineralising response from the salt minerals, as your open pores also absorb minerals during this process. The skin is a great pathway for the super-effective delivery of broad spectrum minerals.

Which is the Right Salt?

There are three natural salt options including sea salt, rock salt and mountain salt. Unfortunately, there are problems with two of these options. The oceans comprise 3% salt, but there is no ocean on the planet that does not suffer pollution issues as we have made these massive bodies of water the recipients of our many excesses. When we remove the water we concentrate the salt 33 times, but we do the same to these pollutants.

The toxins of most concern in the oceans are mercury and dioxins. There is no safe level of mercury as it is now recognised as the most toxic of the heavy metals. The Queensland Government now recommends that we no longer consume tuna from local waters due to concerns related to mercury toxicity. Dioxins are Class 1 carcinogens that are largely derived from the burning of plastics and from pesticide residues. Even the once pristine waters of the arctic are now polluted with dioxins. In fact, it was recently found that the breast milk of Inuit mothers was contaminated with dioxins, to the extent that it could be technically classified as toxic waste according to EPA guidelines.

Rock salt, our second option, is often contaminated by fluoride to the point that fluoridosis is a common problem in regions where it is regularly consumed.

The salt of choice, therefore, is mountain salt, often sourced from India. This salt is a pristine, crystalline material that has been protected from surface water with rock overhangs for as long as 250 million years. These salts have remarkable mineralisation capacity and exhibit all sorts of energetic qualities. On top of this, they have an amazing taste! One salt sourced from the Indus valley has been used medicinally in Ayurvedic medicine for thousands of years.

Eight Hot Salt Tips

Always add salt after cooking. Do not boil, bake or fry your salt as it loses nutritional value if overheated.
Use natural salt to protect from osteoporosis. 25% of your body’s salt content is stored in the bones as the crystals make them hard. Minerals, including salt, are stripped from the bones to counter toxic acidity and this has a direct link to osteoporosis.
Use natural salt for thyroid health. Unprocessed salt contains organic iodine which is essential for healthy thyroid function. This iodine also offers protection against electromagnetic radiation emanating from mobile phones, computers, power lines, power supplies etc.
Use salt to improve digestion. Good digestion involves an adequate supply of fluid and electrolytes. A productive strategy to enhance digestion is the consumption of 400 mL of water containing 1 teaspoon of solé immediately before a meal.
Cellular hydration (always involving salt and water) is essential for good response from homeopathic remedies as they involve resonance in the cell fluids.
Colloidal minerals are not the same as natural salt. They require hydrochloric acid and modification before they can be carried across the gut wall. Many people are deficient in hydrochloric acid.
Use natural salt to treat arthritis and gout. Drink 1 teaspoon of solé in a glass of water, on an empty stomach, each day. Try to also consume 2.5 litres of good quality water each day. Apply a solé poultice around the affected area and wrap with cloth.
Use natural salt for asthma and bronchitis. Drink 1 teaspoon of solé in a glass of water, on an empty stomach, each day. Again try to drink 2.5 litres of water daily. Practice salt inhalation therapy for 15 minutes, twice a day – i.e., add 120 grams of natural salt to 4 litres of boiling water. Place your towel-covered head over the steaming brine solution and inhale.

In Conclusion

Industrial table salt is a perfect example of the bastardisation of a critically important food through human tampering. We have effectively turned a resource that armies have fought to secure throughout history, into a liability that is damaging our health in many ways. This modified salt, like its nutritional partners in crime (white flour and white sugar), is the basis of the massive junk food industry that is such a player in degenerative disease. We crave these sugars and salts because they once contained a rich lode of minerals and our bodies and brains have yet to catch up with our stupidity in terms of recognising that sweet and salty no longer means “good”. Source yourself a good mountain salt and enjoy the taste treat and the multiple benefits.