SODIUM

Salt and Sodium are not the same

Salt is not just NA (Sodium)

The Biblical world greatly valued salt. Jesus called his followers “the salt of the earth”. He meant they add great value to the world.

Natural sea salt is a very healthful substance that supplies many important trace minerals. It is also essential for nutritional balance. You can use natural sea salt liberally.

Natural sea salt is another name for unrefined salt. It contains NA, plus many other trace minerals. This is even more critical today, as the food supply is mineral-deficient due to hybrid crops, modern agriculture methods, and food processing.

Unrefined salt has minimal effect on blood pressure. It helps maintain electrolyte and osmotic balance. The NA it contains is critical to solubilize other nutrient minerals in the blood. A deficiency of NA causes other nutrient minerals to become biounavailable.

Doctors advise against eating too much salt because they are talking about industrial salt. We agree – industrial salt is a poor quality food. And yet it is a major ingredient in almost every processed food. When salt is listed as an ingredient, the label is referring to industrial salt.

Iodine & FDA-regulated Salt

Iodine is a critical trace mineral needed by your body. Humans naturally get it from eating foods from the ocean. Unfortunately, it is difficult to measure on hair testing. When nutritionally balanced and eating a healthy diet, your thyroid absorbs the iodine it needs.

There was a time when the FDA thought iodine was harmful, so they mandated it to be removed from processed foods.

When iodine is deficient, the thyroid easily absorbs toxic fluorine, bromine, and/or chlorine instead.

Bromine is widespread in bread and soft drinks
Chlorine is widely used to kill germs and whiten foods
Fluoride is added to most municipal water

It was eventually recognized that natural iodine is important, and Americans needed more of it. The FDA changed its stance and forced salt companies to enrich all table salt with a chemical form of iodine. Unfortunately, this introduced toxicity that builds up in the liver.

This is just one example of the challenges the FDA has had when it comes to regulating the food industry.

The good news is that once natural forms of iodine reenter the body, then we easily push out the toxic elements bromide, chlorine, and fluoride.

More about Industrial Table Salt

Common table salt is a highly refined product and one of the worst things in your food. Most of its healthy trace minerals have been removed.

It is a harmful product that should be completely banned. And yet, table salt is the standard salt people buy in the grocery store and the standard product used in almost all prepared food and all restaurants. It is a major reason why almost everyone today is seriously mineral deficient and toxic with aluminum.

Table salt causes mineral imbalances and high blood pressure. It is high in NA and low in CA and MG. Sea salt, on the other hand, has these two vital nutrient minerals and supports your body's nutrient mineral balance.

To make matters worse, the government allows refined salt companies to add aluminum to the salt as a “flowing agent”. Aluminum is a toxic metal associated with many health problems.

The government also allows salt companies to bleach the salt with other toxic chemicals to whiten it.

Cooked Vegetables

Most of the nutrients in vegetables are locked into their fibers. Humans cannot extract enough nutrient minerals from raw vegetables before they are expelled during a bowel movement.

But when we cook the vegetables, the fibers soften and our digestive system can then absorb more nutrient minerals.

NA & the American Diet

Many natural foods contain NA. The best source is vegetables of all kinds. Red meat, poultry, eggs, and fish are also sources. Kelp is another natural source.

Many refined foods are bland or even tasteless because of their ingredients. To improve the taste (or cover up the lack of taste), table salt is often added in great quantity. Among the most salt-laced refined foods are french fries, potato chips, pastries, processed meats, relishes, and canned soups.

Since the same foods are MG-deficient, the combination is very unhealthful and not surprisingly causes problems at the rate Americans eat these foods.

An exception. Blue corn tortilla chips. Look for ones that contain sea salt. We hope more chip companies will move in this direction, as sea salt is a much healthier product.

The body needs the proper balance of nutrient minerals, and two of the most important are NA & MG.

Missing MG (Magnesium)

One of the most important minerals missing from the American diet is MG. It is required for over one thousand enzymes in our bodies. MG has a balancing effect on NA.

Why are we losing MG?

Milling wheat to make white flour removes 85% of the MG
Refining sugar cane to make white sugar removes 98% of the MG
White flour, white sugar, and white table salt are unfortunately “staples” of the American diet

Natural sea salt contains plenty of MG, which is one reason it does not affect blood pressure the same way as refined table salt.

Toxic K

N-P-K fertilizer helps increase crop yields each season. This often includes crops labeled "organic."

The N & P are not something your body cares about, but K is. And the K in this fertilizer is toxic to your body's natural balance. When we digest these foods, the K irritates the human body.

As your food quality improves, your body gets healthier. Your body eliminates the toxic K. We call this a standard surge, and it shows up as a large increase in the levels of NA and K on a hair retest.

That's good news for our bodies, but our planet is a different story. This toxin is building up in the soil. The planet doesn't appear to have mechanisms to easily remove fertilizer toxicity from the soil. There are valid concerns that this is destroying our ability to grow non-toxic food.

Human Energy Production

The adrenal glands are central players in regulating digestion. Your body's NA level has little to do with how much salt you consume in your diet.

Instead, it's all about your stress levels and nutrient mineral balance. The more stress you deal with (aka the more energy you need), the more your body will retain NA in an attempt to produce more energy.

Adrenal Glands

Your adrenal glands are small, triangle-shaped glands that are located on top of your kidneys. The adrenal glands are very important for a person’s overall stamina and energy level. When something is off, a person will often feel tired and lethargic. The adrenal glands produce aldosterone to tell the kidneys whether to retain NA or eliminate it through urination.

Adrenaline

Another aspect of adrenal gland activity is adrenaline. This helps direct the sympathetic (action) and parasympathetic (recuperate) states of the body.

When under stress, a person becomes sympathetic dominant. This means the nervous system is requesting more energy. Your nutrient minerals will get out of balance.

When physical demands on your body reduce, the nervous system shifts into a parasympathetic state to rest. Your nutrient minerals will return to natural balance.

Adrenal Monitoring

Blood testing shows very little variability for NA levels. In contrast, the NA level in hair tissue ranges from 1 to several hundred. This is a major reason we use this test to assess the condition of the adrenals.

Blood tests will identify adrenal problems once they become very extreme, in which case doctors diagnose the condition as Addison’s disease.

Blood tests do not help reveal mild adrenal gland insufficiency. Some day, we hope all doctors will use hair testing, an inexpensive and non-invasive test that clearly shows several adrenal imbalances.

Low NA on hair tests

A majority of hair testing today reveals low NA levels. We find this is the result of depleted adrenal glands.

Healthy adrenals produce aldosterone, which causes the kidneys to retain more NA. When adrenals are depleted, they secret less aldosterone, and the NA level tends to be low.

This condition is referred to as adrenal insufficiency, adrenal fatigue, adrenal exhaustion, or adrenal burnout. We use these terms interchangeably.

Consuming sea salt every day can help raise the NA level slightly in slow oxidizers because these individuals lose too much NA in the urine. But the long-term solution lies in nutrient balancing.

High NA on hair tests

Some people have an elevated NA level. This is usually part of a metabolic pattern called a fast oxidation rate.

A high NA level is most often associated with stress. When in fight-or-flight, the adrenals produce more aldosterone. This signals the kidneys to retain more NA (to support the fight-or-flight needs). The renin-angiotensin system is part of this response and also helps retain NA. Adults with an elevated NA level are in what we refer to as an alarm reaction or stress pattern. It is temporary, and will lower as the stressors are reduced.

Another contributor to high NA levels is the presence of the toxic metals cadmium, mercury, lead, arsenic, nickel, and aluminum. These metals irritate the kidneys and adrenals. Most often, the NA level lowers when toxic metals are eliminated from the body.

NA & Behavior

Dr. Paul Eck called NA the volatility mineral. People with a high NA level often have volatile behavior. Elevated NA is related to the alarm stage of stress, also called a fight-or-flight reaction.

NA is more yang in macrobiotic terminology. Yang is the quality of being hotter, harder, contracted, and has a firmer crystalline structure.

People with high NA levels in relation to K levels often have high energy and are seen as starters, pioneers, outgoing, and active. The higher the NA gets, the more volatile, angry, or paranoid they may become.

Alternatively, low NA is associated with fatigue, weakness, lethargy, and depression.

Coming Alive

Your body is constantly trying to stay in balance and reacting to what is happening in your life. That's why one hair test is not enough. It only captures your last three months. Your body's balance will change. Retesting is recommended every 3-6 months to understand how your body is balancing to your life.

On a hair retest, the "coming alive" pattern refers to some or all of the first four nutrient minerals (CA, MG, NA, K) increasing, while the others remain the same. The pattern is strongest when all four of these macrominerals increase. This is a very positive pattern, with an increased brightness of your energy field.

When this "coming alive" pattern occurs, your body is increasing NA and K to help eliminate toxins. The elevated NA and K levels stem from temporary kidney stress during the elimination phase. This is good.

Your body is also increasing CA and MG to help protect you. This indicates a controlled healing process, which is very good.

Once your body is done pushing out the toxins, these nutrient mineral levels should return to a healthy range.

NA regulation

When your body is depleted nutritionally or has suffered a recent trauma, your aldosterone production drops. It's like your adrenals are taking their foot off the gas pedal and asking you to rest.

When getting back to normal, the NA level and often the K level rise on a hair retest. In this instance, the increased NA is due to increased aldosterone activity. Your adrenals are stepping on the gas. The K also rises because these two nutrient minerals often rise and fall together to maintain the ratio between them.

The crutch concept

Dr. Paul Eck recognized a person must raise the NA/K ratio and only then can toxic metals be removed. We refer to this as getting rid of the need for compensation. The toxic cadmium and boron are powerful crutches that keep a person functioning when they are depleted of healthy nutrient minerals.

To remove the crutches, one must first “prop up” or support the body. Otherwise, the crutch (aka toxic metals) cannot be removed because they are needed to sustain your energy.