Premature Old Age and Sodium Deficiency
Would you ever think this person may suffer from a sodium deficiency? Do you think it is possible in this modern age with its excessive intakes of salt to not get enough sodium in our diets?
Yes, it is possible! You know, there is a difference between sodium which is in natural foods and between sodium chloride from our table salt. We can have an excess of sodium chloride and at the same time a deficiency of organic sodium.
Sodium contained in natural foods comes in such a package (with a whole lot of other minerals and trace-elements etc) that the body can make full use of it. Sodium chloride on the other hand comes with a lot of additives which make it insoluble, and the only thing the body can do is excrete it as it is (in urine or sweat) or deposit it somewhere.
Table-salt has been heated at extraordinary temperatures of 800-1000 C in order to let additives like bleaching agents and anti-caking agents bind with it and coat it in such a way that it can be poured readily under all conditions. The same in the body, the salt crystals are coated and do not readily dissolve, so it becomes toxic and will behave like a drug, unlike sodium from natural foods which nourish the body and keep it young and supple.
Sodium has been called the “youth element”. Did you ever realise that (organic) sodium is needed to stay young ? Sodium is essential to keep calcium in solution for example, whereby it will prevent the calcium from depositing around or in the joints, or in the walls of your arteries for example. Without organic sodium life would not be possible.
Sodium chloride in table salt does not do any good in the body. Did you ever realize that when you feel irritable and short tempered, that this can be from excess of sodium? Or that constipation can be due to excess of sodium? Toxic effects may include:
Waterretention
Hypertension
Stomach ulcers
Stomach cancer
Heart disease
Strokes
Osteoporosis (excess salt leads to calcium deficiency)
It will be interesting to learn some of the signs of sodium deficiency. Did you know that dark circles under your eyes can be because of sodium deficiency for example (or potassium overdose, it is the balance which matters)? Dr Jenssen gives some as well, like weakness, gas and bloating, heart arrythmias, attention deficit, difficulty in concentration, to mention some.
Sapoty Brook gives an excellent overview of the symptoms of overdose or deficiency of sodium and other macro-minerals in his book Eco-Eating: A Guide to Balanced Eating for Health & Vitality
We bought his book some years ago, and this has been one of the few books which did not end up on our bookshelf, because we are using it all the time. Sapoty Brook explains how to use minerals to manipulate body and mind, and in practice we found that he has ALWAYS been right. Sometimes we forgot about the principles and wandered away, but we always came back, saying “of course…….” They work 
. I think the book is written to help raw foodists maintain their raw food life style on the long run, but it is equally interesting and useful for people who are not raw at all. Absolutely recommended.
High sodium foods are carrots, beets, celery, spinach, Swiss chard, watercress, dandelion greens, kale, etc. Remember what matters is the sodium/potassium ratio, not so much the absolute amounts.
How much sodium do we actually need? Generally on a plant food diet one would get 500-1000 mg of sodium, which is all the body needs. There is no need for any added salt on the table. And do not forget that we get a lot of inactive sodium in additives to our food (aromatics, preservatives, baking agents, rising agents etc etc) which do not even taste salty, that way we may get as much as 50 times the normal amounts from natural foods.
Americans on average use about 9-9.5 g daily. This contains at least 3600 mg sodium (insoluble and coated), while the body generally does not need more than 500 mg of natural food sodium.
Some people may argue that unrefined salts like Celtic salt and Himalayan salt are better. They are, at least the salt is not heated and not coated, but it is still extremely easy to overdose on sodium. Take Celtic salt for example, 0.3 metric teaspoon already gives you 500 mg of sodium, and that is on top of your other foods, so you can easily get too much.
I recommend not adding any salt, but if you have to, at least choose one of the unrefined salts or vegetable salts.
Salt numbs the taste buds. After you discontinue salt, it will take a few weeks to adjust, then you can enjoy the wonderful subtle tastes of natural foods again. And raw will taste better. Cooked foods need sweeteners or oils and salt to make it tasty, raw foods don’t need any extras, so increase your percentage of raw and break that addiction to salt!
Yours,
Jannette Benschop