Adrienne Smith said:
>>Just wondering what's considered too much salt.  For most of my life, I never
added salt to my foods.  I thought it tasted terrible and created a kind of
burning sensation in my mouth.  Several months ago, at my husbands urging, I
tried adding non-iodized Celtic sea salt to my meat, fish, etc -- and boy,
what a difference.  This stuff tastes delicious and now I cannot imagine
living without it.  Also, while I've had past problems with water retention
-- I  no longer have any such problems even though I use liberal amounts of
the salt on my food.

My reply:
The problem with "studies" is that they use commercial grade, refined salt
or refined sea salt, which are 99.99% sodium chloride.  Celtic Sea Salt is a
different "animal!"  The same goes for Real Salt and Malden Sea Salt, used
by some other list subscribers.  For more approximately 16 years I have used
Celtic Sea Salt or similar brands.  Yes, the taste is drammatically
different.  My cooking students have had experiences like yours for years!
Their family members taste the difference.    It is light night and day!!

Unfortunately, when people bash sea salt, saying it is not different from
regular salt, they are almost invariably referring to refined sea salt,
which is harsh and sharp, 99.99% sodium chloride, and devoid of the minerals
found in Celtic Sea Salt and other un-refined, mineral rich, sun dried,
preservative-free sea salts.

Unrefined sea salt used in the context of a diet of wholesome natural foods,
is not harmful.  Most people on modern diets are not eating many vegetables,
and are taking in many times the amount of salt/sodium that you or I would
take in adding unrefined, mineral-rich sea salt to our vegetables, meats,
and fish.  There are many things modern people eat that are rich in sodium
but don't taste salty because of all of the sugar or starch they contain.
It is unscientific to lump all "salts" together!

From my studies, primitive people, like animals, value salt and salty foods.
People who lived by the sea would have gotten salt from fresh, salt water
fish, sea vegetables, burning certain plants to ashes and using the
mineral-rich ashes, etc.  Many inland peoples have traded with coastal
people to get salt.  Salt is like gold---that is where the word "salary" and
many other words came from.  When we sweat we lose salt; it is not bad to
replenish it.  In fact, if you eat a high protein, low carb diet, you may
need to ingest more sodium to replenish what is lost in sweat and urine.

Although some people can become accustomed to a diet devoid of added salt, I
do not think that this is a necessary practice for health.  I would not be
afraid to use good quality unrefined, mineral rich sea salt.  Celtic sea
salt is incredibly popular among people I know who have tried it.  (One of
our local health food store goes through huge amounts of it ever since I
began using it classes after moving to Toledo, Ohio.  It was the same when I
lived in Seattle, WA., and Ann Arbor, Michigan.)  I have worked with people
who have had high blood pressure and had no problem with using this true sea
salt, in the context of a diet rich in unrefined, unprocessed, whole foods.

I see no reason to be afraid of using it in the context of the kind of diet
we are eating.  I would take those so-called scientific warnings with a
grain of salt.  You can imagine what those people in the studies were eating
with their salt---surely it was not a diet devoid of processed foods,
sugars, and the  like!!!   Many health food store shoppers eat potato chips,
corn chips, and other processed foods that contain (refined) sea salt, so
even if these folks were to be studied, we could not draw the same
conclusions for people eating diets of vegetables, fruits, fish, fowl, meat,
eggs, nuts, seeds, and olive oil!!

Enjoy the salt of the earth!

Rachel