Positive Health Online

Most people understand salt to mean sodium chloride. This is only true in part. Salt is understood in terms of preserving or seasoning.

The Bible describes followers of Christ as the 'salt of the earth' and those 'worthy of their salt' referred to those who were paid for work in salt rather than money, because salt was a rare and valuable commodity. The word 'salary' comes from the Latin salarium, meaning money for buying salt.

Salt, like flour and sugar, is a natural substance which should inherently contain all the elements from its source. Salt should contain all the elements from the sea, wheat all the elements from the soil. However, since the days of industrialization and subsequent commercial economic gain, salt, like flour and sugar, has become processed and stripped of naturally occurring nutrients. This has reached such a crescendo that school children of the 21st century have to be taught where milk, flour, salt and sugar come from. They know that the source is the supermarket and the product is white. Some parents of these same children do not even know what the natural substances are, what nutrients they should contain or how they have been processed and differ from their natural original state.

In terms of health (or lack of it), the hallmark of this generation is chronic toxicity, chronic dehydration and chronic nutritional deficiencies, (chronic meaning long-term). White flour and white sugar, being processed products stripped of their nutrients, are commonly blamed for the state of nutritional deficiencies but not much blame is attributed to sources of toxicity, chief among them being mercury fillings, fluoride, vaccinations and drugs (especially antibiotics and steroids, for example, in mass produced dairy products and in the contraceptive pill). Even less is attributed to the denaturing of one of mankind's most valuable commodities – salt.

The three whites which should not be white: salt… sugar… flour…

• Salt should be pale pinky beige or pale grey;
• Sugar should be beige to dark brown;
• Flour should be beige.

There are many complex reasons for ill health and each one has to be addressed if we are to move towards being as we should be. We cannot be healthy if we are taking in sub-standard or deficient fluids and/or foods. Consider that well over 75 per cent of the human body is water and it is this fluid medium which is of vital importance in order to be able to process food on a gross (overall) and cellular level. It is folly to pay so much attention to the twigs and ignore the trunk and branches. Nutrition research tends to magnify more and more detail but see less and less of the whole picture. Why go into the minutiae of how the body processes and rejects flour, sugar and salt whilst the wrong types altogether are being considered and studied at great length. The primary step should be to introduce the right type of flour, sugar and salt, i.e. with full compliment of nutrients from its source and not refined or chemicalized.

If that were done the body would not have such rejection reactions (allergy, sensitivity, etc.) and illness from deficiencies and toxicity in these products. Also, the vitally important fact that dehydrated, toxic people do not process and digest foods the way they should is broadly overlooked.

Over 75 per cent of You is Water

All the information you read about the health aspects of salt (or lack of them) are based on the refined, chemicalized, nutritionally depleted white industrial end-products labelled 'salt', specifically produced for use by the industrial sector. Only a small amount of this processed salt (about seven per cent) goes to the food sector and this is taken from the same industrial grade stocks, totally unfit for human consumption, just as white flour and sugar are unfit for human consumption. The human body needs the full spectrum of ionic trace elements in the natural ratios found in unrefined sea salt and the vitamins and minerals found in foods grown on soil that is replete, along with the same found in animal produce which has been reared and fed correctly. These elements must be in ionic form and in the required concentrations and ratios to be properly synergistic and beneficial, and this they are in unrefined sea salt. The sodium chloride is perfectly balanced with other minerals, which allows the sodium to leave the tissues when its work is done. This vitally important physiological aspect of cellular fluidity is missing in the salt we know as 'table salt' (whether labelled rock or sea salt) and this processed, white product is justifiably well associated with negative effects on health and has produced a state of 'sodium sensitivity' which, I believe, is along the same lines as 'wheat and sugar sensitivity'. Salt is far more important in that, along with pure water, it creates a vitally important crystalline structure which is the essence of the body's information and energy highway.

Sadly, we no longer have nutrient-packed foods because the soil is depleted from decades of wrong land management. Even organic foods are depleted in original source nutrients although they are superior in that they do not contain pesticides and chemicals that processed foods do.1 Beware of irradiated organic foods which are dead and detrimental in yet another way.

Nutritionists are aware of these facts and recommend supplemental vitamins and minerals because of clearly defined deficiencies, but these can never be compared to the natural combinations and ratios found in foods. Food-state nutritional supplements are the best supplements available but, here again, they are manufactured and not produced naturally. Is the answer to eat nutritionally depleted foods and not bother with supplements because they are not natural? Deficiency states would manifest sooner or later and end up being labelled by the symptoms presented, rather than the causal deficiency. Natural unrefined salt is still available from some countries and is an essential, natural source foundational nutritional substance and thus, automatically therapeutic in deficiency states. Unrefined sea salt is virtually identical to plasma and contains the elements for manufacture of vitamins and proteins.2 It has to be imported into the United Kingdom from European sources and, with sufficient pure water, is the foundation to health.

Adequate pure water1 and unrefined salt are the best health insurance possible, along with getting rid of inherited and/or acquired toxins and eating correctly. All of those at the receiving end of an intravenous drip would be far better off if the saline solution were made with unrefined sea salt. Surgeons who work without using blood get excellent results by using fluid replacements. Given the right minerals the body can make good the shortfalls, which could otherwise cause severe anaemia, within a surprisingly short time. Extra pure water and unrefined salt are needed in all areas of stress and trauma.

The Right Salt Diet

Unrefined salt is a nutrient, very similar in makeup to blood plasma.

The answer to the well-known 'salt toxicity' from taking industrial grade sodium chloride is not the commonly advocated low-salt or no-salt diet, which will cause problems of its own, but a right-salt diet. Exactly the same principles apply to wheat, sugar and fats. It must also be appreciated that denatured, processed products are not just empty foods but take from the body's mineral and vitamin stores in order to be processed so, in effect, they are not just 'empties' but far more detrimental 'negative nutrients'. They also cause problems in disturbance of nutrient balance and associated synergistic reactions. This means that elements must be in the right form and ratio to be properly utilized. Other 'toxic and negative nutrients' such as excitotoxins (MSG, artificial sweeteners) need to be avoided.

About 25 per cent of the salt content of the body is stored in bones as crystals and help make the bones hard. Salt is taken out of the bones to maintain vital normal levels in the blood, thus depriving bone of its crystalline structure and contributing to osteoporosis.

Minerals are taken from the bones, if needed, to counteract toxic acidity and/or electrolyte imbalance. Toxic fluorides are also involved (see Fluoride1 article). The salt that goes into cells, if industrial grade sodium chloride, does not exit the cells easily and disturbs the osmotic pressures and synergistic balances between intra- and extra-cellular fluids. The result is acidity, electro-magnetic and nervous disturbances. This contrasts greatly with the action of unrefined salt, where the sodium is ushered out of the cell by multiple synergistic minerals which maintain fluidity in and out of the cells and osmotic equilibrium both sides of the cell membrane. Bio-electrical currents need the correct electrolyte fluid medium for optimum function. This can be demonstrated when using kinesiology by introducing unrefined salt and pure water into the circuit. This must be countered appropriately in sodium sensitive people to give a correct test reading. Mental and emotional stability depend upon correct electrolyte and fluid balance both directly and through the medium of hormones and enzymes.3 Unrefined salt is necessary for the dissolving and utilization of iron which is an essential constituent of the blood, and for the full action of magnetism in the electro-magnetic system, which is an important aspect of energy level.

No Need for Fatigue

Delicate enzyme systems involved in DNA repair and normal cellular aerobic respiration depend upon extremely tight regulation of acid/alkaline balance and temperature. For proper water balance in the body, adequate water intake and uptake is needed, along with adequate amounts of unrefined sea salt for electrolyte balance.1 If this is not available, the body will utilize sugars to maintain osmotic equilibrium but this salt substitute will have penalties in that the vital sugar/insulin balance will be disturbed and symptoms of compensation might manifest in the form of arthritis, blood sugar aberrations and diabetes. At this stage the renin-angiotensin (RA) system might be activated, resulting in high blood pressure and tissue oedema. Taking diuretics will further aggravate such a state of dehydration/lack of salt and will also deplete potassium levels, possibly leading to stroke or heart attack.

From personal experience, I consider lack of water and unrefined salt the foundational factor in nutritional deficiency and without this foundational correction being made, all other nutritional work, whether diet, supplements or herbs, is like building good walls without a foundation. Once unrefined salt is introduced on a regular daily basis, in roughly a month or two, you will see results, providing toxicity is not blocking uptake. Mercury amalgam dental fillings[1] and other dental toxic materials may have to be removed.

No Metal in your Mouth

Sodium sensitivity, if severe, might cause a rejection reaction and oedema. This needs to be dealt with on an individual basis but is easily remedied. With gradual introduction of unrefined salt, and normal kidney function, in a month or two you should see some results. Fats and oils are the next layer to correct.1 The essential intake of unrefined salt has a profound effect on body and mind and is a vital part of life. No salt – no life. The connection between dehydration and lack of unrefined salt and common conditions like heart attacks, high blood pressure, asthma, arthritis, etc., is logically explainable.

Salt is necessary for survival and is involved in electrical potential, fluid balance and pH balance (acid/alkali). Salt also plays a vital role in digestion. From unrefined salt we get the essential iodine needed for thyroid function. Low thyroid function is a universal factor in ill health, especially where mercury poisoning is a major factor. The iodine from unrefined sea salt also furnishes some protection against radiation damage which is very relevant in this age of high negative radiation sources which emanate from mobile and cordless phones, computers, electrical motors, power supplies, pylons, medical and dental equipment, and sources too numerous to list.1 Artificially iodized salt is associated with the formation of nitrates and rise in thyroid cancer rates in Japan.[2]

For human use, salt has to be ionic (electrically active) and contain all the minerals and trace minerals in the correct ratio appropriate to blood plasma. Sodium must be balanced with magnesium and other minerals in order to ensure its exit from the cell when its work is done. Nothing taken apart and reconstituted ever functions in the same way as the original source, whether it be salt, flour, sugar, herbs or nutrients. The pharmaceutical industry is experienced in trying but has yet to produce anything which is non-toxic and/or beneficial in the same way as the original. (Note: colloidal minerals, which are minerals in suspension, do not equate to natural salt and are not utilized in the same way.)

Salt enables the transport of substances into and out of the cells across the cell membrane. If this membranous traffic is unhindered, cellular detoxification can occur and cellular nutrition can be achieved whether the source is food, herbs or appropriate supplements, providing the raw materials are available and the lymphatic system is efficient. Essential fatty acid deficiency is also a universal factor in ill health and no matter how much right-fat is taken in, it cannot be used properly without salt to emulsify and transport it across the cell membrane. Unhindered metabolism is a pre-requisite to effective nutritional supplementation. Unrefined sea salt is necessary for this to be possible. Indeed, the effects of lack of right salt are seen in the whole organism, especially in pituitary, thyroid, adrenal, kidney and pancreas function.

Salt intake is a vital component of rehydration. Unless rehydration is achieved as the first step, nothing else can be properly effective. At least four to six pints of pure water is needed daily, and a pint with a good pinch of unrefined salt in it, before meals, ensures sufficient fluid and electrolytes to digest food. Eating in a dehydrated state is the cause of many health problems, as well as the obvious ones of indigestion and 'acidity'. Sufficient water and salt are needed to make the watery bicarbonates needed to neutralize the acidified stomach contents. This cannot enter the duodenum until neutralization is available because only the stomach, and not any other part of the intestines, is able to protect itself from hydrochloric acid.

The pyloric sphincter is tightly shut and does not allow exit of contents from the stomach until there is adequate neutralization available from the pancreatic fluids and bile. Insulin production is finely balanced with the hydration state and watery bicarbonate production. The body gives priority to neutralization of acidic foods from the stomach and therefore blood sugar/insulin balance is also disturbed by lack of water and unrefined salt.

Unrefined Salt is Essential for Water Utilization in Every Cell

Rehydration is essential for effective homeopathic treatment which needs resonance in the cell fluids. Taking large doses of non-bioavailable supplements will not create good health even though it might seem to be effective in diminishing some symptoms temporarily. There will be a price to pay somewhere along the line and there is never any improvement on 'putting right the cause of the effect'. In other words, whatever is causing the symptoms is the only thing to put right. Covering up the symptoms will leave the original problem in place and there will be added problems from intake of inappropriate substances, be they drugs or supplements. Remember, symptoms are only the warning lights to alerting us to something which needs correcting. Knocking out the warning lights is folly, at best. Symptoms and disease are not the same and merely labelling an illness by the group of symptoms displayed, does not identify the cause of the problem.

The Foundational Keys to Health

Water-Salt-Detoxification-Nutrition

When introducing unrefined salt and water into your diet, it is necessary to monitor kidney function and introduce it gradually as it becomes effective in the elimination of excess sodium from the cells. In certain circumstances, for example, in long-term malnutrition and after prolonged use of certain types of milk-based steroid powders, ionic trace minerals minus the sodium might be needed to precede the use of unrefined salt. Help from an appropriate practitioner or nutritionist familiar with unrefined salt might be useful
in such cases to help get nutritional balance started.

Pure water and unrefined sea salt are vital components of good nutrition.

References

1 All articles referred to are from Informed Choice Health Course and Workshops: Principles of Nutrition, Essential Fatty Acids, Dehydration Just Lack of Water?, Mercury Poisoning from Amalgam Fillings, Fluoride, Adverse Radiation.
2 Hendel and Ferreira. Water and Salt: The Essence of Life, Natural Resources. ISBN 0-9744515-1-7.
3 This and other topics covered in: Batmanghelidj F. Your Body's Many Cries for Water. Second Edition. Global Health Solutions Inc. USA. ISBN 0-9629962-3-5.

Further Reading

See reading list: Informed Choice Health Course©. Bradshaw-Black V. 1996
Salt Supply Unrefined sea salt, water distillers and water filters – contact V. Bradshaw-Black VivshawUK@aol.com