How To Balance Your Sodium Intake


Salty Flavoring

Adding flavor to food is necessary as many recipes include a variety of spices, salts, butters, and cheeses. Many people love the flavor of salt without even realizing they are consuming it. Others add salt to every food that they consume. Salt helps to balance out the other flavors in food such as the bitter, sour, and even sugary tastes.

Sodium is Essential

Salt, or sodium, is a mineral which is necessary for healthy body functioning. Fluid balance, muscular functioning, and the electrical impulses of the nerves depend upon sodium intake to function properly.

Salt is necessary for proper fluid balance in the human body, but humans consume too much of it for that balance to level out. The vital minerals such as potassium, magnesium, calcium, and of course sodium, are all contained within salt molecules.

Natural Healing Through Minerals

The muscles in the human body become relaxed when the proper amounts of potassium and magnesium are consumed along with sodium. But if there is too much sodium intake and not enough of the other minerals in the body, there can be more pain and suffering than is necessary.  Sodium intake must be balanced by other minerals, especially magnesium.

If insomnia or migraines are present, then there may be too much sodium intake and not enough magnesium present within the food that one consumes. Magnesium supplements will help someone that has high blood pressure and/or consumes a lot of salt. Table salt is unhealthy. But unrefined sea salt is not only healthy, but it also has magnesium in it.

Too Much Sodium Intake

If sodium intake in the body is too high, it can either be eliminated through the kidneys or stored in the blood. Either is dangerous. Many people believe that because they are thin that they are healthy and that nothing would ever happen to them or to their kidneys.

Extra sodium intake can also cause an unhealthy dehydration if there isn’t a proper balance among other minerals such as calcium, potassium, and magnesium Also, there has been much discussion lately about toxic metal overload which includes minerals such as copper, manganese, and zinc.

Many foods contain salt, even those that are considered “natural”. There are both good and bad sources of sodium intake.

Healthy Food Sources of Sodium:

  • Vegetables
  • Chicken
  • Fish
  • Beef
  • Eggs

Balancing out certain foods with healthier ones can help prevent sickness and disease.

Unhealthy Food Sources of Sodium:

  • Relishes/Garnishes
  • Canned Soups
  • Packaged Meats
  • Processed Cheeses/Deli Meats
  • Chips
  • Onion Rings
  • French Fries
  • Sodas
  • Fried Foods

These and many more contain unhealthy amounts of salt. Eating even a small amount of the unhealthy food sources can increase one’s heart rate and blood pressure, even causing a heart attack or stroke. Those who are taking particular medications must be extra careful of their sodium intake as well.

The Danger of MSG

Many health professionals, nutritionists, and doctors will tell you the danger of too much salt, as well as the consumption of Mono Sodium Glutamate in certain foods. MSG is the regular abbreviation of this popular food additive. It can cause migraines/headaches, inflammatory pain in the body, asthma, fatigue, nausea, and even depression. MSG has also been known to destroy the brain cells of lab animals.

Learning disabilities and endocrine disorders along with obesity, Alzheimer’s disease, anxiety, strokes, and even epilepsy, which is linked to seizures, are known to be caused by the consumption of MSG in certain foods. Even if this has not been scientifically proven in humans, it has been proven in animals.

Isn’t this enough to keep everyone away from MSG altogether?

More from Alex Jordon:

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