{This post may contain affiliate links, please see my disclosure policy.}
Why do I love salt in my food? Well, God made it taste good — because it is good for us! It is not killing you, so sprinkle it all over your steak and enjoy!
Straight from the earth, natural sea salt provides trace amounts of these minerals (and other elements): Magnesium, Chloride, Sodium, Potassium, Sulfate, Lithium, Boron, Calcium, Tin, Gallium, Gold, Silver, Cesium, Selenium, Vanadium, Dysprosium, Holmium, Cobalt, Carbonate, Bromide, Iodine, Rubidium, Scandium, Boron, Phosphorus, Nickel, Manganese, Beryllium, Chromium, Strontium, Zinc, Titanium, Lanthanum, Cerium, Barium, Copper, Iron, Silicon, Yttrium, Molybdenum, Terbium, Praseodymium, Lutetium, Gadolinium, Samarium, Bismuth, Ytterbium, Erbium, Europium, Neodymium.
Unfortunately, table salt has been “chemically stripped of all of its trace minerals except sodium and chloride” and “90% of Americans suffer a mineral deficiency or imbalance and are suffering many conditions and diseases as a direct or indirect result” (Salt of the Seven Seas).
Our mineral deficiencies can be largely blamed on the lack of minerals from our salt. I am always so sad when I put regular table salt on my food — when at a friend’s or at a restaurant. I literally have to put 5x the amount that I need because the flavor is so dulled by the bleaching process. It is almost tasteless.
I have been buying sea salt for a while now, but I discovered that if it is white, it has been bleached, (duh) so therefore, I have been buying unrefined sea salt. All of the above listed minerals are present. I recently purchased some gorgeous Himalayan pink sea salt and it is beyond delicious. We will never go back.
I bought some sea salt on Amazon (1 pound for $5.77), but then found this cute glass bottle at my grocery store (1 pound for $5.99)! This is worth the extra cost over the bleached version — our bodies need minerals in their natural state!
For further reading:
The Salt of the Earth, Weston A. Price Foundation.
Studies Suggest a Diet in Low Salt is Deadly, The Healthy Home Economist.
8 Health Benefits of Unrefined Natural Salt, Organic Authority.
What are the 84 Minerals in Himalayan Sea Salt? Livestrong.
Why you want to avoid conventional salt, Dr. Mercola.
Salt in History, Uses & Benefits, Salt Institute.
If you are interested in receiving new posts, please follow me on Facebook:
hi amy, i was interested in your claims about complex salts and their dietary benefits, so i googled gadolinium. it is not so good for us!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadolinium
i haven’t checked the other trace minerals listed, but this should give is pause. it is not just the amount but also the context of all nutrients that is important in making decisions to eat or avoid them. the salt story is actually very complex.
Thanks, Sandra!! I should have looked up all those elements before listing and claiming each of their “benefits” — thankfully, this chart shows that there are <.001 ppm of gadolinium in Himalayan sea salt — so that explains the "why" of the bleaching process — but I wonder what the bleaching process negatively adds to our salt?
http://www.saltnews.com/chemical-analysis-natural-himalayan-pink-salt/
♥ -Amy
Amy,
We are salt lovers here. We love the hard rock salt. I only have crushed for cooking purposes when i need it finely ground. I have considered trying the pink salt, but hadn’t purchased any yet. Right now I get the super yummy flavorful sea-salt in it’s natural state. I think I will add the pink salt to my co-op order this month!
Wow, crushing it would take too much effort for me :) We use salt too much :) We keep it in a little glass jar and pinch it on everything — and the pink salt is incredible — you really only need a pinch vs. the bleached iodized salt! Glad you’re going to try it! -Amy
Ive been wanting to try this salt, since I see it used in lots of recipes.
Tess, you will absolutely love it!! We use it on everything now, the taste is incredible. Thanks for visiting, Amy
Some many people are confused whether to be taking more salt or to reduce salt intake in the diet. there’s one problem in the society, people always like to follow the trend without truly understanding the reasons behind some dispositions as regards human health. Salt is good for our body but not all salts are good. the refined salts are now common in various homes because of the hype by promoters that, it’s an iodized salt which they list so many benefits of taking processed salts but this kind of salt is toxic to our body and not as beneficial as the organic, unrefined salts having several nutrients that are good for our health in which might’ve lost during the processing of the refined salt.
http://www.healthriskfood.com/2017/01/health-risks-of-not-taking-salts.html
Thanks! I really want to try this, hopefully I can find it…is there a specific recipe you think this salt works really well with? I normally don’t eat salt at all??