Hi there... thank you for reading... what is an acceptable amount of added salt? Please Please don't say none at all I realize salt isn't great for the body but i am just starting to accept that i love love love salt and this is hard for me to cut back let alone cut it out all together... what i want to know is what would be an acceptable daily amount??? like is a teaspoon a day too much or ok etc... then i can ration out my salt and try to stay with in those parameters and gently work my way down... I only use Real Salt which may not be the best but better then ordinary table salt!!! I appreciate any feed back.

love laugh and dream

The human palate has been desensitized to the extremely potent taste and density of salt, and therefore we eat way too much of it. Sugar also, and for many different reasons. The typical SAD eater, and many vegetarians and vegans, take in way too much of these extremes, salt and sugar.

If you look an animal, they do not add salt to their food, but occasionally lick the salt off rocks and such. This is because we do need a certain level of salt to remain healthy. Our blood is salty. However, most, if not all of the salt we require is present in the foods we eat, like the leafy greens, celery, tomatoes, etc.

After cleansing the palate with a more pure diet, one will not crave it so much. For me, I used to sway between salty and sweet in my food choices all the time, and I really enjoyed the flavor of salt on my foods. Now that I have been 100% raw for almost a month, I rarely add salt to anything, and I never really crave it anymore. This is surprising to me, because I used to really love salty foods, and I can't believe how strong they taste to me now.

If you're not using ordinary table salt with added iodine, dulse flakes may be a good option, since they do have iodine and other healthy stuff too.

I don't know about the answer to your question because I've heard different things from different people. I also find it really hard to enjoy food without salt and I've tried. But I would imagine that if you just suffer for a month without salt, finally you will get used to it and start to enjoy un salted food.

What about Himalaya rock salt? I've heard that is very good for the body and its quite easy to get....

luvyuu,

It depends on the person, and whether they are hypertensive, have an adrenal disorder, etc.

How about using the smallest pinch that you can which satisfies, and leave it at that?

no, merry, I really haven't been suffering without salt! In the first week of being raw, I was adding some celtic salt to my food, because I thought it tasted better and I was used to it. It only took a few days to a week, though, with all raw, that I started naturally not wanting it, until I saw your post, and realized that I wasn't even having any at all.

The body has a way of coming into balance on its own, given the proper environment, inside and out. I say just do what feels right.

Im not fully raw so i use salt in some of the bits and pieces i heat such as warm soups, veggie curries/chilli etc.

But i use a 50/50 blend of seaweeds and full spectrum sea salt.

Himalayan is a good salt merry.

[www.vegankingdom.co.uk]

Ok... so here is what i am doing... I'm not a good judge on a smallest pinch... so i measure out 1 tsp of salt and that is all i'm allowed to use during the entire day... though yesterday i was a bit frustrated about it... today i'm pretty resigned to it... yes i do have adrenal problems and kidney troubles too no hypertension... and very low blood pressure some times too low...

maybe this is a lot ... but it is less for me... and an adjustment... funny i've cut out so many other things out of my diet why not this too... it's my final frontier... I will look into the seaweed flakes and such...

love laugh and dream

If you use salt, try to get a natural salt and not a refined one thats been heated and sterilized. Also there are some foods that naturally contain higher levelfs of sodium, some seaweeds have a nice salty flavor, celery is salty and fairly high sodium for a vegetable.

There is a sea vegetable I have seen in gourmet outlets thats really salty tasting, I think its glasswort, or sea beans? I have collected a plant called 'goose tounge'. It sort of looks like a goose tounge I guess, but I don't really see it. Its very high in sodium, and tastes salty. If you like salt you will like that plant. Grows in salt marshes and intertidal zones.
[www.seaweedsofalaska.com]

I know the link says seaweeds of alaska. It grows elsewhere, and I wouldn't call it a seaweed either. but the link has a nice image. I hope that its available in some form where you live, if you are interested in trying it sometime.

Low blood pressure goes hand in hand with adrenal insufficiency. When i had severe adrenal gland problems i reacted very well to salt.

[www.vegankingdom.co.uk]

I like Real Salt and Himalayan pink salt.

You don't really need salt, but you do need sodium.

For me: if I'm craving salt I need minerals (dark leafy greens) and sweet cravings = vitamins (fruit). I you cannot shake the salt cravings try getting more greens into your system (green smoothies or juicing veggies + kale/chard/spinach/etc).

Or eat a stalk of celery (plenty o' sodium there) and see if that helps you get over it.

powerlifer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Low blood pressure goes hand in hand with adrenal
> insufficiency. When i had severe adrenal gland
> problems i reacted very well to salt.
>
> [www.vegankingdom.co.uk]


What is adrenal insufficiency? I mean, is it your adrenals being burnt out or is that over-activity? The reason I ask is that I feel that I have burnt out my adrenals yet my whole life I have had lower blood pressure than normal (haven't had it checked on in a few years but it's always been that way).

When I was craving salt I saw an acupuncturist who brought me back into balance in a session.

banana who Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> powerlifer Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Low blood pressure goes hand in hand with
> adrenal
> > insufficiency. When i had severe adrenal gland
> > problems i reacted very well to salt.
> >
> > [www.vegankingdom.co.uk]
>

Of coarse there is more than one cause for this but a common one is low grade systemic infection originating in the gut, yeast, parasites, bacteria! The adrenals are very delicate organs and can be affected by common pathogens in the blood. It's intresting that the adrenals enjoy salt because they are also supposed to be weakened by to much salt? When I had low blood pressure my doctors said Oh thats great? But when I corrected the infection my blood pressure went to 120/80 and a nice low heart rate in the 50's I was weaker than normal and lost weight and got cold easier than I should have mostly in the feet and hands.
>
> What is adrenal insufficiency? I mean, is it your
> adrenals being burnt out or is that over-activity?
> The reason I ask is that I feel that I have burnt
> out my adrenals yet my whole life I have had lower
> blood pressure than normal (haven't had it checked
> on in a few years but it's always been that way).