by Lorette C. Luzajic

I’m hopelessly addicted to a forbidden white powder. I can’t live without it. And I’m not alone. Some say it’s bad for me. That disapproval just means doing it in secret. I carry it with me all times, just in case…

Please pass the salt.

Advocates of paleo eating frequently decry salt use along with the government recommendations du jour. And a convincing argument can be made that salt damages intestinal villi, interfering with absorption. Or that it increases health risks in people who have high blood pressure or kidney problems. Those things are true, and diets like Loren Cordain’s Paleo Eating assume it’s pretty obvious that our ancestral diners didn’t have Ikea salt cellars at their tables. It’s also ridiculous to eat something that no other animal eats- would a wolf salt his meat? And yet some scientists have told us salt is the stuff of life- we need it for fluid balance, enzyme production, detoxification, and a hundred other miraculous functions in our body.

Herbert M. Shelton, one of the gurus of the Natural Hygiene/vegetarianism-for-health movements, helped popularize the idea that salt is toxic and inflammatory. He wrote in his book The Hygienic System: Orthotrophy, that vitamin deficiency was a likely result of excessive salt consumption. Though it’s common knowledge that ‘some’ salt is necessary for digestion, he wrote, “Strange is it not, if this is true, that carnivorous animals do not seek and eat salt?” (Shelton disciples might not be happy to discover that he was charged with negligent homicide, among other malpractice suits.)

A paleo perspective on the salt issue depends mainly on whether or not salt was a food for our ancients, and whether it is a food for the animal kingdom. And the answer is a resounding yes. Animals and humans have salt-specific taste buds! Domestic ruminants use salt licks. Wild ones desire salt over all else but water, memorizing locales of salt deposits to return to when feeling deficient. But what of the carnivore- would your house cat want salt? Mine does- he has the rather unsavory practice of licking my sweat, or the salty juice after my meat is gone. Wild animals- and primitive diet traditions- don’t require salting of the meat. Why not? Cordain and Shelton are forgetting how salty blood is. Animals consumed blood with their prey, and humans drank it or cooked with it. Yum yum!

Aside from the gastronomic pleasures of blood-guzzling, human history has been filled with salt. Salt was one of the reasons human populations sought seascape geographies. Seafood was prime nutrition, and the discovery that it (and other meats and foods) could be dried or preserved with salt and eaten later, or traded, was one kingpin of civilization. (Those interested in the world trade, mining, and gourmet histories of salt should read Mark Kurlansky’s Salt: a World History.)

So what’s the problem? Like any other nutrient, high doses out of balance with other nutrients are unnatural. And we get a lot of salt in our food. Secondly, salt today means table salt- 99.9% sodium chloride. But table salt is new food- an isolated substance from whole salt, and processed with toxic anti-agents to boot. Real salt contains over 80 minerals. Junk science debunker Sandy Szwarc points out that most minerals are left behind when sodium is extracted, and that less than 1% of sea salt is made up of negligible traces of those amazing minerals. And yes, it is wise that we don’t overestimate sea salt and pound it back like we used to pound back emulsifier-laden “nature burgers” with white flour, before we returned to our heritage diet. That said, 90% of our salt intake comes from processed food, not from our salt shaker, according to the National Institute of Health. Those who are eating mainly fresh meats, fish, fruit, and vegetables have considerable room to add salt.

It’s the opinion of past president of the American Heart Association, Dr. Suzanne Oparil, that we’ve been hasty in outlawing salt. She has pointed out that many studies on salt restriction show that too-low levels cause more heart and health problems than sodium levels that are too high!

Some of salt’s uncontested benefits include electrolyte balancing, fluid regulation, cell formation, reduce muscle cramping, nerve cell transmission (including cognitive), preventing dizziness, and the list goes on. But if you’re eating a lot of junk food, you are indeed poisoning yourself with salt. Make a switch and toss the crud off of your shopping list, so you can indulge in real food with real flavour. Some of the more obvious sources of that 90% in our sodium overindulgence include TV dinners, chips, packaged lunch meats, and fast food. You may be surprised to know canned vegetables, milk, breakfast cereal, and bread are also high. In fact, many breads have more salt than potato chips!

The solution is easy. Skip the snack crap and ‘convenience foods.’ It’s just as convenient to pick up the highest quality, most humane meats and fish you can afford, and choose fresh fruits and vegetables. Combine these in thrilling ways with your favourite spices and whole salt. No chef “worth her salt” will cook without it. As one of my kitchen mentors told me once, “Food without salt is like life without love.”