Let's Talk Salt...!

Salt has always been at the center of many discussions about health.

One group says salt should be used very sparingly, while the other side argues that salt is actually good for you and it's use only promotes good health! Regardless which way you think, this article from Listverse points out some very interesting facts.

Salt Kills

Fallacy: Salt kills

Salt is a naturally occurring substance that, when added to low-salt food, enhances and deepens flavor. The human body has around 1% salt in it and this is constantly removed through urination, sweating, etc. The salt is essential to our health so we need to replace it through our diet. Excess salt does not cause a high salt percentage – our bodies are smart enough to handle it. If you eat too much salt you just pee it out. There may be some negative impacts on the body through extremely high consumption of salt in those with blood or heart disorders, but the average healthy human can quite happily over-consume the substance without ill-effect. To kill yourself with salt, you need to consume about 1 gram per kilo of body weight. In other words, if you weigh 130 pounds you need to eat around 5 tablespoons of salt – an immense amount of salt and you would probably vomit before you could finish it (because salt is an emetic).

Did you know: Before Biblical Judaism ceased to exist, salt was mixed with animal sacrifices. This originated from Moses in Leviticus 2:13 which states: “Whatsoever sacrifice thou offerest, thou shalt season it with salt, neither shalt thou take away the salt of the covenant of thy God from thy sacrifice. In all thy oblations thou shalt offer salt.” The salt was a symbol of wisdom and discretion. [Stolen with impunity from one of my previous lists.]

Personally, I like salt and I use it on nearly everything I cook or eat. So far it hasn't hurt me, as far as I can tell!

Let's go to the patio for coffee this morning. I have some fresh pumpkin pie to share!