Salt, it’s been here with us since creation. It was, at a time, thought so valuable to be given as a form of payment for wages, ever heard the term “worth his salt”?. This practice continued over many centuries.  

Salt, it’s a preserver, a flavour enhancer, and hard to find a culture where salt isn’t used in traditional cooking. So when did it become so bad for us?

The short answer is because salt is no longer salt. Meaning the salt used on mass today is not the salt that was used in the past. Table salt, you know the one used in restaurants, cafes, homes, in all our takeaways and most packaged foods? Isn’t whole, natural salt. That salt has been so refined that only two minerals remain in it, but we need all of them. 

There’s a Bible verse in the book of Matthew 5:13 where Jesus says “ye are the salt of the earth, if the salt hath lost its savour wherewith shall it be salted? It’s henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden underfoot by men”. Just think of that when you look at using table salt next time. 

Contrary to current opinions whole Salt, the one God made for us, is not bad for us, our bodies need salt to function properly. The focus should be on which type of salt, this is the important difference. Table salt is the one which has given all salt a harmful reputation. If you can be mindful about which salt you’re consuming, your body will thank you for it.  

Take for example Celtic Salt, it is one of the best salts you can have. Followed by Himylayan salt, but this article will focus specifically on Celtic Salt. 

Let’s begin with proper introductions. Celtic Salt is harvested by hand off the Brittany Coast of France, as it has been for centuries. It is known as a wet or damp salt, this is because it is left to naturally dry out while still retaining a high moisture content referred to as the salt brine. Thanks to the location and traditional harvest practices it remains packed full of minerals. 82 of them to be exact, this includes 3 magnesium, which are Magnesium Sulphate, Magnesium Bromide and Magnesium Chloride. All very necessary in the body as you’ll see.   

Our bodies are so mineral deficient today due to mass farming which leaves our soils nutrient deficient, which makes the plants nutrient deficient which then makes us nutrient deficient. It’s a pretty crappy cycle we’ve gotten ourselves into in the pursuit of high production and profits (a whole topic in itself). 

I want to talk specifically about your pancreatic cells now. Because the pancreas cannot make the hormones needed to balance the blood sugar levels unless it has adequate minerals, and the best place, the cheapest place, the most effective place to get them are found in salt (again it’s the good quality salts, not table salt). We need minerals to be found in a way that the body can use them, and because minerals in salt are present in the same way that they are found in the body, when you do take into your body it liquifies and gets through the membrane of the cells, bringing with it that water into the cells. I realise this goes against common thought today that salt dehydrates you. When in reality, the quickest way to hydrate a body is to take in the water with quality salt. To counter this, take a crystal of celtic salt on your tongue before you drink a glass of water whenever you can and you will begin to replace the minerals you lost the day before. This is especially important in hot weather or after exercising when we are sweating a lot more. Mineral rich Salt, like Celtic and Himalayan, contain the mechanisms that allow water to be taken inside your bodys’ cells. 

If you were taught that salt is bad and you’re mostly eliminating it from your diet then my suggestion is to reintroduce it slowly. Have a tiny bit here and there until you gradually increase to being with every to most cups of water. This is because if your body has had no salt, it has adapted and adjusted to that and it would be too great of a shock to slam it with too much too quickly. Thankfully though it is an incredibly made body and will readapt, it will just take a little bit of time getting the body to adapt and adjust to having proper salt. 

Generally speaking we need to be having at least 8 glasses of water a day. This can sound overwhelming for some people. I know a few friends of mine who struggle with drinking “plain boring water”. Thankfully for those lucky people, they have a friend like me who constantly rides them to make sure they drink plenty of water when we hang out. In summertime it’s obviously a lot easier for people to drink enough water. But when it gets to the colder winter months, it starts to become more of a struggle, I must admit even for me, a water lover, winter can make it a struggle to drink enough! 

I have always loved water, even as a kid. I was brought up on it and only rarely did me and my siblings get to drink other things like cordial, juice, and flavoured milk. Such ‘treats’ only really happened when we would visit friends’ houses or parties. Though I remember loving the rare occasion when mum would buy a big tin of pineapple juice for us, we would devour it within seconds of opening. I’m glad my siblings and I weren’t brought up having soft drinks and flavoured drinks as being normal. I see now how prolific these drinks are in peoples’ everyday consumption, without a second thought! Having been raised on water it taught me an appreciation for it, even though I must admit to having soft drinks and other things from time to time, I still know they are useless drinks, no good for hydration and actually harmful for the body. Even in the process of writing this article I’m re-realising how harmful these occasional drinks are for my health and am intentionally avoiding them when they’re offered. 

One of the best ways to drink enough water is to take it in little by little. I heard a woman liken it to watering a plant when it becomes too dry. If you pour a whole jug on it’ll drain out straight away. However, if you pour the water on little by little, giving the soil time to soak it in, then there won’t be any overflow. For us it means if you guzzle a whole lot at once then you’ll be taking multiple trips to the toilet, but if you keep it slow and steady you give your body time to do its work and process it properly through the body. I keep a water bottle by my bed so I can have a few sips before sleeping and also when I wake up in the morning. I also keep a ceramic water cistern in the kitchen so whenever I pass by it, throughout the day, I can easily fill up my glass. This is also where the salt comes in. I keep a small container of the Celtic Salt next to the water pot (there is a very helpful technique of making good habits easy and accessible, you can read more about it in the Atomic Habits Review)

By sipping water throughout the day you’re halfway to getting the water into your cells. The other half is taking in the good salt first. The CBD (Central Business District) for the body is the cell and is where we need that water to be. To get the water into the cell we need (good quality) salt. I like to use Celtic Salt specifically because it has 82 minerals and 3 magnesium which quite literally pull the water inside our cells.

So how should we consume the salt? 

I take it by putting a small grain of the celtic salt on my tongue and letting it dissolve before drinking a glass of water. I try to do this for every glass, obviously that’s not always going to happen but every time I can is still better than none at all. 

Have it before water

Have it on food

Have good quality salt! 

Can you cook with it?

Yes, Celtic Salt is great to cook with and I use it in soups, on roast veggies, put it with whatever you want!

Another very important factor to remember is the quality of the water you consume. Water Quality is another topic I’ll be writing about. Because poor quality water, and I don’t mean dirty stagnant water you’ll find outside, I assume most of us know not to drink that kind of water. I’m talking about the water people are drinking today without a second thought as to its mineral and health qualities and that’s bottled water and tap water in a lot of cities and towns. Water by nature is a mineral grabbing and holding element. So if you’re having water with little to no mineral content, then as it goes through your body it pulls the minerals you do have and takes them as it leaves. Leaving you depleted of the already hard to come by minerals that the body needs. 

Look out for the Water Quality article where I’ll go deeper into this topic!