Are you thirsty despite drinking plenty of water throughout the day? Do you find yourself avoiding water to prevent bathroom trips every 2 minutes? Drinking water does not necessarily mean you’re absorbing it. Please watch my video below for an easy tip on staying hydrated:
Do you crave salty food and/or salt your food before even tasting it?
These are classic signs of salt deficiency and a possible need for other electrolytes.
When you drop the intake of refined foods and start eating more whole foods, many feel better when they add salt back in.
Why? Because when you start eating a lower amount of refined carbohydrates this increases your need for salt due to lower insulin levels and greater salt loss in urine. This is why many people on low-carb diets crave more salt!
Other factors that increase salt needs:
👉🏻 exercise, coffee/caffeine, heat, and sauna, all of which can lead to greater salt cravings
Stress also causes more sodium to be released, hence the salt cravings, but it may also cause salt retention in those who struggle with insulin resistance or with low nitric oxide.
Salt is also important for immunity. Our body uses salt to fight infections and salt gargles have been shown to help with sore throats.
Salt even has a direct antibacterial/antiviral effect, especially at higher salt concentrations (3% vs. 0.9%).
“Sole” water (pronounced solay) is a great way to hydrate in the morning and the salinity of it can be increased when being used for salt gargles by adding more sole into the water that you gargle.
Sole is basically a saturated salt water solution made by diluting Himalayan or Celtic sea salt in a glass jar with filtered water for 24 hours. (I add approximately 2-3 Tbsp salt for my 150ml jar. There should be leftover salt the next day.)
Salt has been demonized for far too long. Supporting references and myth-busting facts about the benefits of salt can be found in @drjamesdinic books The Salt Fix and The Immunity Fix.
If you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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