What's the deal with salt?

Within the health and fitness community there is a lot of jibber jabber about salt. There's so many different kinds that it definatly makes it difficult to make an informed decision of what kind to choose! SEEDS has taken the guess work out of this for you so here's a few little tidbits that you should know:

The main types of salt that you will see on the market are table salt, kosher salt, sea salt, and himilayan pink salt. So what's the difference? To be honest, not a whole lot. Salt, or sodium, in general is not the best thing for your health. Although it is important to have some sodium in your diet it is easy to get too much. Canadians consume roughly 3400 miligrams of sodium a day which is double the amount that a person needs! What salt does is bind water in your blood stream which can cause a rise in blood pressure and can increase your risk of strokes and heart attacks. It can also increase your risk of osteoperosis, kidney disease, stomach cancer, and severity in asthma. All bad stuff right? So what do we do about it?

Know your salts. You want to search for a salt that has the least amount of processing done to it. This usually means that the salt is darker in color and potentially stronger in flavour. The most processed type of salt is table salt. It comes from rocks and it is chemically treated to remove impurities . It also has added anti-clumping agents. You want to avoid those chemicals! Sea salt is taken from - you guessed it - saltwater. Very little processing is done to it and there are different minerals such as zinc and iron that you can obtain from this type of salt. This is good! Next we have himilayan pink salt. This is taken from salt mines and contains such minerals as magnesium, iron, calcium and potassium. The sodium (the stuff that raises your blood pressure) is in lower quantities than other salts. Double yay! Kosher salt, generally speaking, has larger flakes than the other salts but the sodium levels are about the same.

All in all it seems that the best way to go would be either himilayan pink salt or sea salt. These two types have the least amount of processing and additives as well as more minerals in them. Keep in mind that if you do decide to take table salt out of your diet you need to consume other foods that contain iodine such as fish, eggs, and seaweed. The best thing you can do to keep your sodium levels down is cut out those processed foods. The are pumped full of salt to keep their shelf life!

Hope this helps debunk the world of sodium! Any questions just ask :)

https://authoritynutrition.com/different-types-of-salt/

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/nutrition/sodium/index-eng.php