Salt - the building block of your body!!!

I heard a disturbing report yesterday morning as I was on my way home from the yoga studio about a 'study' that has shown salt causes an increase in appetite!!!! What a load of BS.

I'm sorry, but nothing annoys me more than incorrect information based on some biased 'study' being advertised to the already confused public.

Salt is a major building block of your blood, your bones and your immune system. The quality of your hair, your teeth and even the wrinkles on your face are all IMPROVED by good quality sea salt AND IT CERTAINLY DOES NOT increase your appetite - sugar does that!!!

Please don't be gullible because something is in a 'study'. What were the other factors within this 'study' and what was the outcome in the minds of the people who conducted this study??? Do you know it has been proven time and again by quantum physics that the projected outcome in the mind of people doing a study can influence the outcome?

I have held too many yoga retreats to count by now and as these retreats are macrobiotic we use salt and zero sugar or simple carbs. I have seen in EVERY retreat people become less hungry with even less food being served because we have taken the sugar out of the diet, made them chew their food properly and served amazing organic whole foods that fill the person up. We had one time when we had a group of people on one of our retreats who were complaining about hunger and everyone else was confused by this. After they left the retreat, we found packets of sugary 'health snacks' in their room and this was WHY they were hungry - because sugar stimulates the appetite - NOT salt.

If you have too much salt, I completely agree it will cause sugar cravings, because they kind of balance each other out. Alternatively, if you have too much sugar, you will crave salt because it brings you a little more into balance from the damage that sugar does. We strive to encourage people to give up simple and refined sugars and part of our advice is not to overdo it on the salt but make sure you make salt a part of your diet as it is an essential dietary requirement.

Lots of people are so confused about salt, so let's clear up some facts. Good quality sea salt that is from a climate similar to the climate you live in is great for you.

Any commercially produced salt, even those that say 'iodised salt' should be thrown out or used in your washing to make your clothes brighter, but NEVER in your body.

The commercial salt - bad quality salt will CAUSE water retention, kidney and heart problems, good quality sea salt will FIX these issues. You can also get good quality sea salt in miso soup (good quality miso made from paste - not powder), seaweeds, tamari and shoyu. You should also use good sea salt IN your cooking rather that on top, so your body can absorb and use it more easily.

People often use the 'iodised' salt because they think they need the iodine. Please know that the only reason that this iodine is added (and its synthetic) is because they have stripped every mineral out of the salt in the processing of it that they had to add some nutritional value!!! The body though, doesn't really know what to do with foods that are manufactured like this, so it holds onto the salt and waits until it gets the rest of the trace minerals that make it a recognisable whole food (that were supposed to be in the salt) before it metabolises it - so you end up with water retention or exhausted kidneys or pressure around the heart. Good quality sea salt has the exact right amount of iodine in it already WITH all the other minerals and elements it is supposed to have so your body can use it and knows how to without needing to hold onto it.

Also people often use too much salt so when something says a pinch of salt, really only use a pinch - not as much as you can fit between your fingers!!! xx

One more little fact while I'm here... While a double chin and loss of jaw line is very much from your organs dropping (and Zen Ki Yoga® has all the moves to lift and tone those organs so this doesn't happen!!!), you can get a double chin from getting rid of salt from your diet!!! The reasoning is because when your body has no salt, it will be short of water. The salivary glands produce more saliva to assist chewing because of the shortage, which increases the circulation to the salivary glands and the blood vessels then leak beyond the glands and increase the bulk under the skin in your chin, cheeks and neck!!!

Salt is a necessary part of our diet, just make sure you don't over do it and you use good quality sea salt and what your health change!!!!