Interesting Facts About Water & Salt

Treating Colds With a Dose Of Salt Water

Please read this article on Salt Craziness

*How Important is Salt to You*

*Why is Salt Bad for Your Body?*

For many years you have been told to eat a low-salt diet or eliminate it entirely from your meals.

Why…because:

· Salt causes high blood pressure

· Salt causes water retention in your body

· You get way too much salt from eating processed fast foods

Well, let’s go back a few years. How about we zero in around that time, for nine months, you were floating in your mother’s belly. All warm and cozy without a care in the world. All you wanted to know was where your thumb was so you could suck on it, or maybe every once in a while give a quick stretch with your arms or legs. That warm fluid you were breathing and living in was basically /_salt water_/.

Did you also know that there is a sack of fluid surrounding your brain and spinal cord? That fluid which bathes and protects is also basically /_salt water_/.

Most people that end up in the emergency room of the local hospital usually are hooked up to an IV of saline as soon as treatment starts. If you were rushed in by an ambulance, they probably started an IV on the way to the hospital. When an emergency strikes, medical personnel know that an IV of /_salt water_/ will help save your life.

Think about it: If salt really is so bad for us why are we born in it, protected by it and saved by it in an emergency.

You cannot live without water, /_salt_/ and oxygen. Why would anybody tell you to stop using salt when you need it to live?

Salt helps to regulate the water content in your body. Without it, you will dehydrate over time showing classic symptoms like asthma, arthritis, high blood pressure, edema, allergies, etc.

Notice we used the word /_symptoms_/ and /_not diseases_/ like you are told they are. They are all symptoms of dehydration.

Take high blood pressure for example. In chronically dehydrated people that have high blood pressure what has happened is that their bodies have pulled up to 8% of the water volume out of their blood (which is normally 94% water). The blood vessels shrink down in size to compensate for this loss. Now, the heart must pump the lower volume of blood harder thru the constricted (tightened up) veins and arteries. This shows up as an increase in blood pressure. For a more detailed explanation see the chapter on High Blood Pressure.

Before going over water retention we need to give you a little lesson on what water does, at the cellular level, in your body. Stick with us; this will not be technical at all.

Every cell in your body has an “ocean of water” in it and an “ocean of water” around it. Your body keeps these two “oceans of water” in a very delicate ratio/balance. Sort of like /the scales of justice/ belonging to Lady Justice. If both sides have the same amount of “water” on each side it balances out, too much on one side or too little, will cause it to tip to one side until you equal out the water. Does that make sense?

If you were to just drink plain water and not take any salt with it, your will fill up the “ocean of water” inside your cell. Like the scales of justice we were talking about earlier, the inside cell will have to give up water to balance everything out. Because of this balancing act you actually lose water in your cells, you get dehydrated. Now, this only happens when you drink plain water and not take any salt with it.

Salt plays a very important role in this balance. It balances the “ocean of water” outside the cell. In other words, taking salt with water allows the “ocean of water” outside the cells to fill up with water.

Now you should be able to see that by taking salt every time you drink plain water, you will fill up both the inside and outside “oceans of water” in the cells.

This is how you /_re-hydrate yourself_/.

So, when you hear everybody saying that you should drink plain water to re-hydrate yourself you will now know that it will actually do the opposite and de-hydrate you. Unless you take the required amount of salt.

Now let’s look at water retention. We’re not talking about an injury or accident you may have had which is causing to swell. We are talking about the type of swelling called edema. Water retention/swelling/puffiness in both of your ankles, legs, arms, eye lids, etc. that you just can’t seem to get rid of. You try different foods, exercise more or even resort to diuretics. Sometimes these work, but most of the time they fail miserably.

Plain and simple, you’re not drinking enough water. When the “ocean of water” inside your cell does not have enough water in it, your body will try and retain salt from the food that you eat. This salt that will make the outside “ocean of water” start to hold more and more water which you will see as swelling but is really water retention.

What about… you get way too much salt in the foods you eat. You’re absolutely right if you eat the typical American diet of processed-fast-foods. Why, besides being loaded with hydrogenated oils, sugar, soy, artificial sweeteners, and a host of other chemicals you can’t even pronounce, they are loaded with salt. This salt is in there to make the food taste better and act as a preservative.

Add all this salt together with coffee, tea, soda, juices, hardly any fruits or vegetables and no plain water, what do you get…. a prescription for medical problems.

The following miracles of salt are taken directly from Dr B’s book^1 :

· Salt is a strong natural antihistamine

· Salt is vital for the kidneys to clear excess acidity and pass the acidity into the urine

· Salt is essential in the treatment of emotional and affective disorders

· Salt is most effective in stabilizing irregular heartbeats and contrary to the misconception that it causes high blood pressure, it is actually essential for the regulation of blood pressure – in conjunction with water

· A low-salt diet with high water intake will, in some people, actually cause the blood pressure to rise

· One or two glasses of water and some salt – a little of it on the tongue – will quickly and effectively quiet a racing and “thumping” heart. And in the long run, will reduce blood pressure, and cure breathlessness

· Salt is vital for sleep regulation

· Salt is a vitally needed element in the treatment of diabetics. It helps balance the sugar levels in the blood and reduces the need for insulin

· Salt is vital for the absorption of food particles through the intestinal tract

· Salt is vital for clearing the lungs of mucus plugs and sticky phlegm, particularly in asthma, emphysema and cystic fibrosis sufferers

· Salt on the tongue will stop persistent dry coughs

· Salt is essential for the prevention of muscle cramps

· Salt is vital for the prevention of gout and gouty arthritis

· Salt is vital in preventing excess saliva production to the point that it flows out of the mouth during sleep

· Osteoporosis, in a major way, is the result of salt and water shortage in the body

· Salt is absolutely vital to making the structure of bones firm

· Salt is vital for reducing a double chin

· Salt is vital for maintaining sexuality and libido · Salt taken before exercise will increase the lung’s capacity to breath, and it will also decrease excess sweating

How much salt should you take?

As a rule of thumb, you need about 11/2 grams of salt – about ¼ teaspoon – per quart of water.^3

If you are working in hot weather or exercise you need to take even more salt and water.

Warning: You must not take too much salt.

You always have to drink salt and water in the proper proportions for your body weight. If your weight suddenly goes up for no reason, you have taken too much salt. If this did happen Dr B always said “not to worry.” Just drink water only for one or two days and the extra salt you took will be washed out in your urine and your swelling will go away.

Unrefined sea salt is the best type of salt you can use. It contains about 80 trace minerals that your body uses.

Here’s something you didn’t know - the salt you buy at the grocery store came from sea salt. The manufacturers take out the 80 or so trace minerals and all that is left over is sodium chloride (salt). Some also add aluminum silicate to keep the salt from sticking together and easier to pour. Aluminum is very toxic to our nervous system. It is one of the primary causes of Alzheimer’s disease. You never see this on the label because manufacturers do not have to list certain ingredients on labels.

How can you tell the difference between table salt and sea salt? Easy, just fill two glasses with water; add ¼ tsp of table salt to one glass and ¼ tsp sea salt to the other. Do not mix it up, but just let it stand overnight. In the morning you will find the sea salt gone from the bottom of the glass but you will still see the table salt in the bottom of the other.

With this new information you have just read, the following quote should make a lot of sense……/“a salt-free or very-low-salt diet is absolutely stupid”/.^2

Well, here’s something you have never been told….according to Dr. B /“a salt-free or very-low-salt diet is absolutely stupid”/.^2

^

References:

1. ABC of Asthma, Allergies & Lupus, pages 144-149

2. ABC of Asthma, Allergies & Lupus, page 70

3. ABC of Asthma, Allergies & Lupus, page 150

Salt Facts

Our very lives depend on it, yet we call it common salt.

The human body cannot exist without salt. Salt has been worshipped; salt has been used as money. Salt was once worth its weight in gold.

If every particle of salt were taken from our bodies, we would live about 48 hours.

Tears are salty and so is blood. Salt bathes a body’s tissues. A solution of salt water substituted for blood lost will keep a human or animal alive for hours.

One of the first weapons in ancient warfare was to cut off the enemy’s salt.

In Asia minor, stone axes were found in salt quarries indicating that salt was used by those primitive people during the Neolithic Period, too.

Primitive people drank blood for the salt in it.

Tribal kings and priests of ancient Mexico, Peru, Egypt, Babylon and other civilizations seized control of salt wherever it was found. By regulating it, they held the power of life & death over their subjects. They could demand anything they desired – for a pinch of salt.

Homer, who lived about 550 B.C., called salt “divine”. Plato said salt was “dear to the Gods’.

One of the greatest military roads in history was built to bring salt from the salt works at Ostia, on the Tiber River, to Rome. This road is called Via Salaria and is still in use. Romans were paid in part with salt coins that were called solarium, from which came the English word “Salary”.

Harsh salt laws were one of the chief causes of the bloody French Revolution.

Mahatma Ghandi’s “Salt March” brought about the freedom of India from British Colonial rule and the salt tax.

When Napoleon Bonaparte was at war with Russia, thousands of his men died in the retreat from Moscow. Historians record these soldiers died from wounds that would not heal because their bodies had been deprived of salt.

It has been said that the lack of salt in the south was the greatest single factor for the Confederacy having lost the war.

Indians guarded their salt licks with their lives.

From: Miracle Salt, by Mae M. Vander Boom

IODINE – ESSENTIAL INFORMATION ON SUPPLEMENTING WHEN USING SEA SALT

Iodine is a very important element for the regulation of the fluid content of the body. Iodine is essential for the thyroid gland to manufacture thyroxin, its primary hormone.* It seems that thyroxin is the element that stimulates the cells to manufacture all the pump proteins that regulate the sodium, potassium, and other mineral balances outside and inside the cells, and that generate energy in the process. With the movement of sodium and potassium across the cell membrane, not only will water also move to balance the osmotic pressure in and out of the cell, but the other mineral-transferring pumps will take their cue and regulate the magnesium, potassium and calcium levels of the cell interior as well.

Before salt was iodized, many people suffered from iodine deficiency and lumpy thyroid gland enlargement in their necks, known as thyroid goiter. One of the major complications of iodine deficiency is the collection of hard-to-move and inelastic swelling and edema, known as myxedema. Other complications are dry skin, loss of hair and memory, tiredness, sleepiness and loss of muscle tissue. As you can see, iodine is vital for good health and good fluid balance.

*Much to my regret*, *I discovered that unrefined sea salt does not have enough iodine. *Thinking that sea salt has many important trace elements, I switched to using only sea salt and was not diligent in taking foods and multivitamins that would provide my body with the iodine it needs. My second mistake was that being so busy with sharing my medical breakthrough on water metabolism of the body with people that I was not alert to my own health problems. I developed all the early stages of iodine deficiency, but no goiter in my neck. However, I developed an uncomfortable feeling in my chest and also shortness of breath.

A high-resolution CT scan of my chest revealed a massive thyroid goiter in my chest that was pressing on my trachea, to the point of deforming it. This was three months ago. I adjusted my iodine intake in the form of dried kelp or as part of the composition of the one-a-day multivitamin that I now take religiously. As a result, my breathing problem has cleared, my edema has cleared, I am no longer lethargic, and my energy level has increased; my sleep has normalized; my blood pressure is back to the normal range. I now feel much healthier and more confident and have lost fifteen pounds of the swelling that I had amassed. All these improvements have been made possible because of the vital role of simple iodine in the physiology of the body and adjustment to my intake of vital minerals mentioned above. You see, even doctors get sick, and that is how we learn*. A word of caution: Do not overdo iodine intake. It could cause other problems.*

HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE LOWERED BY ADDING SALT AND CALCIUM

Studies have shown that high blood pressure can be prevented and lowered by consuming a diet high in calcium, and surprisingly, a diet high in salt. Using calcium is far more effective with the essential use of salt. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) of calcium is 800 mg, and by meeting the RDA along with a diet high in salt, we will not raise, but lower our blood pressure. This is responsible for some of the lowest blood pressures in our society. Studies have shown that people who use the saltshaker more frequently and consume salty snack foods tend to have lower blood pressures than those who do not use salt with such frequency. This may also come as a shock, but low salt diets are associated with increases in blood pressure, and this is consistent with data from the U.S. clinical sites participating in the INTERSALT Study. This study found that the highest blood pressures were found in those with the lowest salt excretion in their urine. If we want to lower our blood pressure and prevent high blood pressure, we must use salt as well as calcium, as higher blood pressures were noted in the small percentage of the population eating high-salt low-calcium diets (which lessened the potassium, magnesium, and phosphorous). People who consumed large amounts of salt and had high blood pressure lowered their blood pressure by using calcium. The same thing happened for those who were using a lot of calcium and had high blood pressure; their blood pressure lowered when they started using salt. All of these studies show that calcium’s effect on blood pressure is most visible in those consuming at least the RDA of salt. Therefore, it makes sense for doctors to make sure that patients who have or are at risk of high blood pressure consume enough salt and calcium daily. I hope this information will provide Americans with a more attractive and nutritional approach to lowering their blood pressure.

References:

Higher Salt Intake Tied to Longevity

Debate over the health effects of dietary salt continues, with a new study suggesting that those who eat lots of salt live longer than those who avoid it.  Researchers discovered that those 25% of study subjects consuming the lowest amounts of dietary salt actually had a higher risk of death (over 23 deaths per 1,000 person-years) over the study period compared with the 24% who consumed the highest amounts of salt (just 19 deaths per 1,000 person-years).  But the researchers stress that any connections between salt and longevity need to “be considered in the total dietary context.”  For example, they explain that high salt intake may simply be a “marker” for specific types of diets that might in a much broader sense positively influence overall longevity.

The Lancet, March 14, 1998; 351:781-785

Salt Intake is Vital

Salt is a vital substance for the survival of all living creatures, particularly humans. Water and salt regulate the water content of the body. Water itself regulates the water content of the interior of the cell by working its way into all of the cells it reaches. It has to get there to cleanse and extract the toxic wastes of cell metabolisms. Salt forces some water to stay outside the cells. It balances the amount of water that stays outside the cells. There are two oceans of water in the body; one ocean is held inside the cells of the body, and the other ocean is held outside the cells. Good health depends on a most delicate balance between the volume of these oceans, and this balance is achieved by salt - unrefined salt. See number 21 below.

When water is available to get inside the cells freely, it is filtered from the outside salty ocean and injected into the cells that are being overworked despite their water shortage. This is the reason why in severe dehydration we develop an edema and retain water. The design of our bodies is such that the extent of the ocean of water outside the cells is expanded to have the extra water available for filtration and emergency injection into vital cells. The brain commands an increase in salt and water retention by the kidneys. This is how we get an edema when we don't drink enough water.

Initially, the process of water filtration and its delivery into the cells is more efficient at night when the body is horizontal. The collected water, that mostly pools in the legs, does not have to fight the force of gravity to get onto the blood circulation. If reliance of this process of emergency hydration of some cells continues for long, the lungs begin to get waterlogged at night, and breathing becomes difficult. The person needs more pillows to sit upright to sleep. This condition is the consequence of dehydration. However, you might overload the system by drinking too much water at the beginning. Increases in water intake must be slow and spread out until urine production begins to increase at the same rate that you drink water.

When we drink enough water to pass clear urine, we also pass out a lot of the salt that was held back. This is how we can get rid of edema fluid in the body; by drinking more water. Not diuretics, but more water!! In people who have an extensive edema and show signs of their heart beginning to have irregular or very rapid beats with least effort, the increase in water intake should be gradual and spaced out, but not withheld from the body. Naturally, salt intake should be limited for two or three days because the body is still in an overdrive mode to retain it. Once the edema has cleared up, salt should not be withheld from the body.

Salt has many other functions than just regulating the water content of the body. Here are some of the more vital functions of salt in the body:

1. Salt is most effective in stabilizing irregular heartbeats and, contrary to the misconception that it causes high blood pressure, it is actually essential for the regulation of blood pressure - in conjunction with water. Naturally the proportions are critical.    

2. Salt is vital to the extraction of excess acidity from the cells in the body, particularly the brain cells.

3. Salt is vital for balancing the sugar levels in the blood; a needed element in diabetics.

4. Salt is vital for the generation of hydroelectric energy in cells in the body. It is used for local power generation at the sites of energy need by the cells.

5. Salt is vital to the nerve cells' communication and information processing all the time that the brain cells work, from the moment of conception to death.

6. Salt is vital for absorption of food particles through the intestinal tract.

7. Salt is vital for the clearance of the lungs of mucus plugs and sticky phlegm, particularly in asthma and cystic fibrosis.

8. Salt is vital for clearing up catarrh and congestion of the sinuses.

9. Salt is a strong natural antihistamine.

10. Salt is essential for the prevention of muscle cramps.

11. Salt is vital to prevent excess saliva production to the point that it flows out of the mouth during sleep. Needing to constantly mop up excess saliva indicates salt shortage.

12. Salt is absolutely vital to making the structure of bones firm. Osteoporosis, in a major way, is a result of salt and water shortage in the body.

13. Salt is vital for sleep regulation. It is a natural hypnotic. 

14. Salt is a vitally needed element in the treatment of diabetics.

15. Salt on the tongue will stop persistent dry coughs.

16. Salt is vital for the prevention of gout and gouty arthritis.

17. Salt is vital for maintaining sexuality and libido.

18. Salt is vital for preventing varicose veins and spider veins on the legs and thighs.

19. Salt is vital to the communication and information processing nerve cells the entire time that the brain cells work - from the moment of conception to death.

20. Salt is vital for reducing a double chin. When the body is short of salt, it means the body really is short of water. The salivary glands sense the salt shortage and are obliged to produce more saliva to lubricate the act of chewing and swallowing and also to supply the stomach with water that it needs for breaking down foods. Circulation to the salivary glands increases and the blood vessels become "leaky" in order to supply the glands with water to manufacture saliva. The "leakiness" spills beyond the area of the glands themselves, causing increased bulk under the skin of the chin, the cheeks and into the neck.

21. Sea salt contains about 80 mineral elements that the body needs. Some of these elements are needed in trace amounts. Unrefined sea salt is a better choice of salt than other types of salt on the market. Ordinary table salt that is bought in the super markets has been stripped of its companion elements and contains additive elements such as aluminum silicate to keep it powdery and porous. Aluminum is a very toxic element in our nervous system. It is implicated as one of the primary causes of Alzheimer's disease. Back to Salt Intake is Vital or Back to Home

22. Twenty-seven percent of the body's salt is in the bones. Osteoporosis results when the body needs more salt and takes it from the body. Bones are twenty-two percent water. Is it not obvious what happens to the bones when we're deficient in salt or water or both.

* The information on salt intake is taken from Dr. Batmanghelidj's book, "Water: Rx for a Healthier Pain-Free Life".

Unconventional Wisdom 

by Emma Ross 

The Associated Press

Low-Salt Diet a Risk?

London, March 12 - A low-salt diet may not be so healthy after all. Defying a generation of health advice, a controversial new study concludes that the less salt people eat, the higher their risk of untimely death. 

The study, led by Dr. Michael Alderman, chairman of epidemiology at Albert Einstein School; of Medicine in New York and president of the American Society of Hypertension, suggests the government should consider suspending it's recommendation that people restrict the amount of salt they eat.

"The lower the sodium, the worse off you are," Alderman said. "There's an association. Is it the cause? I don't know. Any way you slice it, that's not an argument for eating a low sodium diet. 

Below is a copy of a letter from one of our readers. His name is Edward Leonforte and we thank him.

Thank you for your great work. I have been drinking water and using salt for two decades. Following are two sources of unrefined salt, one from Utah salt mines, the other hand raked from the Brittany sea. Please post them on your site so people know how to find unrefined salt. Also you might want to tell people how to tell if salt is natural. It is simple. Natural salt is not white and it is not dry. It is a little gray with minerals and feels damp or clumps in humidity. This product is labeled Real Salt and can be found in some health food stores.

Redmond Minerals, Inc.
P.O. Box 219
Redmond, UT 84652
Phone: 435-529-7402
Toll Free: 1-800-367-7258
Fax: 435-529-7486
E-Mail:mail@redmondminerals.com
http://www.realsalt.com/

The Grain and Salt Society

4 Celtic Drive

Arden, NC 28704

info@celtic-seasalt.com

1-800-TOP-SALT (867-7258)
Fax: (828) 299-1640
topsalt@aol.com
http://www.celtic-seasalt.com/

Also search the web for "best sea salt."

Top Essentials of Life

1. Oxygen    2. Water    3. Salt    4. Potassium    5. Exercise

FACT - No one can live without these. Mainstream medicine too often ignores 2 & 3 in favor of selling drugs and procedures to treat the symptoms of dehydration.

FACT - Nothing kills life quicker than lack of water.

FACT - The people with the worst health drink the least water and use the most deadly diuretic drought causing drugs - caffeine and/or alcohol.

FACT - The salinity of the water outside the cells in our bodies is the same as the ocean.

FACT - In the middle ages people were put to a horrible death by salt deprivation.

FACT - Health care makes big bucks by selling a quart of water with salt in it (Saline 4) for up to $350.00 installed, but won't tell the patients they do indeed need more water and salt in their diets.

FACT - How can you expect drug companies to do research on the importance of water in our daily lives when they can't make money on it? Who does research to put themselves out of business?

FACT - No two substances in the Bible are mentioned more than water and salt. 

FACT - The environment of an unborn baby is water and salt.

WATER IS THE FIRST NUTRIENT THE BODY NEEDS

Here are some of the other reasons why your body needs water everyday:

In your “watercure recipe” the reader is told to “[u]se 1/4 tsp. of salt for every quart of water you drink”. As most people in the world use decimal system, we are not familiar with the word “quart” (I had to look it up in a conversion table), or even “oz”, and as the U.S. quart is considerably smaller that the Imperial quart, the results can be serious.

Furthermore, even “cups”, “teaspoons” etc. refer to different volumes in different countries. The universally used and understood measure for a teaspoon is 5 ml. Universally accepted measure for a cup is 0.25 litres; U.S. cup is slightly less.

To illustrate:

One U.S. quart of liquid = 0.95 litres or 0.83 Imperial quarts

One Imperial quart of liquid = 1.14 litres or 1.20 U.S. quarts

One German quart of liquid = 1.15 litres

One U.S. teaspoon = 0.89 decimal or 1.39 Imperial

One Imperial teaspoon = 0.71 decimal or 0.72 U.S.

Sincerely,
Eeva Sodhi

Water Is A Reflection Of Your Heart And Soul

This is a must read!

See also:    www.profoundliving.org    Iodine deficiency can cause numerous health problems.

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