Summer is a “sweet” time of year, and if you’re like me and spending as much time in the ocean as you can, it’s a “salty” time of year as well.
In honor of this sweet and salty time of year, let’s talk about salt and sugar.
I find there are misunderstandings about these two because of all the erroneous marketing and other media sources of health information. Let’s see if we can clear up some things and provide you with accurate, usable knowledge.
Salt or sodium first.
You probably know that in ancient times salt was precious and was traded as a valuable commodity. In that era it was seen as important to survival, yet today people are salt phobic.
While our lifestyles have changed from ancient times, our human biochemistry and physiology have not changed much, so the need for the most important electrolyte in our body has not changed.
There’s an expression, “Follow the money.”
As far as I can tell, the anti-sodium campaign was about selling different foods under the guise of making them healthier. Accuracy in advertising aside, what works in advertising takes precedence.
As consumers internalized this advertising campaign, they started believing that low-sodium was good and salt in general was bad. Actual scientific information was pushed aside.
In fact, sodium is needed for human health, performance and physiology.
Unless someone has a specific and serious condition which precludes them from taking in salt, salt intake does not produce negative health problems. Only 10% of hypertension cases have a known cause, and almost all of them are genetic or stress related.
If you are a high-performance athlete do not avoid sodium. You need adequate amounts daily to prevent negative metabolic consequences and to ensure maximum performance.
One of sodium’s jobs is to regulate blood volume and blood pressure.
When you exercise, the body is better served by a higher blood volume thereby ensuring better oxygen and nutrient delivery to working cells, as well as an efficient removal of toxins when you are fatigued.
Sodium is linked to potassium. Potassium depends on sodium to be effective.
Potassium’s job is primarily the regulation and control of skeletal and cardiac muscles. The vagus nerve, which controls heartbeat, is totally dependent on potassium.
In order for potassium to do its job it needs to be aided by sodium because it is sodium that delivers potassium inside the cell.
For optimum cell integrity and optimum potassium delivery there MUST be ample sodium present.
The primary avenue for the loss of sodium is through sweat glands.
If there isn’t enough sodium there won’t be enough potassium so you’ll experience muscle weakness, cramps, listlessness and lethargy. A prolonged lack of sodium intake will be problematic.
The body is a complex computer system programming itself for survival.
Because of this your body will retain sodium in order to keep the electrolyte balance it requires. Water always follows sodium so this leads to water retention.
Excess sodium will be excreted with water so it’s important to have enough sodium to function properly and let the rest be excreted.
The easiest way to ensure ample sodium intake is through salty condiments such as sea salt, ketchup, mustard, pickles. Be wary of MSG.
And remember I am talking about sodium proper, not table salt.
Sodium chloride is table salt (40% sodium and 60% chloride).
Use sea salt instead. Think REAL sodium and don’t worry about “too much” since the excess will be excreted.
Let’s look at sugar now, so stay tuned for the sweet segment!
shelli
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