Why I stopped eating white table salt
I banished white table salt. For good.
Just like refined sugar, refined salt is a result of an important industrial transformation process. It is heated at a very high temperature in order to “be purified” from “dirt”. However, the “impurities” removed in the process are in fact very high quality minerals. The result is a product deprived of all nutrients, a pure sodium chloride that saturates the flavour and stimulates appetite. Its excessive consumption (more than 4g a day) can cause various health problems like water retention, hypertension, osteoporosis and cardiovascular issues.
I replaced it with:
1. Unrefined Sea Salt*
Contrary to its processed white refined cousin, this grey slightly moist salt contains all the nutritionally important minerals like magnesium, calcium, potassium, iron and manganese. I use both coarse and fine-grained alternatives depending on the meal, the coarse one mostly for cooking.
NB: A gourmet treat is “la fleur de sel”, also unrefined and therefore rich in minerals and trace elements.
2. Himalayan Pink Salt
The purest salt on the planet, it is bursting with minerals and trace elements. It contains calcium, chlorine, fluorine, iron, potassium, sodium, brome, strontium… The only one missing is iodine, naturally occurring in its sea cousin.
The interesting thing is that deposits of this salt, millions of years old, are essentially found in the north of Pakistan deep within the Himalayan mountains. We have been mining them for over 2000 years.
Its purest form is sold in organic food stores. Supermarkets mostly sell processed versions with food additives.
3. Organic Gomasio
It is a Japanese condiment made of crushed sesame seeds (around 90%) and unrefined see salt (10%). Sesame seeds are high in vitamin E, vitamin B, saturated fatty acids, fibres, calcium, magnesium and are of delicious flavour – an added bonus! Pairing minerals with a vegetable enables a quicker salt absorption and reduces its accumulation. All my salads and raw vegetables are now seasoned with gomasio!
4. Organic Herbs & Spices
Herbs and spices truly enhance the flavour of your dishes and enable you to cut the amount of salt you eat. My absolute musts are: thyme, parsley, dill, coriander, basil, laurel, ginger, turmeric… And of course, his majesty the garlic, if we decide to use it as a spice 😉 I call it “its majesty” because garlic is a vegetable of many virtues: antiseptic, antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-cholesterol… It boosts our immune system and helps prevent certain types of cancer.
*Bonus tip: Unrefined salt can help you with a sore throat and mouth inflammation. Add a spoonful to a glass of water and gargle several times.
