Salt Alternatives

Question:  I have enjoyed reading your books Never Be Sick Again and Never Be Fat Again, and wanted to let you know I have been feeling much better and have lost 6 pounds since I began implementing your suggestions earlier this year. I have eliminated almost all processed foods, eat mostly organic and raw, especially salads and green smoothies, and have become a more conscious consumer of bodycare and household products. One thing I have not yet done, however, is to reduce my intake of salt. I do purchase your unrefined Celtic salt, but I seem to just love the taste of salt and find it hard to stay within the ½ teaspoon a day that you recommend. What is your opinion of salt substitutes like Morton Salt Substitute, No-Salt or Nu-Salt? Are they a healthy alternative to regular salt? S. R. – Internet Answer: You’ve probably already reduced your salt intake more than you think. Most salt in the American diet, 80-90%, comes from processed and restaurant foods, so if you’ve eliminated most processed foods, you’ve already made a significant reduction in your salt intake. Also you probably don’t use much salt if any on your raw foods; people usually want salt on cooked foods. Eating more fruits and vegetables, generally potassium-rich, has also likely altered your sodium:potassium ratio towards the ideal of 1:4 (the Standard American Diet ratio being more like 4:1). There’s nothing wrong with salt substitutes that are straight potassium-chloride with nothing else added for most people in moderation. People with chronic kidney disease or those taking certain hypertension medications, including ACE inhibitors and potassium-sparing diuretics should not use them. I don’t use salt substitutes myself. At one point I went cold turkey and just completely eliminated salt from my diet. Although it was hard at first, after I got used to it I lost my taste for salt. This, I found, was not unusual; in fact it’s what others have usually experienced also. Eating salt seems to beget a desire for salt, but once you get it out of your system you can take it or leave it. I now use the Celtic sea salt on occasion, especially if I have guests and am making a recipe that calls for salt, but I certainly don’t use it every day or crave it. One benefit I got from eating far less salt was more energy! Fatigue is one of the negative consequences of a diet heavy on salt and low on potassium.