I am sure all of us at one time or another have been told to watch our salt
consumption whether it was from your doctor or from a concerned family member
across the dinner table but the truth is most of us are not getting enough of
this essential nutrient and the case for low salt diet is actually extremely weak
so how did we all come to believe that salt was the driver of high blood
pressure and disease and what are some signs that you aren't getting enough
salt in your diet keep watching to find it hey guys welcome back to my channel
if you're new here my name is Kait I'm a health coach and I post videos on a high
fat nutrient-dense way of eating if you like this video please give it a thumbs
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is the first video in a series I am starting called
nutrients we aren't getting enough of basically these videos are going to be a
deep dive into several nutrients we should be prioritizing and what better
place to start than with salt before I begin I just want to say that a lot of
what we're going to talk about today I learned from the book the salt fix by
dr. James D Nichol Antonia so if you want to learn even more about salt after
watching this video I will link that book in the description box down below
and actually one more thing before we start I just want to note that there at
this video I used the word salt and sodium pretty interchangeably salt is
made up of sodium and chloride and it is thought to be the sodium in salt that
causes a lot of our health problems but yeah I just wanted to say I sometimes
use these words interchangeably why the salt blood-pressure hypothesis
is wrong we will get to why salt is good for us and why low salt diets are
dangerous in a bit but first off I just want to start by going on how salt in
the diet causes high blood pressure came to be the first recommendation to limit
our salt consumption came in 1977 from the dietary guidelines and wasn't really
based on anything except for opinion now the salt blood pressure hypothesis has
actually been around since the early 1900's it was developed from a study
done on six patients and the hypothesis is as follows eating salt drives the
body to crave and drink more water the water is retained by the body to dilute
the excess sodium this retained water increases blood volume and therefore
increases blood pressure leading to hypertension and eventually premature
death here is the first reason why this hypothesis can't be true our kidneys
processed about 1400 to 1600 grams of salt per day yes that is 1 and a half
kilos of sodium processed by the kidney every single day the average American
consumes 8 grams of salt per day which is only a drop in the bucket compared to
the 1500 grams our kidneys process every day it is recommended that we keep our
salt consumption under 4 grams per day so is this extra 4 grams that we're
consuming really gonna make a difference it's not likely when we do consume less
salt our kidneys simply reabsorb more of what we already have the second fact
that totally debunked this hypothesis is that clinical studies have shown 80% of
people with normal blood pressure do not see any increase to their blood pressure
when they consume more salt none at all and 75% of those with pre hypertension
and 55% of those with hypertension are also not affected for those who are salt
sensitive meaning that their blood pressure does
Crees when they consume more salt when they decreased their sugar consumption
they are no longer affected this seems to indicate that our salt consumption is
not actually driving high blood pressure the importance of salt salt is important
for so much within the body salt helps keep the correct balance of water in and
around ourselves and tissues the salt blood pressure hypothesis states that
water attention from salt is a bad thing when in fact it's a life-saving
mechanism that helps us survive dehydration as I said at the start of
this video sodium is an essential nutrient it is an electrolyte and it
always find it so interesting how on one hand we demonize it whereas on the other
hand we praise it as being necessary for athletic performance now don't even get
me started on Gatorade there is a measly 270 milligrams of sodium and 75
milligrams of potassium in a bottle of Gatorade while also having 34 grams of
sugar Gatorade is not even a good source of electrolytes even though that's how
it's marketed the presence of sodium is essential for the contraction of muscles
including the largest and most important muscle in the body the heart if you're
someone who experiences heart palpitations upping your salt content
might be the key to preventing this other electrolytes so potassium
magnesium calcium as well as sodium play a role in regulating the body's
metabolism sodium is also fundamental to the operation of signals to and from the
brain dangers of not getting enough salt when you are not consuming the amount of
salt that your body needs the body activates salt retaining hormones these
hormones save your life in the short-term but damage your body in the
long term they harm vital organs including stiffening of the heart and
blood vessels low salt diet have been shown to have numerous negative health
outcomes including accelerated hardening of the arteries compromised kidney
function increased insulin resistance increased sugar cravings increased
appetite accumulation of visceral fat increased
fasting insulin and that's just to name a few
our biological system drives us to actually be in a sodium surplus because
this prevents dehydration infection and blood loss don't worry about consuming
too much salt because our bodies have several mechanisms in place to deal with
this like I said we are meant to be in a surplus what really causes hypertension
in his book dr. D Nichol Antonio makes a strong case that's high sugar diets lead
to weight gain obesity and type 2 diabetes which in turn caused
hypertension several studies have found that when patients lose weight their
hypertension disappears even when their salt consumption remains the same so
limited sugar consumption is the key factor here how much salt should be
consumed three to six grams of salt per day which is equal to about one teaspoon
to three teaspoons is the optimal range for most however if you are on any
version of a low-carb diet you will need to consume more other factors that might
mean you need to consume more salt or if you consume a lot of caffeine during
heavy exercise if you have kidney problems if you have IBS or are taking
any diuretics when you are working out dosing before exercise includes benefits
such as less thirst greater exercise capacity improved performance improved
muscle gains reduced risk of iodine deficiency and improved kidney function
take half a teaspoon before you exercise and half a teaspoon for every hour going
forward as you exercise salt is critical for our health and our guidelines have
everything backwards we shouldn't be limiting our salt
consumption we should be listening to our bodies because they are really
really good at regulating it and craving it only when necessary thank you guys
for watching let me know in the comments down below do you prioritize salt in
your diet have you eaten a low salt diet in the
and what was your experience let me know down below give this video a thumbs up
feel free to share and I will see you next time