Diet Completely Free Of Salt? Possible To Survive / Thrive?

[BearWithMe]

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But if you cut it down to zero added NaCl, this might be one to keep an occasional eye on if you ever get tests, or get related symptoms.

That's what I was thinking. I will definitely check my blood sodium levels more often as I lower my salt intake, so I can increase my intake as soon as possible if something goes wrong.

It would probably depend on how good your thyroid/glucose oxidation is. If you are producing ample CO2, your body can easily retain enough sodium from the foods you eat that naturally contain it so that you don't need any extra sodium chloride, but if you have high estrogen, you'll dump salt and might experience several health troubles related to sodium deficiency like insomnia, excess serotonin secretion, seizures, etc if you don't have additional table/sea salt in your diet.

Never knew that sodium retention is related to thyroid. My T3, T4 and TSH blood lecels were always perfectly in the middle of the reference range, but I have always felt I have typical hypothyroid symptoms for some reason.

I notice that caffeine( but not coffee) is beneficial for gut inflammations.

Caffeine is one of the few supplements that actually makes me feel better. I love this substance!

What would protect gut mucosa?

I just have started using glycine for this purpose

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If you have hypothyroidism and aldosterone issues supplementing pregnenolone, progesterone, or thyroid can increase your sodium retention. As a holdover, you can just increase your salt intake if you don't have pregnenolone, progesterone, or thyroid. But correcting thyroid is the best plan for long term success.

Great tips, thank you! Much appreciated! I'm using pregneolone regularly, but progesterone and thyroid is very hard to obtain in my country.

Not being able to tolerate salt could be a sign of gut dysbiosis. Salt slightly wears at the gut mucosa and can cause bacteria to translocate if the gut health is poor.

This is very possible, I always had very bad reactions to the probiotic supplements (before giving up on them). Actually my reaction to probiotics is a bit similar to my reaction to salt. Have to look into this issue.

 

[artist]

This is fascinating to me as someone on the other side of the spectrum. I love salt and actually find that I have to go above even craving for salt to get as much as I need to feel good, and the less I eat the worse my digestion gets. I do think this is something that varies a lot between people, possibly hinging on health status but maybe other factors as well. I suspect I have an unusually high baseline level of norepinephrine (like everyone in my family I'm "intense", talk fast, think fast) which burns through minerals very fast, but that's just my rough theory. I'm also a bit hypothyroid so that definitely plays a role. If salt makes you feel bad and you have no real desire for it then perhaps you truly just don't need it. I've known people who don't like salty foods and I always figured it's because for whatever reason their body doesn't need it. Salt is one of those tastes that gets better and better the more desperately you need it.

 

[Fractality]

Notwithstanding this surgeon opinion about cholesterol and heart disease, he did adopt a salt free diet and died just 3 months ago at 104.

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I wonder what caused his death? He was at home with his family so it must have been anticipated. I've always wondered what the cause of death is in these circumstances. I know it is sometimes euthanasia; but he was in such great health I don't believe that was a consideration.

 

[Whataboutbob]

https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/abcs-of-nutrition/the-salt-of-the-earth/. And David McCarron has a great video here is the slide presentation. http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/~/media/Files/Activity Files/Nutrition/ReviewDRIforSodiumandPotassium/March Public Workshop/Powerpoints/42 David McCarron.pdf And Salt Might Be 'Nature's Antidepressant' and
Hypothyroidism and High Blood Pressure: 5 Safe Ways to Lower It one more
https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/abcs-of-nutrition/salt-and-our-health/

 

[RealNeat]

It would probably depend on how good your thyroid/glucose oxidation is. If you are producing ample CO2, your body can easily retain enough sodium from the foods you eat that naturally contain it so that you don't need any extra sodium chloride, but if you have high estrogen, you'll dump salt and might experience several health troubles related to sodium deficiency like insomnia, excess serotonin secretion, seizures, etc if you don't have additional table/sea salt in your diet.

I think there are good points in this particular message.

The restriction of minerals seems to be the bandaid over the real real cause, which is destructive for obvious reasons. EMF, stress, excitatory toxins all flood the cell with calcium, this makes calcium "channel" blockers beneficial, like magnesium, but doesn't mean that calcium is bad. In actuality MORE calcium would like resolve a lot of the issues, even if the environment/ diet isn't fixed by stabilizing PTH. Ideal to fix the cause obviously.

This line of thinking can also be carried over to Gerson. I think without external stressors acting on the cell and a lack of proper metabolism (producing inadequate Co2 or too much lactate) salt restriction and potassium flooding wouldn't have such potent healing effects (if that's truly the healing aspect of Gerson therapy). I would also guess that the thyroid very often used in Gerson therapy is a critical part of preventing adverse events from salt restriction.

 

[Peatress]

@BearWithMe do you still avoid salt? If so did is resolve your symptoms?

 

[BearWithMe]

@BearWithMe do you still avoid salt? If so did is resolve your symptoms?

I was using salt on and off, and I always felt better without salt. So do some of my family members from mother's side.

It seems like salt intake triggers electrolyte wasting and subsequent electrolyte imbalance. Probably some genetic / hereditary issue

 

[Blossom]

I was using salt on and off, and I always felt better without salt. So do some of my family members from mother's side.

It seems like salt intake triggers electrolyte wasting and subsequent electrolyte imbalance. Probably some genetic / hereditary issue

Seems the same for me actually. I haven’t been adding any salt to my food for 9 months now and my electrolyte balance is much improved.

 

[Peatress]

I was using salt on and off, and I always felt better without salt. So do some of my family members from mother's side.

It seems like salt intake triggers electrolyte wasting and subsequent electrolyte imbalance. Probably some genetic / hereditary issue

Thank you.

 

[Peatress]

Seems the same for me actually. I haven’t been adding any salt to my food for 9 months now and my electrolyte balance is much improved.

This is good to know too. I'm not doing well increasing my salt intake beyond half a teaspoon a day.

 

[Limon9]

Just saw this thread after finishing a 4-week low salt experiment (1 gram per day), which I deem a failure. The main things were mania and band headaches.