Today’s post is not about bath salts. Definitely do not eat those!!
“Tastegasm.” I have used that word twice today. And yes I want to smack the Jersey Shore right out of me too. So what could beguile me enough to use a word that if I read it in a SAT essay I would throw my imaginary red pen at my computer screen? (My other part time job is grading the literary stylings of high schoolers attempting to convince someone they should be let into college. It is the most. boring. job. ever. And I do not use extraneous punctuation lightly. I dare you to trump me.)
Well the first food totally has no place on any kind of a health blog – it’s the worst of the worst processed foods – and yet zohmygoodness it is amazeballs!!1! (Do you see what this has done to me? I’m practically illiterate now. I’ll have to sit outside Fitbloggin’ with my empty Oreo box and beg for Larabars to feed my children. Which actually sounds like kind of a riot. ANYHOW.) Behold the Golden Fudge Creme Birthday Cake Oreo:
Curse those food scientists and their amazing ball of preservatives dunked in fudge and imbued with the heady aroma of Funfetti. Don’t buy these. Seriously, just don’t.
So let’s talk instead about the second food I’ve been making my tastegasm face over! In my effort to buy, as Abby says (go read this post now! It made me cry!), ALL the things at Target, I found some fancy pants salt on clearance. I’ve heard so many amazing things about “real” salt lately that I threw all three packages in my cart. Nothing says “healthy” like a triple-decker clearance sticker, right?
When I got home from doing Turbo Jennie’s birthday turbokick workout tonight, the first thing I did was head straight for the salt. (Lie. First thing I really did was head straight for my camera on auto-timer so I could take a headless picture of myself wearing my latest acquisition: my very own jangly hip scarf thingy!! It was Jennie’s birthday but somehow I got a present too – thank you Megan P! But seriously, how cool is this thing?
I will be wearing it for every occasion here on out. PTA meeting? I got the “enrichment” activity. Grocery store? I’ll bring the muzak. Cub scouts? I’ll bring another box of Birthday Cake Oreos.) But AFTER that, I went straight for the salt. It was a super sweaty workout and my body wanted electrolyte equilibrium, stat.
So I sliced open an avocado and did what every (uncultured) red-blooded American does: sprinkled salt on it. (And yes I do it to tomatoes and cucumbers too.) This time, however, instead of using my girl-with-umbrella-mindlessly-pouring-salt-into-the-rain brand of salt I used “alderwood smoked black sea salt.” My first thought: “This looks like caviar! But should salt be black and pearlescent?” There wasn’t time for a second thought because for the love of little green apples everywhere that was the yummiest salt I’ve ever had. I ate the entire avocado (mmmm… it’s so liberating not to be afraid of fat anymore!) but all I could focus on was getting that perfect amount of crumbly black salt on each bite. And then I licked the stuff that spilled on the table.
Verdict: fancy pants salt definitely tastes better than plain table salt!
But does it mean that this salt is healthier than plain salt? Or that salt is even a health food at all?
First, don’t be afraid of salt. It’s gotten a bad rap when it comes to heart disease. While no one is telling you to go nuts and salt every food within an inch of its life, a little salt used judiciously is actually better for you than trying to avoid salt altogether. (It’s a nuanced debate. Read Mark Sisson’s excellent discourse on the subject.)
Reports Scientific American :
“A meta-analysis of seven studies involving a total of 6,250 subjects in theAmerican Journal of Hypertension found no strong evidence that cutting salt intake reduces the risk for heart attacks, strokes or death in people with normal or high blood pressure. In May European researchers publishing in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that the less sodium that study subjects excreted in their urine—an excellent measure of prior consumption—the greater their risk was of dying from heart disease.”
I know, it’s scary. I too used to avoid all salt because I thought it was a healthy choice. But then I supressed my own thyroid by overexercising and one of the things my doctor advised me to do was… eat more salt. (Of course, she had me using the iodized variety as it is the iodine that helped boost my thryoid.)
Second, there are many scientifically supported benefits of eating sea salt:
1. It helps maintain your electrolyte balance which is critical for brain function.
2. Sea salt, depending on where it is from and how it is processed, has micronutrients and minerals that have been shown to have antibiotic, immune-boosting, and anti-inflammatory properties.
3. Sea salt contains potassium as well as sodium, which is important because scientists think that many of the purported health issues from salt are not actually from OD’ing on the stuff but from a deficiency of potassium. The two work together in our cells. Table salt is just sodium and chloride.
4. According to some sources, sea salt works as a digestive aid similar to a prebiotic.
Now the other side.
1. The Mayo Clinic says “Sea salt and table salt have the same basic nutritional value, despite the fact that sea salt is often marketed as a more natural and healthy alternative. ”
2. Sea salt does not contain added iodine like table salt and table salt is one of the main ways people get their needed iodine. (Although it can be found naturally in food, most notably in seafood and seaweed.)
3. Sea salt is a lot (a lot alot) more expensive than regular salt.
To eat or not to eat? I think it’s safe to say that you don’t need sea salt but that it’s one of those things that’s nice to have sometimes. Generally I’m a pretty practical person (unless we’re talking shoes and vintage dresses) so the price wouldn’t be worth it for me to use fancy salt in all of my cooking. But I will say that it tastes amazing and who knew salt could taste anything but, well, salty?? So I’ll likely keep some on hand for future post-workout recovery avocados!
What’s your take on salt? Do you avoid it or embrace it? Have you tried any types of sea salt? (PS. I also got pink Himalayan and “pure ocean” salt.) Do you eat salt on any weird foods? (My husband loves to salt and pepper his cantaloupe…)
Well I don’t know about the great salt debate. I do avoid buying overly salted products, but I allow myself a little in my own cooking. I eat fresh, wholesome foods, but found that a lot of non-salty (grains, veggies) actually taste too sweet to me without a little salt. Weird, I know.
There are not words for how much I love that geeky humour and I shall print and display it proudly at work. (They already know I’m a weird one.)
Um… Avocado cut open with fancy salt sprinkled on… YEP! I’m making that immediately for my lunch. Although I’m embarrassed that for the last 5 years I’ve been splurging for sea salt only to find there is no additional benefit. And I’m even more embarrassed that I think I will keep buying it 😉
Salted avocado…yes, that’s a goodie! Especially with a bit of hot sauce added 🙂
I salt most of my meals, but considering I don’t eat much processed food, and how much I sweat and am left with a crusty film of salt, I just figure I need it. My blood pressure is fine, so I don’t worry. I’ve always understood that salt overload is more likely to come from the hidden sources – canned things, packaged things.
I have the cheap store-version of sea salt in a grinder and I like that, but I’ve had some other kinds before and would like some variety, i just haven’t found it/gone looking.
I live near a Savory Spice Shop AND a Penzey’s Spices, so I’ve tried many, many varieties of salt; the smoked is one of my favorites. The only one I haven’t tried is the Black Truffle Oil salt, which I believe is something like $30 for a small jar; no thanks.
I neither avoid nor go out of my way to add salt; I use it when I want. Since I avoid processed foods, I figure I can add the good stuff whenever I want it.
We don’t even keep cheap table salt in our house. My husband does the cooking and uses kosher salt, and I keep fleur de sel in the house for my baking, and then we have a few other fancy salts for random stuff (pink Himalayan, truffle salt, etc). Seriously, I sprinkle fleur de sel on pieces of dark chocolate and on caramel ice cream cones, on top of salads, in my oatmeal, sometimes even on chocolate lollipops. I used to fear the salt because I thought it would make me bloat, retain water, and/or gain weight (thanks, ED!) but once I embraced it and realized that none of those things are true (and I have maintained my low blood pressure as well) I started sprinkling it on lots of stuff.
First of all, a few times a week I have a whole avocado smashed up on toasted Ezekiel bread sprinkled with nutritional yeast, so long live the avocado love. Now salt…I have no opinion, which will make this comment quite lame. To be honest, I’ve never been a very salty person (no pun intended.) I don’t even have it in my house or add it to anything and I’ve never tried the fancy stuff. My tastes are boring, but I know that I avoid processed food, one of the reasons being the ridiculous sodium content.
But I have to imagine that “fancy” salt is far superior, just as fancy cheese, chocolate, etc. are far superior to their knock-off counterparts. Quality, not quantity.
P.S. Thank you for the shout-out. I’m always humbled that you actually read my blog from time to time 😉
Love salt and put it on pretty much everything (berries, yoghurt, cherry pie …) Food is pretty tasteless to me without it. In my desk drawer at work I have the Cerebos iodised. At home I have Himalayan black and Himalayan pink and Maldon Sea. I just like the different flavours.
I love salt ….! I do try not to go overboard with it. I recently discovered Lindt chocolate with sea salt and it’s amazing. Living by the beach in Australia my father has even tried creating his own sea salt. As to weird things that get salted, my mother salts cut up apple.
I also salt my avocados, tomatoes, and cucumbers! My grandfather always put sugar on his tomato slices, but I prefer salt. I actually have to remind myself to taste my food before salting…and usually end up salting anyway.
There is nothing in this world better than sliced garden fresh tomatoes with a little salt and pepper. I also salt my cantelope and watermelon, but no pepper. I’m going to scour Target’s clearance shelves for salt on my lunch break!
He hee. 10 points for chemistry humour 🙂
I like fancy salts. I don’t use a lot of salt, so when I do I go for the good stuff. There’s a lady at the farmer’s market that makes a smokey herb infused salt and mmmm…it’s a nice way to finish off things that need a pinch of salt. Even popcorn is better – lately garlicky herb salt and pepper on my popcorn has been the thing to have. Yum.
I do, however, protest the cakey oreos. Oreos need no improvement 🙂
Pink Himalayan sea salt from Trader Joe’s…MMMM!!!!!
I don’t usually add salt to food, but I don’t necessarily avoid it, either.
When I was little, my friend and I woul pour salt on the table, pretend to be frogs, and eat it up. Why we thought frogs were particularly fond of salt I don’t know…
Umm, where can I buy my own jangly hip scarf thingy?
Just a hour ago I had a salad, and assiduously salted the tomatoes, cucumber, and avocado before piling them on! My saline has been a little low the last two times I had bloodwork done, so it’s definitely good for me. (And tasty.) I don’t splurge much on salt – a jar of sea salt and an impulse buy of pink salt – but that black salt sure sounds good.
And alas, I don’t like oreos. 🙁
I tried going low salt and it was the worst thing ever – I dropped a few lbs of bloat, but then my workouts.got.so.hard. I add salt to my water on long hard outside workout days in the form of nuun, gatorade, or the like, and I don’t skimp on it. This morning, I probably sweated out the RDA’s recommended daily allotment on my 10 mile run (in the 80s and humid). My blood pressure is fine.
Now I want fancy salt, the only fancy salt I have is bacon salt! 🙂
I salt my tomatoes. My mom used to salt and pepper her cantaloupes.
I don’t use salt specifically but it is in some foods I eat but not high amounts. I try to be careful as it bloats me. I actually know a guy that restricted too much & with his workouts ended up fainting.. most people use way too much but it can work the other way around too…
I have the sea salt at home for hubby – he uses less cause it is larger grains.
I value the Mayo Clinic as a grand and philanthropic institution that it is and rate their opinions highly. That is except for a few times when their website nutritionists have something to say that seems to balk at updated understanding that may ‘rock the cradle’ .
“Sea salt and table salt have the same basic nutritional value.” (Mayo Clinic Nutritionist Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D.)
In reality, as you stated, sea salt is higher in potassium. That’s a nutritional difference right there. You also rightly stated that table salt has been left, after processing, with only sodium and chloride (and then in some cases iodine is added).
So if all that is left after processing is sodium and chloride, what is taken out?
Iron and Magnesium to begin with.
The issue with salt and its negative impact on our health is not so much salt in and of itself but rather the overuse of sodium in processed foods.
If we eat as clean as possible then some salt sprinkled on our avos, tomatoes, or eggs is not really an issue.
My latest discovery is salted dark chocolate… the salted brands often aren’t dark enough so I’ve taken to licking my standby fave (Endangered Species) and sprinkling on my own salt. SERIOUSLY ADDICTIVE BEWARE.
Oh yes! I love salted chocolate. I eat the Lindt brand. Try making sea salt truffle brownies. SO good. Almost like fudge.
Sea salt truffle brownies? Seriously? I’m not sure if I love you or hate you for that suggestion. OMG does that sound like something I could eat an entire pan of in one sitting.
“I’ll have to sit outside Fitbloggin’ with my empty Oreo box and beg for Larabars to feed my children.” = LOL, I just snorted iced coffee out of my nose and now my office mate officially thinks I’m insane. Thanks Charlotte…thanks a lot. 😛
I like to put a little salt and chili powder on mangoes. Yum! Your post is backfiring on me. Not only do I want to run out and buy fancy salts at Target, I want to buy those oreos (probably not helping that I’m pregnant and it has been SO hard to control my sweet tooth). I suppose I could at least wait and buy those oreos to bring to a large group thing….that way I’ll only be able to eat 2! See?! backfire. 🙂
Green mangos with a little soy/chilli/pepper dip – magic
I try to stay away from salt, but there is just a couple of things that needs the salt taste to it. Like potatoes for example.. 🙂
For my whole life, up until a few years ago, I craved salt like crazy. When I found out I had low blood pressure, I developed a theory that people with low blood pressure crave salt. My method over the years of questioning people who either had low blood pressure OR craved salt more than normal proved me right. I’m a scientist!
As I’ve gotten older, my bp has become more normal, and I’ve noticed I don’t crave salt as much (I also don’t feel like I’m going to pass out almost every time I stand up after sitting anymore, so that’s another bonus.) I still like salty foods, though (pickles, seaweed salad) and have learned over the past couple of years, partly from Mark Sisson and others, that I don’t need to be scared of it.
My grandpa used to salt apples. He and I would watch TV together when I was little and enjoy our salty apples. Always Granny Smith apples so tt was kind of a yummy sweet/tart/salty combo. I haven’t done that in years though – mainly because it seems kind of weird now. Maybe my grandpa craved salt too…?