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Is Salt Necessary?

By Mikhaila

SALT – I usually tell people when they first switch over to increase their intake of salt. This can help with muscle cramps. If you’re drinking tons of water though and incredibly thirsty, reducing salt might be a good idea.

As of August 27th, 2018, I’ve dropped salt!

Why on earth would I do such a thing? I love salt! Especially this salt: Real Salt

Welllll I read The Fat of the Land (which I loved. Will write a post on it eventually). Anyway, I found out the Inuit people didn’t salt their food or eat any salt (I assumed there was some sort of salted fish in their diet initially). So I dropped it out of curiosity.

I had assumed my muscle cramps from May were caused by low levels of salt (as increasing my salt intake had apparently resolved them). Now I’m not so sure.

I wanted to see if:

A) my muscle cramps would come back from lack of salt

B) if we actually even need salt in the diet to thrive

I was eating almost a tablespoon of pink Himalayan salt per day, and drinking almost 4L of water. I was really thirsty. My digestion also wasn’t ideal still (still occasional diarrhea).

For the first week after dropping salt, I had absolutely no appetite. Like, negative appetite. Everything tasted like nothing. Everything as in beef…. I went down from eating 2 pounds to eating about a pound of meat a day. There were a couple of days I had even less than that from zero appetite.

The salt cravings were really bad too. Week two still wasn’t good but by the end of it, I at least started to get hungry again. Week three meat started to taste okay. Not good. But manageable. I almost gave up week four because of the cravings but I’m always careful about cravings. I don’t think they’re a good sign. So I decided to give it the ol’ “six week try” just to see. I am currently finished six weeks and honestly haven’t seen a lot of difference. But I have seen some.

I’m drinking about 1.5L of water a day instead of almost 4L. That’s huge. I’m not nearly as thirsty. So I was definitely drinking a lot because of the amount of salt I was eating, and I think that was messing up my digestion, as my digestion is quite a bit more stable.

I’ll reintroduce it soon probably but my cravings are also almost gone so…. We’ll see. I don’t have an autoimmune response to salt obviously, but it’s interesting what you need and don’t need. ALSO – zero muscle cramps. I thought I would get them but nope! Which makes me think maybe I was drinking too much water in May and upsetting my electrolytes that way – which is why increasing my salt intake helped. But maybe reducing my water intake would have done the same thing?

I still miss salt though and will probably start eating it again. I’ll update this to see if anything changes.

Update December 2018: I’m still not eating salt. Cravings went away after about 6 weeks and it upsets my digestion if I eat it. I don’t really miss it.

UPDATE: 2023 – I eat salt. Be very careful that you’re eating pure salt, and bring your own salt to restaurants to avoid anti-caking agent present in most table salts.

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75 Comments

  1. Check out ‘Salt: A world history’ by Mark Kurlansky! Fascinating book! Apparently hunter gatherer mostly carnivorous tribes get all the salt they need from the animals they consume. Animals also seem able to find enough salt in their diets, or search it out.

  2. Muscle cramps are magnesium deficiency. If we take 500mg magnesium citrate (is alkaline) 2 times a day, muscle cramps disappear in few days.

     After passing stomach acid  and interacting with enzymes, what remains is an alkaline form of magnesium citrate.

    The body can convert citrate to bicarbonate, which promotes an alkaline pH.

     That s why magnesium citrate will not cause an allergic reaction.

    Calcium causes muscle cramps .Muscle cramps are  tight muscles that won’t relax.
    Calcium causes muscles to contract, and magnesium causes them to relax. Once the calcium deposits are formed, the tendons may become inflamed and cause pain.

    My favorite magnesium is the  bicarbonate form.

    Calcium is everywhere in our diet. More than 300 different enzymatic reactions depend on magnesium.

    When magnesium levels are low, too much calcium gets inside muscle cells. That overstimulates the cells and makes them jumpy.

    Currently, an estimated 75% of Americans have daily magnesium intakes less than the RDA .

    Magnesium is needed for calcium absorption. Without enough magnesium, calcium can collect in the soft tissues and cause one type of arthritis.

    Pink salt is alkaline form of salt, and has magnesium chloride, but in very small quantities.

     We need a decent amount of pink  salt  to relieve muscle cramps. It will take longer, but it also comes with side effects.
    Too much sodium will remove potasium out and vice versa.

     One of the first signs of potassium deficiency and excess  of sodium is migraines.

    Once we take 1/2 tsp of potassium bicarbonate in 8 oz of water and drink it slowly, migraines disappear in 15 minutes.

     If constipation occurs, it is becouse we have an acidic ph in the colon. If we take 1/2 tsp sodium bicarbonate with 1/2 tsp pink salt (very alkaline) and drink 300-500 ml water, constipation disappears instantly.
    People with high blood pressure should be careful because sodium will raise tension.

    Medical Disclaimer.This general information is not intended to diagnose any medical condition or to replace your healthcare professional. Consult with your healthcare professional before starting any diet, exercise or supplementation.

  3. I love the taste of a large pinch of magnesium chloride and sodium bicarbonate in water – makes it taste like milk whilst being crystal clear.
    Hope it’s doing me good!!

  4. It would be interesting to see if your ferretin levels are lower than in your test just prior to dropping salt because I’ve heard Himalayan pink salt is high in iron.

  5. Drinking 4 L of water dilutes out a lot of salt. Look at any athlete cramping after sweating then guzzling water.

  6. Mikhaila, what do you do about electrolytes? I keep hearing you need to keep your electrolytes up while on carnivore.

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