We need at most 5 grams of salt daily for our heart to beat, and we don’t need sugar at all.
Do you remember the Man from Atlantis? It’s a famous movie from the late 70s that featured a dolphin-man as the main character.
The truth behind the fiction is that life on Earth originated in the ocean. And even though millions of years of evolution have passed, at our core, we are beings made of salt water. The story of salt is interesting, even vital. There were times when our planet, heavily tested, was struck by asteroids and set ablaze. Sodium evaporated into the atmosphere. Then came the rains, and most of the sodium in the air dissolved and concentrated in the waters of the seas and oceans.
There, in the water, the genesis of life on Earth took place, and our cells are made of water with salt. Without salt, there is no life; without salt, the body would dehydrate, dry out, and die!
Humans or animals, we all unconsciously crave salt in our food. Our instinct tells us that everything salty is tasty; pleasure has salt as a basic ingredient. Even love is compared to salt in dishes, and the term salary also comes from salt. Gone are the days when 1 gram of salt was equivalent to 1 gram of gold; now we have access to salt without limits.
The Body Needs Salt
Just like with sugar, we love salt and find it hard to stop. The food industry takes advantage of our weaknesses; it’s no wonder that all processed and semi-prepared products are loaded with sugar and salt. Where sugar is a luxury, salt is a necessity. We can live without sugar, but not without salt! The need for salt arose long before the dependence on sugar. A preference for sweet taste signifies food infantilism, while a preference for salty taste signifies maturity. It is not salt that harms health, but excess salt.
Although sugar and salt are placed on the same level when it comes to nutritional warnings, Mihaela Bilic recommends that you give up sugar and keep salt. And by salt, we do not refer to the shaker on the table, but to the salt naturally contained in all foods and in most preparations.
Nature has placed salt in vegetables, water, and milk, meat, and eggs, while humans have added salt to bread and pastry products, cold cuts, and cheeses, preserves, and sauces. Not to mention snack products, all concentrated in salt, from chips and puffs to seeds, almonds, and expanded cereals.
Why Do We Feel the Need to Eat Sugar?
Make a distinction between the craving for sweet and that for salty: our head craves sugar when it is stressed and unhappy, while our body craves salt when it is healthy.
Excess sugar leads to obesity, fatty liver, and diabetes, while excess salt retains water in the body. Only 30% of the population is sensitive to salt; for the rest, there is no link between hypertension and salt consumption.
A preference for salty taste is a sign that we are in shape. When we engage in physical effort, we lose minerals and need more salt. Even in a weight loss diet, salt is allowed. So, goodbye dolce vita, I recommend a life with a moderately salty taste.
