The more salt you eat, the less likely you are to die.

I didn’t say that. Past prez of the American Society for Hypertension did. If you want to live long, well, active, engaged, you gotta chip through the decades of industry-backed nutrition B.S. we’ve been brain washed with (including by lazy or incurious lemming minded docs, nurses, nutritionists, and trainers) and find the facts.

For starters, “salt” and sodium are not the same thing. Common table salt is typically a mix of chemically extracted pure sodium mixed with anti-caking agents. The most common anticaking agents added to table salt are calcium silicate, sodium ferrocyanide, tricalcium phosphate, and sodium silicoaluminate (sometimes called sodium aluminosilicate). Real salt, on the other hand, is a blend of both macro- and trace minerals (some sources say up to 84) that provides the sodium and chloride your body needs (especially if you are a heavy sweater or during sweaty months) while maintaining mineral balance-- intra alia, calcium, magnesium, potassium.

Secondly, for the average American less than 10% of total daily dietary sodium intake comes from salt added at the grill, stove or table. Whither the other 90-95? Convenience (think frozen, boxed, bagged) and other processed foods (sometimes bevs), where here the sodium is almost guaranteed to be the pure, industrial form.

Conduct a little of your own research, and you’ll discover that low sodium diets actually raise oxidized (small particle) LDL cholesterol, lower sex drive and encourage insulin resistance. Hypertension risk, you ask? It’s commonly believed that eating salt leads to high blood pressure, but the science shows that only a small percentage of people at risk for hypertension react strongly to salt. High blood pressure is just as easily caused by too little magnesium or potassium as by too much sodium. So think mineral equilibrium.

Our bodies go to great lengths to keep, in particular, sodium and potassium levels equilibrated, so let’s help not hurt.

High quality sea salts naturally contain a blend of minerals that provide the sodium the body needs while maintaining mineral balance. Pink salt, mined in Utah or the Himalayas, is considered among the best, as it is sourced from ancient sea beds protected from modern pollutants.

Drinking half a teaspoon of sea salt in a large glass of water in the morning (I just put a few beautiful pink crystals under my tongue) is a great way to kick off the day. Upon waking our bodies are struggling to push down potassium levels and get sodium levels up. This simple trick supports your adrenals and frees them up to prepare for activity. It might even boost your sex life.