The Salt Fix – Did the Experts Get It Wrong?

We’ve all heard the recommendation: eat no more than a teaspoon of salt a day for a healthy heart. But there’s one big problem with this: the vast majority of us don’t need to eat low-salt diets. In fact, for most of us, more salt would be better for our health, rather than less — not to mention, much tastier.

Now, Dr. James DiNicolantonio’s new book, The Salt Fix: Why the Experts Got It All Wrong—and How Eating More Might Save Your Life, reveals the incredible, often baffling story of how salt became unfairly demonized—a never-before-told, century-spanning drama of competing egos and interests. Not only have we gotten it wrong, we’ve gotten it exactly backwards: eating more salt can help protect you from a host of ailments, including internal starvation, insulin resistance, diabetes, and even heart disease. The real culprit? Another white crystal—sugar.

We all know that calories from sugar are especially detrimental when it comes to our ability to manage our weight and overall health. Excessive consumption of fructose can cause too much fat to accumulate in the liver, which causes this vital organ to become resistant to insulin, thereby setting you up for overall insulin resistance throughout your body.

Salt is necessary and good for us, he says. Eating more salt will reduce the amount of sugar in our diet and help us lose weight, he says. Indeed low-salt diets may be causing brittle bones and memory loss and more salt could fix diabetes, he claims.

“Instead of ignoring your salt cravings, you should give in to them – they are guiding you to better health,” he argues in his book, which has won attention for his ideas in the UK media.

In fact, too little salt can:

• Cause you to crave sugar and refined carbs.
• Send the body into semi-starvation mode.
• Lead to weight gain, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, and increased blood pressure and heart rate.

On the other hand, eating the salt your body desires can:

• Improve everything from your sleep, energy, and mental focus to your fitness, fertility, and sexual performance
• And stave off common chronic illnesses, including heart disease.

We need to cut out sugar and start celebrating salt. In the meantime, please enjoy, guilt-free, one of nature’s oldest and most pleasurable health safeguards, at every meal. Break out the saltshaker—for your taste buds and your health!