Salt — Vital Nutrient AND Hidden Killer

How much salt do we need?

Photo by Jason Tuinstra on Unsplash

Welcome back to part 3 of my nutrition series. In part 1 we talked about the macros of our diet — protein, carbs and fat. Last time we covered the deeply unsexy but necessary topic of fibre. Today we’re going to discuss salt — why do we need it? We’ll also look at what getting too much and too little in our diet can do.

Before we start, I want to repeat my trigger warning from last time.

There will never be any discussion of diets, intentional weight loss strategies or calories here on my blog. Ever. I think it is important to discuss how to look after and properly nourish your body though. It makes such a massive difference to your health and how you feel. If you think this would be triggering for you due to an eating disorder, orthorexia in particular, or just cos it all seems too close to diet talk for you to handle, feel free to skip these posts. I look forward to seeing you back here soon 🙂

Salt — Why Do We Need It?

We actually don’t need salt as such, we need sodium. Sodium is one of the ingredients in table salt and it helps balance the fluid inside and outside the cells in your body. It also controls blood pressure; carries electrical nerve impulses so the muscles, including the heart, can contract; affects…