Ask Amy: Table Salt vs. Crystal Salt

Ask Amy:  I’ve heard you mention you use Pink Himalayan Crystal Salt.  Is there really a big difference from regular table salt? – Ashley P.  Houston, TX

Amy Says:  There is a big difference Ashley.  Regular white table salt is akin to white sugar.  It is completely devoid of any nutrition.  Table salt is reduce to a combination of sodium and chloride. It is essentially a chemical substance. I use Pink Himalayan Crystal Salt because it is all natural as Mother Nature intended.  It contains the full spectrum of 84 minerals including iodine and trace elements that protect and enhance health.  I even recommend using Sea Salt or Himalayan Crystal Salt in my Meal Plans.

Pink Himalayan Crystal Salt is a actually a marketing term for Halite (commonly known as rock salt) from Pakistan The salt is hand-mined from abundant salt caves that were formed 250 million years ago as ocean salt settled in certain geologic pockets around the earth .The salt sometimes comes out in a reddish or pink color, with some crystals having an off-white to transparent color.

I also believe that the Pink Himalyayan Salt also helps with my cravings.  Bear with me for a moment as I explain. In Chinese medicine, practitioners would call salt an extreme “yang” food. Salt is the most contracting food, meaning that it has a very retracting energy in the body, and causes the cellular fluids in the body to contract and pull in. We all know that when we ingest too much salt we can become dehydrated and thirsty. Excess salt can also pull hydration out of the skin.  Contracting foods are “yang” foods. Salty foods, meat and cheese are on the far yang end of the spectrum.

Sugar is on the opposite end, is the most expanding of foods. When we eat foods with sugar in them, we tend to feel more relaxed and open. Sugar causes the body to expand and open up. Expanding foods are considered in Chinese philosophy to be “yin” foods. Sugar, coffee and alcohol are extremely yin. Many people struggle to maintain balance while flip-flopping between the two ends of the spectrum. The sugar (yin) salt (yang) connection may be a way the body responds to a temporary shift in balance. Too much salt creates an imbalance in your body, which may in turn lead you to crave salt’s yin cousin, sugar. When we eat a great deal of salt we start to feel extremely contracted, and we unconsciously start to crave more expanding foods, ie the sugar, to create balance in the body. Imagine your body like a see-saw, one end extreme yang the other extreme yin. Think of salt sitting on the yang side and sugar sitting on the yin side – they will actually balance each other out the way they stimulate you. Your body always works to keep the see-saw balanced.

If we want to cut back on sugar cravings, we need to create overall yin/ yang balance. One way is to be sure we are not overdoing the salt. This especially means table salt, or sodium chloride, which is man-made and can cause the leaching of fluids and minerals from your body. On the other hand, Pink Himalayan Crystal Salt is natural, with tons of trace minerals as I already mentioned. The best way to regulate your salt intake is to switch to Pink Himalayan salts immediately (throwing out regular table salt), do not add additional salt to your food once it has been prepared, and avoid packaged and processed foods.  I believe this will keep your body more balanced and help with cravings.

I purchase my salt from  http://www.himalayancrystalsalt.com/