Sea Salt - Food For The Soul
When you look into a cookbook, how often do you find one recipe that calls for salt? The salt is usually the only ingredient that are listed, and we are all familiar with the long list of health benefits that it brings to the table. We are also all familiar with the fact that most salt can be found in our daily food.
As we have grown into a more sedentary lifestyle, a vast gulf separates us from our ancestors. While the overall amount of salt we take on a daily basis has drastically decreased over the years, our ancestors did not have a choice but to live their lives this way. They had no access to microwaves, refrigerators, or frozen foods.
Salt was used by our ancestors to prepare everything from meat and dairy products to fruit and vegetables. Because there were no methods of preserving food, they would spend weeks preparing the meat and vegetables and only use the last few days to cook the fruits and nuts. It would be extremely difficult to find fruits or nuts this way, so they boiled, steamed, smoked, dried, salted, and otherwise prepared all of the food they could find to allow them to survive.
How much salt each dish required to make sure that the food was safe to eat is debatable. During our grandparents' time, the amount of salt and other ingredients in a meal would vary. Often, one meal may require more salt than another. At one time, the amount of salt in a daily diet varied, depending on one's gender, health, age, and other factors.
Nowadays, however, we can all take advantage of the many health benefits that salt can bring to the table. It is an essential element in almost every dish, but it can be incorporated into any meal to add flavor without being overwhelming. We can eat desserts and breads that are made with sea salt, as well as breakfast cereals and coffee. In fact, since most processed foods use sea salt as an ingredient, the amount of salt in a meal is really not a factor anymore.
Even though salt enters our systems at a very low level, it is beneficial because it helps us feel full, creates a sour taste in the mouth, enhances the aroma and flavor in food, and it keeps us hydrated. Besides these benefits, we also experience many other health benefits from eating a little bit of sea salt each day. This particular mineral may help prevent heart disease, improve respiratory function, reduce blood pressure, and even protect against colon cancer. It may be more effective than doctors are telling us.
Now, we don't want to just eat a bowl of grits and forget about the health benefits. Sea salt can be sprinkled on our food, mixed in with our juice, added to yogurt, added to pesto sauce, added to coffee, added to cereal, added to sherbet, sprinkled on top of salad, added to cookies, and sprinkled on top of hot dogs. In fact, when it comes to food, it is the most versatile of all the elements in our kitchen.
We know that we should stay away from sugar, but we also know that we can't eat too much of it either. We know that our immune systems need to be strong, but salt is our best friend in that department. We know that we need plenty of protein, but sea salt will give us the same benefit, and a whole lot more. So consider adding salts worldwide to your daily meal.
As we have grown into a more sedentary lifestyle, a vast gulf separates us from our ancestors. While the overall amount of salt we take on a daily basis has drastically decreased over the years, our ancestors did not have a choice but to live their lives this way. They had no access to microwaves, refrigerators, or frozen foods.
Salt was used by our ancestors to prepare everything from meat and dairy products to fruit and vegetables. Because there were no methods of preserving food, they would spend weeks preparing the meat and vegetables and only use the last few days to cook the fruits and nuts. It would be extremely difficult to find fruits or nuts this way, so they boiled, steamed, smoked, dried, salted, and otherwise prepared all of the food they could find to allow them to survive.
How much salt each dish required to make sure that the food was safe to eat is debatable. During our grandparents' time, the amount of salt and other ingredients in a meal would vary. Often, one meal may require more salt than another. At one time, the amount of salt in a daily diet varied, depending on one's gender, health, age, and other factors.
Nowadays, however, we can all take advantage of the many health benefits that salt can bring to the table. It is an essential element in almost every dish, but it can be incorporated into any meal to add flavor without being overwhelming. We can eat desserts and breads that are made with sea salt, as well as breakfast cereals and coffee. In fact, since most processed foods use sea salt as an ingredient, the amount of salt in a meal is really not a factor anymore.
Even though salt enters our systems at a very low level, it is beneficial because it helps us feel full, creates a sour taste in the mouth, enhances the aroma and flavor in food, and it keeps us hydrated. Besides these benefits, we also experience many other health benefits from eating a little bit of sea salt each day. This particular mineral may help prevent heart disease, improve respiratory function, reduce blood pressure, and even protect against colon cancer. It may be more effective than doctors are telling us.
Now, we don't want to just eat a bowl of grits and forget about the health benefits. Sea salt can be sprinkled on our food, mixed in with our juice, added to yogurt, added to pesto sauce, added to coffee, added to cereal, added to sherbet, sprinkled on top of salad, added to cookies, and sprinkled on top of hot dogs. In fact, when it comes to food, it is the most versatile of all the elements in our kitchen.
We know that we should stay away from sugar, but we also know that we can't eat too much of it either. We know that our immune systems need to be strong, but salt is our best friend in that department. We know that we need plenty of protein, but sea salt will give us the same benefit, and a whole lot more. So consider adding salts worldwide to your daily meal.
