Why I stopped fearing salt and made it part of my healing
How my relationship with salt changed after ditching ultra-processed food and added sugar
My personal health context
This article is about sodium: the essential mineral our bodies need to function properly. But since most people talk about “salt,” not sodium, I’m using “salt”.
My story does not include a history of heart attack or stroke. However, I do have high coronary artery calcification in 3 out of 4 arteries, and I had a kidney stone surgically removed in 2025. My mom died of a cardiac event when she was 55. I still include salt because for me, the benefits of intentional sodium intake, especially while fasting and eating unprocessed food and no added sugar, outweigh the risks. I also get my sodium levels tested regularly as part of routine lab work.
This is not medical advice. It’s a personal account of what helped me, and why I believe context matters more than blanket rules.
When less salt stopped making sense
I used to think salt was the enemy. Like so many people, I absorbed that message from a culture obsessed with low-salt everything. And for a long time, I followed it without question.
But things changed when I started fasting. When I stopped snacking. When I started eating meals that didn’t come in packages already loaded with preservatives and flavor enhancers. My body started sending me signals. Headaches. Fatigue. Lightheadedness. Muscle cramping. They were signs that my salt and overall electrolyte intake no longer matched my real needs.
Salt: The villain that wasn’t?
Salt plays a key role in nerve function, fluid balance, blood pressure regulation, and muscle contractions. But for decades, the messaging around salt has been focused on one thing: fear.
“Too much salt” became shorthand for bad health and blamed for high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and stroke. But this oversimplification doesn’t hold up under scrutiny. Especially when you look at the difference between someone eating a standard American diet (SAD) and someone who has removed ultra-processed foods and added sugar.
In a SAD context, yes, excess salt on top of excess seed oils, added sugars, artificial preservatives, and chronic stress is a dangerous mix.
But for those of us eating real food, drinking plenty of water, and not eating out of packages, salt needs can increase. Especially if we fast. Especially if we sweat. Especially if we’ve spent decades retaining water from inflammation and are finally releasing it. Salt follows water. If your body is dumping fluid, it’s also losing salt.
Why salt got the blame (and sugar got a pass)
It’s striking how often salt is demonized while sugar flies under the radar, or gets framed as a “treat” we can’t live without. But here's a thought: most people aren’t addicted to salt. Sugar, on the other hand, rewires reward pathways and fuels compulsive eating patterns in ways salt simply doesn’t.
So when doctors recommend cutting back on salt, many patients actually do it. It feels doable. It’s enforceable. But that advice often ignores the real problem: the ultra-processed foods that flood the modern diet with both refined salt and added sugar, usually in combination.
I followed a lower salt diet for several years while also taking high blood pressure medication. It wasn’t until I changed what I ate and when I ate, that things truly shifted. With my cardiologist’s approval, I discontinued the medication in May 2024, and my blood pressure has stayed in a healthy range ever since. Even at doctor’s appointments, a prime time for anxiety, it’s rarely elevated. I stopped eating foods engineered to hijack my palate. And once those were out of the picture, I had to add salt back in: intentionally, carefully, and in a way that supported the healing process my body was already working toward.
Types of salt (and why they’re not the same)
Let’s talk about where salt comes from:
Table Salt (Salt Chloride): The most common form. Often iodized, but also highly refined and stripped of trace minerals. Generally contains anti-caking agents.
Sea Salt (Celtic, Mediterranean, etc.): Evaporated seawater, less processed and contains trace minerals. Some forms retain moisture and color. (I use coarse grey Celtic sea salt).
Himalayan Pink Salt: Mined from ancient sea beds. Contains trace amounts of iron oxide (which gives it the pink color), calcium, potassium, and magnesium. (I used this for a while then shifted to coarse Celtic sea salt.)
Ultra-Processed Foods: Salt added as preservatives (like salt nitrate) is not the same as naturally occurring salt in whole food or mineral salt. These additives come with risks of their own.
My N=1 (and why it matters)
As I incorporated fasting into my lifestyle and my food choices shifted toward real food (no seed oils, no added sugar, no alcohol, no grazing), I became more attuned to what my body needed. I didn’t always crave salt or feel driven to eat it. But I did start paying closer attention. I tracked symptoms, erred on the side of caution, and added high-quality mineral salt in small amounts when appropriate.
This is how self-guided healing works. You gather information, notice patterns, and make adjustments. It doesn’t replace doctors, but it does let you walk into appointments with more clarity.
Doctor-ordered obedience vs. data-informed healing
Here’s what I’ve learned: The conventional system isn’t designed to trust patients. Doctors assume most of us won’t change. So the prescription pad comes out. It’s faster. Easier. Or so it seems.
But what if we did change? What if we already have?
When I stopped fearing salt, I stepped away from a culture that treats patients like ticking time bombs. I learned that the dose makes the poison, and the poison changes depending on the context.
For someone eating ultra-processed food every day, more salt is dangerous. For someone eating two home-cooked, real whole food meals with mini fasting between meals and 12+ hours of fasting overnight? The calculation is different.
This helped me, it might help you
This isn’t medical advice. I’m not telling you how much salt you need. I’m saying you might need more than you think. Especially if you’ve made positive changes to your diet.
And if you’re fasting, it’s essential.
Salt is life. Literally. And sometimes, trusting your body is the smartest thing you can do.
Further exploration
Want to dig deeper into salt, metabolic health, and how ultra-processed foods shape the conversation? These videos, books, and articles offer helpful context.
YouTube
Is Salt Actually Bad For You? | Jason Fung (2021)
Dr. Fung’s video breaks down the complex relationship between salt and blood pressure, highlighting how publication bias and flawed study interpretations have fueled public fear of salt. It also explores global data, including the Intersalt Study, to question whether current salt guidelines reflect real-world health outcomes.
Books I’ve read
The Great Cholesterol Myth (Revised & Expanded) by Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS, and Stephen Sinatra, MD, FACC (2020)
This book challenges the conventional fear of dietary cholesterol and saturated fat, including the oversimplified demonization of salt. It emphasizes the importance of context, showing that salt is not inherently harmful and that factors like inflammation, sugar intake, and lifestyle are more impactful on heart disease risk.Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken (2023)
Ultra-Processed People examines how industrial food systems distort our understanding of ingredients like salt by embedding sodium into addictive, engineered products. Van Tulleken makes the case that the problem isn’t real salt, it’s how modern food processing reshapes our biology and perception of what’s healthy.Good Energy by Casey Means, MD (2024)
Dr. Means highlights how processed foods disrupt electrolyte balance and explains that sodium is essential for metabolic function, especially when shifting to a real-food, anti-inflammatory diet. She advocates for mindful replenishment of salt when people eliminate ultra-processed foods and improve hydration.Understanding the Heart by Dr. Stephen Hussey (2022)
This book reframes heart health through an evolutionary lens and argues that blanket sodium restriction is misguided. Dr. Hussey discusses the nuanced role of sodium in blood pressure regulation, electrolyte balance, and cardiovascular resilience.Dark Calories by Dr. Catherine Shanahan (2024)
Dr. Shanahan connects the loss of traditional food wisdom to modern chronic illness, pointing out how natural salt sources were once essential and nutrient-rich. She suggests that modern fear of salt lacks ancestral and scientific grounding, especially when sodium comes from unrefined, mineral-rich sources.
Research Articles
Dietary Reference Intakes for Salt and Potassium (2020)
A comprehensive report from the National Academies. While it reflects conventional nutrition guidelines, it helps explain where those salt targets come from, and why they may not apply equally to everyone.Optimal Salt Intake: A Review of the Scientific Evidence (2021)
This peer-reviewed paper challenges the “lower is always better” messaging and highlights how both low and high salt intakes may carry risks, depending on context.Electrolyte Balance and Functional Medicine (2024)
From the Institute for Functional Medicine: a closer look at salt, hydration, and mineral needs from a real food–based, root cause perspective.
Ultra-Processed Foods and Health: The NOVA Classification (2019)
A strong case for why salt in ultra-processed foods is the real concern, not the kind you shake onto your homemade meals.