Sodium is not the vilian-Food for Thought

While writing about cured meats, I found information on salt, sodium, and the problematic imbalance. 

What Sodium Does

Sodium:

• Regulates fluid balance in and around cells
• Supports nerve signaling and muscle contraction
• Plays a critical role in blood volume and circulation

Without enough sodium, the body struggles to maintain hydration, energy, and proper muscle function.

Why are Salt and Sodium Blamed?

Here’s the missing piece:
Sodium doesn’t work alone. It works in balance with potassium.Potassium is sodium’s counterweight.
Where sodium pulls fluid outside the cell, potassium pulls fluid into the cell.When the two are balanced, everything works smoothly.

The Real Problem: High Sodium + Low Potassium

The modern diet didn’t just increase sodium — it stripped potassium out of our food.Highly processed foods:

• Add sodium for shelf life and flavor.
• Remove potassium by stripping away whole ingredients like vegetables, leafy greens, and potatoes (not sure if this is an argument for potato chips).

The result is a lopsided ratio:

• Plenty of sodium
• Not nearly enough potassium

This imbalance is what’s strongly associated with:

• High blood pressure
• Fluid retention
• Cardiovascular stress

It’s not salt in isolation — it’s salt without its partner.

Sodium (Na)

• Role in the body: Maintains fluid balance, supports nerve function, and helps muscles contract.
• Best Sources: Unrefined sea salt, Himalayan pink salt, which contains 84 minerals, celery, beets, and sea veggies.  You’ll also find it in processed foods, cured meats, cheeses, soups, and breads (less ideal sources). 

Potassium (K)

• Role in the body: Works opposite sodium to regulate fluids, supports muscle and nerve function, and helps maintain a steady heartbeat.

Potassium Comes From Real Food

Potassium is abundant in:

• Potatoes and sweet potatoes
• Leafy greens (beet, spinach, chard)
• Avocados
• Squash
• Fruit, especially bananas and coconut
• Meat and dairy from animals raised on real forage

In other words: whole foods grown in healthy soil.When potassium intake is adequate, sodium becomes far less of a problem for most people.

What This Means in the Kitchen

Instead of fearing salt, try this:

• Salt your food to taste.
• Cook with whole ingredients.  We found that when we switched to a whole-foods way of eating, we had to add more salt when cooking at home because we weren't getting overloaded with it from processed foods.
• Eat plenty of potassium-rich foods.
• Be more skeptical of processed “low-sodium” foods than of salt itself.

Traditional cultures salted their food — and ate potassium-rich diets.
The imbalance is new. The salt isn’t.
Fun Fact: Salt has been mined for thousands of years.  It was once so valuable that Roman  legions were paid with it.  Hence, the word " salary”, which came from the word " salt. "

From Soil to Table

On the farm, we see this same principle play out.
Animals need minerals in balance, not elimination.

Humans are no different.Health isn’t about removing essential nutrients —
It’s about restoring what’s missing.

So don’t fear salt, be sure your body is in balance,

Food for thought,

Aila

P.S. If you have trouble with leg or foot cramps at night, it could very likely be caused by an electrolyte imbalance or deficiency.  When we are too low in sodium, potassium, magnesium, or calcium, our muscles can’t properly contract or release.  In particular, an imbalance of potassium, which relaxes muscles, and sodium, which constricts them.