Why am I eating salt? No animal or bird is eating salt.
If all animals and birds are surviving without salt, it means that salt is not a food!
Then what is salt?
Salt is a drug.
Yes. Humanity is addicted to salt.
People living near oceans cannot grow crops and vegetables like people living in plain lands. Most of the regions near the ocean are hilly. And unsuitable for growing crops. For centuries, these people have been consuming fish, crabs, prawns etc. These are easily available from the ocean. People of all castes and creeds consider fish as a vegetable from the sea and consume it here. And fish is mostly consumed alone or with rice. Hilly oceanic regions are suitable for growing rice. In the valleys of these hills, water stagnates. This is suitable for growing rice. Hence you see that rice and fish are the staple food nearby oceans.
However, during the rainy season, the ocean tides and waves are much higher and dynamic, making it impossible for fishing.
Thousands of years ago these people stumbled upon salt, which was able to preserve the fish. Hence they started preserving fish and other seafood by drying them with salt during the fishing season. During rainy seasons, these dried fish are consumed. Yes, salt is a preservative.
Along with preserved fish, salt intake started increasing as it cannot be completely removed during cooking. And this became a habit. This habit has now spread to all the regions of the world. And it has become a norm to use salt in our every meal.
I am addicted to salt. Just like you all.
I can never come out of this addiction. Salt addiction is perfect and absolute. There is no way out. Because it's just not possible to eat food without salt anymore.
However, due to various reasons, humanity is consuming more and more salt.
This has a serious consequence on health. Salt is sodium chloride. Sodium is involved in signal transmission in our brain, nerves, spinal cord, heart, arteries and everywhere in the body. The consequences are very grave. Overthinking, worrying, anxiety, hypertension, sleep deprivation, kidney diseases, stroke and so on. Salt intake is increasing and these diseases are also increasing.
The recommended daily intake of salt is 5 grams. This means that 1 kg of salt packet should be used for 200 days by a single person. Calculate and find out how much you are eating over this value. For children, the daily value is 2 to 2.5 grams.
Here is what we have done to overcome salt abuse:
- We use unrefined, non-iodised, unprocessed salts like rock salt, pink salt, Celtic salt, kosher salts etc.
- We have stopped sprinkling salt on fruits and every food we eat.
- We do not prepare salt rich items like pickles.
- The lowest possible salt is added to every cooked food.
- Salty snacks like chips, fries etc are totally avoided. Same snacks can be had with very low or no salt.
- Proper intake of salt has reduced food cravings, overthinking, worries and stress in our entire family.
Always remember. Salt is a drug. It takes away decades from your life and creates a lot of misery. I think Japanese have the highest lifespan as their salt intake is the lowest in the world!
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