Food cravings series: Gimme salt--sea salt, that is.

Why do we crave salt?

Salt is a mineral that everybody needs. Sometimes people crave salt not because they don't eat enough salty foods but because of a mineral deficiency (Rosenthal, 2008).

* Salt from the sea contains over 60 different trace minerals. However, most people who consume salty foods get their sodium in the form of table salt. Because table salt is refined and processed, it lacks many of the essential minerals that are found in naturally occurring sea salt.

* On top of this fact, because people's diets are already missing nutrients and minerals (from all of the overprocessing of our foods), people will reach for salty foods. Unfortunately because of the quality of sodium found in most processed foods, people will never attain their mineral fix and will continue to grab for those salty foods that will never nourish the body. A perpetual cycle begins where the body craves nourishment and nutrition but only feeds itself nutrient and mineral deficient foods.

What can be done?

* Reaching for foods high in minerals, like a wide variety of vegetables and leafy greens, may help curb the craving for salt (nutrition). Apparently veggies make it into yet another posting.

* Kick table salt and use sea salt instead.

Per Dr. Mercola,"natural salt is essential for life" and helps:
• allow fluids to pass in and out of your cells
• carry nutrients to your cells
• nerve cells in your brain and body to transfer information
• various metabolic reactions in your body
• regulate blood pressure

It also helps aid in mood, although, one could argue that providing minerals to a mineral deficient person may elevate mood in general.

Regardless, everyone is different; some people may need more salt than others to fulfill their bodies' needs so play around with these suggestions and see what happens.

Feel guilty about tossing out your table salt for sea salt? Don't throw it out.

Creative uses for table salt:
• Table salt can be used to get rid of ants. Just add salt to boiling water and prepare a salt solution. Now spray this salt solution in all corners of your house.
• Salt can remove kitchen odors from your hands. If your hands smell like garlic or onions, make a little paste of vinegar and salt and scrub with it (just be careful for any cuts).
• Use it in your arts and crafting; if you watercolor paint, throwing a pinch of salt can create a cool effect.
• The list continues. Just google "Uses for table salt." You will find articles like this one, among many others.

Foods and activities that calm hormones and help PMS

This post is dedicated to my sisters in Korea and all the women out there who suffer from PMS symptoms. In order to live your best life, reducing PMS is a must.

The foods we put in our bodies affect the hormonal cycles in the body. One way to lessen the hormonal shift in the body is to avoid the foods or activities that cause them.

Foods/activites to consider avoiding or limiting around "that time of the month":
* Meats, cheese, eggs tend to drive hormone levels up.
* Fatty foods raise cholesterol and estrogen levels.
* Excess salt and sugar.
* Limit caffeine intake, and if possible, eliminate it.
* Tobacco use
* Certain Yoga poses should be avoided, inverted poses during menstruation can cause blood to leak out the fallopian tubes and lead to endometriosis. While not proven and highly unlikely, because it is not known, it may be best to do more restorative poses during this time. In general you know your body best, so if it feels okay to invert go ahead. Listen to your body. If you are feeling achy and tired don't push yourself too hard.

Foods/nutrients/activities to consider:
* Natural plant foods like whole grain bread, pasta, cereal
* A variety of vegetables, fruits and legumes
* Fiber. Eating foods with lots of fiber is good to help rid the body of excess hormones.
* Calcium (in the form of supplement or leafy greens). Improving calcium balance in the body has been shown to ease menstrual pain.
* Vitamin B6
* Light/moderate exercise
* Meditation

Information shared from Healthy Eating for Life for Women by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and my personal favorite, Yoga as Medicine: The Yogic Prescription for Health and Healing by Timothy McCall, MD.