I can hide nothing about my love of salt. I don’t even want to hide it—I want to proclaim my love of salt from rooftops at high volume: I love salt.
I remember reading all the Little House on the Prairie books and asking what a salt lick was. I’m still looking for a salt lick to show up in my life. I’m telling you: I love salt!
I’d much rather have something salty than something sweet: the taste in my mouth after having too much salt (if there were such a thing; I probably just wasn’t properly hydrating correctly) doesn’t signal to me a high blood sugar like the taste in my mouth after having too much sweet food does; if I order dessert at dinner that’s very unusual!
I also sweat like a pig, and I spend the last mile of my longer runs (9-20+ miles) wondering what kind of salty food I will eat when I return home.
Salt: I think it’s lovely.
So all these warnings and admonishments about Americans consuming too many foods high in sodium make me a little sad: I don’t want to be made to feel badly about my love of salt!
But check this out: the February Diabetes Forecast (yeah I still read it) mentions something in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition last November. Researchers analyzed studies done between 1957 and 2003 and concluded that Americans today are eating as much salt as they did 50 years ago.
So why is everyone up in arms right now about the salt? Well, since it’s still “too much” to consider healthy.
But since rates of high blood pressure and heart disease have continued to grow despite salt intake remaining relatively constant, the researchers concluded the culprit in the rise of these diseases is likely…
…
…
Obesity!
No way.
Despite my own salt-loving experience, I don’t have high blood pressure. I don’t have heart disease (in fact I have a pretty awesome and fantastically healthy vascular system if I do say so myself).
I’m not saying that I have any super genes or that I’m an abnormality in the world: I’m saying thank you to exercise for letting me enjoy my salt and not worry too much about any side effects.
Please pass the salt.
