Salt is a vital substance for the survival of all living creatures, particularly humans. Water and salt regulate the water content of your body. Water itself regulates the water content of the interior of the cells by working its way into all of the cells it reaches. It has to get there to cleanse and extract the toxic wastes of cell metabolisms. Salt forces some water to stay outside the cells ---balancing the amount of water outside the cells. There are two ‘oceans’ of water in the body; one ‘ocean’ is held inside the cells of the body, and the other ‘ocean’ is held outside the cells. When water is available to get inside the cells freely, it is filtered from the outside salty ‘ocean’ and injected into the cells which are being overworked despite their water shortage. This is the reason why in severe dehydration we develop peripheral oedema and retain water when we don’t drink enough water. The brain commands an increase in salt and water retention by the kidneys. 


Initially, the process of water filtration and its delivery into the cells is more efficient at night when your body is horizontal. In this position, the collected fluid, which mostly pools in your legs, does not have to fight the force of gravity to get into your circulation. If reliance of this process of hydration of some cells continues for long, your lungs begin to get waterlogged at night and breathing becomes difficult. You will need more pillows to sit upright to sleep. This condition is the consequence of dehydration. However, you have to be careful not to overload your system by drinking too much water. Increases in water intake should be slow and spread out until your urine production begins to increase at the same rate at which you drink water.

Good health depends on a most delicate balance between the volume of these oceans, and this balance is achieved by salt – preferably sea salt.


We often hear bad press about salt, and indeed table salt which is refined, is not the ideal form of salt for our bodies.  What our bodies really need is natural pure salt.  Taking the wrong type of salt can be detrimental to our health. 

In fact, without the right kind of salt, your body can encounter many different problems.  Is it any wonder then, by eating table salt, your body is actually being deprived of the real salt and minerals?  Here's only a small list of what can happen when your body lacks proper salt:
    •    High blood pressure
    •    Accelerated ageing cellular degeneration
    •    Respiratory and blood sugar problems
    •    Liver failure, kidney problems, adrenal exhaustion
    •    Heart muscles tire and lacerate

Refers to naturally moist salt harvested from the Atlantic seawater off the coast of Brittany, France.  This type of salt is harvested using the Celtic method of wooden rakes allowing no metal to touch the salt.

It is naturally air and sun-dried in clay ponds and gathered with wooden tools to preserve its living enzymes.  Because it is unrefined, it contains all of the 84 beneficial live elements found in sea water, with no chemical and preservatives nor any other additives.

Minerals and Trace Elements Found in Celtic Sea Salt

Among the live minerals and trace elements found in Celtic sea salt are iodine, iron, calcium, magnesium, manganese, potassium and zinc.  The 84 trace minerals provide the necessary nutrients and protect your body from the harshness of sodium chloride which we consume from commercial salt.
 
The appropriate magnesium content ensures that unused sodium is quickly and completely eliminated from your body through your kidneys---to prevent harm. 

Water is one of the most essential components of your body. Water regulates your body temperature, cushions and protects your vital organs, and aids your digestive system. It comprises 75% of all of your muscle tissue and about 10 % of all of your fatty tissue and also acts within each and every cell in your body to transport nutrients and dispel waste.  Because water constitutes more than half of the composition of your entire body, it is impossible to sustain life for more than  a maximum of 7 days without it.

Necessary to the healthy function of all of your internal organs, water must be consumed to replace the amount lost each day during basic activities. It is recommended that women consume 2 litres daily and men consume 3 litres. This consumption can be through various beverages (80%) or in food (20%). Active people need even more, particularly if they’re exercising in hot weather. You can meet your body’s water needs over the course of a day through a variety of fluids and foods including juices, healthy smoothies, tea,  soups, fruits and vegetables however, the most efficient  commodity is of course WATER.

In one hour of exercise your body can lose more than 1 litre of water, depending on exercise intensity and air temperature. If there is not enough water for your body to cool itself through perspiration, you will enter into a state of dehydration.

In a dehydrated state your body is unable to cool itself efficiently, leading to heat exhaustion and possibly heat stroke. Without an adequate supply of water your body will lack energy and you may develop muscle cramps and headaches. 

To prevent dehydration, you must drink before, during and after any form of exercise and more importantly, consistently throughout the day.
Don’t wait for signs of thirst to appear. Thirst is a signal that your body is already dehydrated. It is important to drink more than thirst demands and to continue to drink throughout the day. You don’t have to carry a bottle of water with you but you should at least have a strategy whereby you drink something like a glass of water every time you leave your house or maybe a half a glass every time you get up from your chair.

One way to check your hydration level is to monitor your urine. It should be plentiful and pale yellow unless you are taking supplements or medications, which will darken the colour for several hours after consumption. If you have a good understanding of the state of your body’s functioning, you will know if you have entered into a state of dehydration. However, don’t wait for signs to appear as it will mean that you have already done some damage!

As you may know, the various tissues and organs of your body are composed of between 75% and 95% water. For example, your brain is made up of 90% water!

This water is used as a way of transporting nutrients and other substances throughout your body. The splitting of the water molecule is one of the ways which your body creates energy in the form of ATP for organic functions.

Transmission of nerve impulses and neurotransmitters is heavily dependent on water. Water also holds the cell membranes together allowing greater efficiency of proteins and enzymes.

Every 24 hours your body recycles the equivalent of 40,000 glasses of water to maintain your normal physiological functions. Within this process, your body becomes short of about 6-10 glasses of water every day. This deficit must be supplied to the body each day. Your body needs upwards of half its weight in grams of water per day - a minimum of 8 glasses.

As far as your body’s chemistry is concerned, water and fluid are two different things. Coffee, tea, soft drinks, alcohol and milk all act differently from water and are not necessarily hydrating. Also, caffeine and caffeine-like substances can ultimately dehydrate your body as they cause you to urinate more than the volume of the water contained in the beverage.
Alcohol causes your kidneys to flush out water and is thus ultimately dehydrating.

Beverages are not the only way of hydrating your body. Foods are also responsible for this essential process. Foods can be divided up into two basic groups regarding their hydrating qualities. The first group is made up of concentrated foods and this includes all proteins, fats and starches. Examples of concentrated foods are bread, meat, cheese, fish, eggs, tofu, pasta, nuts, seeds and beans.

The second food group is watery foods such as fruit and vegetables. Clearly they vary in the amount of water they contain. Fruit like watermelon has a much greater percentage of water in it than an apple. Likewise a squash has more water in it than a potato.
It has been suggested by some nutritionists that the ideal proportion of watery foods to concentrated foods should be 80% watery foods to 20% concentrated foods. Even if you were to narrow this margin considerably to 60% watery foods to 40% concentrated foods it is still drastically different from a typical Australian diet.