Eating Well - Beaming with Health

186 The Commonsense Guide to Eating Well
people by the British Medical Journal revealed that not everybody
responds in this way. There is even some talk of the
chloride content of salt being to blame. It is pretty rare to
need extra salt, and we should avoid processed, salted foods.
Conditions that might benefit from extra sodium
Diarrhoea and vomiting, which can leave the body depleted
of many minerals, especially sodium; lots and lots of sweating,
although it is better to replace with several salts, not just
sodium; severe and prolonged stress can cause the adrenal
glands, which live on top of the kidneys, to cause the kidneys
to lose excess salt. Listen to your body if you have salt cravings
during periods of stress.
Food sources of sodium
Salt, soy sauce, processed meats, yellow cheese, breakfast
cereals, vegemite, marmite, olives and celery. Few people
need to add table salt to their food. There are some 'natural
health salts' available that contain a variety of other minerals,
including some of the more unusual trace elements. If your
diet is mainly free of processed foods, adding some of this
sea salt is okay.
Nickel
In general we are better advised to avoid nickel than to seek
it out. Nickel, however, tends to seek us out as it is a common
by-product of many industrial processes, car exhaust, heating
fuel and cigarettes. Some people are overly sensitive to
nickel, which is present in jewellery. The most common reaction
is an eczema-like rash.
Enough said about the nasty side of nickel, we do in fact
need nickel in small amounts. It appears to be important for
our nuclear material, DNA and RNA, as well as featuring in
several enzymes.