By Dr. Matsen

If you have eaten a diet high in regular table salt and you’re retaining fluid, and perhaps have high blood pressure, your kidneys may be swamped from excess sodium and may be deficient in potassium. This can be rectified by drinking a potassium broth made by thoroughly cooking potato skins, carrots, celery, and perhaps some other vegetables in a pot of water, and then straining the broth. You can drink this broth liberally throughout the day and, within a week or so, excess salt and fluid retention should be decreased or eliminated. The celery also helps loosen stiff and achy joints, and can be used in juice form. This broth should not be consumed by those with kidney damage, because too much potassium could interfere with heart function. See this month’s recipe for Vegetable Broth.

If you have bloating and fluid retention but have been “health-conscious”—reading health books, following weight-loss programs, undergoing colon irrigation, fasting, or if you are a vegetarian who has intentionally avoided salt—you probably have the opposite kidney problem: low sodium, with an associated weakened ileocecal valve, especially if you have low blood pressure.

The two main sources of sodium are animal protein and salt. Adding unprocessed sea salt to the diet is imperative for those eating vegetable foods. In several cases, the blood pressure of my patients was so low from a strict vegetarian diet (80 over 50) that I asked them to mix a half-teaspoon of unprocessed sea salt in a glass of warm water and drink it several times a day. Obviously this should not be done if you have high blood pressure because, while sodium is not the cause of high blood pressure, it can worsen this condition once you have it.

The brand of sea salt that I recommend is Nature’s Cargo™.  Nature’s Cargo™ Sea Salts is what “salt” is supposed to be—an authentic, natural, unrefined and unprocessed sea salt. This wonderfully balanced mixture of essential minerals is in the correct proportion that closely resembles our body’s own chemical make-up. From the pristine coastal areas of Northwestern France, Nature’s Cargo™ Sea Salts is hand-harvested by skilled plaudiers (salt farmers), using time honoured, hand-crafted methods dating back centuries. Each spring, ocean waters are collected into natural clay-lined salt ponds. In combination with the skill of the plaudier, and the action of the sun and the wind, these ponds yield the precious crystals known as Nature’s Cargo™ Sea Salts.

For more information on sea salt, see the Monthly Comment for June 2005.