The Benefits Of Drinking Salt Water + Ancient Salt Recommendations
The simpler we can make our health habits, the better.
I often work with busy moms and women who are stressed out and depleted—and don’t have the time or energy to support the natural lifestyle they crave.
It’s a vicious cycle. Exhausted moms give everything to their work and families with little left over for themselves. They want to find a way to prioritize their health, but that requires resources they don’t have.
When working with these clients, one of the best things we can start with is healthy habits that require almost no extra planning or time management. That way, moms can start to feel better without the stress of sacrificing more time and energy.
One of the habits I love for easy nourishment is drinking salt water.
I know, this is a bit of a touchy subject. But I’m not talking about table salt.
I’m talking about pure, naturally mineralized, and unrefined ancient salt that contains natural electrolytes.
Let’s explore the benefits of drinking salt water and how this low-commitment habit can help you move the needle in your health journey.
The Benefits of Drinking Salt Water
The water we drink today is highly filtered and processed, and the mineral content that used to exist in our water is almost completely gone. Not to mention, it’s replaced by things like fluoride and toxic contaminants.
Due to a combination of poor diets, depleted soil, processed water, and chemicals in food, we are losing mineral intake at an unprecedented rate. This must be addressed in cases of low energy, brain fog, and the overwhelming demands of motherhood.
Luckily, adding salt to your water is an easy way to boost your micronutrient intake. Unprocessed ancient salts contain natural magnesium, calcium, potassium, and sodium—minerals that can go straight to your cells.
This practice may even save you time. With better hydration, you’ll find yourself reaching for your water bottle less often.
Boosts Hydration
Do you feel chronically dehydrated even when you drink the recommended number of ounces per day? Or maybe you find yourself constantly in the bathroom when meeting your water goals.
Here’s the thing: hydration isn’t just about the water you drink. Hydration is about getting minerals and electrolytes into your cells. That’s what allows you to actually retain water—and it’s difficult to do if nutrients are nonexistent.
The United States is unique in its water processing. If you’ve ever been to another country (maybe one in Europe) you probably noticed you chug less water and feel overall much better. This is most likely due to the mineral content that’s still intact in their water and hydrating your cells.
By adding a pinch of salt to your water, you can replicate this experience and feel more hydrated and energetic.
Promotes Natural Electrolytes
Many of us grew up drinking sugar-filled electrolyte drinks full of excess dyes and bioengineered ingredients. Although there are certainly cases where natural electrolyte drinks are needed (especially for highly active people), daily salt water can offer a simpler and less expensive electrolyte boost.
Minerals like sodium and chloride found in ancient salt can keep your electrolytes carefully balanced throughout the day—helping your muscles and nerves perform optimally.
Helps Improve Endurance
If you exercise frequently, you may be low on electrolytes. Electrolytes require a careful balance that deficiencies can throw off. It’s hard to keep this balance if you’re only drinking electrolytes a few times a week.
By drinking salt water daily, you may experience better endurance, more sustained energy, and better overall performance when exercising. For moms, I find that their energy and vitality increase—and they feel more capable at work and at home.
Helps Balance Hormones
A lack of essential minerals and electrolytes (including sodium) can increase cortisol in your body—eventually throwing your other hormones out of whack.
It’s important to remember you don’t have to feel stressed to experience high cortisol levels. Your body can experience primal stress due to a lack of nutrients.
Salt can impact how much energy the adrenal glands are able to produce, too. It can also influence thyroid health and improve hormone levels throughout the body. Remember, minerals are directly related to hormone health—and the magnesium and potassium found in ancient salt can help us synthesize hormones.
Ideal for Detoxing
If you’re detoxing regularly, especially with frequent sauna use, you need extra minerals and electrolytes in your diet. Many detox supplements can strip your body of essential nutrients as they eliminate toxins. Sauna time or regular sweating is a fantastic detox method, but it comes with a loss of electrolytes. I recommend drinking salt water regularly and using electrolyte supplements a few times per week.
Helpful for Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS)
If you have Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), then you know the benefits of drinking salt water. This simple habit can help lower heart rate and increase blood volume—which is particularly helpful for managing symptoms.
Although effective, this is only one step for managing POTS. I would spend a lot of time with a POTS client to find the root cause of their illness and further optimize their diet.
The Importance of Remineralizing Filtered Water
I find drinking salt water especially important for those who use a water filter in their home. Yes, filtering your water is an essential step toward better health (I highly recommend it). But many people forget the second step, which is remineralizing that water.
Filtered water has virtually no nutrient content left in it—which often leads you to the cycle of constant thirst, frequent drinking, and little actual hydration.
Adding salt to your water is one of the best ways to remedy this. When you add the nutrients back in, you return water to the nutrient-dense drink it was meant to be.
Is Salt Water Bad for You? Evaluating the Different Types of Salt
There’s a huge difference between ancient mineral salt and table salt.
Traditional table salts are bleached, heated, stripped of trace minerals, and often have contaminants. They may also include anti-caking agents. I don’t recommend using this type of salt to remineralize your water.
Instead, ancient mineral salts remain intact—with the nutritional content salt was meant to have. Here are some brands I use for my family and recommend to my clients.
Crucial FOUR Icelandic Salt
This brand carries one of my favorite ancient mineral salts. It’s harvested by hand and tested for contaminants. This means it’s guaranteed to not include any sketchy chemicals. Their pure Icelandic salt is harvested from the sea and contains all the natural minerals salt is meant to have.
Redmond’s Real Salt
This is a popular ancient salt brand that’s harvested in Utah. It’s mined from an ancient seabed and doesn’t contain any harmful additives or go through chemical processing. The benefit of natural minerals and electrolytes found in the salt can help boost your cellular and hormone health in a way natural table salt cannot.
Celtic Salt by Eden Foods
This sea salt brand uses ancient methods to harvest salt—with no chemical processing or additives. It’s unrefined, full of micronutrients, and even uses glass packaging so anti-caking chemicals aren’t needed.
The Easiest Way to Add More Trace Minerals to Your Diet
Salt is so much more than a source of sodium.
Sure, when salt is heavily processed, refined, bleached, and full of excess chemicals, it’s not going to be good for you—and it could certainly earn a bad reputation.
But when we harvest ancient salt and leave it intact, we find a huge resource for micronutrients and trace minerals.
As the nutrients in our food are rapidly depleted (due to irresponsible farming and overprocessing), we can fight back with simple lifestyle changes like better salt.
I find ancient salt to be one of the easiest and least expensive ways to improve hydration, regulate hormones, and balance electrolyte consumption.
Better yet, it takes almost no effort.
Happy salting.