Salt Vs Sugar
Salt and Sugar are the crystals that we’ve been consuming since our existence. We usually see them as a way to enhance our eating experience and enjoy food by enhancing their flavor. Whether it be savory or sweet, there’s more to these two crystals than meets the eye. They have been under scrutiny by the media for decades. There is missing information that the public is unaware of about sugar and salt. This article will go further into the properties of salt and sugar along with how they affect our health for better or for worse.
Salt — The Savory Electrolyte
Salt is seen as the polar opposite of sugar because of it’s savory properties when added onto foods. The only information that’s been relayed to the public is how we need to reduce our consumption of it because of how it is “causing” high blood pressure. The statement about salt being able to increase blood pressure does have some truth to it, but it’s not the main cause of high blood pressure.
There’s many things that haven’t been addressed about salt. One of them is what is does for our body and what the consequences are if there’s a lack of it in our diet. What salt does for our body is account for fluid balance and muscle and nerve function. Salt is an electrolyte chemically named sodium chloride.
The Bad Rep on Salt
The case of salt being demonized for causing high blood pressure comes from the modern American diet which has processed foods with large amounts of sodium, but there’s no potassium to make up for the consumption of it. There’s also the fact that the most common type of salt used in most foods today is iodized salt. It’s mostly processed to the point that it ends up having no minerals that can counteract the retentive properties of sodium. There’s different salts that can be used to counteract retentive properties of sodium such as himalayan pink salt and truffle salt that provide other healthy minerals.
What the science says about salt!
Potassium and Magnesium are electrolytes our body need and will help to balance out sodium to keep water retention under control. One way that salt differs from sugar is that consuming it has no direct affect on insulin. It doesn’t constitute as any of the three macronutrients; but a lack of sodium could lead to insulin resistance.
The consequences of inadequate sodium in the body can be devastating in a variety of ways. The lack of awareness for this issue could pose issues for those who are already health-conscious, but could be the opposite for those already consuming sodium when their body signals a need for it. The negative impact of low-sodium diets is so big that our bodies will do whatever it needs to retain it and it could even eat away at our body.
One of the consequences of not getting enough salt in your diet will be made apparent in how you feel throughout the day. If you feel lethargic or have muscle weakness, then you mostly likely don’t have have enough sodium in your body. A lack of sodium will excessively increase the amount of aldosterone in our body just to retain salt in our body.
Another side effect of low-sodium intake is the need for the body to strip sodium out of your bones just to give your body the sodium it needs, therefore weakening your bones. This can lead up to you getting osteoporosis. There’s a balance with sodium, but everyone is different. With how human history has played out for thousands of years, it’s been made clear that we consumed much higher amounts of salt than what the World Health Organization recommends without many health complications. Before refrigerators were invented, salt was used a preservative to keep foods from spoiling.
Bottom Line
Salt has far more benefits for the human body than harm. It’s vital for our bodies to function properly and live. It’s doesn’t do us much good to restrict our salt intake given that our consumption of salt in this modern era has went down significantly. Even though our sodium intake has went down, our intake of potassium and other electrolytes has taken the biggest hit with the modern diet in a fast-paced, time-deprived world dismissing the foods that have them. Before you consider reducing your salt intake, see if your diet needs more potassium or magnesium.
Sugar — The Sweet Crystal
Sugar is seen as a commodity and naturally occurs in certain foods. The United States has a reputation of being the leading country in sugar consumption; but what does that mean for those living in the United States? As the country’s sugar consumption rises each year, the obesity rate goes up. The question is why and how!
Why Obesity is on the rise
The reason why sugar is causing obesity to go up is the excessive consumption of it and what it does to the body. Not only that, sugar has a psychological effect on the brain that becomes a vicious cycle in itself.
How sugar causes obesity from a physiological perspective
Sugar directly affects insulin since it’s a carbohydrate out of the three macronutrients. There’s different forms of sugar from simple (monosaccharide) to complex (polysaccharide) carbs. They affect how quickly the sugar goes into the bloodstream. The quicker they go into the bloodstream, the higher your blood sugar goes up and it’s more likely to spike up. Complex carbs get digested and breakdown more slowly than simple carbs resulting in blood sugar levels going up, but not as much as simple carbs and won’t spike up. But what does this have to do with insulin?
Insulin and Blood Sugar
Blood Sugar levels have to be regulated to make sure the body doesn’t occur damage especially your pancreas. This is where insulin comes in to make sure your blood sugar level doesn’t stay elevated. Once your body loses the ability to control blood sugar, then your body has become resistant to insulin and your elevated blood sugar level will damage the vessels that supply blood to vital organs, which can increase the risk of heart disease and stroke, kidney disease, vision problems, and nerve problems. This is when you would be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
Insulin is responsible for keeping blood sugar under control and the retention of water, sodium, fat, and various minerals within the body. The issue with consuming too much sugar is that it overloads the body’s ability to be receptive to insulin and will eventually stop responding to insulin if glycogen and fat stores get filled up to the body’s limit.
Sugar Addiction
Sugar is known to be addictive as a result of it getting the brain to produce huge surges of dopamine. This becomes a vicious cycle, because it then requires you to consume more sugar than last time to get the same feeling of pleasure or “reward” you got from it previously. We tend to go towards the path of least resistance when it comes to decisions we make. The benefits are short-lived while the consequences will eventually come to fruition. This is what makes sugar very difficult to control in our diet when it’s in almost everything we eat.
Your Environment vs Willpower
This is where setting up an environment to succeed will be very important. For example, if you know you have a problem of tending to goof off and watch tv or play video games when you have work to do, then you would better off going to another place where they won’t be a distraction. The same goes with the foods we eat and keep around. Just keeping around a box of cookies or sugary cereals can make it much more difficult for you to resist eating them especially if they’re the only thing around for you to eat. The concept is that if they’re not there, then you won’t be able to eat them at all. It makes decision-making less complicated than it has to be and much easier to do what will benefit you even though it may not feel as rewarding right now.
Unfun factors that could cause people to consume excess sugar
Another reason for people not sticking with eating plans that could benefit them is because of the restrictions placed on them that are outright unnecessary. You can eat fruits and vegetables and make your foods taste good, by not unnecessarily reducing your sodium. If you’re eating fruits and vegetables to begin with, you’ll have far more headroom to indulge in salty and tasty meals because of the potassium that you’ll naturally get with those foods.
It’s important to enjoy what you’re doing or else you’re not going to stick with it long-term. This is where most diet plans go wrong. It’s important to look out for your health, but your enjoyment of the process is just as important to have the motivation to see the journey till the end.
There’s subjective and objective factors that go into eating healthily and sticking with it. Being objective about how to eat healthily without factoring in your enjoyment of it or how to make it a good experience is the fastest way for you to quit doing it.
The Verdict
With all the science behind sugar and salt, it’s safe to say salt is the winner. Here’s why:
- + Sodium is required for us to live.
- + Sodium isn’t addictive and our body will signal when it doesn’t need anymore.
- + The retentive properties of sodium can be balanced out by potassium.
- - Technically, our body requires zero sugar to function properly due to a process called gluconeogenesis, which converts protein into sugar.
- - Sugar is addictive and can lead to a vicious cycles of having high blood sugar constantly and you could become insulin resistant overtime.
- + Natural sugars such as those found in fruits can provide many health benefits through mirconutrients.
Let me know what you guys think of this article and what did you learn about it? What do plan on doing to eat more healthily and enjoy it?
References
Not Salt But Sugar As Etiological In Osteoporosis: A Review
Preservation and Physical Property Roles of Sodium in Foods
Aldosterone | You and Your Hormones from the Society for Endocrinology
Effects of aldosterone on insulin sensitivity and secretion
The biopsychology of salt hunger and sodium deficiency
Sugar Addiction: From Evolution to Revolution
