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	<title>Real Salt</title>
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		<link>http://blog.realsalt.com/2012/05/298/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.realsalt.com/2012/05/298/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 May 2012 16:48:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Real Salt]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.realsalt.com/?p=298</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Is Your Salt Real? Not all Salt is created equal. To find out more about Real Salt download our booklet here: Is Your Salt Real? booklet If you are not able to find Real Salt in your area, please visit our online store or call us toll free at 800-367-7258 and we will happily ship [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.realsalt.com/images/IsYourSaltRealBooklet.jpg" alt="Is Your Salt Real?" width="250" height="350" /></p>
<h1>Is Your Salt Real?</h1>
<p>Not all Salt is created equal. To find out more about Real Salt download our booklet here:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.realsalt.com/pdfs/IsYourSaltRealBooklet.pdf" target="storefinder">Is Your Salt Real? booklet</a></li>
</ul>
<p>If you are not able to find Real Salt in your area, please visit our <a href="https://shop.redmondtrading.com/shop/">online store</a> or call us toll free at<br />
800-367-7258 and we will happily ship any of our products directly to your door.</p>
<h3>Real Salt Outside the United States</h3>
<p>We don&#8217;t ship directly to international customers, but our products are available in many locations around the world.</p>
<ul>
<li><b>Canada:</b><br />
			<a href="http://well.ca/brand/redmond-realsalt.html">Real Salt on Well.ca</a></li>
<li><b>New Zealand and Australia:</b><br />
			<a href="http://www.healthhouse.co.nz/productsbytype/salts">Real Salt on HealthHouse.co.nz</a><br />
			<a href="http://www.ephraimhealth.co.nz/category/Real-Salt/145.aspx">Real Salt on EphraimHealth.co.nz</a></li>
<li><b>Europe:</b><br />
			<a href="http://www.holzbach.de/index-uk.html ">Real Salt on Holzbach</a></li>
<p>            <!--
<li><a href="http://well.ca/brand/redmond-trading-company.html">Redmond Clay and Bath Salt on Well.ca</a></li>
<p>&#8211;>
          </ul>
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		<title>Is high blood pressure linked to salt, or sugar?</title>
		<link>http://blog.realsalt.com/2011/12/is-high-blood-pressure-linked-to-salt-or-sugar/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.realsalt.com/2011/12/is-high-blood-pressure-linked-to-salt-or-sugar/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 28 Dec 2011 17:46:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Real Salt</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Company]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blood pressure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[good health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[natural sea salt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[salt]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.realsalt.com/?p=274</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A certified nutritional therapist, Craig Fear, recently wrote a blog post we liked so well, we asked him if he&#8217;d like to share it on the Real Salt blog as well. If you&#8217;re into nutrition you&#8217;ll want to check out Craig&#8217;s website, and if you&#8217;re into being healthy (who isn&#8217;t?), take a few minutes to [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A certified nutritional therapist, Craig Fear, recently wrote a blog post we liked so well, we asked him if he&#8217;d like to share it on the Real Salt blog as well. If you&#8217;re into nutrition you&#8217;ll want to check out <a href="http://www.pvnutritionaltherapy.com/">Craig&#8217;s website</a>, and if you&#8217;re into being healthy (who isn&#8217;t?), take a few minutes to read this post!</p>
<h2>Why Sugar Will Raise Your Blood Pressure More Than Salt</h2>
<p>By Craig Fear, NTP &#8211; <a href="http://www.pvnutritionaltherapy.com/">Certified Nutritional Therapist</a></p>
<p>To salt or not to salt, that is the question.</p>
<p>According to your doctor, your government, just about every major health organization, and probably your mother (at least mine) salt will raise your blood pressure.  This thinking is so pervasive that it’s taken as a fact by just about everyone.</p>
<p>It also sells A LOT of drugs.</p>
<p>I ended last week’s blog about bone broths with four tips to ensure a good supply of minerals in the diet.  My last tip was to consume salt liberally.  I then proclaimed that there is no connection to salt intake and high blood pressure.</p>
<p>OK, I lied.</p>
<p>I admit it. There is a connection.</p>
<p>But it’s not nearly as much as you think.</p>
<p>Let me explain why in a somewhat roundabout way.</p>
<p><strong>Carbs and water weight</strong></p>
<p>As part of my nutrition practice I teach a 12 week group weight loss class.  The program is called “Get at the Roots” because each week we discuss a different underlying cause of weight gain with steps to correct it.  Class members learn to address their digestive issues.  They learn to identify hidden food sensitivities.  They learn how to correct fatty acid deficiencies, hormonal imbalances, brain chemistry deficiencies and many others.</p>
<p>However, the most important underlying issue is addressed in week 1.  This is the ultimate foundation. Everything is predicated on this.  And that is carbohydrate restriction.  More specifically, refined carbohydrate restriction (notice I did not say calorie restriction).  Class members learn right from the start that <em>it is not how much they eat but what they eat that is most important.</em></p>
<p>In week 1 we discuss the science of carbs and see how they’re broken down into sugar in the body.  We then see how too much sugar in the blood is dangerous and how the body converts and stores sugar as fat.</p>
<p>We take a historical look at the evolution of the American diet in the 20<sup>th</sup> century and see the clear influence of industry with the rise of refined carbohydrates.  We see a clear connection to this trend and the rise of chronic diseases in industrialized countries.</p>
<p>We explore the bad science that has led to the idea that fat is bad.  We dismantle the myth that fat makes us fat and we learn how vital it is to our body’s functioning.  And we learn how fat and protein switch the body’s metabolism from fat storing to fat burning.</p>
<p>“Yeah yeah yeah, so what does this have to do with salt?!” you ask.</p>
<p>Generally speaking most class members lose the most weight in the first two weeks of the 12 week class.  But they’re not really losing fat.  They’re losing <em>water.</em>  Why?</p>
<p>Carbohydrates cause the body to hold on to water.  When the water volume increases in our blood, the pressure in our blood vessels increase.</p>
<p>The same can happen when we consume salt.</p>
<p>However, only one of these will cause <em>chronically</em> elevated blood pressure.  Let’s see which one is the true culprit.</p>
<p><strong>Understanding Salt</strong></p>
<p>Salt is composed mostly of sodium and chloride.  We can’t live without either.  Our blood, sweat and tears are salty.  Sodium and chloride play vital roles in nerve conduction, muscle contraction (including the heart), digestion and blood pressure, to name a few.</p>
<p>As with everything, our body regulates their concentrations so they don’t get too high or too low.</p>
<p>Sodium’s concentration in our blood is maintained by water.  The kidneys job is to maintain this concentration.  Consume more salt and your kidneys will excrete it into the urine along with water to flush it out.  Consume less salt and the kidneys will hold on to water to maintain the concentration.</p>
<p>So when we consume salt, the blood pressure goes up slightly as the kidneys work to maintain the right concentration.  And vice versa.  This has given us the belief that reducing salt in our diet will lower our blood pressure.  Of course it does, but here’s the million dollar question:</p>
<p>Does it drop our blood pressure enough to resolve chronically high blood pressure?</p>
<p>And the answer is a resounding NO!</p>
<p>Reducing salt in your diet has a minimal effect on lowering your blood pressure.   Because salt is so vital to your health, your body will hold on to it in your bloodstream so it doesn’t get too diluted.  If you have high blood pressure, study after study has shown that a significant reduction of salt in your diet will only drop it 2-5 millimeters of mercury (mmHg).</p>
<p>Hypertension is defined as having a systolic pressure (top number) of at least 20 mmHg over normal and a diastolic pressure (bottom number) at least 10 mmHG over normal.  Normal is considered 120/80 mmHg so hypertension is defined as being above 140/90 (Prehypertension is the range between normal and hypertension).  Therefore, reducing hypertension by 2-5 mmHg via salt restriction when you’re already at least 20 mmHg over what is considered normal just gets you slightly less hypertension.   This does not resolve hypertension.</p>
<p>To put it in perspective let’s visit re-visit the Weston A. Price Wise Traditions Conference.</p>
<p><strong>The History of Salt</strong></p>
<p>On Saturday at the conference I saw Morton Satin speak.  Morton is known as the Salt Guru and is the Vice President of Science and Research for the Salt Institute.  Morton’s talk, “Salt Myths,” took on the concept that salt is bad for us and will raise our blood pressure.</p>
<p>Dissecting flawed study after flawed study, Morton reminded everyone that before the advent of refrigeration, foods were preserved and cured in salt and that contrary to popular belief salt has dramatically <em>decreased</em> in our diet since WWII.  In fact, ‘sal’ is Latin for the word salt. In Roman times, sal-ad was traditionally meant to be vegetables and salt or a salty dressing.  Similarly the word ‘salary’ also comes from the Latin ‘sal’ as Roman soldiers were paid in salt.</p>
<p>Go to the “history of salt” page on Wikipedia.  Here’s what the first sentence reads:  “Salt’s ability to preserve food was a foundation of civilization.”  If you read further, you’ll see that humans have gone to great lengths throughout history to secure salt.  Empires have risen and fallen due to salt trade routes and salt production.</p>
<p>Furthermore, salt’s use as a healing remedy dates back thousands of years.  Cultures throughout the world have found healing properties to salt water.  Could this possibly be a reason so many of us are drawn to the ocean?</p>
<p>In fact, salt is so vital to your health, that not getting enough can have <em>adverse </em>health consequences including an increase in your likelihood of hypertension and cardiovascular disease, the very conditions we’re told are related to too much salt.</p>
<p><strong>The True Culprit</strong></p>
<p>So if it’s not salt, what is it?</p>
<p>It seems like in everything I write, in all my public talks, in all my discussions about nutrition, I somehow find my way to this statistic:</p>
<p>The average American consumes 150 pounds of refined sugar per year.</p>
<p>We are so used to it in our diet that we don’t realize it’s relatively new historically speaking.   Prior to industrialization, making refined sugar from sugar cane was a long and laborious process.   The sugar industry was built on the back of the slave trade.  Initially, only wealthy Europeans could afford it. This is also the first evidence we see of diabetes.</p>
<p>With the advent of industrialization in the 19<sup>th</sup> century, industry took over for slave labor and made the manufacturing more efficient.  Throughout the 20<sup>th</sup> century, sugar became increasingly available to everyone as the food industry put it in everything.</p>
<p>This is without question the root reason to our type II diabetes epidemic (chronically elevated blood sugar). This is the root reason to our obesity epidemic as the body stores excess sugar as fat.  And yes, it’s the root reason to hypertension.</p>
<p>Hypertension is a condition of industrialized societies.  Countless researchers including Dr. Price did not find hypertension in non-industrialized societies despite many cultures liberally consuming salt in the form of sea salt, sea vegetables and salt-preserved foods.  Nor did they find rampant sugar consumption.</p>
<p>We know that hypertension goes along with obesity, heart disease and diabetes, the so called diseases of civilization.</p>
<p>Again, too many refined carbohydrates increase water in the blood thus increasing blood pressure. Refined carbs have no nutrients. The nutrients are stripped out in the refining process.  As we’ve seen the body must maintain sodium in the bloodstream or significant health problems will ensue.  Consider that an intravenous solution of salt water is the first thing given to ER patients.</p>
<p>So if the body is not getting sodium through the diet it must retain it.  It will do this by retaining water in the blood vessels to maintain the concentration of sodium.  Thus, blood pressure rises and thus we get hypertension.</p>
<p>And this is why most people lose the most weight in the form of water in the first two weeks on carbohydrate-restricted diets.  This is exactly what happens in the weight loss program I teach.</p>
<p>And of course, class members blood pressure drops as well.  Many stop their blood pressure medications.</p>
<p>This is just one of the many benefits that come with restricting sugar and processed carbohydrates.  For others cholesterol comes down, creaky joints feel better, mood improves and so on.</p>
<p><strong>What about the studies?</strong></p>
<p>You would be surprised just how many studies exist that shows <em>no</em> connection to salt and hypertension. So forget the studies.  Study it in yourself.  If you have hypertension, reduce your salt intake for two weeks and do nothing else (you’re probably already doing this). See if that brings down your blood pressure significantly.  If not, eliminate all sugar intake in the form of refined sugar and refined carbs for two weeks.  See what happens.</p>
<p>Please note there are some medical conditions that are can be exacerbated by increased salt intake such as kidney failure and congestive heart failure.  Consult your doctor if you have a serious medical condition.</p>
<p><strong>Sources of salt</strong></p>
<p>Of course not all salt is created equal.  Most Americans use processed salt which is stripped of trace minerals and full of anti-caking chemicals such as aluminum which make salt easier to sift.</p>
<p>God forbid we might have to use real salt that doesn’t come out of matching porcelain salt and pepper shakers.  Oh, the inconvenience.</p>
<p>Yes, Nature’s true salt, sea salt, forms clumps.  It is also offers a wonderful supply of trace minerals which the body needs for so many biochemical processes.</p>
<p>There are many healthy sources of sea salt in health food stores.   Many people have favorite brands for different reasons.  I like Redmond Sea Salt which is mined from ancient sea beds in Utah.  Others prefer Himalayan sea salt or Celtic sea salt.</p>
<p>Finally, the last question I get from many people.</p>
<p>How much salt is too much salt?</p>
<p>Dr. David Brownstein, a holistic doctor who specializes in treating thyroid issues and the author of <em>Salt Your Way to Health </em>recommends at least a teaspoon per day of unrefined salt.</p>
<p>But don’t discount your innate intelligence!   Innate intelligence communicates to you through your taste buds.  If you’re craving salt, salt your food.  You’ll know when you’ve overdone it.</p>
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		<title>A video introduction to Real Salt</title>
		<link>http://blog.realsalt.com/2011/07/a-video-introduction-to-real-salt/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.realsalt.com/2011/07/a-video-introduction-to-real-salt/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Jul 2011 17:30:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Real Salt</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[partners]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[video]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.realsalt.com/?p=262</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Not long ago, our friends at One Degree Organic Foods came to learn more about Real Salt. They brought some cameras along, and we couldn&#8217;t be happier with their video! Watch the teaser below, and then head over to the One Degree website to learn about another great company and see the complete Real Salt [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Not long ago, our friends at One Degree Organic Foods came to learn more about Real Salt. They brought some cameras along, and we couldn&#8217;t be happier with their video! Watch the teaser below, and then head over to the One Degree website to learn about another great company and see<a href="http://www.onedegreeorganics.com/realsalt" target="_blank"> the complete Real Salt video</a>.</p>
<a id="wpfp_919621e035ffdec8e676ed6e39c6cc84" style="width:540px; height:304px;" class="flowplayer_container player plain"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/RealSaltVideos/OneDegree-ScrShot.jpg" alt="" class="splash" /><img width="83" height="83" border="0" src="RELATIVE_PATH/images/play.png" alt="" class="splash_play_button" style="top: 107px; border:0;" /></a>
<div id="popup_contents_919621e035ffdec8e676ed6e39c6cc84" class="popup_contents" style="border:none;"><div style="position:absolute;top:70%; width:100%;"><div class="popup_controls" style="border:none;text-align:center;"> <a title="Replay video" onClick="javascript:window.location=this.href" href="javascript:fp_replay('919621e035ffdec8e676ed6e39c6cc84');"><img src="RELATIVE_PATH/images/replay.png" alt="Replay video" /></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a title="Share video" onClick="javascript:window.location=this.href" href="javascript:fp_share('919621e035ffdec8e676ed6e39c6cc84');"><img src="RELATIVE_PATH/images/share.png" alt="Share video" /></a></div></div><div id="wpfp_919621e035ffdec8e676ed6e39c6cc84_custom_popup" class="wpfp_custom_popup" style="border:none;margin:5%;text-align:center;"><p>Watch the complete five-minute video <br/>on the <a onClick="javascript:window.location=this.href" href="http://www.onedegreeorganics.com/realsalt">One Degree Organic Foods website</a>!</p><br /><br /><a onClick="javascript:window.location=this.href" href="http://www.onedegreeorganics.com/realsalt"><span class="link_button">One Degree Organic Foods website</span></a></div></div>
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		<title>Meditating in the Real Salt mine</title>
		<link>http://blog.realsalt.com/2011/07/meditating-in-the-real-salt-mine/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.realsalt.com/2011/07/meditating-in-the-real-salt-mine/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 01 Jul 2011 23:05:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Real Salt</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[healthy mind and body]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[meditation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.realsalt.com/?p=254</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you&#8217;ve ever had a crazy day and wished you could just escape from it all by meditating in  an ancient salt deposit, we know a guy you can envy. Zen Master Hung, Chi-Sung, is one of the most famous meditation teachers in Taiwan, practicing and teaching mediation for over 30 years. He has taught [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you&#8217;ve ever had a crazy day and wished you could just escape from it all by meditating in  an ancient salt deposit, we know a guy you can envy.</p>
<p>Zen Master Hung, Chi-Sung, is one of the most famous meditation teachers in Taiwan, practicing and teaching mediation for over 30 years. He has taught at several universities, companies, organizations, and government offices and authored more than 100 books, and he recently dropped by the Real Salt mine to meditate.</p>
<p>Are you curious what he thought of the experience? Master Hung said the energy in our mine is &#8220;amazing&#8221; and &#8220;a powerful cleanser of the body and mind.&#8221; Maybe that explains why our miners are so darn content all the time!</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.realsalt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/meditate.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-255" title="meditate" src="http://blog.realsalt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/meditate.jpg" alt="" width="600" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://blog.realsalt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/meditate-wide.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-257" title="meditate-wide" src="http://blog.realsalt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/meditate-wide.jpg" alt="" width="600" /></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>Real Salt: The Evolution of a Brand</title>
		<link>http://blog.realsalt.com/2011/04/real-salt-the-evolution-of-a-brand/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.realsalt.com/2011/04/real-salt-the-evolution-of-a-brand/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 Apr 2011 22:17:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Real Salt</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Company]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[label]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[packaging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[real salt]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.realsalt.com/?p=244</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As a follow-up to our last post about the new Real Salt packaging, we thought we might show you what Real Salt packaging has looked like throughout the years and answer a few specific questions. This picture shows Real Salt shakers from the early &#8217;80s to today. The Real Salt look most of you are [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As a follow-up to our last post about the new Real Salt packaging, we thought we might show you what Real Salt packaging has looked like throughout the years and answer a few specific questions. This picture shows Real Salt shakers from the early &#8217;80s to today.</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.realsalt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/RealSalt9ozProductHistory-web.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-247" title="Real Salt 9oz Product History" src="http://blog.realsalt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/RealSalt9ozProductHistory-web.jpg" alt="" width="540" height="283" /></a></p>
<p>The Real Salt look most of you are familiar with was first used about twenty years ago, and it was the first time we included &#8220;Redmond&#8221; in the logo. We took the word Redmond out in this version, but Real Salt is still owned by Redmond and Redmond still has the same private ownership we&#8217;ve had for years.</p>
<p>A lot of you also noticed we removed the word &#8220;Ancient&#8221; from the label, and wondered if that reflected a change in the way we process Real Salt. It doesn&#8217;t. We&#8217;re still 100% natural, delivering salt to you just the way nature intended.</p>
<p>If you have a question about our new packaging, go ahead and leave a comment here, ask us <a href="http://www.facebook.com/realsalt">on Facebook</a>, or call us at 1-800-367-7258.</p>
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		<title>New Packaging, Same Real Salt</title>
		<link>http://blog.realsalt.com/2011/03/new-packaging-same-real-salt/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.realsalt.com/2011/03/new-packaging-same-real-salt/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 23 Mar 2011 19:39:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Real Salt</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Company]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FAQ]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[label]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[packaging]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.realsalt.com/?p=235</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you&#8217;ve seen Real Salt on a store shelf lately, you may have noticed our new labels and packaging.  Several of you have noticed and called or emailed to ask if the changed packaging means a changed product.  It doesn&#8217;t.  Real Salt didn&#8217;t change. The unit sizes didn&#8217;t change. The company hasn&#8217;t changed. Only the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you&#8217;ve seen Real Salt on a store shelf lately, you may have noticed our new labels and packaging.  Several of you have noticed and called or emailed to ask if the changed packaging means a changed product.  It doesn&#8217;t.  Real Salt didn&#8217;t change. The unit sizes didn&#8217;t change. The company hasn&#8217;t changed. Only the packaging changed.</p>
<h2>What Changed?</h2>
<p>A lot of customers told us our old logo was hard to read &#8212; from a distance it looked a lot like the product was called &#8220;BEAL SALT&#8221;.  We&#8217;re all about REAL and not so interested in BEAL, so we wanted to simplify the logo.  We also removed the &#8220;Redmond&#8221; from the logo, hoping to keep growing Real Salt as its own brand independent of our parent company, Redmond Inc.</p>
<p>We also updated our pouches and the labels on our shakers.  The packaging is similar enough to be familiar to you, but we made them as transparent as we could to show off Real Salt&#8217;s unique appearance, and of course they&#8217;re sporting the new logo.</p>
<div class="slidedeck_frame skin-default"><dl id="SlideDeck_415_225" class="slidedeck slidedeck_225" style="width:540px;height:253px"><dt>Real Salt Shaker</dt><dd style="background:url(http://blog.realsalt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/new-label-slideshow-shaker.jpg) center center !important;"></dd><dt>Refill Pouch</dt><dd style="background:url(http://blog.realsalt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/new-label-slideshow-pouch.jpg) center center !important;"></dd><dt>Kosher Shaker</dt><dd style="background:url(http://blog.realsalt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/new-label-slideshow-shaker-k.jpg) center center !important;"></dd><dt>Kosher Pouch</dt><dd style="background:url(http://blog.realsalt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/new-label-slideshow-pouch-k.jpg) center center !important;"></dd></dl></div>
<h2>What Stayed the Same?</h2>
<p>Real Salt is still harvested from an ancient sea bed here in the U.S.A.  It&#8217;s still the same product, with the same unique flavor and health benefits you&#8217;ve come to expect from us.  We&#8217;re still the same company&#8211; which is great because we all really love our jobs.</p>
<p>We know change can be a little unsettling and we love to hear from Real Salt customers, so if you have questions or comments about our new look we hope you&#8217;ll <a href="http://www.facebook.com/realsalt">drop a note on Facebook</a> or contact us <a href="http://www.realsalt.com/contact/">by phone or email</a>.</p>
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		<title>Real Salt, iodine, and radiation</title>
		<link>http://blog.realsalt.com/2011/03/real-salt-iodine-and-radiation/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.realsalt.com/2011/03/real-salt-iodine-and-radiation/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Mar 2011 00:50:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Real Salt</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iodine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[japan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nuclear power]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[radiation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.realsalt.com/?p=221</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The recent earthquake in Japan has affected millions of people directly and much of the world emotionally.  Beyond the heart-wrenching images coming from Japan, damaged nuclear reactors have released radiation into the surrounding area, leading to speculation that unusually high levels of radiation will soon follow weather patterns around the globe. As a result, many [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The recent earthquake in Japan has affected millions of people directly and much of the world emotionally.  Beyond the heart-wrenching images coming from Japan, damaged nuclear reactors have released radiation into the surrounding area, leading to speculation that unusually high levels of radiation will soon follow weather patterns around the globe. As a result, many people are looking for ways to supplement their body&#8217;s supply of iodine, and several have contacted us here to ask if the iodine in Real Salt will help.</p>
<h2>Iodine and Radiation</h2>
<p>Your thyroid gland uses iodine to make hormones, so it tends to concentrate iodine whenever it is introduced into your body.  One substance released during nuclear accidents like the one in Japan is radioactive iodine called I-131.  Your thyroid can&#8217;t distinguish between natural iodine and I-131, so if you were to be exposed to nuclear radiation your thyroid could potentially stockpile enough I-131 to lead to cancer some years later.</p>
<p>The thyroid is particularly good at absorbing iodine, but if it is already saturated with iodine&#8211;say, from potassium iodide tablets or naturally occurring sources&#8211;it is less likely to absorb the damaged I-131. That is why the Japanese government issued potassium iodide, and it also explains why so many people the world over are suddenly interested in the supplement today.</p>
<h2>Real Salt and Iodine</h2>
<p>The trace amount of iodine found in Real Salt is not sufficient to saturate thyroid tissue with natural iodine and prevent the absorption of I-131. In fact, even artificially iodized table salt would be insufficient&#8211;you would have to eat so much you&#8217;d be sick.  There are natural foods rich in iodine that certainly wouldn&#8217;t do you any harm &#8212; kelp is the iodine superstar, but yogurt, cow&#8217;s milk, eggs, strawberries, and mozzarella cheese are also high in iodine. (You can read more about the <a href="http://blog.realsalt.com/2010/08/does-real-salt-have-the-iodine-we-need/">iodine in Real Salt</a>.)</p>
<h2>Chance of Exposure</h2>
<p>The destruction in Japan is spectacular and visually arresting, so it&#8217;s easy for us to imagine the worst possible global scenario. But despite what you may have read in that forwarded email,  experts agree that radioactive particles from the failing reactors will not reach the United States&#8211;not even the islands of Hawaii, which are far closer to the failing reactors than most of the country.</p>
<h2>What Can We Do?</h2>
<p>The United States has 104 nuclear power plants, and if you live within 20 miles of one you might consider stocking up on potassium iodide tablets.  For most of us in America and around the globe, though, perhaps the best thing we can do is <a href="http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ntld_main&amp;s_src=RSG000000000&amp;s_subsrc=RCO_FrontPagePanel">donate what we can</a> to ease the suffering of the victims of this horrible destruction.</p>
<p><strong>References</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/03/14/134533079/why-iodine-tablets-come-out-when-radiation-threatens?ft=1&amp;f=100">National Public Radio</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.scpr.org/programs/madeleine-brand/2011/03/14/nuclear-radiation/">Southern California Public Radio</a></li>
<li><a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/149743-obama-no-danger-of-japans-nuclear-fallout-reaching-us">The Hill</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.bt.cdc.gov/radiation/ki.asp">Centers for Disease Control</a></li>
</ul>
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		<title>Are your facts real?</title>
		<link>http://blog.realsalt.com/2011/03/are-your-facts-real/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.realsalt.com/2011/03/are-your-facts-real/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 14 Mar 2011 23:53:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Real Salt</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FAQ]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[minerals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[salt]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.realsalt.com/?p=212</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As our name implies, Real Salt is, well, real.  When you eat Real Salt you know you&#8217;re getting salt exactly as nature made it&#8211;no minerals stripped out, nothing added, no gimmicks.  We stick with what&#8217;s real, and you get a healthy, natural salt you can trust. Sticking with what&#8217;s real is a great way to [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As our name implies, Real Salt is, well, real.  When you eat Real Salt you know you&#8217;re getting salt exactly as nature made it&#8211;no minerals stripped out, nothing added, no gimmicks.  We stick with what&#8217;s real, and you get a healthy, natural salt you can trust.</p>
<p>Sticking with what&#8217;s real is a great way to produce salt, and it&#8217;s also a great way to market salt.  Our message is a lot like our product &#8212; simple, real, and easy to swallow.  We know some people who use salt will never be Real Salt customers, and that&#8217;s just fine.  We can only be who we are, so we don&#8217;t spend money marketing to people who don&#8217;t value the things we value.</p>
<p>It makes sense for us to keep our marketing messages as simple and real as our products are, but some salt companies have a tendency to complicate things with a little marketing trickery. For the most part they&#8217;re good companies producing good salt, but their marketing material can be a little misleading.  We&#8217;re going to talk about it today, not because we want to point fingers, but because our customers sometimes ask and we like simple answers.</p>
<h2>Brine Inflation</h2>
<p>If you&#8217;ve done research on sea salt you may have seen a bar graph that makes you think certain brands of sea salt have ten to 15 times more trace minerals than others. (The chart has even appeared in a book or two, and it looks a bit like the image below&#8211;without the blurriness we added to avoid embarrassing anyone.) At a glance, you might think that brands like Real Salt are woefully lacking trace minerals, but the company who makes the chart is actually employing a little marketing wizardry by combining brine (sea water) and  trace elements into a single number.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://blog.realsalt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Misleading-bar-chart-brine.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-213 aligncenter" title="brine != minerals" src="http://blog.realsalt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Misleading-bar-chart-brine.png" alt="" width="349" height="161" /></a></p>
<p>Combining water and trace minerals creates a dramatic chart for their marketing materials, but all it really means is that salt from modern oceans is comparatively very wet.  The percentage of water across sea salts can vary quite a bit (Real Salt is 0.6% water, while one modern ocean brand is 14.3%) but if their chart were to compare trace minerals alone instead of combining minerals with water, the differences would be less exciting &#8212; and more relevant.  Of the brands we&#8217;ve tested, trace mineral content ranges from 1.36% to 2.46%.  (Indeed, the FDA and World Food Standards won&#8217;t allow you to call your product &#8220;food grade salt&#8221; if it isn&#8217;t at least 97% sodium chloride, so if someone leads you to believe their salt has more than 3% trace minerals, you can be reasonably sure they&#8217;re spinning the truth.)</p>
<h2>Counting Minerals</h2>
<p>So far we&#8217;ve explained how some companies create confusion about the <em>percentage</em> of trace minerals in sea salt. There&#8217;s also confusion about the <em>number</em> of minerals in sea salt, but this seems to be a little less deliberate.</p>
<p>All salt, regardless of whether it is harvested from modern or ancient oceans, came from the sea at some point. All sea water has the same complement of minerals in about the same ratio, so unless the minerals have been stripped away during processing (like that nasty table salt), all salts will contain roughly the same 60-65 trace minerals.</p>
<p>When you see a company advertising 80 trace minerals in their salt, there are two possible explanations. It could be marketing spin, or it could be poor communication between the testing laboratory and the marketing department.  (I&#8217;m an optimist, so I like to believe most companies simply misread the lab results.)</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s how it works. All salt companies hire independent labs to tell us which minerals are in our product, and at what amount. We might contact them and ask them to test for 85 minerals, and the results look something like this. (This snippet comes from a Light Grey Celtic sample.)</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-214" style="margin-left: 35px;" title="LightGreyAnalysisSnippet" src="http://blog.realsalt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/LightGreyAnalysisSnippet.png" alt="" width="261" height="195" /></p>
<p>There are eight elements listed here, but only six of them were found in the sample. It can be a little confusing, so here&#8217;s a primer that explains why some companies wind up claiming 85 trace minerals in their salt.</p>
<p>The excerpt above includes two trace elements, gold and antimony, that are reported with a &#8220;less than&#8221; prefix. Some companies believe that means their sample contains those elements in tiny amounts, which seems like a sensible conclusion.  But they&#8217;re wrong.  When a lab reports &lt;.00001% of gold it doesn&#8217;t mean they found a tiny amount of gold, it means the lab equipment can&#8217;t detect amounts of gold lower than .00001%. In plain English, a technician looking at the excerpt above would say, &#8220;our equipment didn&#8217;t detect gold or antimony.&#8221; Whenever you see the &#8220;less than&#8221; sign in lab results, it is the same as saying &#8220;not found in this sample.&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a little confusing, perhaps, but whoever said scientific labs were user friendly?  Even companies with the best of intentions get confused&#8211;Dr. Mercola&#8217;s website frequently claims that his private-labeled Himalayan salt contains 84 trace minerals. I doubt he&#8217;d intentionally mislead anyone, so we&#8217;re left to curse those pesky &#8220;less than&#8221; signs and try to educate customers about lab results when we can.</p>
<h2>Keeping it real</h2>
<p>There are a lot of ways to produce salt, and a lot of ways to market salt. We keep production and marketing simple and straightforward because that&#8217;s the way we are, and we think it&#8217;s the way our customers are.  We tell you Real Salt has 60 trace minerals because that&#8217;s what the independent lab reports. We could make it 85 by including the &#8220;less than&#8221; minerals, but that wouldn&#8217;t be real. It would be spin.  Real Salt is real, and it seems like a good idea to use real numbers to market it, too.</p>
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		<title>The Standard Examiner and Real Salt</title>
		<link>http://blog.realsalt.com/2011/03/the-standard-examiner-and-real-salt/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.realsalt.com/2011/03/the-standard-examiner-and-real-salt/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Mar 2011 23:57:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Real Salt</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.realsalt.com/?p=209</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We kind of like it when salt gets bad press in the media, because it gives us a chance to explain that not all salt is bad for your health.  And of course, sometimes the media do a great job talking about things like salt. The Standard Examiner pulled together a very nice piece about [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We kind of like it when salt gets bad press in the media, because it gives us a chance to explain that not all salt is bad for your health.  And of course, sometimes the media do a great job talking about things like salt.</p>
<p>The Standard Examiner pulled together a very nice piece about salt, and we like it enough we decided to link to it. It&#8217;s called, &#8220;<a href="http://www.standard.net/topics/features/2011/02/22/salt-earth-uh-sea" target="_blank">Salt of the Earth. Uh, Sea</a>.&#8221;</p>
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		<title>Real Salt and Radiation</title>
		<link>http://blog.realsalt.com/2010/12/real-salt-radiation/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.realsalt.com/2010/12/real-salt-radiation/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 30 Dec 2010 22:15:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Real Salt</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FAQ]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.realsalt.com/?p=202</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Real Salt users like knowing that our product comes from an ancient sea bed, because we can all see the value of eating sea salt from a deposit left long before humans were around to pollute the water with chemicals and gushing oil. But every now and again, we hear from a customer wondering whether [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Real Salt users like knowing that our product comes from an ancient sea bed, because we can all see the value of eating sea salt from a deposit left long before humans were around to pollute the water with chemicals and gushing oil. But every now and again, we hear from a customer wondering whether the Real Salt deposit was protected from a very different kind of pollution: radiation from nuclear tests in Nevada 60 years ago.</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.realsalt.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/nuke-testing.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-203 fancybox" title="nuke-testing" src="http://blog.realsalt.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/nuke-testing-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a>In the 1950&#8242;s, the United States government carried out a series of nuclear weapons tests in the Nevada desert.  A generation of residents exposed to the fallout experienced serious health problems, so it makes sense to wonder how the tests may have affected natural resources in the West.  We care about our health (and we put Real Salt on just about everything we eat) so we asked these same questions ourselves.  Here&#8217;s what we learned.</p>
<p>When dealing with protection from the effects of radiation, experts talk about three factors: distance, shielding, and time.</p>
<h3>Distance</h3>
<p>Because of wind and weather patterns, two counties in Utah absorbed high levels of radiation. The Real Salt deposit is more than 125 miles north of either of these counties and about 300 miles from the Nevada testing site. The inverse square law applies to radiation exposure, so doubling the distance decreased the intensity by a factor of four. In other words, if the ground above the Real Salt deposit absorbed radiation, it would have been less than half the amount required for the National Cancer Institute to consider it high.</p>
<h3>Shielding</h3>
<p>Did we just say the ground above our deposit <em>may</em> have been affected by radiation 60 years ago? Well, yes, nobody can be certain one way or the other, but here&#8217;s why that shouldn&#8217;t trouble you.</p>
<p>Experts have learned that 3.6 inches of compact earth cuts incoming gamma radiation in half, which means that three feet of earth reduces the possible exposure to 1/64 its original strength. (Most earthen fallout shelters are beneath three feet of dirt.)  Real Salt comes from a mineral deposit 300 feet below the surface of the earth, which means that if radiation found its way to our deposit site it would have met with 300 feet of protection before it could contaminate the minerals.</p>
<h2>Time</h2>
<p>Scientists have found that gamma radiation decays at a constant rate called the seven-ten rule: For every seven times older the fallout becomes, it retains only 10% of its original strength. This means that 90% of radiation is gone after seven hours, and the remaining 10% is almost completely gone two days later. Since these tests ended fifty years ago, there is clearly no current risk of contamination.</p>
<h2>Real Salt and Radiation</h2>
<p>The distance between the Nevada test site and our deposit would have limited the strength of any possible fallout, and 300 feet of earth would have weakened any remaining radiation to an immeasurable amount long before it could have reached the salt.  That sounds pretty good in theory, but since we are naturally curious people we still asked a lab to analyze some samples.  The results? They actually did detect a small amount of radiation, which made us furrow our brow a bit until the technician told us that a person would need to eat about eight pounds of straight Real Salt to get the amount of radiation they&#8217;d find in a single quart of clean drinking water.  In other words, we may live on a radiation-heavy planet, but Real Salt isn&#8217;t the least bit harmful.</p>
<div style="font-size: 11px; margin-top: 15px;">With information from the <a href="http://health.utah.gov/epi/newsletter/archives/apr98/Default.htm">Utah Department of Health</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_protection">Wikipedia</a>.</div>
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