Why do you crave salt?

   Yin Yang Martini (Flickr/ Photo by AMagill)

There are many possible reasons why someone will experience frequent salt cravings.

Cravings can often indicate a deficiency of some nutrient in the body. In the case of salt, cravings may indicate a mineral deficiency. According to Paul Pitchford, author of “Healing with Whole Foods,” and an expert in traditional Chinese medicine, there are two possible reasons why someone may be lacking sufficient minerals.

One reason is that while all salt originates from the sea, refined sea salt that finds its way to most kitchens and is used in industrial food processing has been stripped of all of the trace minerals that are essential to forming vitamins, enzymes and proteins in the body. In addition, Pitchford blames chemical farming and industrial food production since World War II for depleting the soil of naturally occurring minerals that would otherwise find their way into the food system.

This mineral deficiency may manifest itself as a craving for salty pretzels, chips and nuts, among other things. Pitchford advises that cravings will lessen sharply in a few weeks once whole, unrefined, unbleached sea salt is substituted for highly processed table salt.

Another way to look at salt cravings is as a food imbalance. Japanese macrobiotic theory, for example, categorizes all foods as either yin (expansive, cool, ascending) or yang (contractive, hot, descending) and recommends balancing the two types of food to avoid illness. Salt is at the extreme end of the yang spectrum and a craving for it may indicate an overindulgence at the extreme end of the yin spectrum, where you find alcohol, medications, sugar and coffee. The opposite is also true - too much yang food will trigger a craving for a yin food, which is why bartenders provide salty snacks to encourage you to order another alcoholic drink.

Pitchford has another theory based on Chinese medicine, explaining that salt has a very grounding and descending yang quality and a craving for it “may reflect an internal wish for a more emotionally safe foundation.”

There’s something to think about the next time you reach for the salt shaker.