Real Salt

One of the first easiest steps I made was to use "Real Salt" instead of regular iodized salt so we can get the trace minerals.  It's easy to find at grocery stores.  I get them in bulk at the Real Foods Market in Orem.

Sally Fallon in NT (Nourishing Traditions) says this of salt:
"Salt provides not only sodium but also chloride, needed for the manufacture of hydrochloric acid, proper functioning of the brain and nervous system and for many other processes.  The chloride component of salt also activates amylases, needed for the digestion of carbohydrate foods."

"Few people realize that our salt - like our sugar, flour and vegetable oils - is highly refined; it is the product of a chemical and high-temperature industrial process that removes all the valuable magnesium salts as well as trace minerals naturally occuring in the sea.  To keep salt dry, salt refiners adulterate this 'pure' product with several harmful additives, including aluminum compounds.  To replace the natural iodine salts that are removed during processing, potassium iodie is added in amounts that can be toxic.  To stabilize the volatile iodide compound, processors add dextrose which turns the iodized salt a purplish color.  A bleaching agent is then necessary to restore whiteness to the salt."

"Both surfeit and deficiency of iodine can lead to problems with the thyroid gland, including goiter, hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism."

I have hypothyroidism so this is one of the reasons why I switched to Real Salt.