Salt of the Earth: The Hidden Benefits of Salt
It doesn’t deserve its bad reputation
I’m writing this while sitting 120 meters below the surface in one of Europe's largest salt mines. It’s dark and cold and filled with the echoes of loud children running around everywhere. The salty humid air fills my nostrils and makes me sneeze every once in a while. I hide my face in my scarf and let out a subtle cough — these are still Covid-19 times, after all.
I have a special relationship with this salt mine and with salt in general. Salt has always been cherished throughout the centuries, and it doesn’t deserve its more recent bad rap. As humans, we’re made up of 0.4% salt, although I like to believe I’m a little saltier than that. I’m a proud salt junkie, and this is how this love story began:
Salty childhood — how salt healed my lungs.
When I was 5 years old, I got very sick. My lungs were in bad shape as I suffered from asthmatic bronchitis that never seemed to go away. I was in and out of the hospital, and I have vivid memories about fighting to get enough air or leaning against walls and getting very dizzy whenever I tried to walk outside.
My parents were understandably scared. If things progressed, I could have ended up with asthma for life. Fortunately, they…
