Ingredient Highlight: Redmond Real Salt

You’re conquering carbs, embracing healthy fats, and unlocking the power of ketosis. But your journey doesn’t stop there. One crucial element separates peak performers from those on the sidelines: electrolytes. And among those, sodium reigns supreme.

This silent hero, often demonized in the mainstream, plays a vital role in your keto success. Ignore it at your own peril, and you’ll feel sluggish, cramp-ridden, and missing the gains, mental focus, and optimal health you crave.

How could something as small as a few grains of salt have such a colossal impact? Let’s ditch the salt-shaming and dive into the science. We’re exploring why sodium is so crucial and how to choose the right type to fuel your goals.

Sodium On Keto: Why This Electrolyte Deserves Your Respect

Electrolytes are essential minerals that carry an electrical charge in your body.[*] The big four include sodium, magnesium, potassium, and calcium. Think of them as the spark plugs that make your body run, conducting electrical signals that power everything from muscle contractions and heartbeats to brain function. 

Sodium is the most abundant electrolyte in your body. It’s involved in regulating blood pressure, fluid balance, nerve and muscle function, helping your cells absorb nutrients, and more.[*][*]

But as you slash carbs and transition to burning fat for energy, your body sheds water, and your kidneys start eliminating more sodium. Low H2O and sodium levels increase your risk of dehydration, electrolyte imbalances, and the dreaded keto flu. Sweating during intense physical activity heightens these losses and risks.

The result? Symptoms like:[*][*]

• Fatigue. Dehydration and low sodium can deplete energy levels, while keto flu is characterized by initial fatigue as your body adapts to burning fat. Preventing all three is your ticket to sustained physical and mental stamina.
• Muscle cramps. Both dehydration and low sodium levels adversely affect your muscle function and contraction, causing cramping, twitching, and impaired performance. Keto flu may cause similar cramps as your body adjusts to using ketones.
• Brain fog. Dehydration and low sodium can affect cognitive function, causing a lack of mental clarity, forgetfulness, and difficulty concentrating. Keto flu can also lead to fogginess as your brain adapts to ketosis. 

Ready for some good news? Upping your sodium intake helps your body retain water, keeping you hydrated to prevent those nasty side effects and ease your body into fat adaptation. But have you ever considered which sodium option is best for the task?

Navigating the Salty Seas

The quantity and quality of your salt matter. Unfortunately, not all salt is created equal. So before you refill your salt shaker, let’s compare the differences for your health:

Table Salt and Iodized Salt

Cheap, readily available, and heavily refined, table salt is stripped of naturally occuring essential minerals during processing. If it’s stark white, there’s also a good chance it’s been bleached during processing. Worse?

Manufacturers often sneak in additives like dextrose (a type of sugar), tricalcium phosphate, polyethylene glycol, disodium inosinate, and other chemicals to prevent caking, improve the color or taste, or extend shelf-life. Hard pass!

Iodized salt is table salt, except manufacturers add enough iodine to qualify it as “iodized.”

Sea Salt

Sea salt is a less refined, naturally occurring salt harvested from evaporated seawater. However, as our modern oceans get more polluted by acid rain, mercury, lead, toxic waste, sewage, garbage, radiation, microplastics, and oil spills, sea salt is likely contaminated by these pollutants as well, making it potentially less healthy.

Himalayan Pink Salt

Like sea salt in flavor and mineral content, Himalayan salt contains trace minerals like iron, potassium, magnesium, and calcium, giving it its namesake pink hue. We’ll talk about its pros and cons later.

So, which salt is best? At Keto Brick, we don’t use ingredients other food producers allow. And we stick by that ethos when it comes to our salt. 

The Keto Brick Choice: Redmond Real Salt

Every Keto Brick flavor contains certified organic Redmond Real Salt. Where does it come from?

Back in prehistoric times, there was an inland sea covering what is now Redmond, Utah, known as the Sundance Sea. As the earth shifted over millions of years, the sea water retreated beneath the surface, forming a massive underground mountain of pristine crystalized salt.

Why do we choose ancient sea salt from a Jurassic Era seabed deep within the earth? Because:

Redmond Real Salt is Unrefined, Unprocessed, and Free of Pollutants

Unlike refined salts, Real Salt comes out of the ground just as Mother Nature created it — nothing extracted, nothing added. 

Miners remove the salt from the deposit’s walls with a stainless steel hydraulic rotary tool (instead of environment-harming explosives). Then, it takes a trip to the mill, where large salt crystals get crushed into smaller bits and passed through a series of screens to separate them by size (i.e., fine salt vs. coarse salt). That’s it! 

Real Salt: Mine to Table

Because it’s been protected for millions of years under layers of volcanic ash and bentonite clay, the salt hasn’t been exposed to pollutants and all those contaminants plaguing modern oceans. 

And since Real Salt comes from a single deposit (not a variety of mines across a region), it’s always a consistently high-quality product we can trust and rely on.

You can even visit and tour the Real Salt Mine!

It Contains Trace Minerals (For Flavor and Your Health)

You’ll see natural color variations in different sections of the Real Salt mine and even from one chunk of salt to the next. Those flecks of color are a sign it’s the real, mineral-rich deal.

The Elemental Analysis conducted by 3rd party laboratories reveals over 60 trace minerals in this one-of-a-kind salt, including naturally occurring and bioavailable calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, iodine, and zinc. 

Those trace minerals (and electrolytes!) make Real Salt healthier and tastier. Compared to typical sea salt, it has a much smoother flavor profile — a subtle, salty sweetness that doesn’t make your food taste like salt; it enhances the flavors you already have.

It’s Sustainably Mined and Better for the Environment

Their room-and-pillar mines, as opposed to open pit mines, lessen the effect of mining on the environment. They’re solar-powered by two solar fields, which reduces their carbon footprint. They also have a mine reclamation bond, so the land can be restored should the mines close.

Besides supporting a sustainable, environmentally-conscious company, choosing Real Salt also helps us reduce our carbon footprint with fewer food miles. Here’s what we mean:

Real Salt is the Only Pink Salt Mined in the USA

Real Salt and pink Himalayan salt have a lot in common. Both are harvested from ancient sea salt deposits and contain a full spectrum of minerals. However, there are two differences between them:

1. Flavor. Real Salt is a tad sweeter, while Himalayan salt is sharper and earthier. The former really compliments the flavors of our Keto Bricks.

2. Geography. Himalayan salt is mined in and around Pakistan. Since Real Salt is mined in Utah, it travels fewer miles from mine to table for anyone in the Americas, making it the more sustainable option for us.

When we outline all those reasons, Real Salt becomes a no-brainer.

At Keto Brick, We Pay Attention To the Little Things…

Because they make a big impact. We’re committed to using only the best ingredients for our Bricks, down to every mini-yet-mighty grain of salt.

So, embrace the power of sodium, choose your salt wisely, and fuel your journey to peak performance with our highly-rated Keto Brick flavors. Remember, you’re not just trying to survive on keto; you’re striving to thrive!

🧂  Bet you’ll never look at your salt shaker the same way again, and that’s a good thing! Taste the difference Real Salt makes for yourself.