I would like to welcome you to Salty Shaker and take a moment to tell you a bit about myself and why this is so important to me and hopefully important to you as well. I am menopausal and have been struggling with symptoms ranging from: hot flashes/night sweats, urinary issues, sleep disturbance, weight gain, water retention, mood disorders, brain fog, fatigue, dryness, and cravings. I have been working with my doctor on this but cannot do hormone replacement therapy due to medical health concerns. She prescribed other medications to address the symptoms, but the side effects were too much so I have been using mostly supplements to try to alleviate the symptoms. Yet, even with the supplements, I still felt there was something wrong.
It turns out there was, it just wasn’t something I knew about. I thought it might be overactive bladder. I was tested for bladder infection, but it came back negative. What I did find was that if I drank an enormous amount of water, the issue would resolve. This should have been a clue, but I didn’t know then what I know now. My doctor, bless her heart, was doing the best she could and suggested creams for dryness, but they were not for me, so I found yet another supplement. That worked better so I chalked it up to being “just” menopause and I would have to live with it. When I had this issue, I tried to think of what I ate or drank as I thought it might be a food allergy, but there was no common denominator. However, I was on the right track. As it turned out, during a routine blood test, my blood sodium levels were higher than the normal range. “High Sodium”. Upon learning this, I immediately went down the sodium rabbit hole and researched how sodium can affect menopausal symptoms.
What I didn’t know was that there were so many ways that too much salt was affecting my health, from irritability to overactive bladder to fatigue to weight gain and more. After learning this, I decided to go on a sodium cleanse and remove as much sodium as I could from my diet. But my fear was that I would have to give up all of the foods that I love. I have been passionate about food for most of my life and I just couldn’t imagine spending the rest of my life eating bland food. So, I was determined to be able to eat as many of the same foods as I had been eating, just with less sodium. I spent the next few weeks finding ways to make the foods I love without the high sodium levels.
I also thought that I was probably not the only person struggling with this issue, so I decided to I would like to share my experience and what I have found through my research by creating a 30-day low-sodium reset book with a 7-day challenge to share this information. The intention of the book is to inform women in all stages of menopause who might actually be struggling with high sodium intake and don’t realize it. The book includes information on understanding how salt sensitivity might affect menopausal symptoms such as: hot flashes/night sweats, bladder issues, sleep disturbance, weight gain, water retention, mood disorders, brain fog, fatigue, dryness, and cravings and includes meal plans, recipes, and recommendations that can reduce sodium intake and help alleviate these menopausal symptoms.
Full disclosure, I am an academic writer and researcher by trade and informal writing does not come naturally to me. AS I work to get better at writing, I have a “ghostwriter” AI to help me with the writing, but the research is legit and the information is based on my own experiences. This site is dedicated to providing information related to salt sensitivity and menopausal symptoms for women who might have been told it’s “just” menopause, and maybe it is, but maybe that’s not all it is. Even though this information is directed towards women, everyone is welcome, as enjoying a low-sodium lifestyle is beneficial in many ways. That said, I hope that you find this site helpful. There are links in the site that I may earn a small commission from (at no additional cost to you) and that in some cases allow you discounted prices. This allows me to continue to provide information and recipes that – keep life spicy. Please join me on this adventure and welcome.
