I'm a Vegetarian and sometimes I have a craving for salt. Why is that?

Question

So, I'm a vegetarian and I like it that way. I eat vegetables and fruits and drink enough water. But sometimes when I'm hungry I get a craving for salty food or salt. I don't know why that is. Is it because I don't have the right vitamins or enough protein? Please help! Award for best answer!

Answer 1

Meat has plenty of salt in it. Vegetables don't.



If you eat a healthy balanced diet of vegetables and legumes. If you don't add salt to your meals, you probably aren't getting enough. Your body is clever. If you're craving salt, you probably need more salt in your diet. Try seasoning your veges a little. Will probably solve your problem of getting cravings, without resorting to to eating junk foods. Use a natural sea salt over anodized table salt. Much better for you.



Salt is a necessary part of a healthy diet. Anyone that flat tells you salt is unhealthy, knows nothing about food, or the human body. Like all things, too much is bad for you. Drinking too much water can literally kill you. That does not make water bad for you.



Salt assists in your bodies ability to retain moisture. An extremely important bodily function. Too little is exactly as bad for you as too much.



Salty foods are often fatty aswell. Saturated fats are very unhealthy, when consumed in excess. However, you do need some. A lot of vegetarians are often TOO healthy. Do you eat much nuts? They have the fats your body needs. You might not have enough healthy fats in your diet, if you mostly eat vegetables and fruit.

Answer 2

There are 2 factors.



Salt is a very healthy part of a diet, and people in warm climates often need additional salt. So lack of salt in your diet can result in cramps and other problems.



Note: the health warnings salt are being challenged by research which is often finding that people whose blood pressure is not high don't need to worry about having too much salt, but also some studies indicate salt actually reduces heart problems.



Salt and sugar don't occur easily naturally in nature and because salt is such an important part of your diet that our bodies crave it. There is a herd of elephants in Africa that go deep into a caves so dark that there is no light at to seek out salt on the cave walls. This means food with added sugar and salt makes us want to eat more than we should.



If are exercising and sweating salt is very useful. You know those sports drinks, do you know one of things they put in them is salt?

Answer 3

Most of users know that a little salt added to a food will give the taste a lift. Perhaps you are having that or you have found some salty foods you really like

Although you do sound young, there are reports of teenagers having heart attacks because they have too much salt in their diets.

I find that somewhat shocking

Dune

Answer 4

I'm a vegetarian too, & love it. I've noticed that I sometimes crave things that I don't need or aren't healthy. I think it's just a mind over matter type of thing. Salts bad for you in most reguard.

Answer 5

I'm pretty sure its nothing you are doing wrong. Its the food companies. They have our brains programed to crave salt.

Check out this book

http://www.amazon.com/Salt-Sugar-Fat-Giants-Hooked/dp/1400069807

I saw the author on the daily show.

Answer 6

i think you need at least 1700mg of salt a day, the question is are you getting your salt?



now i have this question if we really need salt everyday 0.0)