Need For Salt? Possible Nutriention Defiency???????????

Hi,
For a while now, i have really been craving salt of all kind. Like, all buy a pretzal and just eat all the salt. It tastes great, and i cannot stop craving it. This has lead me to believe i have a mineral deffienciy. Im a boy, of 16, eat heathy, plenty of water and exercise, white, 5'11'' and bout 129 pounds. I live in a stable climate, and dont use drugs or acohol. I only take basic vitamins and vit. C.
This isnt bad, but is there something i can eat to make me stop killing my cholestrol?
Thnx

YES

I'm 19 now, 5"9. And I noticed starting in 5th grade, I started eating a whole lot of salt. Just pouring it on everything. And I mean, seriously POURING it on so bad that my friends can't eat the same fries as me because all the salt makes them choke.

I just really like the way it tastes. My dad would always yell at me at the dinner table & tell me to eat less, because it makes you bloated and can lead to other complications. Well anyways, in about 10th grade I went to a doctor who randomly did a hair-analysis test. They sampled my hair and sent it to a lab. Well, when we got the results back, the lab report said i was SEVERELY deficient in sodium!

Which was kind of a surprise to us, seeing how much salt I eat.

But in the end, it kind of makes sense. You're body's telling you to eat it for a reason. If possible, see if you can find a doctor to do one of those analysis test for you. Listen to your body!

Don't think it's a nutrient deficiency, in your average diet, most people get too much sodium, one of your electrolytes. Too much can dry you out and cause water retention under the skin, makes you look bloated. Potassium is your other electrolyte, and it pulls water into the muscles, most people don't get enough of this one, eat bannanas every so often. Anywho, for the salt craving, I read about a new salt alternative, it's not as bad for you, and adds taste to foods, I don't remember the name of it off the top of my head, but I'm sure it's not that tough to find. By the way 129, you're pretty thin and still growing, I wouldn't hold back too much on eating good whole foods, and getting plenty of exercise, couldn't hurt.

Ok, Matt....you are confusing us. To enjoy the salt on a big pretzel is ok. Most of us like that. You said you are craving salt yet you haven't given us any information that proves you are actually craving it. If you ate too much salt, you would become very sick which would take you to a doctor and he would take blood work to see where your sodium level is.

Too much of anything in this world is not good for you. You cannot tell if you have a mineral deficiency. And because you like salt does not mean you have a sodium deficiency, and certainly craving salt never tells you that you have another mineral deficiency. The only way anyone can tell if you have any mineral deficiency is to have blood tests.

I would break any "habit" you are forming to enjoy salt as sooner or later, it can cause you great trouble as high blood pressure, even as a young person.

Salt (sodium) causes your body to retain water. This is never good for anyone.

Hey, some people crave the odor of gasoline fumes, crave the odor of "glue", or other toxic substances. Some people crave water and drink themselves into the intensive care unit and sometimes death (water becomes toxic when too much is consumed), other people crave food and eat themselves into 800 pounds and an earky death. See what I mean?

Too much of anything can kill you. So curb it! See your doctor if you can't.

Oh, and what does cholesterol have to do with all this????
Cholesterol and salt have absolutely nothing to do with each other.

I am an RN