Salt diversity for carnivores

1. What salt-max means here: more kinds of salt, not more salt

Salt-max on this page means maximizing the variety of salts in the kitchen (fine, coarse, flake, smoked and mineral-rich sea or rock salts, plus one iodized salt), not eating more salt. Nothing here asks anyone to raise their sodium intake.

Meat and salt is the whole Lion plate, so the salt is half the seasoning decisions on it, and each salt does a different job:

Why keep more than one salt

• Texture: a flaky salt like Maldon (crystals 4–20 mm, per Maldon's spec) crunches on sliced steak. Fine salt disappears into a brine.
• Control: coarse kosher salt is easier to pinch and harder to over-salt (Milk Street). Diamond Crystal is the reference salt for /chef's dry-brine rates.
• Iodine: iodized table salt is the only salt here that reliably carries iodine (see §6).
• Flavor: Drake & Drake (2011, 38 salts) found that sea salts differ in mineral content. Some carried green, smoky or earthy notes, and the timing of the salty taste differed between salts, even though saltiness at equal sodium did not.
• Practicality: the grams per teaspoon range from about 2.8 g (Diamond Crystal) to 6 g (table salt) (UC ANR). If you switch salts by the spoon, you can double or halve your salt, so rotating salts means swapping by weight, not by spoon.

2. Honest box: trace minerals differ, but the amounts are small

Per 5 g of salt, from the per-gram figures in salts.csv (derived = per-gram figure × 5, except the pink-salt row, which the study reports per 5 g):

Per ¼ teaspoon, a typical amount (derived: g/tsp from salts.csv ÷ 4, × the same per-gram figures). A normal pinch holds only small amounts of these minerals:

What the numbers say, salt by salt

• Pink salt: in 31 samples analyzed by an independent lab, 5 g averaged about 13 mg calcium, 13 mg magnesium and 12 mg potassium. The authors say you'd need >30 g of salt a day for a meaningful contribution, which is far too much sodium. One sample, the only one from Peru, had 2.59 mg/kg lead, above the 2 mg/kg limit for salt set by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (Fayet-Moore et al., 2020).
• Redmond Real Salt's own label: ~98% sodium chloride. Calcium is 0.40%, potassium 0.12% and magnesium 0.10%.
• Celtic gray is the outlier. For Celtic Fine Ground the maker reports 7.0–13.7 mg magnesium per gram, so 5 g gives roughly 35–69 mg (derived), against a 310–420 mg RDA. That's real but partial, the data are the manufacturer's own, and it comes with ~5 g of salt.
• Fine and coarse sea salt, fleur de sel, kosher and smoked salts: no per-gram mineral assay is sourced here, so their cells are blank (gap).

Bottom line

• Bottom line: the mineral differences between salts are real but nutritionally small at normal use, so vary salts for taste, texture and iodine. Don't choose them as a mineral supplement, and don't eat more salt to get minerals. For potassium and magnesium, the sources here point to food rather than salt: USDA FoodData Central lists both in meat (§3; magnesium in electrolytes.csv), and Virta suggests a slow-release magnesium supplement when cramps signal low magnesium. Talk to your clinician before adding any supplement.

Salt types

One card per row: grain, grams per tsp (with conflicts shown), minerals, additives and best use. The g/tsp values are shared with /chef's prep.csv (TSP_*). Coarse salts need weighing. Maldon is shown as a range (2.1–4 g/tsp, America's Test Kitchen (ATK) vs Milk Street; no manufacturer figure).

The Celtic card is the fine grind (4 g/tsp, Milk Street); weigh coarse Light Grey. Coarse Himalayan says "weigh it" (the printed source figure is inconsistent), and coarse sea salt is blank — weigh it. Redmond is 5.5 g/tsp, derived from its label (530 mg sodium per ¼ tsp ÷ 386.6 mg sodium per g).

3. Electrolyte reference values (not targets)

These are published reference values, shown for context. None of them is an intake target or a recommendation from this page, and the keto figures are not goals.

Why the keto literature gives higher figures

Why the keto literature gives higher sodium figures (Phinney & Volek's account, shown as context only): in nutritional ketosis "the kidneys switch from retaining sodium to rapidly excreting it" (natriuresis of fasting; Spark 1975, NEJM), and insulin is involved in renal sodium handling (DeFronzo 1981).

Their view is that "keto flu" is "caused by sodium depletion plus a normal adrenal response to a ketogenic diet." Reports from carnivore doctors are individual experiences, not controlled evidence, so we don't cite them as proof here.

Virta Health, quoted above, is a commercial keto program.

¹ Virta's potassium figure assumes 5 servings of non-starchy vegetables a day; on meat only, see the table below and §4.

Potassium on carnivore

Potassium on carnivore: meat is the source. USDA FoodData Central, cooked, per 100 g:

Note: Virta's 3,000–4,000 mg potassium figure assumes vegetables (5 servings of non-starchy vegetables a day, plus nuts and broth). On a meat-only plate, the meat and its juices are where the potassium comes from — see the USDA values above.

Virta notes boiled or stewed protein loses potassium into the liquid, so the drippings and braising liquid carry some of it.

4. How to salt-max: build a salt rotation

For healthy adults 18+ with none of the conditions or medicines in §5. If anything there applies, stop here and read §5 first. The rotation changes which salt is used, not how much; /chef's gram amounts stay the same whichever salt is in the jar.

The rotation

1. Fine salt for dissolving: fine sea salt or pickling salt for brines and anything where the salt must disappear (UC ANR; Milk Street).
2. Coarse kosher for seasoning raw meat: Diamond Crystal or Morton. /chef's dry-brine rates are in grams, and Morton is denser by the spoon (4.8 vs 2.8 g/tsp, UC ANR).
3. Flake for finishing: Maldon or fleur de sel on sliced steak at the table, for crunch (Our judgment, a texture call).
4. Smoked salt for flavor: use it in place of your usual finishing salt to add smoke flavor to pan-cooked meat (Our judgment, a flavor call; no mineral assay or spoon weight sourced, so weigh it).
5. A mineral salt for variety: Celtic gray, Redmond Real Salt or Himalayan pink, for flavor and color; §2 shows how small the mineral amounts are.
6. An iodized salt: keep one iodized salt in the rotation unless iodine comes from elsewhere (§6).
7. Swap by weight, not by spoon: grams per teaspoon range from about 2.8 g to 6 g (UC ANR), so weigh when changing salts.

5. Safety check box

Work with your doctor, especially if you take any medication. Blood-pressure pills, water pills, lithium and potassium-raising drugs can all change how your body handles salt and potassium. Don't stop or change a medicine on your own, and ask whether you need blood tests (sodium, potassium, kidney function) when you change your salt intake. (NIH ODS Potassium; NHS lithium)

Conditions and medicines

Don't change your salt intake without your doctor's OK if you have:

• High blood pressure or fluid retention — even Phinney & Volek say stay ≤3 g sodium/day until it resolves and any diuretic is stopped; NSAIDs (ibuprofen, naproxen) make you more sodium-sensitive (their source).
• Diuretics ("water pills") — can lower blood sodium, potassium and magnesium; Phinney & Volek cap sodium at 3 g/day here; let your doctor check your levels. (MedlinePlus; NIH ODS Potassium & Magnesium)
• ACE inhibitors, ARBs, or potassium-sparing diuretics (spironolactone, amiloride), or kidney disease — these reduce how much potassium your kidneys can clear. Potassium salt substitutes and "lite" salts carry about 440–2,800 mg of potassium per teaspoon, and even normal food potassium can push your level too high. Don't use them, or potassium supplements, without your doctor's OK. (NIH ODS Potassium)
• Kidney disease — KDOQI 2020 recommends under 2,300 mg sodium a day for CKD stages 3–5, on dialysis, or after a transplant; KDIGO 2021 suggests under 2 g a day for CKD with high blood pressure. Weak kidneys also clear potassium and magnesium poorly, so ask your nephrologist before any potassium or magnesium supplement. (KDOQI 6.5.1; KDIGO 2.1.1; NIH ODS)
• Heart failure — the 2022 AHA/ACC/HFSA guideline says that for symptomatic heart failure, "avoiding excessive sodium intake is reasonable to reduce congestive symptoms". It sets no number, so your care team's limit is the one to follow.
• Low blood sodium (hyponatremia) or SIADH, or a history of it — this is a water-balance problem, so more salt or salt water isn't a safe home fix. Your doctor sets the plan, which can include fluid limits. Diuretics, heart failure, kidney disease and heavy sweating can all lower sodium. (MedlinePlus)
• Pregnancy — swelling and high blood pressure in pregnancy need your midwife or doctor, so don't change your salt intake without asking them first.
• Liver disease (cirrhosis), especially with fluid in the belly (ascites) or swelling — salt limits are usually part of treatment, so follow your care team's limit.
• Lithium — NHS advises never cutting your salt suddenly, drinking plenty of fluids (more in heat or hard exercise), and keeping up your lithium blood tests. Starting a new diet changes your salt and fluid intake, so tell your prescriber before you start, and don't change your salt either way without them.
• Overdose is real: a review of 15 published cases of acute salt poisoning found that half of those with a known outcome died. Causes included salt-water emetics. Never take large amounts of salt at once, and keep salt away from children. (Metheny & Krieger 2020)
• Salt water / "sole" / electrolyte drinks — these add salt on top of what's on your food, and this page doesn't recommend them. No authoritative amount exists. Never drink strong brine or a large amount at once, and never use salt water to make yourself vomit (see the overdose note above).

When to call a doctor

Call a doctor right away if you get confusion, a headache with nausea or vomiting, or muscle weakness, spasms or cramps (possible low sodium — MedlinePlus); muscle weakness, a burning or prickling feeling, or heart palpitations or an irregular heartbeat (possible high potassium — NIH ODS); or new swelling or shortness of breath (Our judgment: fluid overload, per Phinney & Volek's sodium-retention list). On lithium, feeling sick with diarrhoea, blurred vision, shaking or muscle twitches, or confusion can be lithium toxicity — NHS says call 999/go to A&E (in the US: call 911).

6. Iodine note

The RDA is 150 mcg (NIH ODS). If you're pregnant or breastfeeding, the RDA rises to 220 mcg and 290 mcg a day. The American Thyroid Association advises a daily 150 mcg potassium iodide supplement when planning a pregnancy, during pregnancy and while breastfeeding, so ask your doctor or midwife.

Pregnant women who restrict salt or skip dairy are more likely to run low (NIH ODS). Kosher, sea, Himalayan and flaky salts usually aren't iodized; treat Redmond Real Salt as non-iodized too (its label says "Not a dietary source of iodine"), and noniodized sea salt has ~0 mcg. ¼ tsp of iodized salt has 78 mcg.

Carnivore sources: 3 oz baked cod 146 mcg, 3 oz oysters 93, 1 egg 31, 3 oz beef liver 14, 3 oz beef chuck only 3. If your salts are all non-iodized and you don't eat seafood or eggs, we suggest keeping an iodized salt in the rotation, and asking your doctor — especially if you're pregnant, breastfeeding or planning a pregnancy.

ODS lists people who eat few or no dairy products, seafood or eggs as at risk of low iodine.

Every number, with its source

Not medical advice. Check with your doctor before changing your salt, potassium or magnesium intake, especially if you take medication.

Sources

• UC ANR, Salt volume & weight comparisons source
• Milk Street "Worth Our Salt" (2021) source
• ATK, Substituting gourmet salt source
• Virta, Potassium & sodium on a ketogenic diet source
• issalt.com density chart source
• Drake & Drake 2011, J Sensory Stud source
• Fayet-Moore et al. 2020, Foods 9:1490 source
• Maldon spec sheet source
• Celtic Sea Salt quality & safety source
• Real Salt label (Azure Standard listing) source
• Redmond trace mineral analysis 5/27/25 source
• Cargill: Diamond Crystal is pure source
• Morton coarse kosher source
• NASEM 2019 DRIs for Na & K source source
• AHA, How much sodium source
• NIH ODS Magnesium source
• NIH ODS Iodine source
• Virta FAQ (Phinney) source
• Phinney & Volek, Sodium, Ketosis & Adrenal Function source
• USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy 171797, 172165, 169458, 170213, 170613, 174312, 167844, 167827, 172388, 171477, 168627, 175168, 171287) source
• Metheny & Krieger 2020, J Emerg Nurs source
• KDIGO 2021 Blood Pressure in CKD guideline, Rec 2.1.1 (2C) source
• NHS lithium: side effects + common questions source source
• NIH ODS Potassium (health professional) source
• MedlinePlus Hyponatremia source
• KDOQI (NKF) Clinical Practice Guideline for Nutrition in CKD, 2020 update, Rec 6.5.1 source
• 2022 AHA/ACC/HFSA heart failure guideline, §7.1.2 (COR 2a, LOE C-LD) source