Put a toxic metal and a poisonous gas together and you have something people and animals can't live without. Take the metal sodium and mix it with chlorine and you have salt; something we can't live without.
Why do you think deer stand in the middle of the road? Why do crows congregate in the middle of the road where there is no roadkill? It's all the salt that has been spread on the road to keep us safe. In the case of the crows its probably also the sand to help them digest their food.
Americans tend to eat too much salt. Many fast food places, not just the biggies dump salt on fries and other food. Try to get salt-free popcorn at a movie. Thirty-five years after living in Europe and having a relatively low salt diet, we still notice how salty American food is. Even at restaurants that pride themselves on the quality of their food.
But sometimes things go the other way. Low sodium food can be almost tasteless. We bought V-8 for a long time but it was too salty. We found Knudsen's Very Veggie which has a moderate amount of salt. My wife once bought Knudsen's Low Sodium version and it was bland. Last week on our ski trip we bought low-sodium V-8 and it was also bland. My wife will use it for soup base or mix with the regular Very Veggie.
There are only two places for excess salt: on pretzels and on the rim of a Margarita glass.
One last thought: I could never understand the argument against fluoridated water that it contains a poisonous gas. Do these people abstain from salt because it contains a poisonous gas?
Oops! A second last thought. We have started filtering our drinking water. Boy, do we notice the chlorine taste when we drink unfiltered water.
