The human diet, for millions of years, did not contain any added salt - only the sodium present in natural foods, adding up to only about 1000 mg sodium per day.

The American diet causes disease. It is composed of 25 percent animal products and 62 percent processed foods and only 5 percent of calories from fruits and vegetables.

Sodium is an important mineral that is essential for proper functioning of the human body - however, the American diet contains dangerously high amounts of sodium, almost 80 percent of which comes from processed and restaurant foods.

The human body is a miraculous self-healing machine, but those self-repair systems require a nutrient-dense diet.

Reducing dietary salt is not only important for those who already have elevated blood pressure - limiting added salt is essential for all of us to remain in good health.

Certainly adding fats in the form of oils is fattening and unhealthy, but naturally fat-rich foods like nuts and seeds have profound cardiovascular benefits.