GAPS considers water and natural salt together. In her 2020 book, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride explains why she does not give everyone the same daily water target: needs change with the circumstances, and drinking more water does not answer every question about mineral balance.[1]
For everyday cooking, that means choosing the salt described in the book, keeping it with the complete food preparation, and noticing thirst and taste rather than trying to make every day fit one number. The natural-salt guide explains the product choice; this guide looks at the water-and-salt relationship.
Water and Salt Belong in the Same Conversation
Electrolytes are minerals involved in the body’s fluid balance and other functions. Campbell-McBride discusses that balance as something that changes, rather than a fixed requirement that stays identical through every season and activity. She distinguishes processed table salt from natural, unprocessed salt from the sea or a salt mine.[1]
In that discussion, she describes natural salt as containing more than 90 minerals and trace elements and compares the mineral pattern inside the body with that of the oceans. These are the book’s explanations for its preference for whole natural salt. A particular salt product still needs its own label check; the figure is not an analysis of every packet sold as sea salt.[1]
The Book’s Hot-Weather Example
Campbell-McBride illustrates her point with tourists in a hot climate who have swollen ankles or legs while carrying bottles of water. Her explanation connects salt lost in sweat with impaired kidney function and water retention. She also names swelling, high blood pressure and headaches in this discussion.[1]
She contrasts that pattern with traditional desert communities in the Middle East, describing daily salt intake alongside limited water consumption. It is a cultural example in her argument about salt and water, rather than a measured drinking schedule for you to copy.[1]
The example helps explain what she means by considering water and minerals together. It does not tell you why your own ankles are swollen. The kidney guide keeps the book’s wider kidney and mineral discussion in its own context.
Why the Book Does Not Give One Daily Formula
Campbell-McBride says no calculation can specify exactly how much water or salt a person needs at every moment. She points instead to thirst, a desire for salt, or a desire for a particular food. That sits within her broader explanation of changing needs with activity, weather, stress and the body’s ongoing work.[1]
Her food-desire discussion applies to natural foods. She separately describes processed products and their taste-altering ingredients as interfering with those signals. The food-desire guide explains that qualification, so “listen to your body” does not become permission for every processed craving.[1]
Keep the Complete Preparation in View
Start with the salt already in your kitchen. Is it natural crystal salt or whole, unprocessed sea salt, or is it a prepared seasoning with other ingredients? Check the description and ingredient list rather than relying on its color or the front label. Then keep the salt with the recipe you are actually making.
A pot of meat stock is one example of a food that supplies both liquid and salt. The complete method tells you when to add the salt. Taste the finished stock at the strength at which you will serve it; reducing a stock changes its concentration. The natural-salt guide also explains why the GAPS stock method and a general culinary stock method do not always use the same seasoning schedule.
For a ferment, keep the salt amount attached to the complete fermentation method. The book’s discussion of personal taste is not a replacement for a recipe’s measured salt proportion. Choosing a natural salt, seasoning a meal and making a ferment are related kitchen tasks, but they ask different questions.
Everyday Drinking and Liquid GAPS Have Different Instructions
The separate Liquid Fasting chapter removes solid food while supplying a range of nutrient-containing drinks. Meat stock, fermented liquids, whey, vegetable broth, teas and the named juices all have their own preparation details. That chapter is not a daily plain-water target for everyone following GAPS.[2]
If that is the subject you are reading about, use the Liquid GAPS overview and named-drink guide together. Their conditions and no-solids preparations belong with that approach; they should not be transferred piecemeal into an ordinary day of eating.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does GAPS Treat Refined Table Salt and Whole Natural Salt as the Same?
No. The book’s distinction is the form of salt, not simply whether a food tastes salty. It favors natural crystal salt or whole, unprocessed sea salt. A seasoning blend needs an ingredient check as well.[1]
Does the Hot-Weather Example Give Me a Water Limit?
No. It illustrates the author’s water-and-mineral argument. The next part of the same passage says there is no exact formula for every person at every moment. It does not supply a universal number of cups or liters.[1]
Can I Replace a Ferment’s Salt Amount With Salt to Taste?
Keep the ferment’s complete method. The personal-taste discussion concerns individual food needs; a measured fermentation preparation has a different job. Follow the selected recipe rather than combining instructions from separate contexts.
Your Next Step
Check one salt or seasoning you regularly use, then read the natural-salt guide beside the complete recipe you are preparing. My GAPS Food Swap Guide is listed in the WFLI Shop for the broader pantry and label-reading work. You can begin with what is already in your cupboard.
References
- Campbell-McBride, Natasha. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), “Bio-Individuality,” changing water/electrolyte needs, natural salt, the hot-climate example, thirst and food desire; natural-food qualification in “The Desire for a Particular Food.”
- Campbell-McBride, Natasha. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), “GAPS Liquid Fasting,” nutrient-containing clear drinks and their separate context.
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