Salt is a foundational seasoning: It’s important to our health, as it’s essential for nerve and muscle function, and helps regulate fluids in our body. It also impacts blood pressure and volume (hence the need to consume moderate amounts of salt, and not in excess).
More than that, it makes food taste good! I think it’s great when you can enhance both the flavor and the health benefits of salt, as we do with this liver-supporting milk thistle salt.
In this simple recipe, we combine coarse sea salt with milk thistle powder, ginger powder, and turmeric powder. It’s an incredibly warm, earthy spice that works wonderfully in salad dressings, marinades, or as a finishing salt for your favorite foods all while supporting the liver.
Health Benefits of this Liver Supporting Salt
- Liver supporting: The active components in milk thistle are a group of compounds called silymarin (1), which are commonly used to treat liver diseases (2). The liver is our largest internal organ, responsible for performing detoxification of things like “dirty” estrogens.
- May support brain function: Silymarin, the plant compound in milk thistle, has been used as a traditional remedy for diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease for thousands of years.
- Anti-inflammatory: Milk thistle, ginger, and turmeric are all anti-inflammatory and also rich in antioxidants that help to support a healthy immune system, combat free radicals, and slow down aging.
A few helpful tips
This recipe calls for coarse sea salt, but you can use fine sea salt if you’d prefer. It all depends on how you’d like it to flavor your food—coarser grains will add bolder, saltier flavor, while fine grains will blend in a bit more.
Can’t find milk thistle powder? It’s easy to make your own at home. Simply grind milk thistle seeds in a coffee grinder or high-speed blender until you get a very fine powder, and sift the powder through a fine-mesh sieve to filter out any large pieces.
- 3 cups coarse sea salt
- 6 teaspoons milk thistle powder
- 6 teaspoons ginger powder
- 3 teaspoons turmeric powder
- Combine the sea salt, milk thistle powder, ginger powder, and turmeric powder in a large bowl and mix well to combine.
- Transfer salt mixture to a glass jar and store in a cool, dry place for up to 6 months.
Find more hormone-balancing recipes in Overcoming Estrogen Dominance
In Overcoming Estrogen Dominance, my goal is to empower and give you the tools to take control of your hormones and health.
More than 70% of women experience estrogen dominance. The symptoms range from lumpy and fibrocystic breasts to thyroid nodules, hot flashes, fibroids, uterine polyps, painful, heavy, or irregular periods to infertility and miscarriages, from mood swings to insomnia, weight gain to fatigue.
In Overcoming Estrogen Dominance, I give women a roadmap to reverse estrogen dominance using food, herbs, supplements and natural protocols to rebalance hormones. You’ll also find easy, hormone-balancing recipes that are free of gluten, dairy, soy, corn, eggs, and nightshades. These recipes are highly anti-inflammatory, low in sugar, and made with powerful medicinal ingredients to help heal your body naturally.
To get your copy of Overcoming Estrogen Dominance, go here.
Resources
- Abenavoli, Ludovico et al. “Milk thistle in liver diseases: past, present, future.” Phytotherapy research, 2010.
- Federico, Alessandro et al. “Silymarin/Silybin and Chronic Liver Disease: A Marriage of Many Years.” Molecules (Basel, Switzerland). 24 Jan. 2017.
- Devi, Kasi Pandima et al. “A Mini Review on the Chemistry and Neuroprotective Effects of Silymarin.” Current drug targets vol. 18,13 (2017).