Why on earth would you intentionally drink salt water with lemon in it? Most of us have accidentally gotten sea water in our mouths at some point and it is not a pleasant experience. When this was first recommended to me by my functional medicine doctor, the thought of drinking salt water had about as much appeal as gargling dish soap for better breath. Instead, I just started adding more sea salt to my food. I later found out that drinking salt water and eating salt are two completely different things, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

So, back to the “why”. Sea salt can help balance your potassium and sodium levels. This is actually an issue for many people but they don't realize it. When dissolved in water, potassium...