‘Pink Salt Made My Hunger Go Away’: How a 49-Year-Old Lost 75 Pounds With This Trick
It's may not burn fat, but pink salt could still be helpful for healthy weight loss
Millions are buzzing about pink salt’s slimming power—and yet many also bash the pretty condiment. The truth? No studies have been done on pink salt for weight loss, so social media claims that it increases fat burn are, at best, unsubstantiated. And since the trend was started by bots, people are right to be suspicious. The good news: Dig a bit and you’ll find pink salt does have benefits for weight loss. In fact, bestselling Obesity Code author Jason Fung, MD, swears by the stuff. So does Woman’s World reader Heather Shuker, 49, a real-life pink salt success story.
“I was obese my entire life,” shares Heather, a Pennsylvania mom. “Pink salt made my hunger go away, which finally made it possible for me to lose weight.” Today, she’s 75 pounds lighter. Keep reading to learn how Heather harnessed the power of pink salt—and how you can too.
What is pink Himalayan salt—and how does it work for weight loss?
Mined in the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains, pink Himalayan salt is the most popular version of pink salt. But there are other sources too, including ancient seabeds in Australia, Peru, Oklahoma and Utah. Pink salt gets its pretty hue and subtle sweetness from natural traces of iron and up to 83 other minerals. That said, “it’s still mostly sodium chloride, just like table salt,” notes Dr. Fung
Woman's World Answers
So TikTok’s viral pink salt drink—a mix of pink salt and lemon juice in a glass of water—is just fancy salt water. But that’s not a bad thing. “For years, the prevailing view was, ‘the less salt the better,’” Dr. Fung says. Then in 2013, a CDC-commissioned report on sodium was released. “It found that studies don’t support very low-sodium diets. Too little salt can negatively impact certain body systems.” This made Dr. Fung wonder if low salt intake might work against people using his famous intermittent fasting approach to weight loss.
How pink salt curbs hunger and boosts fasting results
Despite sodium’s bad rap, it’s an essential electrolyte that attracts and holds water in our blood, cells and anywhere we need it. Sure, excess sodium can cause bloat and high blood pressure. But consider this: If we cut out high-salt foods to lose weight or for any reason, “we may get so little salt that we can’t hang on to enough fluid. We end up dehydrated,” Dr. Fung notes. “And since thirst can easily be confused with hunger, we want to eat.”
This realization led Dr. Fung to suggest that people using his Fasting Method program eat pinches of salt when hunger hits. Results were impressive. “It really helps people with hunger,” he says. “And if you fast, it can help you fast longer and get more benefits.” Many prefer the mellow taste of pink salt, he adds, but any salt works.
Bonus: Pink salt helps with carb withdrawal, too. If you’ve ever tried skipping blood sugar-spiking carbs only to experience fatigue, headaches and irritability, the culprit may be dehydration—not carb addiction. Dr. Fung says dehydration can cause a drop in blood volume that leads to unpleasant symptoms. But a small amount of salt can prevent the issue and make healthy eating feel far easier.
The science: Can pink salt really support slimming?
While no studies have been done on Himalayan pink salt and weight or any pink salt and weight, there is some research on sodium and hydration in general that’s worth noting. For example, University of Utah testing shows that alleviating dehydration actually speeds metabolism.
And here’s a cool German study we want to tell you about. Published in the journal Life in 2020, it compared traditional dieters who cut calories daily to intermittent fasters who cut calories very low twice a week. All got an electrolyte supplement spiked with two types of sodium (sodium molybdate and sodium selenite, found in trace amounts in pink salt along with its sodium chloride) or a placebo.
The results after 12 weeks: Supplemented fasters shed 18 pounds; unsupplemented fasters shed 13. Supplemented low-cal dieters lost 12 pounds; unsupplemented low-cal dieters lost 7. While the makeup of this supplement is different from pure pink salt, it kinda makes sodium and electrolyte-rich pink salt seem worth a try, right?
Important note: Excess salt may not be safe for people with certain health conditions, such as heart and kidney issues. While it’s generally fine to replace salt you already consume with pink salt, always talk to your health care provider about what is right for you. And if you decide to try intermittent fasting, discuss that with your doctor too.
Heather’s 75-lb weight-loss story with pink salt
Always on the lookout for ways to slim down, Heather happened on Dr. Fung’s books and started reading. “They made sense, but I thought I got too ‘hangry’ too fast,” she says. During shifts as a nurse, “people would say, ‘Make sure you get Heather to lunch, or she’ll be hateful.’”
What changed? Heather finally read a passage that said “hunger is a liar,” she shares. It hit home. “Because how real was my hunger when I had so much extra fat?”
As she cautiously tried just skipping breakfast, she noticed her hunger would rise, crest and subside. It wasn’t as bad as she’d expected. And as time passed, she found she was fine eating just one big low-carb meal a day. “I lost 25 pounds quickly. It truly felt like a miracle,” she says. “Yet sometimes, I had to white-knuckle it until dinner.” Then she hit a plateau.
So Heather signed up for Dr. Fung’s program and was coached to mix things up, adding more meals and longer fasts. “I was also told over and over about salt,” Heather says. She kept Redmond brand salt in—a pink salt mined in Utah—in a shaker attached to her key chain. “When a big wave of hunger hit, I’d put salt under my tongue or in my coffee. Within 5 minutes, the hunger was going away.” She found she was able to fast for over 36 hours, which she did three times a week until she reached her goal weight.
She reversed her prediabetes and sleep apnea
After years of failed diets, “fasting was like a magic eraser for me,” says Heather, who now works with Dr. Fung as a coach. Pink salt allowed her to fast longer, which unlocked more healing and slimming changes during her fasts.
Heather lost 55 pounds in six months and 75 pounds in all. Her sleep apnea and prediabetes are gone. She feels amazing. She now maintains simply by eating in an 8-hour window each day (from 10 am to 6 pm). While she seldom needs salt these days, she still gives it huge credit. “When my journey started to feel overwhelming, pink salt turned things around!”
How to use pink salt for fasting and weight loss safely
You can sip the TikTok drink, add salt to any beverage or just put a pinch under your tongue to help you reach your weight-loss goals. It’s fine to use salt like this a few times a day, so long as you’re not eating lots of high-sodium processed foods. (Sodium in processed foods doesn’t help because it’s mixed with ingredients designed to stimulate hunger, says Dr. Fung.)
To make the TikTok pink salt recipe at home, mix 1 cup of water, a pinch of pink salt and the juice of half a lemon. In case you’re wondering, a pinch of salt contains about 250 mg of sodium—about 10 percent of a healthy daily sodium intake of 2,300 mg. Heather likes to tap into the health benefits by adding pink salt to coffee, since it neutralizes bitterness and coffee’s antioxidants help rev up fat burn.
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