Do We Need To Eat Salt?

Have you ever met a salt deficient person? ...Me neither!

Sodium is an essential nutrient, which we get plenty of, when we follow a plant based diet. Leafy greens, celery, roots and tubers (such as carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes and beets), melons, etc., are all very rich in natural sodium.

Our needs for this nutrient is very low. We can get by eating as little as 100-300 mg a day.
The truth is that our bodies are very efficient conserving sodium within the body. The less we consume, the less our bodies excrete, whereas the more we get, the more our bodies release.
High carbohydrates diets help the body retain more sodium as well (insulin increases fluid retention).

I have cut added salt from my diet about 8 years ago. In the last 3+ years that I've been eating a "high carb vegan diet" I've been even more meticulous about it. No canned foods or processed foods to prevent eating any table salt at all.

I tend to average between 200-400 mg of natural sodium per day. Sometimes I might get more if I eat a lot of carrots, beets or other high sodium foods, but that doesn't occur very often.

We know that when we exercise vigorously we increase the nutrients requirements, but despite of having run consistently during the last few years (last month I ran a total of 360 km, in the hot summer), I have never experienced any issue due to low sodium (no headaches, dizziness, muscle cramps, etc.).
My sweat is not salty at all, which proves that when our sodium intake is low our bodies conserve what they have. Isn't it amazing?

On the other hand, many people suffer from eating TOO MUCH sodium (from table salt). Excess sodium makes us retain fluid, potentially causing high blood pressure (which is linked to strokes, heart disease and other illnesses)

Most cases of hyponatremia (low sodium in the blood) are caused by overhydration and not from undereating salt.
There are always cases of endurance athletes drinking too much water during the events, thus diluting the blood sodium levels and getting in a hyponatremic state.
But how many people do we see getting hyponatremia from avoiding salt? You probably have never seen a single case, and might never do.

In my last year's blood test my sodium levels were perfect, as well as the other electrolytes tested (calcium and potassium).

I believe that we don't need to add any salt in our diets. I don't think it's natural nor healthy, as we can meet our sodium needs by eating whole plant foods.