Vidya Reddy is the host of The Tea on Wellness Podcast and co-founder of Tea & Turmeric in Laguna Beach.
That moment when you feel a migraine coming on and you know your whole day is about to disappear. I used to just push through. Then I started keeping a small bag of Celtic salt in my purse, my bathroom, and my car. Four or five granules under the tongue.
Catch it early enough and it stops it in its tracks.
I've shared this with hundreds of customers at Tea & Turmeric in Laguna Beach over the years. The feedback is always the same.
In this episode I also get into the real difference between Celtic salt and Himalayan pink salt, why magnesium is the mineral most women are missing, and which salt does what job in your kitchen and in your body.
Both are available at teaandturmeric.com and in the shop at 1175 South Coast Highway in Laguna Beach.
Come visit us at Tea & Turmeric in Laguna Beach or shop online at teaandturmeric.com. Follow The Tea on Wellness on Apple Podcasts and Spotify for new episodes every other week.
Chapters
0:00 — The Tea on Wellness Show Intro
1:00 — Celtic Salt for Migraines: Why I Keep It Everywhere
2:30 — How I Use Celtic Salt at the First Sign of a Migraine
4:00 — Celtic Salt vs Himalayan Pink Salt: What's the Difference?
6:00 — Magnesium Deficiency in Women: Migraines, PMS, Sleep, and Stress
8:00 — Which Salt Does What Job?
9:30 — My Celtic Salt Migraine Protocol
11:30 — What Ayurveda Has Always Known About Unprocessed Salt
13:00 — The Tea on Wellness Show Outro
Transcript
Podcast: The Tea on Wellness
Episode 29: The Mineral Most Women Are Missing and Where to Actually Find It
Host: Vidya, co-founder of Tea & Turmeric
Location: Laguna Beach
Celtic Salt vs Himalayan Pink Salt — and the Migraine Trick I Swear By
[VIDYA]: Hello and welcome back to The Tea on Wellness podcast. I'm Vidya.
[1:00] Celtic Salt for Migraines: Why I Keep It in My Purse, My Car, and My Bathroom
[VIDYA]: I want to start with something I've shared with so many customers in the shop, and the feedback I get back is always the same. It helps.
If you get migraines, you'll understand this immediately. That moment when you feel one coming on and you know your whole day might be gone.
For years, that was me.
And then I started doing something very simple with salt.
I know what you're thinking. Salt? Really? But stay with me, because this is personal. And I'm going to walk you through exactly what I do.
I have suffered from migraines for years. If you've ever had a real migraine, not just a bad headache, but a full-on migraine, you know exactly what I mean when I say they can stop your entire day. They're awful. And for a long time I just pushed through them, took something for the pain, and lost half my day or sometimes even days at a time.
And then I discovered Celtic salt.
[2:30] How to Use Celtic Salt for Migraines: The Sublingual Protocol
[VIDYA]: Here's what I do. And this is something I've shared with so many of my customers and the feedback has blown me away.
When I feel a migraine coming on, that first little warning signal, you know that feeling, I reach for my Celtic salt. I put four or five granules under my tongue. Just a few granules of the coarse Celtic salt we carry at the store. And I let my natural saliva absorb it slowly.
If I catch it early enough, before the migraine becomes full on, it stops it in its tracks. Or at the very least, it takes the edge off significantly.
Now I want to be clear. This is my own personal experience. This is what works for me, and this is what many of my customers tell me works for them. I am not a doctor and I'm not making any medical claims here. Nothing works for everyone. But I believe in sharing what works, and this works for many.
So what did I do? I started keeping Celtic salt everywhere. I have a little jewelry bag of it in my bathroom. One in my purse. One in my car. Because the trick is, and this is the most important part, you have to catch it before the migraine becomes full on. You have to have the salt with you when you sense it coming. Once a migraine is fully there, it is so much harder to manage. The key is having it handy the moment you feel that first sign.
I have taught this method to so many customers over the years and the feedback keeps coming back the same. It helps. It genuinely helps.
[4:00] Celtic Salt vs Himalayan Pink Salt: What Is Actually Different and Why It Matters
[VIDYA]: So now you're wondering, why? Why would salt help with a migraine?
Salt isn't just about flavor alone. It affects hydration, digestion, how your body feels day to day. And when you switch from processed salt to something more natural, people notice the difference.
And that brings me to the real conversation today, which is Celtic salt versus Himalayan pink salt, and why I believe Celtic salt is one of the most powerful everyday wellness tools we carry in our store.
Here's how I explain it when people come into the shop. Celtic salt and Himalayan pink salt are both unprocessed. Both mineral-rich. Both infinitely better than anything coming out of a regular table salt shaker. But they're different from each other.
Himalayan pink salt comes from ancient sea beds in Pakistan. Dry, clean, beautiful pink color. And it contains 84 trace minerals. 84. That is not nothing. I love it, I sell it, and I use it every day.
But Celtic salt is different. It comes from tidal ponds in France, harvested by hand with wooden rakes. It's sun-dried and never heated. That gray color you see comes from the mineral-rich clay of the salt beds, and that clay is actually part of what makes it so mineral-dense. It's moist, it's earthy, and it carries all of those trace minerals intact because nothing has been stripped out in processing. You get the full spectrum of trace minerals, including the one I care most about, especially for women. Magnesium.
Both are good. They just do different things in your kitchen and in your body.
[6:00] Magnesium Deficiency in Women: Migraines, PMS, Poor Sleep, and Heart Palpitations
[VIDYA]: And this is where it gets really interesting.
Magnesium is one of the most common deficiencies in women and most people have no idea
they're deficient. It shows up in so many ways that we've just learned to live with.
Migraines. Heart palpitations. Muscle cramps. PMS. Anxiety. Poor sleep. Feeling wired but exhausted. These are all signs that your body may be low in magnesium.
Most magnesium supplements use forms that the body doesn't absorb very well. You take them, they go right through you, and you don't really feel the difference.
The magnesium in Celtic salt is naturally occurring. Your body recognizes it. It's bioavailable, which means your body can actually use it. And when you're putting it under your tongue or dissolving a pinch in your morning water, it absorbs through your mucous membranes directly into your bloodstream. That's why it works so fast.
For heart health, magnesium is essential. It helps regulate your heartbeat, it supports healthy blood pressure, and it relaxes the smooth muscle of your blood vessels. For women especially, as we go through different hormonal stages of life, keeping our magnesium levels up is one of the simplest and most overlooked things we can do for our health.
[8:00] Celtic Salt in Morning Water vs Himalayan Pink Salt as a Finishing Salt
[VIDYA]: So here's my answer when people ask me which one they should buy. Celtic salt or Himalayan pink salt.
Both. You want both, and here's why.
Celtic salt is your everyday workhorse. It goes in your morning water, just a small pinch in a warm glass of water before you have your tea or your coffee. It's your cooking salt. It's the one you dissolve into soups and grains and sauces. It's the one you keep in a little bag in your purse for the migraine protocol. This is your daily wellness salt.
Himalayan pink salt is your finishing salt. That beautiful pink color, that clean dry texture, it's what you sprinkle on top of a finished dish right before you serve it. On your avocado toast. On a salad. On a piece of salmon right out of the pan. On dark chocolate if you're feeling fancy. You see it, you taste it, and it elevates everything it touches. It's also stunning in a salt cellar on your table.
Both of them are free of anti-caking agents. Both of them are unprocessed. Both of them are infinitely better than what comes out of a regular table salt shaker, which has been through high heat processing, has had its natural minerals stripped out, and has had synthetic additives put back in. That's the salt we're moving away from.
[9:30] The Celtic Salt Migraine Protocol: Exactly How to Do It and When
[VIDYA]: Okay, let's go back to the migraine protocol because I want to walk you through it exactly.
First thing: get yourself a small container or little baggies that you can carry with you. I use little jewelry bags, the kind you can find at any craft store. They're small, they close securely, and they fit in any purse or pocket.
Keep one in your bathroom. One in your purse or bag. One in your car. The goal is that wherever you are when you feel a migraine coming on, you have your salt with you.
When you feel that first sign, the visual aura, the pressure behind the eyes, that specific kind of tension that tells you what's coming, take about four or five granules of Celtic salt and place them under your tongue. Let them sit there. Let your saliva do the work. Don't swallow right away. Let the minerals absorb slowly.
The key is catching it early. I cannot stress this enough. If the migraine is already fully there, it is so much harder to manage. This protocol is about interception, not rescue. It's not a replacement for medical care, especially if you get severe or frequent migraines. But as a first response, something you can do immediately, it's been incredibly helpful.
Train yourself to notice your early warning signs and respond right away.
I've shared this with hundreds of customers over the years. The feedback I hear back is that it helps. Some people say it stops the migraine. Some say it softens it significantly. Everyone says they feel better having something they can actually do in that moment instead of just waiting.
[11:30] Sendha Namak and Unprocessed Salt: What Ayurveda Has Always Known About Mineral Salt
[VIDYA]: You know, Ayurveda has always taught that salt, real, unprocessed, mineral-complete salt, is medicine when used with intention. The ancient Ayurvedic texts talk about Sendha Namak, which is unprocessed rock salt, as one of the most important everyday healing tools. Celtic salt and Himalayan pink salt are two ways we can bring that wisdom into a modern kitchen.
It's not salt that's the problem. It's what's been done to it. And when you choose salt that comes from the earth exactly as nature made it, your body knows the difference.
We carry both Organic Celtic Salt and Himalayan Pink Salt at teaandturmeric.com and in the store at 1175 South Coast Highway in Laguna Beach. Come in and we will show you the difference between them side by side. You can touch them, smell them, taste them. And if you're someone who suffers from migraines, ask me about the little jewelry bags. I will set you up.
Thank you so much for being here today. If this episode helped you, please share it with someone you love, especially any woman in your life who deals with migraines or has ever wondered which salt she should actually be using.
I'll see you next time. Take care of yourself and keep filling your cup.
[13:00] Show Outro
About the Host
Vidya is the host of The Tea on Wellness Podcast, ranked in the top 25% of new podcasts globally. She is co-founder and owner of Tea & Turmeric, a tea and spice shop in Laguna Beach, Orange County, California. Raised in Eastern Canada in an Indian family rooted in Ayurveda, she grew up drinking masala chai daily in her Amma Amma's kitchen long before sourcing loose-leaf herbs for her own shop. Today, Vidya formulates functional herbal teas and spice blends and speaks with customers every day about stress, sleep, digestion, and nervous system support. She shares Ayurvedic tea traditions, adaptogens, and practical wellness rituals bi-weekly on The Tea on Wellness Podcast.
Medical Disclaimer
This episode is for educational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. Always consult your physician or pharmacist before using herbs if you take prescription medications, have a medical condition, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are preparing for surgery.
Episode Length: 14:09
Published: July 29, 2026
Category: Wellness, Ayurveda, Nutrition
Location: Laguna Beach, Orange County, California
