Saturday, November 13, 2010

Re-absorbing Iodine

The re-absorption of iodine/iodide into the body can take up to a year to facilitate in some people, which is dependent upon the toxicity of the individual and the nutritional program that is followed or adopted during that time. Detoxification is a natural process that occurs in our lymphatic system and iodine helps to facilitate this detoxification very well in the body, killing pathogens and mutated cells along the way. Some of the more popular toxins that iodine/iodide help to release from the body include; lead, cadmium, arsenic, aluminum and mercury as well as the halogens, chlorine, bromine & fluorine. The halogens fluorine, chlorine & bromine compete for storage with iodine and win the competition by displacing it from the body, this is known as Halogen Displacement. The body then becomes iodine deficient and that's when disease of one kind or another creeps into the body. Iodine is stored, for our immune health & proper functionality, in the brain, thyroid gland, women's breasts, ovaries and men's prostate gland, it is also utilized by every organ and every cell in the body. Since the body's receptor cells block it's return, after it has been displaced, higher levels of vitamins B2, B3, C along with the mineral selenium are required to overcome these blockages and thus allowing iodine/iodide to be reabsorbed.
'Make your food Your Medicine' - Hippocrates
Since the high majority of vitamins & minerals that are available to be purchased in health food stores contain vitamins & minerals from a synthetic source. Which means they are chemically equivalent in structure, but only in structure, not in content. Being an empty structure missing the naturally occurring co-factors & enzymes that are necessary for their absorption & use in the body. Since our bodies do not produce minerals we obtain them from our food. The issue then becomes where do I get mineral-rich food since our soils are so de-mineralized due to modern farming practices with the use of herbicides & pesticides. That is why organic food choices are so important these days, but even with organic choices, there is a mineral gap, again dependent upon soil concentrations. Luckily enough here in Canada & the US, we have some of the worlds best seaweeds growing in our 'own backyard', so to speak. With a wide spectrum of over 60 trace minerals & a host of vitamins that are in concentrations 10x to 100X that of vegetables & plants that are grown on land. We can survive on eating seaweed and nothing else and be the healthiest people on the planet. We just need to look to Eastern cultures of Japan, Korea & China to see how this played out in the health of their nations. Japanese people eat approximately 4-6g of seaweed daily and have one of the lowest rates of breast cancer in the world. Japanese people, who eat a traditional diet high in seaweed, also show very little 'keloid' scarring due to surgery incision or accident.

'Go to the ocean to heal' - Hippocrates

Since seaweeds, also known as sea-vegetables, contain 10x-100x the vitamin & mineral concentrations of their land counterparts in their proper balance, they are a wonderfully complete food source. They contain many healing polysaccharides, vitamins, enzymes, all of the omega's 3,6,7 & 9, all essential amino acids plus a host of many others all in a bio-available or chelated form in properly balanced ratio's that are absorbed by the body. Sea-vegetables contain over 60 minerals, a wide spectrum in a balanced ratio that allows for the absorption of major and trace minerals. Since minerals are the driving force behind all cellular mechanisms and are as such co-dependant on each other, they are utilized in a synergistic manner in the body. Major minerals that are required in our bodies include calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, sodium & potassium. Since 99% of our calcium is stored in our bones and 1% is available in our bloodstream, which is regulated by magnesium from which phosphorus cannot be dissociated, it's very important to have a good bio-available source for intake. Calcium, magnesium & phosphorus we know as important minerals in building & maintaining strong bones & teeth, they are also required for maintaining cellular membranes, connective tissues and aid in blood clotting for the body. Since it is the homeostasis or balance of the internal and external cellular fluids that is vital for a healthy life, sodium in the form of sodium chloride balances our external cellular fluid (ECF) and the potassium that balances the internal cellular fluid. This tightrope walk of balance is critical for normal muscle contractions, a strong nervous system, proper heart functionality and the maintenance of healthy blood pressure. So getting proper absorption of these important major minerals is obtained easily from sea-veggies either through food consumption or taking transdermally in a thalassotherapy treatment. Trace minerals which are also essential for our bodies include; iron, zinc, copper, chromium, iodine, selenium, manganese, cobalt, nickel, silicon, vanadium and molybdenum to name a few. They play an important role in the absorption and utilization of many nutrients, enzymes and hormone productions that are vital to our life.
What most, who frequent fast food restaurants, fail to realize is how will their body recover from this processed food supply and how their body is going to fulfil it’s nutritional levels required to sustain life. We, as a society are indeed feeling the ill-effects of our ‘fast food diet’ that readily shows in the everyday health and well-being or lack of well being for a majority of our population. Those dealing with auto-immune conditions, such as; arthritis, psoriasis, eczema, anemia, fibromyalgia & thyroidism to name a few, that can be directly linked to the lack of minerals & vitamins currently available in our modern fast food diets. With high concentrations of healing polysaccharides & polygalactosides, along with high concentrations of chelated vitamins & minerals, seaweed has the variety to supply the body with ALL that is needed nutritionally to survive & thrive at optimal levels. Seaweeds, in general, supply us with all of our essential amino acids including; Alanine, Arginine, Asparagine, Glutamine, Glutathione, Glycine, Histidine, Lycine and Proline plus a host of others, 10 to 40% protein (dependant on the type of seaweed) We can survive by eating seaweed and nothing else and be the healthiest people on the planet, just look at the Korean & Japanese cultures today.