What Sources of Iodine Are Best For Me?
Iodine is an essential nutrient. It’s one of the “who’s who” nutrients that’s behind almost every healthy function in your body. If we believed in panaceas, this would be near the top of our list. The key point is that your body cannot produce it. It can only be ingested from your diet.
Iodine is an essential fertility nutrient. Your thyroid gland can’t function without it. If your thyroid is off, it will bring down your hormonal health. When your hormonal rhythms are off-kilter, the fertility process can stall. Your fertility plan must include enough dietary sources of iodine (see below), or supplements when necessary.
What are the signs of iodine deficiency? You may feel fatigued or cold. You may even catch multiple colds. Your metabolism could be off and your weight may spike up or down without changing your diet. Memory loss and depression can also be present. All of this points to a possible iodine deficiency, which is a red flag for fertility.
At one point in the early 20th century, the practice of adding iodine to commercial salt began. This was to combat the rising public health problem of goiter. A better solution would have been to leave the iodine (and all minerals) in natural salt in the first place. Frankenstein never turns out the way that the scientist had hoped.
Stripping salt of its minerals, and then re-adding iodine makes for gross dietary imbalances. On this note, try to avoid all foods in the grocery store with the word “fortified” on their label. Bread, milk, and orange juice are common examples. The word “fortified” is another way of saying “we’re trying to put back some of the good stuff we took out”.
Iodine helps regulate ovulation. It is also behind the basic functions of cell division and growth. If you followed iodine through the body, you’d find that it’s connected to every single fertility factor. This is the reason we pay special attention to this nutrient for natural fertility. You can’t be successful trying to conceive when it’s deficient.
Natural Food Sources High in Iodine Include:
- Sea vegetables, such as kelp, dulse, nori, arame, hiziki, kombu, and wakame.
- Saltwater fish – cod, sea bass, haddock, and perch.
- Dairy and dairy products (yogurt) – Choose full-fat, raw, organic, grass-fed.
- Eggs.
- Navy beans.
- Replace your iodized table salt with a real salt, such as sea salt or Himalayan crystal salt.
Other Foods With Moderate Amounts of Iodine:
- Onions.
- Mushrooms.
- Lettuces.
- Spinach.
- Green peppers.
- Pineapple.
- Cantaloupe.
- Strawberries.
- Peanut.
- Whole Wheat.
- Cranberries.
- Baked potato with peel.
- Shrimp.
- Turkey breast.
- Tuna.
[NOTE : iodine levels as well as all nutrients tend to be more abundant in organically grown foods.]
Do I have enough Iodine?
How can you tell if you have enough iodine? The “iodine skin patch test” is an easy way to check at home. Buy a bottle of potassium iodide from the “first aid” section at the pharmacy. Paint a one-inch square on your inner arm or inner thigh. It is a very distinct color — a kind of orangey-brown. Track how many hours it takes to completely fade and disappear from your skin.
If you have enough iodine, then the color patch will take over 24 hours to fade. In our experience, most patients’ patches disappear much sooner. Iodine deficiency is quite widespread. A body hungry for iodine will absorb the patch as fast as it can. Then it fades completely within only a handful of hours.
You can also take an iodine supplement in addition to the foods listed above. We recommend nascent iodine – the most absorbable form. Start with the recommended dose on the label, and periodically retest with a skin patch.
This topic is further expanded in Step 3 of The 8 Steps to Natural Fertility Your Doctor Doesn’t Know About.
You can download your free copy here.
