Originally Posted At: https://breakingmuscle.com/feed/rss
Okay, it’s truthfully not a secet. It’s something that all of us strength and conditioning coaches have known about for the entirety of our careers. What do I need to do to prepare my athletes for competition? How can I fully optimize their various engines (aerobic/anaerobic, strength, power) so they can dominate in their given sport? Where am I going wrong?
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
Not only is grilled chicken just plain delicious, but it also really gives you so much bang for your buck. It takes to brines, marinades, sauces, salsas, and dressings, and it’s just as satisfying whether you eat it hot off the grill or save the cold leftovers for your weekend picnic, salads, sandwiches, and noodle bowls.
These are the grilled chicken recipes to keep on repeat all summer long.
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/
On June 23rd, the world changes. Every RV, Subaru Outback, and pickup truck in every neighborhood across the country disappears from city limits. Expect the swoosh of fiberglass poles sliding through tent fabric to resound across the land and millions of campfires to produce enough smoke to block out the sun. Molted marshmallow flows will destroy hundreds of homes, and millions of fathers sitting on Doug fir rounds by the fire will tell so many ghost stories that they summon actual phantoms from the spirit world. The nation’s circadian rhythms will get a hard reset back to the superior factory settings, thanks to avoidance of artificial light after dark. Or so we could hope….
June 23rd is the Great American Campout, that time of the year when the National Wildlife Federation arranges a series of mass public camping sessions across the country and encourages everyone else to do the same in their local communities. If you haven’t heard of it, you’re not alone.
The unfortunate truth is that the vast majority of people still don’t camp. Chances are, the average person won’t even be aware that the Great American Campout is happening. This is a tragedy.
Regular camping could change the world. Imagine if every citizen spent at least a couple nights per month under the stars, gazing into a dancing campfire, getting fresh air and plenty of natural sunlight during the day, going on hikes, lounging in hammocks with a book, and ignoring their smartphone (because there’s no reception). The world would be a better place. People would be happier, healthier, and more tuned in to everyone’s ancestral homeland: the wilderness.
You might think it’s cheesy, or lament the imagined crowds, but you’d be making a mistake. Getting more people to enjoy and experience the outdoors will ensure we hold onto them for years to come.
There are many ways to take part:
If you’re new to camping, want to level your camping up, or are just interested in why camping is so important for our health, take a look at the posts I below.
Go to the website, make the pledge, and start getting friends and family together for an awesome time together. There’s no way you’ll regret camping. Even the rough situations, like storms in the middle of the night, make for great stories—but you almost certainly will regret letting the opportunity slip through your fingers. Chances are, camping is one of those things you “resolve” to do more of but never actually do. Now’s your chance. Consider it a mini-challenge within your 21-Day framework.
Want some inspiration for camping and other active vacations? Some of our Worker Bees are sharing their favorite trips today. And be sure to leave your own anecdotes/suggestions for camping and active vacations in the comments for today’s contest (details below).
My favorite type of vacation is a good balance between relaxation and activity. I love getting up in the morning for a hike or taking a walk on the beach at sunset. Then, finding time to read, recharge and connect with the natural beauty of my surroundings is where it’s at! Also, water is a must! I feel the most relaxed near the lake or an ocean. This photo is a Rocky Mountains camping trip. – Ana G.
Destination races! My husband and I sign up for races as an excuse to visit other countries, like when we ran the Great Wall of China Marathon. It’s pretty much the opposite of sitting poolside with a mai tai! You get to meet amazing people—other participants, race volunteers, and locals—you’d never normally encounter and see things the average tourist misses. It’s a wonderful way to travel. – Lindsay T.
My favorite active spot around the globe to vacation is Costa Rica! I especially love Dominical, a little surf town on the Pacific Coast. Great for yoga, kayaking, surfing, hiking, running, and swimming, there are literally endless adventures to be had in a place so rich in different ecosystems and outdoors escapes. – Annie M.
Morning run in Tel Aviv, Israel! – Chloe M.
One of my most memorable places for vacation was Lake Tahoe, absolutely gorgeous scenery and amazing time spent with family. We paddle boarded, canoed, and fished! – Michelle F.
I spend a lot of time in the North Woods and North Shore (Minnesota). It’s beautiful hiking there, and we enjoy gorgeous sunsets on the rocky beaches. – Jen W.
I’m lucky to live just a few hours away from Big Bear, California, and it’s definitely a favorite getaway spot. With breathtaking views, epic hiking trails and calm water, there’s no shortage of activities to keep you moving!
Last time I was there, I linked up with the Bee the Wellness tribe for one of their adventure retreats. It’s so nice to just show up somewhere with all your activities and (paleo!) meals planned, so you can sit back and really enjoy your surroundings. In fact, I’ll be joining them again this July in the Redwoods! If you miss PrimalCon, you’ll LOVE this (and you might see a few familiar faces too). – Liz M.
Favorite active vacation spot: San Diego, CA
Favorite activities:
1. Hiking in Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve (attached photo taken on one of the trails that overlooks the beach)
2. SUP/paddleboarding in Mission Bay
3. Family bike riding on Coronado Island
4. Kayaking and jetskiing in Carlsbad Lagoon
5. Trail running and hiking in the San Elijo Hills
– Sabrina T.
The Bees and I want to hear your stories and suggestions for camping adventures and active vacations. Simply leave a relevant comment here by the deadline, and you’ll be entered to win.
The Prize: The Primal Blueprint Platinum Supplement Package
The Platinum Package is the ultimate in supplementation, and a daily dietary boost favored by Mark Sisson, his wife and thousands of other health-conscious devotees. This comprehensive supplement plan includes: Primal Master Formula, Primal Fuel, Primal Probiotics, Primal Omegas and Primal Sun. With a 30-day supply of a high-antioxidant multivitamin complex, omega-3 fish oils, healthy probiotics, vitamin D and a 21-day supply of delicious, coconut-based Primal meal replacement shake, the Platinum Package is a complete, convenient and cost-effective way to live a healthy, Primal life in the modern world.*
The Deadline: Midnight PDT, June 19th, 2018
Thanks for stopping in, everyone. Take care.
The post Great American Campout, Worker Bee Trips, and a Contest! appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
Bananas are ubiquitous in smoothie recipes, but what if you’re allergic or you simply don’t like them? Fortunately bananas aren’t the only path to a thick, creamy smoothie. Here are several other healthy ingredients that can do the trick.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
It’s true: Dusting seems futile. Yes, dust is going to keep coating any and every faintly horizontal surface and, no, it’s not a fun or particularly rewarding chore. But that’s not to say that getting rid of dust doesn’t make us feel good — if not by reducing the allergies we’re exposed to inside our homes, at least by just knowing that our surfaces are dust-free (for, like, a day).
That’s why, when we tackle this almost-thankless task, we should make it as effective as possible. Putting in the right effort right now will pay off with fewer overall dusting sessions. And isn’t that what we all really want?
To dust your best, avoid these two common dusting pitfalls.
Originally posted at: http://www.nerdfitness.com/
I love inspiring success stories.
I especially love sharing stories from real people with busy lives who have struggled in the same way most of us struggle:
Christina, a years-long member of the Nerd Fitness community, is somebody who has gained and lost the same weight more times than she can count. She grew up with negative self-talk, chased lose-weight-quick strategies, and struggled to love herself through the ups and downs.
After her husband stumbled across Nerd Fitness (smart fella), he told her to consider joining our community, and I’m so thankful she did!
Two years ago, we launched a beta version of our super fun 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program, and Christina was one of our guinea pigs that signed up!
In those two years, she has transformed inside and out, and I’m so excited to share her story today. In these two years, she has had this great level of success without access to a gym without crazy dietary restrictions or calorie starvation, and finally loves herself in the way she deserves to be loved!
Although I’m very proud of the fact that Christina has invested in herself through coaching program month after month, I know you’ll learn a lot from her story.
At the end, I’ll share with you EXACTLY how to make your changes today. No more negative self-talk, no more reliance on motivation or willpower, but a focus on systems and progress and accountability!
Let’s see how Christina transformed…
Steve: Hey Christina! Can you take us through a typical day before you decided to level up your life?
Christina: This is embarrassing to admit, but here’s a typical day when my husband would travel for work, which was about 2 weeks of every month:
Wake up, drink coffee, eat some string cheese, check emails, eat more cheese, drink more coffee, check more emails, watch a show or two on streaming media, check more emails, eat more cheese, switch to Diet Coke, grab some Taco Bell, tutor kids for a few hours, grab a beer or two with friends, eat pizza or some kind of horrible take-out, watch more TV until midnight or so, then head to sleep.
Steve: Taco Bell, pizza, beers, cheese on cheese on cheese, tons of take-out…sounds like a typical diet for many people struggling to lose weight.
Was there a specific moment when you decided to make a change?
Christina: It was more of a bunch of small things:
Oh, and learning to snowboard was nearly impossible. There were days we’d drive the two hours to the mountains, I’d go down the bunny hill once, and be done for the day – I didn’t have the physical or mental stamina to try again.
I’d then sit in the lodge and drown my sorrows in chocolate brownies while my husband would go down the blue and black runs by himself.
Super fun for both of us. /sarcasm
Steve: Blah, yeah that’s no fun. So, you eventually decided that “enough is enough,” and ended up on Nerd Fitness! Was this the first time you had ever tried getting in shape?
Christina: Definitely not. I’ve kind of lost count of how many times I flirted with weight loss and getting fit. These are just some of the strategies I remember:
#1 Massive body shaming from my mom – including gems like “A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips” and “If you don’t lose weight before your wedding, you will always look back at your photos and feel terrible for how bad you look.”
#2 The single teacher income diet – I lost 50 lbs in six months only to gain it back when I could afford food again.
#3 Weight Watchers – I was used to body shaming from my mom, I figured, “Why not let strangers do it too?” Turns out this was less than ideal for my self esteem. I know WW works for some, but my particular experience wasn’t great.
#4 Various exercise VHS tapes from the 80s and 90s – My faves included Tony Little and It Figures with Charlene Prickett, because nothing motivates you like a built dude with a ponytail, or 80s leotards coupled with bad music!
#5 Beachbody shakes – I found the shakes to be excellent when mixed with a half pot of coffee, two tbsp of peanut butter, and a cup of half and half. No idea why I didn’t lose weight, hahaha.
#6 Cutting calories without tracking or learning – For some reason, I believed that even though I had no idea how much I was eating regularly, I could guess my way through calorie restriction. This did not work.
#7 Complaining – “Why am I so fat? Why can’t I lose weight? There must be something wrong with my metabolism. Why is exercise so difficult?”
#8 Wishing the fat away – “Maybe if I skip dinner I’ll lose a pound or two. Maybe if I skip dessert I will lose weight. If only a magical weight loss fairy existed…”
Steve: Thanks for sharing your struggles honestly with me (and now the world!). I’m curious: what made you decide to take the plunge and jump on board with Nerd Fitness and our coaching program?
Christina: Prior to NF Coaching, I mentioned to my husband I needed help.
After all of my failed attempts above, I knew I couldn’t do this on my own and wanted guidance.
I live in Colorado, land of the uber-fit, but I felt like none of the options available really meshed what I needed. I didn’t enjoy exercise and just couldn’t relate to fitness junkies.
The NF Coaching announcement came at a perfect time, and I was really pleased to see that the program wasn’t just personalized workouts, but also that my coach Jim would help me with my nutrition and mindset.
And you saw how I used to eat – I definitely needed help in that area!
Steve: Amen. We all know we need to exercise more and eat less, it’s actually DOING it consistently that’s challenging. So take me through your training schedule with Jim:
Christina: I told Jim about the equipment I had available (or lack thereof) and my goals, and my schedule, so he built a program that fit into that exact situation.
We did a lot of body weight to start with, no gym for me!
These days, I do a combination of bodyweight training (planks and wall sits), adjustable weights (overhead press, side rows), and anything Jim gives me that has to do with my pull-up bar and gymnastic rings (chin-ups, pull-ups, ring holds, etc.)
Steve: Let’s talk nutrition: What’s been your nutritional strategy?
Christina: Definitely more of an “if it fits your macros” (IIFYM) type of deal – I try to shoot for 130g of protein and under 80g for carbs and fat. I married an Italian who loves to cook; we quickly realized totally cutting pasta out of our lives wasn’t going to work.
So Jim helped me to be smarter about everything.
We time our big Italian meals on days we do a lot of physical activity, instead of every day which was always my problem in the past.
I also had to cut back my cheese addiction, which was super sad. It’s amazing how consuming 500+ calories of cheese a day can impact your diet. Again, who knew?
Steve: Yes! I too follow a “mental model” macros-type diet. What’s a typical day like for you NOW, after the changes?
Christina: SO Different!
Up between 5AM and 6AM, drink one cup of coffee with turmeric, cinnamon, and pepper, eat a small breakfast (normally an egg and some protein with one slice of really skinny bread).
I then do some work and housework, bodyweight training around 10am, drink a protein shake, drag husband out for a walk, then eat lunch around 12:30pm (lots of protein). We run our own company – a raw pet food company – and it keeps us both plenty busy
I then do more work, tutor in the afternoon, sometimes volunteer at a feral cat colony, and then dinner (protein and veggies), relax, and bed.
Much more structure in my life, and amazingly, I get things done. Who knew? 😉
Steve: What is your internal self talk like compared to 2 years ago?
Christina: There’s a lot less internal arguing about exercise or eating.
I’ll admit the first six months were miserable and really challenging. I cried my way through every workout – they were hard mentally, physically, and emotionally. This is what made it worse – I would tell myself “I deserve to suffer, because I let myself go.”
I then realized that this self-talk was unproductive, and through conversations with Jim, my husband, and myself, I changed my attitude about the whole thing.
I realized that exercise is something I’m lucky to be able to do.
It’s something that feels good and makes me feel good. My husband knows when I haven’t exercised yet for the day because my mood is lousy!
Thanks to these two years, I can now snowboard, I can hike, I can walk through downtown Boulder without open-mouth breathing.
I can do things I want to do, even if they’re hard, without beating myself up.
Just last month, we hiked up Mt. Sanitas in the rain, soaked to the bone! This would have never happened before. 3.1 miles, 1300 feet of elevation gain, and *wet* – but I did it!
And enjoyed myself! It was pretty awesome. 🙂
Steve: What was the toughest or most important change you made?
Christina: After asking my husband for his opinion, apparently the toughest change was cutting back on cheese! And I quote, “You complained the *most* about that.”
That was done fairly early on, maybe six months into working with Jim, so it’s difficult for me to remember how tough that was. Apparently it had an impact on my husband, though! 😉
Steve: Talk to me about your progress along the way. How have you measured your progress and what has helped?
Christina: I log all of my food daily and love the structure and awareness it brings to my life.
I can plan my day out based on what’s for dinner without feeling like I’m losing out on food. With food logging, it’s pretty easy to figure out what doesn’t agree with me, and I’ve gotten a lot better with portion control when it comes to items I want to taste but don’t want to gorge on (cake, gelato, etc.)
A bite or two of something is not going to ruin my day, but if I eat the whole thing, I know I’ll feel sick to my stomach and be useless the rest of the day.
As for tracking progress, I actually weigh myself daily. Weighing in used to be a source of shame; now it’s just a data point, and I can see how what I ate the day before affects me (I’m looking at you, salt).
I also take progress photos, track my body fat percentage, and track other measurements too.
Steve: Okay, so be honest: was NF Coaching worth the investment for you? Why stay 2 years even after having success early on?
Christina: Simple. I’ve lost weight in the past, and I knew that it would just come right back if I didn’t really change my ways. In working with Jim, I lost 40 pounds fairly quickly once the diet changed and exercise was done on a fairly regular basis.
However, it was really important to me that the changes stuck.
Jim knows exactly how to push things and how to tweak behaviors in order to get results. He’s had great ideas around food, and his experience with a wide variety of people has given him some great insight into how people work.
I get exactly the level of support I need, and Jim can totally read between the lines of what I say and what I really mean. There’s always a goal in mind, and I work well with that type of motivation. These are our current goals:
Steve: LOVE IT. And you are working with the best coach ever when it comes to handstands – Jim wrote our Beginner’s Guide to Handstands, led our Handstand Course, AND has helped other clients get their first handstands too.
Steve: Do you have any nerdy passions or pursuits?
Christina: I cosplay, play the Dresden Files tabletop rpg with a group of friends across three time zones, read a lot of comic books, and play video games in a casual way.
Steve: Nerd credentials check out – you’re in the right place!
I want to ask you one final question: There are TONS of Nerd Fitness readers right now who are at your “Day 1” (or heavier). Do you have any words of advice for those folks?
Christina: Change is so personal. You need to look within yourself and ask if you’re happy with where you are physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Then you have to ask yourself if you’re okay with the way your life is currently “hard,” and if you’re willing to try a different kind of “hard” in order to get some different results.
My “hard” before was heavy breathing, the possibility of medication for various health issues, clothing not fitting correctly, feeling embarrassed going out in public, and not being able to participate in activities with my husband.
Now my “hard” is more saying no to free food because I KNOW it’s not really free, trying to get in one more rep with a little more weight, and coming to grips with what my body and can’t do, despite how much I exercise.
Steve: Thanks so much for sharing Christina! Jim shares your updates with our team and I feel like a proud parent (that’s not weird, right? cool) watching you continue to transform every month!
When we meet in person we can practice our handstands! I’ll make sure to bring Jim too.
As I’ve been following Christina’s story over the past two years, I can think of six specific things she did differently than most people who struggle and never succeed:
#1 CHRISTINA KEPT TRYING AND FAILING DIFFERENTLY
Weight Watchers, Beachbody, calorie restriction, negative self talk, dieting…Christina tried it all. Most people struggle with weight loss and assume that they’re broken. Christina eventually realized that she just hadn’t found the path that worked for her yet.
So she kept searching.
When she started working with us at Nerd Fitness, she went the route that sounded the most exciting to her: hiking with her husband, snowboarding, bodyweight training, and no gym membership.
There’s no ONE way to get in shape, and Christina found the perfect plan for her – the one she would actually STICK with.
#2 CHRISTINA COMMITTED TO HERSELF & INVESTED IN HERSELF
She had tried to get in shape before. Many times.
And failed. Many times.
Most people blindly chase the next fad or making half-hearted attempts to get in shape. They also give up at the first sign of adversity and can’t get any changes to stick.
Even worse? Sticking with a “healthy” plan for months only to discover that it doesn’t actually generate results (I see you low fat food, starvation, running endlessly on a treadmill).
Christina recognized that years of these strategies hadn’t resulted in permanent progress, so a different approach was needed.
She knew she couldn’t do this alone, so she hired a coach who knows her better than she knows herself.
Through her ups and downs, highs and lows, successes and struggles, her coach is there to set the right pace for her at that point in her life. When life changes, so does her workout and nutrition programming.
Certain things are worth investing in, and Christina decided that she was worth it.
#3 CHRISTINA DIDN’T LET SPEEDBUMPS BECOME ROADBLOCKS
Along the way, Christina struggled: this getting in shape stuff isn’t easy! One missed workout becomes two, which becomes six months off in the blink of an eye.
But she relied on her husband, her coach, and her knowledge that her coach had set her up to succeed, and all she had to do was stick to the plan.
Even after Christina managed to successfully build powerful habits and momentum, she was diagnosed with some serious health challenges: severe osteoarthritis in her left hip and moderate to severe osteoarthritis in her right hip.
Most people understandably fall apart when hit with a setback like this. They say “oh what the hell.” If their bodies are failing them, might as well eat junk food and stop exercising because, “What’s the point?”
Christina went the other way.
She said, “I am not my x-ray.”
While her diagnosis has put a damper on running, lunges, and squats, she worked with a physical therapist, doctor, and her coach to come up with other options to keep her physically active.
Because of her attitude change, Christina was able to turn these mountains into molehills and step over them.
And now she’s focused on climbing ACTUAL mountains.
#4 CHRISTINA STOPPED WISHING AND STARTED DOING
Why do we beat ourselves up when we run out of willpower? Why do we get mad at ourselves for not being “motivated enough”? Why do we rely on hope and wishful thinking when it comes to getting healthy?
Because we think successful people have more of this stuff than we do, and that’s why they’ve lost weight.
We then lament the fact that we’re not like them and thus are doomed.
Reality paints a much different picture: people who have successfully lost weight and kept it off stopped chasing motivation. They recognized that willpower was limited and motivation would abandon them when life got tough. So instead, they stopped hoping and wishing and instead start building systems:
This is exactly what Christina did. She stopped expecting things to be different and took the future into her own hands.
She knew she couldn’t do this alone, so she enlisted help, she got her husband’s support, and she GOT TO WORK.
#5 CHRISTINA TRACKED THE PROBLEM TO CRACK THE PROBLEM
Here’s my opinion as to why Christina succeeded: She started tracking her food daily. She could then share this food log with her coach who could make small changes and suggestions that didn’t overwhelm her.
Christina also weighed herself daily, not due to OCD neurosis, but instead as a scientist collecting data points and adjusting her progress!
She’s now educated with how many calories she can eat each day, the makeup of everything she eats, and she can make much more educated and informed decisions guilt free with each meal.
By tracking her food and her macros and analyzing her relationship with food, she can still eat home-cooked Italian food regularly without screwing up her nutrition goals. She MAKES through timing and tracking rather than hoping it works out.
In addition to these successes, through tracking she was able to discover two areas that were holding her back: she quit drinking and cut back significantly on high calorie cheese consumption.
These changes might not have happened had she not been tracking so diligently!
#6 CHRISTINA FINDS NEW DRAGONS TO SLAY
Her journey began with a weight loss goal: “I want to lose weight and feel better about myself.” And she lost 40 pounds very quickly on her journey.
This is where the big change happened:
Instead of saying “all done!” like se would have in the past, she instead worked with her coach to ask, “What am I capable of now that I’ve done all this hard work? Maybe I can work towards pull ups and get better at hiking!”
“Okay I got pull-ups, now what do I want to do?”
She and Jim consistently updated her goals and missions so she always had a new target. She wants to climb a mountain. She wants to do a handstand and a planche. And every day her workouts and her nutrition are set up in a way for her to get closer to those goals!
And if she ever reaches these goals? Perfect. She’ll get new ones!
There’s always another dragon to slay…
Here’s how Christina transformed like Optimus Prime, and how you can too:
This should get you started, regardless of whether or not you join any of the programs at Nerd Fitness!
You can start bodyweight training TODAY.
You can adjust your nutrition TODAY.
You can start to build your guild TODAY.
Now, if you’re somebody like Christina and seek 1-on-1 guidance and instruction, I’d love for you to check out our 1-on-1 NF Online Coaching Program and chat with us about it.
We schedule phone calls with everybody who wants to join the program to make sure we’re a good fit for each other – you can schedule your free call by clicking on the box below:
I want success for you the way that Christina found it – through healthier eating, a healthier mindset, and a complete overhaul of her attitude!
Two years seems like so far away, but think back to where you were 2 years ago – how much has changed since then? Look back at photos of you from two years ago. I bet TWO things are true:
As they say, “The days are long, but the years are short.”
So why not start today? If you enjoy the journey, it makes the struggle worth it.
If you have questions for me or Christina, let us know in the comments!
Team NF is here to help you!
-Steve
PS: If coaching isn’t your thing, we also have a powerful online course that is self-paced and has helped 50,000 rebels level up their lives.
The NF Academy has a 1-time payment, 7 levels of workouts, 10 levels of nutrition, boss battles, quests, and the most supportive community on the internet.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
I had more than $1,000 worth of blenders sitting on my kitchen counter at one point — and things sure got noisy and busy! The three powerful, expensive blenders I tested — the Breville Boss, Vitamix 5200, and Blendtec 625 — each claim to have unique features that can take care of all your blending needs. Were these claims accurate and should you invest in one? If so, which one is right for you?
How well a blender functions is a combination of so many factors: container shape and design, power, blade design, speed, and so on. The best way to see how well they stack up against each other is to place them side by side and run them through the exact same tests. Direct comparisons are the best way to judge which blender performs a task the best and give insights into how good or not-so-good design comes into play. I did the tests and here are my conclusions.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
Have you ever walked by the produce display right as those misters go off? Just a fine spritz that covers everything with a dewy, fresh-picked glow — it’s fun, right? This mist has actually been the subject of much controversy. Does the spray clean the vegetables? Does it help the produce last longer? Is it a scam to make you buy more? What exactly is in that spray? Is it harmful at all?
We got to the bottom of things and answered all these questions.
http://chriskresser.com/
In a previous article I showed why, when used alone, thyroid hormone replacement often fails. In this post I’ll explain why optimizing your iodine intake is so crucial and why both too little and too much iodine can be harmful.
Iodine deficiency is the most common cause of hypothyroidism worldwide. Once researchers realized this, health authorities around the world began adding iodine to table salt.
This strategy was effective in correcting iodine deficiency. But it had an unanticipated—and undesired—effect. In countries where iodine has been added to table salt, the rates of autoimmune thyroid disease have risen. The following is just a sample of studies around the world demonstrating this effect:
Why does this happen? Because increased iodine intake, especially in supplement form, can increase the autoimmune attack on the thyroid. Iodine reduces the activity of an enzyme called thyroid peroxidase (TPO). TPO is required for proper thyroid hormone production.
Iodine deficiency is the most common cause of hypothyroidism worldwide. Optimizing your iodine intake is crucial, and both too little and too much iodine can be harmful.
On the other hand, restricting intake of iodine can reverse hypothyroidism. In one study, 78 percent of patients with Hashimoto’s regained normal thyroid function with iodine restriction alone.
However—and this is a big “however”—it appears that iodine may only pose a problem for people with Hashimoto’s and other autoimmune thyroid diseases in the presence of concurrent selenium deficiency. One study in rats found that those given excess iodine only developed goiter if they weren’t consuming adequate selenium.
Other studies have shown that selenium protects against the effects of iodine toxicity and prevents the triggering and flaring of autoimmune disease that excess iodine without selenium can cause.
In my practice I always test for both iodine deficiency and Hashimoto’s when a patient presents with hypothyroid symptoms. If they are iodine deficient, I will start them on a trial of iodine and selenium together. In most cases, patients see a significant improvement. In a minority of cases, they cannot tolerate supplemental iodine even with adequate selenium intake.
In most population studies, iodine is tested using spot urine, which is convenient and easy and correlates fairly well with recent iodine intake. However, studies have shown that spot urine and even 24-hour urine collections have high variability due to significant day-to-day variations in iodine intake.
Some clinicians have advocated iodine challenge urine testing, where a patient takes a large dose of iodine, often 50 mg, and collects urine for 24 hours afterward. This is based on research showing that 90 percent of ingested iodine should be excreted in the urine when the patient has sufficient iodine intake in the diet (1). However, this testing has not been validated to my knowledge and has been heavily criticized by several iodine researchers (2).
In my clinic, I use a combination of three tests:
If iodine deficiency is suspected and there is no evidence of Hashimoto’s, supplementation with doses of 200 to 300 micrograms of iodine are safe and well tolerated. However, I would still recommend monitoring thyroid antibodies and other thyroid markers closely. Higher doses of iodine supplementation should only be used under medical supervision.
If iodine deficiency is suspected and you have Hashimoto’s, you can still try supplementing, but I would start with a very low dose, perhaps 100 micrograms of iodine, or simply increase intake of foods that contain iodine, such as sea vegetables, fish heads, or dairy.
You’ll also want to make sure that you are getting adequate dietary selenium to protect against any negative effects of excess iodine. The richest source of selenium is Brazil nuts, but it is also found in high quantities in seafood and organ meats.
The post Iodine for Hypothyroidism: Crucial Nutrient or Harmful Toxin? appeared first on Chris Kresser.
For now classes are 6pm and 640pm at 2840 Wildwood st in the Boise Cloggers studio.
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