Thyroid and It's 3 Most Important Minerals

The thyroid is one of the most common organ 'weakness' I see in my office... as well as the liver and the adrenal glands.  The thyroid sits in the lower front part of your neck.  It makes hormones that influence the entire body!  It helps to control our metabolism, body temperature, hair/skin/nails, heart rate (people can get heart palpitations simply due to dysfunction in the thyroid), moods, energy levels (especially in the morning), and many other things!

Typically people with thyroid issues will present with one or more of the following things...
Inability to loose or gain weight, weak nails, brittle/dry hair, dry skin, heart palpitations, fatigue especially in the morning, brain fog, anxiety, depression, infertility, constipation or alternating constipation and diarrhea, acne, hot flashes, night sweats, high cholesterol (did you know the thyroid plays a part in managing cholesterol levels!!), menstrual issues and irregularities, as well as many other things!

I am almost always checking the thyroid on each visit... and here are a couple things that can be done at home to help improve its function! 

The 3 most important minerals the thyroid needs are:
1) Iodine
2) Selenium
3) Zinc

For each mineral I challenge you do the following things...

Iodine:  Get tested in the office to see if you need iodine.  This is something that can drastically help the thyroid but adding it when it is NOT needed can do more harm than good.  So in order to see how much you need AND IF you need it stop by and get muscle tested!  Great foods that contain iodine are seaweed, turkey breast, and eggs.  And you may be thinking about regular table salt because it has iodine in it?!?  Well yes it does but it is fortified and NOT naturally occurring in it.  So instead make the switch to sea salt or even better Himalayan salt and get your iodine from naturally occurring sources.  For more info on salt check out http://products.mercola.com/himalayan-salt/.

Selenium: Selenium is the 2nd most important mineral for the thyroid.  A way to simply get the needed amount is to eat 2 Brazil nuts a day... only 2!  So go buy a bag of Brazil nuts and make this a daily habit.

Zinc:  Lastly Zinc is very important for thyroid function and is linked to over 100 different enzymes in the body.  Enzymes are what is needed to make the body function properly.  When enzyme counts are low people get tired and sick... so why not do a simple check to see if you have enough zinc to make all the cells in your body work better.  The test (called the Zinc taste test) can be done in my office for free, takes 10 seconds, and quickly allows us to see if you need to be supplementing with Zinc.  The first time I did the Zinc taste test I failed miserably... so that makes me more passionate about it now.  I try to make sure each patient does it and if we haven't let me know!  If you are deficient like I was there is a supplement to take for only a month or 2 which increases your levels to normal. 

I hope this has been somewhat informative and helpful for all you thyroid patients out there!  Call the office if you need any help or have any questions!  And eat 2 Brazil nuts a day :)

Meal with Pot Roast Leftovers!

This idea and pictures were sent to me by someone doing Candida Clear (definitely not my man hands in the pic) back in my home town! Great idea.  Just take your leftover pot roast and make it into a nice lettuce wrap.  Add mustard (no sugar or high fructose corn syrup) like the picture and enjoy!! Other great toppings would be bean sprouts, goat cheese, green peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, or other sandwich toppings.  Be creative! And... thank you to the family for the great idea and pics!! :)

 

 

 

OH-IO! Go Buckeyes! :)

 

Greek Yogurt Covered Strawberries

These hot summer days call for a cold treat... especially one that is easy to make.  I saw this online somewhere with blueberries and all I had at home was strawberries... clearly it works just as good!  All I did was dip my strawberries in plain Greek yogurt and put them on a plate with wax paper (so they didn't stick to the plate).  They may not be the most beautifully dipped strawberries you have every seen but the taste is that all the counts... right!  I left them in the freezer for about 1 hour and then enjoyed!! (Well... enjoying them now as I type)

They are nice and frozen when they come out which some people may love but for me I can't stand the thought of biting into anything frozen.  Some people can chew into a ice cube or popsicle and that gives me chills just thinking of it!!  So I just let mine thaw out for a couple of minutes and then the strawberries are not quite as hard and frozen.  Either way... its a great simple summertime treat!  Next time I will try it with blueberries or almonds or raspberries... maybe sprinkle with xylitol or honey (for those not on candida clear/phase one) or drizzle with homemade chocolate?  Sounds delicious!

July Special at MTCAM!

MTCAM is featuring the Youth Encouragement Services for the month of July.  YES works with inner city children and has both summer and after school programs.  They are now gearing up to prepare backpacks for children so they will have new school supplies for the school year.  Please help us get as many items as possible to give back to the children to make sure they have a good start when they go back to school!

 

Donate 4 of the following items and receive $10 OFF your visit that day!

--One package of notebook paper (wide ruled)

--One spiral notebook (wide ruled)

--Two folders with pockets

--One package of standard #2 pencils

--One large eraser

--One box of 24 crayons

--One small plastic bottle of white school glue

--One small bottle of hand sanitizer

--One 1 foot ruler

--One three-ring notebook binder (2 inch wide)

 

All of the items above will be used to pack one backpack for a child!  For more information and how to further help this organization please visit http://youthencouragement.org/.  Thank you in advance for all your donations!

Deep Moisturizing Treatment with Coconut Oil

Another use for coconut oil is that it can be used as a deep conditioning treatment for your hair!  I did this a couple months ago and it made my hair so silky and smooth... it was wonderful!  All you need is coconut oil and a shower cap.

When you hair is dry completely cover it from roots to tips with melted coconut oil.  Make sure you massage it in the scalp too.  Once your hair is all greased up put on a shower cap for an hour.

When you shower make sure to put shampoo in your hair before you get it wet... it is VERY IMPORTANT not to get it wet before you wash it because you will have a heck of a time getting all of the coconut oil out.  You will have no problem getting the coconut oil out of your hair if  you put shampoo on it before its wet.  I washed my hair like that once and followed up by washing it one more time to make sure it wasn't greasy. 

After that my hair was soooo smooth and it helped my split ends.  Try it and see how it works for you :)

Bug Bites?

Now is the season for bugs... Yay!  I just wanted to post a couple things you can do to relieve the itching and help heal them faster.

First- Put Tei Fu Essential Oil on the itchy bug bites.  This helps to quickly stop the itch!
Second- Put Silver Shield Gel on the bug bites to help them heal faster!

Both are available in the office or online through Nature Sunshine.  The Tei Fu Essential Oil stock number is (1618-7) and Silver Shield Gel stock number is (4950-1). 

Hope this helps against all those pesty bugs out there!

Homemade Noodles!! Only 4 Ingredients! Great for People on Candida Clear!

One of my patients on Monday gave me this great recipe for noodles.  It was a huge success!!  Many people miss pasta during the Candida Cleanse and those who battle candida in general.  I have to stay away from it because whenever I eat pasta I seem to bloat up and gain a few pounds... fun stuff.

There are only 4 ingredients in this pasta... which makes it so incredibly easy to make!  They are quinoa flour, water, olive oil and chia seeds (which can also be substituted for eggs but I used chia seeds since I had them).  I have had quinoa flour for a long time and used it only a few times.  I have never had much success with it because of the taste... seems pretty earthy... but with the pasta you don't notice it at all! I was so excited to have a recipe to use my quinoa flour!


Ingredients

2 cups of quinoa flour

2 tablespoons chia seeds with 6 tbsp hot water, soaked and stirred until a paste forms

2 teaspoons olive oil

1/2 cup warm water

Mix up ingredients until you get the dough.  I found it easier to mix with my hands.  It is a fairly dry dough so don't be alarmed. I put it in a gallon baggie and sealed it up for 20 minutes to let it set.  Online they said wrap it in plastic wrap for 20 minutes but the gallon baggie worked great.  Then I took it out and rolled on a cookie sheet and sliced up into thick noodles (the picture may not look pretty but they tasted great!).  I didn't have a pasta machine to make noodles so I sliced them myself.

Put them in boiling water for no more than 3 minutes.  Take out and drain water and enjoy!

Look at this blog (link below) for much prettier pictures and a better description.  It can also be made with an egg instead of the hot water and chia seeds but I just followed her recipe.  You can cut the noodles thin or thick or with a pasta slicer if you have it.  Possibly use these to make as lasagna too!

I also want to thank my patient who told me about this recipe!  I am sooo happy to share it with everyone :)

http://pinchofme.com/2013/01/23/quinoa-pasta/

 

Pic of noodles in the strainer