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Podcast 206: Cravings and Iodine

This Podcast is a grab-bag of health tips. Martin has “been better” – not feeling his usual vim & vigor, so off they go to discuss all sorts of things to do for health.

Discover how to start the day out right. Are you craving sweets or salty foods at night? What happens when you eat fermented veggies?

Take a look at Metabolic Typing to find out what slows you down and what perks you up.

And how can you tell if your thyroid is working at optimal levels? The thyroid gland is an important endocrine gland regulating metabolism in every cell of your body.

Sea-Aloe Gold can:

• Boost Healing
• Help Restore Thyroid Function
• Normalize Metabolic Processes

These two “Treasures of Land and Sea” provide an incredible boost to your healing processes.

Aloe Vera helps with nutrient absorption, killing bacteria & viruses, and has pain killing properties. It has been used successfully in connective tissue cancers with animals, and is being researched in human cancers. In other studies, Aloe has been successfully used with diabetics to normalize blood sugars.

Sea kelp helps nourish your thyroid and pituitary glands, helping maintain metabolic balance.

To nourish and repair your gut at the same time, we recommend taking Platinum Plus Essential Amino Acids, to give you the protein/sulfur you need to rebuild your whole body. Used together, Sea-Aloe Gold and Platinum Plus, as a rule, support complete healing. Use this natural process to reverse Intestinal Dysbiosis, otherwise called Leaky Gut or Permeable Bowel.

Podcast 206: Cravings and Iodine

SCOTT: Welcome back everybody! You are listening to the Life Enthusiast Podcast, starring the founder of Life Enthusiast, Martin Pytela! I am your co-host, Scott Paton. Hey, Martin, how are you doing today?

MARTIN: Well, I’ve been better.

SCOTT: What happened? How come you are not full of your usual vim and vigor and enthusiasm?

MARTIN: You know, I think it starts with not talking with you often enough. I mean, you just brighten my day, and I haven’t had enough time with you, and that is part of the problem.

SCOTT: Aww, that made my day.

MARTIN: Yeah. I think, really, two o’clock now, and I think I haven’t had breakfast until about 1:00 or 1:30, so that might be it.

SCOTT: So what time did you get up in the morning?

MARTIN: 6:30.

SCOTT: So you had nothing to eat from 6:30 to 1 PM.

MARTIN: Right. I had a drink, I had a couple of glasses of water, my usual mineral-loaded water, I had my amino acids, I take those in the morning, I had my Zeolite, but that is it. No calories.

SCOTT: No, that is not good!

MARTIN: No, it is crazy! It is stupid! It is precisely what gives people cravings in the evening. When you are experiencing cravings, ask yourself: “What did I not eat 12 hours ago?” Especially if you have carb cravings. It is because you haven’t had any protein 12 hours earlier. So sure enough, I’ll be cursing myself at 8:00 PM, or I’ll be hunting for a piece of bread or something.

SCOTT: It is kind of weird that you say that, because we’ve talked many times in previous podcasts about my cravings, and running around, eight o’clock is the time when I run around, I bang every door on my cabinets, looking for something like a taco chip, or a chocolate bar. There could be carrots in the fridge, more carrots than I could eat, but I don’t want that. But what I’ve been doing for the last few months is hot yoga, and I’ve been going to either six or eight o’clock class. And it just blows out any desire for anything other than to come home and collapse in bed.

MARTIN: Yeah, this is the cravings control by jail.

SCOTT: That is right!

MARTIN: You put yourself completely out of reach by physical restraints.

SCOTT: And not only that, we are doing stuff in a hot unpleasant environment, we are doing things that are unpleasant and awkward, but take my full focus, so there is just no room for any of these craving-related thoughts. So it was just kind of funny. And of course, you can’t eat about two hours before…

MARTIN: …because you would throw up?

SCOTT: Yeah, it would be really bad. And I’ve done that once, I thought I could get away with this. But when you are upside down, whatever you stick in your stomach is coming out your mouth. So you can do that a couple of times to see how it makes you feel, but you will probably never do it again. So I went to this class, it was really hot, and it was really hard, and I came home, I hit the sack, and I am just sound asleep. So I am finding that being really helpful, because I am doing it two or three times a week, and it just interferes with my habit of going for the craving. But it never occurred to me that the 8:00 PM craving could be because at 8:00 AM I was not eating enough.

MARTIN: Right. And of course, a person should be eating what is right for their metabolic type. If you are a fruit and veggie person, you should be eating at least some fruits in the morning. If you are a fat and protein person, you definitely should be feeding yourself a hearty breakfast, like some hemp protein, or an omelet with eggs, or some protein smoothie with some healthy fats like coconut milk, that sort of thing.

SCOTT: Okay, so we’ve talked about me, and how I avoid my cravings, and you are talking about your day being kind of rough because you didn’t start it off properly…

MARTIN: You know, at some point, I just start feeling miserable, because I have gone into this acidic cycle. I really think that when you are going acidic, your mind is producing really sour, negative, depressing thoughts. You look out the window, your hormonal balance is off, and you are mad that the sun is shining!

SCOTT: Yeah, yeah! “It is a beautiful day, we are sitting at the beach, and I am just furious!”

MARTIN: Right! “What the heck am I doing here at the beach? I should be doing something different.”

SCOTT: It is funny, but it is really true! Oftentimes, our moods are so dependent upon what we’ve been sticking in our mouth or not sticking in our mouth. I was just thinking of the other day, a friend of mine had a Christmas party, and I was amazed at how many six to eight-year-old kids were there, and of course, what they ate were candy canes and other sweet things, the kids were all really good, but then there was this one period where they were just running up and down the walls, and I thought: “Oh yeah, it wasn’t that long ago when they were feeding them with pure sugar, basically.”

MARTIN: Yeah, yeah, it is the grandmother’s revenge, she brings you a candy, she feeds your child with some candy, and then she leaves. (laughing) What’s interesting to me is I found that whenever I eat fermented veggies with my lunch or dinner, I experience no cravings.

SCOTT: Okay, so what is a fermented veggie?

MARTIN: Well, it is known as cultured or fermented. Think of sauerkraut. But you must remember to distinguish between the properly fermented sauerkraut, versus the stuff that is just put in jars with pickle juice. This fermented stuff has to be stored refrigerated, otherwise, it would keep fermenting, and essentially blow the top off the bottle or a jar. Just recently I bought something that has sauerkraut, carrot, and ginger. It was pretty good.

SCOTT: I’ve never heard of that! Did you get it in some organic food store?

MARTIN: Yes, I bought it in a health food store, at the refrigerated part of the store. There are various combinations available. You might be familiar with kimchi, for example, which is also fermented vegetables. I also bought some straight sauerkraut, I really like it, I have been putting some of that in my salad, and whenever I do that, I do a lot better. I just ran out of my Genki powder, which is the fermented superfood we sell, so I am now using sauerkraut instead, as I am waiting for my Genki supply to arrive.

SCOTT: Great, I might try some of it myself! So, Martin, I know you get lots of customer calls, and I am kind of curious, are there any questions from people that have stood out in your mind?

MARTIN: Yeah! Just recently a fellow called up and said: “You know, I get these cysts in my armpits, and in my gluteal fold, and in my groin…”

SCOTT: What’s a gluteal fold?

MARTIN: I guess you would call it the crack.

SCOTT: Oh, okay. (giggling)

MARTIN: Somewhere below your waistline and above your anus. So I am asking him: “Are you having any difficulty sweating?” And he says: “I don’t sweat at all.” I am saying: “Well, there we go! If you are having that problem, that must mean that there’s not enough circulation!” So the sweat glands are stagnant, they are probably clogging up from lack of use, they are like little nozzles.

SCOTT: And we detox through our sweat, of course, and also we cool off our body.

MARTIN: Yes, definitely that.

SCOTT: I have a friend who also says that she never sweats.

MARTIN: Guess what it is the symptom of.

SCOTT: What is that a symptom of?

MARTIN: Thyroid imbalance, insufficiency. You could probably find that she’s also going to have fibrocystic breasts, painful periods, PMS, thinning hair, and who knows what else.

SCOTT: So if we don’t sweat, that is a signal that there’s something really wrong, and we are going to be building up toxins in our bodies, or we are going to be building up other problems, and eventually they’re going to pop out as they did with this fellow with the cysts.

MARTIN: Yes, that is right. What is the solution? You do have to figure out some way to sweat, and you do need to figure out some way to upregulate the thyroid because this is not normal. I asked the guy some more questions, and he said: “My doctor says that my thyroid values are normal.” But then when doctors measure the thyroid, they don’t look at the complete picture, they might just look at one number. Very often the hormone test says everything is fine, but you still have obvious symptoms. You read the list of thyroid insufficiency symptoms, and you say: “Well, I have most of those!” So you go to a doctor and tell him, the doctor takes you to a lab, measures your blood, and says: “Your blood is normal, therefore everything’s fine.” Well, excuse me, but I am feeling horrible!

SCOTT: Yeah! “Thank you very much for telling me that I am fine, even though I am not.”

MARTIN: That is quite a common problem actually. A lot of people who call me say their doctor said the tests came up fine, but they have these symptoms. Thyroid issues are pretty common, and a lot of people suffer from these thyroid diseases without even knowing it is a thyroid-related problem.

SCOTT: So if I want to get my thyroid working at a better level, what are some of the things that I can do?

MARTIN: The most common tip is taking natural iodine, either from seaweed or from an atomic iodine supplement, which is like seaweed brewed into a liquid, it is an alcohol tincture that you could add to your drinking water. We have it on our website, you can check that out along with some more iodine choices.

SCOTT: So eating things that have seaweed and kelp in them would probably be another good way to support your thyroid.

MARTIN: Perfect. Anything seaweed, kelp, dulse, also fish, and other seafood. People call me and come up with all kinds of strange intimate questions. This other fellow called up and asked: “Do you know what Peyronie is?” And I said: “Yes, I know what Peyronie is.”

SCOTT: What is a Peyronie?

MARTIN: You know what a trigger finger is? That syndrome when your finger sort of folds and curls and refuses to open up? Peyronie is the same thing but on your penis. When that happens on the finger, the solution is iodine. When a man’s penis goes erect, but instead of staying pointed straight, it curves to a side and looks like a hockey stick, that is not a good thing. What happens there is similar to what happens on the finger, one side of the ligaments is shortened, and the other side is not, so it just curves. Solution? Same story! Get iodine and apply it.

SCOTT: So iodine is one of those things that we are not getting enough of, and we need it for more than just our thyroid.

MARTIN: Iodine is totally a magical thing! Iodine is important for the prevention of cancer, it is involved in healthy pregnancies, it prevents premature birth, it prevents miscarriages, and it also prevents low birth weights. I don’t want to say something ugly, but ‘stupid babies,’ you know, babies with lower intelligence, that is an issue, and iodine can help prevent that. In fact, if I were contemplating pregnancy, I would be telling my partner to take iodine, magnesium, and folate. Folate is a funny thing, it has been actually prescribed to women. In Canada, they actually ordered that folate should be added to flour! So now everybody who eats bread or pasta or whatever is eating folate. In fact, they did some research and found that Canadians have 100% of the daily requirement of folate, whether they are pregnant or not! Now they are finding that of course too much of a good thing is not necessarily better. If you have a growing cancer, folate actually accelerates it. So now they are finding that they might be killing us instead.

SCOTT: I was just thinking about iodine and salt, of course, one of the big selling points of salt at the grocery store is there is iodine added to it. I read this article that said: “In 1924, iodine was first added to table salt as a preventative measure, and by 1940, the practice was in general consumer use. Using iodized salt has been effective, it contains about 76 micrograms of iodine per gram. The average person consumes at least three grams of iodized salt daily, so they exceed the RDA by 150 micrograms. However, iodized salt has many other drawbacks. It contains aluminum and processing chemical residues. Its overuse creates well-documented conditions associated with sodium-potassium imbalances.” One might think we’ve seen the last iodine deficiencies, but it is not the case. It is because of chlorine, we are taking in all this chlorine, and that impacts the reserve of iodine that the body has.

MARTIN: Exactly, that is a very difficult issue. Also the fluoridated water, fluoride is an antagonist to iodine. Flour treated with iodine has been used in industrial baking, but in about 1974-1975, they switched to brominated flour, instead of iodized flour. That is another major problem. Bromine causes a lot of thyroid problems. Yes, the iodine was a great idea, but people have been staying away from salt now, salt has also been demonized for quite a while. So we now have people who are not having high blood pressure from too much sodium, but they are having thyroid problems from too little iodine. All I can say that technological solutions to problems of nature can’t seem to work all that well. The overriding theme is that the industry can’t seem to outsmart nature.

MARTIN: So, okay, back to folate, for women who contemplate pregnancy, folic acid definitely helps with preventing several types of birth defects and pregnancy complications. Of course, you can go to a pharmacy and buy a folate concentrate, but you could also just contemplate: “What is ‘folic’? What is ‘foliage’?” Greens! The green leaves! So where would you get folate in nature? In dark green, leafy vegetables. So anything like mustard tops, kale, wheatgrass, chlorella, spirulina, algae… Or you can try one of our green superfood blends!

SCOTT: I think we have time for one more thing, let me ask you something. Since I’ve been back from my trip to Mexico, I’ve had this crack in the skin between two of my toes, and a friend of mine said: “That is athlete’s foot, you need to put on some cream on or something.” All I was doing before, and I’ve been doing since, is putting on some magnesium oil and coconut oil, depending on which I have at hand when I thought of it. It hasn’t been particularly painful, but I noticed that the skin is really rough, and kind of feels like it is falling off. I understand it is a fungus, right?

MARTIN: Right. The fungus will only live in an oxygen-deprived, wet, moist, dark, and acidic terrain. So a lot of the detoxing that you’ve already done has disturbed a bunch of the toxins, so they are now traveling, they’re out, pushed to the margins, so to speak. Feet, by the reason of  gravity, is where all of the toxins accumulate. In fact, you can notice that the three most smelly areas on the human body will be the feet, the pelvic area, and the armpits. 

In the armpits, it is mostly because of the sweat, but if you go look at the physiology books, armpits are important places for the lymphatic system, we have lymph nodes there. Lymph nodes are placed all over the body, for instance, if you take a finger and dig into space just below your clavicle, you will typically find that area to be exceedingly painful. These are the two spots that you should often gently massage. But anyways, these sports are right next to the armpits, which is like the first station for the toxins. The second station are lymph nodes down in the groin, and the last one is in your feet.

So anyway, going back to the athlete’s foot. The thing that really works well is a salt scrub, essentially taking fine salt mixed with some oil, sesame oil, or olive oil, whatever you have at home. We actually have some of these pre-made, they are called either Salt Scrub or Salt Peeling. You can take this mix of oil and salt, and just scrub it into your feet. It is actually really good at removing cracked skin as well. So, if you have some dry, hard skin on your heels, this oil and salt mix is really very helpful.

SCOTT: Simple and natural! What are the side effects of putting this on my feet?

MARTIN: They will smell nice.

SCOTT: You mean you don’t have this big, long list of side effects my doctor would make me read before he would give me a prescription?

MARTIN: (giggling) You are funny, this is such a funny thing. I remember watching a commercial on TV, and there were these two women, frolicking on the beach or the park, a perfectly happy scene. And then they said: “Take this drug, it is a solution for such and such a problem,” and then this fast, low key voice, said: “By the way, if you do this, you are expected to maybe die of cancer, you can lose this organ, blah blah blah,” this really fast reading telling you you could die if you take this drug. And then they switch into the normal voice again to say: “Talk to your doctor about this drug.” So listen, people, you need to talk to your doctor. Scott and I are not licensed medical professionals. We are not doctors, we are not practicing medicine, this really is just a comedy hour.

SCOTT: (laughing) So that salt peeling that you talked about, is made from Himalayan salt, right?

MARTIN: Yes.

SCOTT: Very cool! That is some of the purest salt that we can get. I found this quote on one of the websites about Himalayan salt, and I think the quote is perfect. It is from Plinius, a Roman writer who lived from 23 to 79 AD, and he said: “Crystal salt is the most important remedy for mankind.”

MARTIN: Well, salt is really important for all of our bodily fluids. I mean, if you lose the salt, if you lose the balance of your electrolytes, you will die. We have the calcium-magnesium balance, which is important. And we have the sodium-potassium balance, potassium on the inside of the cell, and sodium on the outside of the cell. If the balance is incorrect, you will either not push nutrients in, or toxins out of the cell. If you don’t have enough sodium, the toxins will not be removed from the body, the pump will not work in the direction from within the cell. That is what sodium does. There has to be sodium to pull the toxins out of the cells. If you completely remove your sodium intake, you may end up being toxic. So don’t be so afraid of salt, especially if you eat lots of protein.

SCOTT: Just make sure that you have good quality food, not the manufactured white salt, white sugar, white flour, avoid all those things, if you want to have good, long, vibrant, healthy lives. You want to take pure salt, very pure salt, that has actually got a crystalline structure in it, it really came from the primordial oceans of millions of years ago, which is very different from the salt you see in the grocery store. So, Martin, if somebody wanted to learn more about thyroid health, magnesium, sodium, healthy salt, and all these other good things, what should they do?

MARTIN: They should go to www.life-enthusiast.com! We have a blog with plenty of articles, we have a podcast, and of course, we have a store full of great products! If you want to talk to me personally, call me at (866) 543 3388, I am happy to take your questions, and sometimes even give answers. On a good day, we are not even cranky about it! (laughing)

SCOTT: (laughing) I love it. Thank you for listening, everybody! This is Life Enthusiast Podcast, restoring vitality to you and the planet!

Note: the information provided are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult with your medical professional(s) if you are dealing with a specific medical issue.