The Iodine Story We Forgot

What this overlooked mineral can teach us about nutrition, our environment, and whole-body health

What If We've Been Thinking About Nutrients Too Simply?

Over the past several weeks, we've looked at iodine from many different angles.

We started with the thyroid.

Then we discovered that the iodine conversation reaches beyond the thyroid into other tissues and systems of the body.

We followed iodine back to our food and soil.

And we explored the fascinating relationship between iodine and environmental substances such as bromide, fluoride, and perchlorate.

But perhaps the biggest lesson isn't about iodine at all.

It's about how we think about nutrients.

What if some of the nutrients our bodies depend upon have slowly disappeared from our everyday health conversations?

Iodine Wasn't Always Just “The Thyroid Mineral”

Historically, iodine occupied a much larger place in medicine and health.

The Iodine Crisis documents how iodine was once discussed and used for a surprisingly broad range of health conditions.

It raises an interesting question:

How did a nutrient once discussed so broadly become something most people associate with only one small gland?

Perhaps part of the Nutrient Revival journey is rediscovering the larger stories behind nutrients we've reduced to a single function.

Our Nutritional World Has Changed

Our grandparents and great-grandparents lived in a very different nutritional environment.

Agriculture has changed.

Food processing has changed.

Our diets have changed.

Our exposure to environmental chemicals has changed.

Even the distance between where our food is grown and where it is eaten has changed.

And yet the human body still requires essential vitamins and minerals to carry out the thousands of processes that keep us alive.

That deserves our attention.

Because root-cause wellness isn't simply about asking:

“What is making me sick?”

Sometimes we also need to ask:

“What might my body be missing?”

The Body Needs Raw Materials

The body is extraordinarily intelligent, but it cannot create every nutrient it needs.

Iodine is one example.

And that's where this entire Nutrient Revival Series is headed.

Minerals, vitamins, amino acids, enzymes and other nutrients participate in the everyday work of the body.

They help provide the raw materials needed for normal metabolism, cellular processes, hormone production, energy, repair and countless other functions.

We spend a tremendous amount of time talking about what we need to remove from our bodies.

And we should spend just as much time learning about what we need to restore.

Iodine Taught Us to Ask Better Questions

Perhaps that's iodine's greatest lesson for us is

Not:

“Is iodine the answer to everything?”

But:

Where does iodine come from?

What does the body use it for?

What happens when we don't get enough?

What affects the body's ability to use it?

How has our food and environment changed?

And finally:

What else might our bodies need that we've stopped paying attention to?

Now we're getting to the heart of root-cause wellness.

Knowledge Changes the Conversation

The purpose of this series isn't to tell you what supplement to take.

It's to help you become curious.

Read.

Investigate.

Ask questions.

Look at different perspectives.

Pay attention to your food.

Learn how your body works.

And don't be afraid to question whether today's “normal” automatically means optimal.

Knowledge gives us the ability to become more active participants in our own wellness.

Root Cause Takeaway

Sometimes the root cause isn't only what the body needs to eliminate.
Sometimes we need to ask what the body is missing.

Iodine is only one nutrient.

There are many more.

And we're just getting started.

Meditation

The deeper we look into the human body, the more remarkable its design becomes.

Something as small as a trace mineral can become part of an intricate network involving our food, environment, cells, glands, hormones and overall health.

God created the body with extraordinary wisdom.

Perhaps caring for it begins with learning what it needs.

Knowledge is power. Ask questions. Keep learning. Look deeper.

Until next time,

Coach Rio

Consagrar™ Wellness
Restore. Rebuild. Renew.