ReThinking Fluoride: What DO YOU DO about Fluoride (Part 2)
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What DO YOU DO about Fluoride
(partial transcript of podcast)
In Part 1, we talked about the narratives out there about fluoride use and why it can be confusing for most people to figure out which voice to listen to. We also dove into the unbiased science. By now, a lot of people have figured out that science isn’t ALWAYS unbiased and is occasionally for sale, so it’s important to be able to THINK THROUGH the information on your own a bit. That’s why this podcast is called RETHINK IT!!
Today, I just want to go over a few key ways your body is impacted by chronic fluoride exposure and what the means for you. But more importantly, we are going to talk about a few key ways we can support healthy removal of fluoride from our bodies.
To add to some of what we discussed about the biological impact of fluoride, here are a few key reminders:
1.) Fluoride has a huge impact on the thyroid, displacing iodine and often contributing to an allergic-like or even autoimmune responses as is seen in Hashimoto’s.
2.) Because fluoride disrupts Iodine, it can also affect the breast tissue. Iodine receptors are also found on the mammary glands, and iodine is needed for proper endocrine function of the breast, therefore disruption of iodine by fluoride can contribute to the development of fibrocystic breasts.
3.) Fluoride can contribute to hormone imbalances because it triggers something called pregnenolone steal. This is a phenomenon where pregnenolone, which is the mother hormone-the precurser to all other hormones like thyroid hormone, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, glucocorticoids, melatonin and more.. .This precursor is diverted from making the sex hormones, melatonin and such toward the production of cortisol (our stress hormone). So, the result is that the body is unable to make adequate and healthy levels of the rest of the hormones, which leads to hormone imbalances.
4.) Fluoride exposure leads to pineal gland calcification.
The pineal gland’s primary function is to regulate sleep and wake cycles, but it also an area of the brain that is linked with intuition, perception and awareness. Damage to the pineal gland can create issues with sleep and mood- it is often linked with depression. The problem with this gland is that it is situated OUTSIDE OF THE BLOOD BRAIN BARRIER. This makes it at higher risk of injury from toxins. Excessive exposure to toxins such as fluoride is linked to CALCIFICATION of the pineal gland, causing the gland to become less efficient in hormone release and regulation and this calcification is linked with Alzheimer’s!!
Every organ and sub-cellular organ if affected by exposure to fluoride, but we covered more about that in the last episode, so check that out here if you want to learn more.
Let’s talk about what we can do about it!
The first, most important thing to remember is that our foundation should always be solid. In the holistic space, that means, we need solid nutrition. What does that mean??
That means we really have
- Avoid pesticides and chemicals in our foods, so organic as much as possible is basic. If you are not able to fully go organic, at least avoid grapes, raisins and wine because they contain a fluoride pesticide.
- You need a good balance of proteins and green leafy vegetables. The proteins are so important to provide amino acids that your body will use to create new cells and the leafy vegetables provide so many micronutrients and mineral when they are organically produced in nutrient dense soil. Support your local organic farm!!
Secondly, there are a few supplements that support fluoride detoxification. We will talk a little more about this in upcoming episodes, but for now, let’s highlight curcumin. Curcumin is an extract of turmeric root; 95% of curcuminoids are found in the turmeric. It is a powerful anti-inflammatory herbal that helps to heavily support the liver and improves detoxification.
Next, remove your fluoride exposure. I will attach in the show notes a link to the EWG site where you can look at the quality of your water and see if there are any fluorides or chlorines or other harmful chemicals found in your water.
Well -water people: you are not out of the woods with your water. I have many clients and have had heard many stories from other practitioners about well water being contaminated from the aquifer with a host of chemicals ranging from chloroform to arsenic. The only way we often figure this out is by testing the person and then later testing the well for the chemicals found in the person!!!
When it comes to fluoride- water is a huge source, but so are bottled drinks (those companies are allowed to use purified tap water for their products and purified does not mean fluoride has been eliminated). Toothpaste is a big source, as is mouthwash. Black and green teas are and non-organic coffee are other sources. More sources include: Teflon pans, mechanically deboned meat and workplace exposures. Also, fluoride is found in large amount of medications, including albuterol, certain antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds. Other halides like bromine and chlorine are also used in these medications which creates similar problems in the body as fluoride does.
Of note, normal water filters like the carbon filters on your refrigerator and the filters in the jugs and even BERKEY do not remove fluoride from the water. (gasp!! I know..)
Berkey is actually dealing with lawsuits due to poor validation of their claims about their purification systems.
The only way to guarantee elimination of fluoride from the water is by 3 methods:
- Reverse osmosis. This is an expensive process because 2 gallons of water are discarded for one gallon of clean purified fluoride free water.
- Bone Char
- Distillation
This second method, bone char, is less well known and it is using a system that uses charred bones to collect the halides from your water. That should tell you something: charred bone captures fluoride- do we want fluoride collecting in our bones???
The third method can seem controversial, but is still my favorite method and that is to use distilled water as our primary source of consumed water.
Now, most people immediately push back with, “isn’t that dead water? I mean, there’s not even minerals in the water? Or .. Doesn’t that lead to leaching of the minerals from the body??” I think I even said that at one point myself at one point and even the highly respected astrophysicist, Neil Degrass Tyson is quoted making a statement to that effect.
But the reality is that our cellular mechanisms are not as simple as the membrane experiment that you may have done as a child in middle school or high school- you know the one were you put a membrane in between two fluids to demonstrate osmosis.
How this experiment works is one side has a lot of particles and the other doesn’t. The first thing to notice is that water is the thing to move to balance particles.. not the particles themselves (which in the human body would be the minerals).
Our cells are complex in the movement of minerals through the cell membrane. The lack of minerals consumed in water is not the big driver. In fact, most minerals dissolved in water carry a charge that doesn’t allow them to be utilized and taken in by the cell. The best source of biologically available minerals are those that are bound to carbon, not free and and electrically charged ions. Carbon is the basics element in all living organic things, so in other words, you need to get your minerals from FOOD, not water.
That’s your short story about distilled water and the minerals. But why do I prefer distilled water if I can get fluoride free water in other ways? Distilled water eliminates the hardest to remove contaminants like radioactive elements (radon, uranium and others) and no other filtration system is able to accomplish that… so there you have it.
When I checked my zip code for water contamination, both uranium and radon contamination came up as 2.9-6.9x the acceptable normal!
You have choices, but to remove fluoride, you definitely need to be filtering your water!
Moving on.. another important thing to help you remove fluoride is to be sure to consume foods high in NATURAL iodine! Of course, be sure to make sure you check your thyroid and that you are not dealing with Hashimoto’s before bumping up your iodine consumption, though typically, organic foods containing the natural form of iodine should not be too much of an issue. Iodinate salt will.
Iodine will help remove fluoride from the body if there is sufficient amounts of it. Foods high iodine include seaweed, shellfish, eggs, organic beef liver and organic chicken.
Avoid IODINIZED salt as it is a processed form of salt often lacking the natural occurring minerals that are found in sea or celtic salt. Furthermore, Iodine in salt available at grocery stores, restaurants, and in practically all processed foods, have synthetic chemicals added to them. These chemicals may include manufactured forms of iodide, sodium solo-co-aluminate, fluoride sodium bicarbonate, potassium iodide, anti-caking agents and aluminium derivatives. Unfortunately, most table salt is unhealthy and should never be considered as a source of healthy iodine.
A few other important steps to clearing fluoride includes making sure you are getting enough minerals like magnesium, calcium and vitamins like D3. Be sure to get enough sunlight to help your body produce D3 naturally and as mentioned in our episode on light, to be sure our body is able to utilize the vitamin and minerals we do consume. Chek it out here!
Another important step is do a full body detox plan on a routine basis. Some practitioners recommend to think to do a cleansing protocol with the change of each season, so quarterly, some say twice a year. The point is to make sure that your organs of elimination are working efficiently, so a gentle herbal cleanse with some infrared sauna use, hydro-colon therapy and other supportive techniques is a good way to keep your body eliminating the accumulated burden of toxins on a routine basis. This is critical to preserve and protect your overall health and particularly, your brain health.
Lastly, if you are concerned about calcification of the pineal gland, then the use of melatonin, liposomal form is very helpful. Melatonin is a powerful antioxidant for the brain and supplementing with melatonin has been shown to reduce calcification of the pineal gland an improve function.
