Does anyone here eat kelp? Use Lugol's iodine?

[Spirit Bear]

My healthfood store only has kelp in preparations like powder and liquid but said Whole Foods probably carry it. I'm wary of buying kelp from a supermarket because of how it may have been processed but are there good options?

I'm planning on taking Lugol's 5% solution for a while and then eat kelp for the long term to get sufficient iodine. There seems to be controversy on the safety of taking iodine preparations because of something that happens during conversion. Mercola recommends against it but others say it's worth it. It's toxic yet it eliminates toxins.

[dogman333]

All I can say is that I muscle test better on Lugol's than kelp preparations from the health food store. Also, there are some posts on here somewhere where people have recommended people who harvest the seaweed themselves. Maybe do a search to find those references.

The Lugol's has helped several members of my family in significant ways. I've read Brownstein and Abramson and Flechas and all those iodine doctors and I think it's okay. I take between 10 to 30 mgs  a day.

Now, the best way to get iodine is to eat seafood. And be sure to eat the fish skins for the selenium that is important for balancing iodine in the thyroid. Sardines are the most inexpensive way, I do that too. Quality ocean caught fish are out of my budget right now.

[Dr. D]

I use Lugol's 5% daily. 2-4 drops (12-24 mg) upon waking and another 2-4 drops 4-6 hours later. None taken later than 4 PM unless I plan to be up late. I enjoy it very much and notice how much slower and tired I feel without it. I just purchased the supplements to go along with it and eventually am going to try to work my way up to 100 mg a day for a while. This is of course all pending experimentation and results as I go. I won't force anything and am only after results. I can say iodine alone has given me results. Others have said the supplements listed in Dr. Brownstein's iodine protocol http://home.comcast.net/~jocy1/junk/The%20Guide%20to%20Supplementing%20with%20Iodine.pdf have increased their results so I ordered them and will report in my journal if anything changes.

I agree the best way to get iodine is in food as I'm sure there is something that goes alongside its absorption or some other unknown factor. Kelp or dulse apparently are really beneficial and plan to pick some up soon too. I think sunfoods.com has raw kelp or dulse.

The only "toxicity" that occurs is really only a detox. It breaks down heavy metals and flushes them out. If you have too much at once then it breaks down too many metals and creates symptoms such as itchy skin or hyperthyroid-like side effects. It truly is a detox because you can maintain that dose and no longer experience those issues, whereas when ingesting toxic substances at the same dose you will continue to become sick or possibly become MORE sensitive to the substance.

[Spirit Bear]

Great answers, thanks. I'll probably have to buy the Lugol's 5% online since it seems hard to find here. One pharmacy I called said they have it in 16%, which I think they use for compounding, the health store doesn't carry it.

Does anyone have a good source? I could have it shipped to the US or Canada.

[jessica]

http://www.jcrowsmarketplace.com/

This is where I got mine.
lugols.com has a ton of other information
I took it for a few weeks then reverted back to eating dulse and kelp.

[LePatron7]

http://www.jcrowsmarketplace.com/

This is where I got mine.

That's the brand I use too (except I buy it off Amazon).

I take the 2% solution. I put 50 mg in a gallon of distilled water and drink it through out the day. I use most of the recommended supplements for the iodine protocol.

I take lots of unrefined sea salt (Real Salt). And most of the supplements they recommend. It took some time building up to that dose.

I started with much less, maybe a drop or two daily. Even that caused horrible detox symptoms until I started using a lot of salt.