Health paranoia: There are lots of ways of getting iodine
Read the full article in momover
March 23rd, 2011

Last weekend, on our way to an early-bird Saturday night dinner, Hubby and I popped into a health food store in the West Village. “Maybe we should stock up on iodine pills,” he said, scanning the shelves, “before they’re sold out.”

Grrrr…

Though I’m generally a big ol’ fraidy cat about natural disasters, terrorism and crashes of all stripes – and a biopsy can send me cowering under the blankies for days – for some reason I haven’t really glommed-on to the universal fear du jour: radiation wafting over to the States from Japan.

But since lots of other mommies are understandably freaked, I wanted to share some insights from health smarty-pants (and Mama Guru) Susan Blum.

Dr. Blum’s stance is that, for lots of people, iodine tablets are fine – with one BIG caveat: If you have thyroid issues (as I do, sadly), ramped-up iodine via pills can spell trouble.

“In these cases, and also in some normal-thyroid people, the high dose of iodine can actually cause your thyroid to become worse,” she says. “For this reason, it is important to make the decision [to take iodine supplements] based on your personal health history.”

A safe alternative, per Dr. Blum, is to boost your iodine levels through foods, including:

·     sea vegetables such as dulse, kelp, nori and haziki
·     seafood including ocean fish and shellfish

And the good doc is so keen on us mamas going the natural route, she even had Marti Wolfson, the in-house chef for the Blum Center for Health, whip up an easy-peasy, sea-vegetable condiment recipe for you:

Dulse and Sesame Seeds

Ingredients:
1 cup dulse
1 cup sesame seeds

Toast the dulse until it turns purplish and crispy and let cool. With a mortar and pestle or in a food processor, combine sesame seeds and dulse until coarse mixture. Sprinkle as a condiment in soups, salads, sandwiches and cooked vegetables.