Day 21 of Detox

As it was the weekend I made my weekly early morning run to Bondi beach and although the water was icy it was incredibly refreshing. I usually take the Sunday magazine to read between swims but I forgot. The nippers provided plenty of entertainment instead, they look so tiny with those big yellow boards almost as big as they are! I had a decaf soy flat white on the way home – I figure 3 weeks in that I can have a treat!

I was starving by the time I got home as I only had a white peach and some hot water with lemon when I woke up. As I wanted to head to the gym I made a smoothie with 2 bananas and 1 cup of berries with all my other usual ingredients. I added extra banana for the energy and bananas are also high in potassium which is great when you sweat it out at the gym.

Now, get ready to cheer – my time on the rower today was an incredibly 10 minutes and 4 seconds! I use music and my HypnoBirthing training to get through the pain threshold but I have to admit that I felt like vomiting when I finished – my heart rate was up at 171 so no wonder! I then used the cross trainer and did a hill session which almost had me crying. I missed the yoga class this morning so I did some stretching instead.

I had a fresh juice of pineapple, apple and mint which is one of my all time favourites – it’s perfect on a hot day if you blend it with ice and make a frappe. Lunch was once again from a freezer cook up – a casserole of vegetables and beans.

I have made a really concerted effort to detoxify my home – I only use natural cleaning products as well as make up and body care. I noticed a few months ago that whenever I hoped in the shower I would be able to smell chlorine for the first few minutes. I looked into this and found an innovative Australian company that has patented a shower filter to remove all chemicals from the water. It makes sense right – why spend so much effort and time to detox then hop into a chemical laden shower? We absorb chemicals though our skin and the issue with chlorine is that its chemical structure is similar to iodine (as is fluorine). So both chlorine and fluorine block absorption of iodine.

In case you weren’t aware, iodine deficiency is at epidemic levels in Australia and I routinely test all my patients for this. I have only had 2 patients return normal levels. Iodine is vital for the thyroid hormones that regulate our metabolism, body temperature, reproduction, growth, blood cell production as well as nerve and muscle function. Low thyroid hormones can cause a person to become sluggish and gain weight, affecting their general health, their fertility and ability to carry a pregnancy.

It is important to ensure adequate iodine intake during preconception, pregnancy and breast feeding. During pregnancy, the fetus is entirely dependent upon maternal iodine, which plays a significant role in normal central nervous system formation and maturation. Iodine deficiency during pregnancy is the commonest worldwide cause of preventable intellectual impairment and can be associated with losses of up to 10 -15 IQ points. A recent study involving 1,709 schoolchildren across the eastern seaboard of Australia demonstrated that 40% of children were iodine deficient. So, ask me to check your iodine levels at your next consultation if you have not already been tested.

Dinner is light as I am at Golden Door – I had an abbas apple, a mango and a big bowl of miso. I then did a beautiful thing for myself – an Epsom salt bath, a mask followed by a scrub, all done by candle light whilst relaxing. I felt like a prune by the time I hopped out but I slept like a baby!