Re: Green Tea, Fluoride, and the Thyroid

This was an interesting article. You people are way above me on intellectual discussions about Iodine and Fluoride etc, but I do have anecdotal personal evidence to add.

I work at a Chinese Restaurant and we serve Chinese tea in the form of Green Tea, or Jamine Tea, or a Green Tea/Jasmine blend that we buy from China.

(BTW, from knowing lots of Chinese people, they aren't any healthier than we Westerners)

I thought at first, great, I can take advantage and drink Green Tea all day long and get healthy on it.

But, it seemed as time went by and I drank these teas more and more, and in fact, all day long I had a cup of it in my hand, that I got more and more tired and gained weight like crazy. I figured I needed more of it so I drank more, and got more tired and fat. I tried to be very careful of what I ate and it seemed to me that my food consumption should not have been making me gain weight, so I ate less and less and drank more and more Green Tea.

Last July I began a mostly raw food diet and gave up the tea, because it's "cooked".

I lost 22 pounds in 11 weeks. My energy level soared, I felt much better.

I understand this could have been from the diet alone and not from giving up the tea.

I started the Iodine a few weeks ago and I also started to drink Green Tea again, but only 1 or 2 cups a day.

I noticed that the Iodine really helped me with energy levels, and I also noticed that the Green Tea took my energy level down. My weight stopped dropping when I drank Green Tea.

So, again I gave up the Green Tea most days. I noticed that on the days I drank the Green Tea, I did not lose weight, and I felt more tired. This is while taking the Iodine. On the days I did not drink Green Tea, I had more energy, and also lost weight. A 1/2 pound here, a pound there. Resuming drinking the Green Tea always is slowing up my weight loss and also zapping me of energy after an hour or so of drinking it. It also seems to bring my good moods down.

So, I'm grateful for this article and now realize that I will gladly give up my Green Tea for good. I'm looking forward to seeing the results of doing this.

Perhaps it's the fluoride in the water making up the Green Tea, or perhaps it's the Green Tea, or a combination of both. When sticking to my raw food diet, I consume very little water as the fruits and veggies are loaded with it, so I tend to drink less water as the veggies and fruit have "pure" water in them. When I do, I drink bottled water without (I hope) fluoride, so I can't tell which is the culprit here.

Thank you for providing this information.

Always onward to better health...Mamahuhu