Such a great discussion. I so appreciate your unbiased position and the way you so comprehensively answer each of these questions!! And always encourage more dietary diversity vs. restriction! And too funny...I was actually on your website looking at what you spoke about at the end as I was watching/listening to this video! I LOVE that resource on your website (among MANY other things!).
3 Brazil Nuts are great for those of us with Hypothyroidism. Eating 1-3 Brazil nuts daily can provide enough selenium to support thyroid health without risking selenium toxicity. You should consume Brazil nuts raw and in moderation. Chewing them thoroughly is important to aid digestion and absorption of nutrients.
Because I'm not currently taking any supplement that contains selenium, I eat two Brazil nuts per day. I know I'm getting enough, and I know I'm well below the Tolerable Upper Intake. So I'm safe from both selenium deficiency and toxicity.
Thanks. Very interesting. Had a friend tell me to eat ONE Brazil nut a day for the selenium. Glad she only said one. She’s a person who falls for all the nonsense (a former nurse 🤦♀️). So if I’m lucky I get one Brazil nut with my mixed nuts I put on my cereal most days. I am trying to eat more fish but not every day! Shooting for three times a week but I’m still lucky to get two. I love fish though so if I can get my act together all is good in selenium consumption 😅
Quite interesting. Has anyone thought as heavily as me about the question of "How do wild animals avoid nutrient toxicities?" Because I am aware other minerals such as especially copper can be dangerous and even deadly in large amounts, yet animals including humans need certain lower amounts of them. But I don't see a lot of science showing that wild animals (who obviously can't read up on nutrition science) often end up overdosing on nutrients in even specifically rich whole food things like Brazil nuts, etc. It just seems to me that wild animals maybe somehow "know" what and how much of certain things to eat, to serve their nutrient needs... through non-academic ways such as perhaps associating how certain foods (whole food items in the wild of course) make their body feel (?). On the other hand, I would not think participating in a world of ultra-processed foods would be conducive to that type of tactic though, lol. I do remember a few years ago when I was eying some Brazil nuts in the store (after about a decade of NOT eating them), and I knew I was craving them (yes, all of a sudden). So I bought some, and ate as many as I wanted (keep in mind I had no clue at the time there was a "tolerable upper limit" to the selenium in them). BUT, given the fact I had ALSO gone a long time without milk (I know that has selenium) or seafood (and who knows, I may have been selenium deficient!) ... I very well might have needed the amount of Brazil nuts that I did eat. I don't remember how many I ate, but I don't remember it being a "huge" amount or anything. But still, I think that "legitimate cravings" type of phenomenon might say something about how individuals and their circumstances can be quite varied.
