Glands and Food

Email 1

http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/foods-high-in-selenium.php

The notables from this list: beef, almonds, sunflower seeds, whole-wheat bread, chicken and pork.

http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/vitamins-minerals/10-foods-rich-in-selenium.html

A different list, which names eggs and onions. (Otherwise mostly overlaps)

http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/selenium/

According to this page, if you are low in selenium or iodine and not the other, supplementing the one that isn't low will make the other one worse.

It also names Brazil Nuts as a good source of selenium, though it also comments that in actual fact a given nut's selenium content will depend on how much was in the soil it was grown in.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23624495

Talks about frustration and the prefrontal cortex, though mostly in medical-ese. I did extract from it that activity in the lateral prefrontal cortex was specifically associated with tolerance for frustration, so difficulty coping with frustration would indicate that the lateral prefrontal cortex is under some kind of strain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefrontal_cortex

The wikipedia page on the prefrontal cortex, which talks about how it handles "planning complex cognitive behavior, personality expression, decision making, and moderating social behavior" where the last point refers to restraining yourself from an action for social reasons. Also "Destruction of the anterior two-thirds results in deficits in concentration, orientation, abstracting ability, judgment, and problem solving ability; destruction of the orbital (frontal) lobe results in inappropriate social behavior" which basically means that the back part of it is involved in most "sit there and think" abilities while the front part regulates your ability to not piss off everyone around you.

The page also provides a more precise definition for "executive function": "Executive function relates to abilities to differentiate among conflicting thoughts, determine good and bad, better and best, same and different, future consequences of current activities, working toward a defined goal, prediction of outcomes, expectation based on actions, and social "control" (the ability to suppress urges that, if not suppressed, could lead to socially unacceptable outcomes)." Basically executive function revolves around thinking about the future, both in a predictive sense and in a "what am I trying to make happen in the future" as well as organizing things by functional categories. ("Useful to me vs not useful to me, more useful vs less useful, does A vs does B")

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyroid

Thyroid gland on Wikipedia. One of the main things that immediately leapt out at me is that the thyroid gland moves when swallowing, enough so that demarcking its uppermost point is difficult. I'm pretty sure that means that pain while swallowing is usually indicative of thyroid problems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothyroidism

Insufficient thyroid activity. Lists off the symptoms, including "fatigue, feeling cold, cool extremities, dry skin, poor memory and concentration, constipation, weight gain with poor appetite, poor hearing, carpal tunnel syndrome" though it doesn't list fluid retention.

http://outsmartdisease.com/low-thyroid-and-other-causes-of-water-retention/

This page does. Also, it mentions that water retention leads to restless leg syndrome at night. Interestingly, the page says that the adrenals being overworked can cause water retention.

Also of interest is that it mentions that you can be low on

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldosterone

and end up drinking lots of water and yet have inadequate fluids at the cellular level, contributing to water retention. Fortunately, sea salt aids production of aldosterone, which we're doing anyway -but that does mean we should maybe send you to the beach more than we already do, to get rid of the belly bloat faster.

Emails 2 and 3

Thank you.

From the first link:

1: Brazil Nuts Selenium in 100g Per Cup (133g) Per Ounce (28g)
1917.0µg (2739% DV) 2549.6µg (3642% DV) 536.8µg (767% DV)
Other Nuts High in Selenium (%DV per ounce): Mixed Nuts (14%), Cashews (8%), Black Walnuts (7%), and Macadamia Nuts (5%). Click to see complete nutrition facts.

the number 2 item is only like 220% of DV. I want to get something with brazil nuts in it. I have been craving them anyway, but, wow.