Eating For Thyroid Health
Eating for thyroid health or health in general starts with a strong foundation of daily nutrition. Getting the right combination of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, etc is critical in order for the nutrition to adequately nourish your body cells. This alone can do wonders for your thyroid directly, but obviously will help all your other cells be healthier. Then you can get more specific when eating for thyroid health.
Eating For Thyroid Health Specifically
Eating for thyroid health then moves into specific foods that you can add or eliminate from your diet. This article from CNCAHealth, shown in its entirety here, explains some ways to you can begin eating for thyroid health.
Thyroid Nutrition: What Should You Eat for Thyroid Health?
As with virtually every bodily function, your diet plays a role in the health of your thyroid. There are some specific nutrients that your thyroid depends on and it’s important to include them in your diet:
Iodine: Your thyroid contains the only cells in your body that absorb iodine, which it uses to make the T3 and T4 hormones. Without sufficient iodine, your thyroid cannot produce adequate hormones to help your body function on an optimal level.
Iodine deficiency is typically not widespread in the United States because of the prevalent use of iodized salt. However, according to a nutrition evaluation conducted by the CDC, up to 36 percent of women of childbearing age may not get enough iodine from their diets, and it’s thought that iodine deficiency is on a slow but steady rise.
Because iodized salt is heavily processed, some recommend avoiding iodized salt and instead getting iodine naturally from sea vegetables (seaweed), such as hijiki, wakame, arame, dulse, nori, and kombu.
It should be noted, however, that too much iodine can actually trigger thyroid problems and worsen symptoms, so it’s important to have a healthy balance.
Selenium: This mineral is critical for the proper functioning of your thyroid gland, and is used to produce and regulate the T3 hormone. Selenium can be found in foods such as shrimp, snapper, tuna, cod, halibut, calf’s liver, button and shitake mushrooms and Brazil nuts.
Zinc, Iron and Copper: These metals are needed in trace amounts for your healthy thyroid function. Low levels of zinc have been linked to low levels of TSH, whereas iron deficiency has been linked to decreased thyroid efficiency. Copper is also necessary for the production of thyroid hormones. Foods such as calf’s liver, spinach, mushrooms, turnip greens and Swiss chard can help provide these trace metals in your diet.
Omega-3 Fats: These essential fats, which are found in fish or fish oil, play an important role in thyroid function, and many help your cells become sensitive to thyroid hormone.
Coconut Oil: Coconut oil is made up of mostly medium-chain fatty acids, which may help to increase metabolism and promote weight loss, along with providing other thyroid benefits. This is especially beneficial for those with hypothyroidism.
Antioxidants and B Vitamins: The antioxidant vitamins A, C and E can help your body neutralize oxidative stress that may damage the thyroid. In addition, B vitamins help to manufacture thyroid hormone and play an important role in healthy thyroid function.
What Should You Avoid Eating for Thyroid Health?
There are certain foods that should be avoided to protect your thyroid function. These include:
Aspartame: There is concern that the artificial sweetener aspartame, sold under the brand name Nutrasweet, may trigger Graves’ disease and other autoimmune disorders in some people. The chemical may trigger an immune reaction that causes thyroid inflammation and thyroid autoantibody production.
Non-fermented Soy: Soy is high in isoflavones, which are goitrogens, or foods that interfere with the function of your thyroid gland. Soy, including soybean oil, soy milk, soy burgers, tofu and other processed soy foods, may lead to decreased thyroid function.
Fermented soy products, including miso, natto, tempeh and traditionally brewed soy sauce, are safe to eat, as the fermentation process reduces the goitrogenic activity of the isoflavones.
Gluten: Gluten is a potential goitrogen and can also trigger autoimmune responses (including Hashimoto’s thyroiditis) in people who are sensitive. Gluten is found in wheat, rye and barley, along with most processed foods.
You may have heard, too, that the isothiocyanates found in cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts are goitrogens as well.
While it’s true that large amounts could interfere with thyroid function, especially if eaten raw, these veggies offer a myriad of other health benefits that make the benefits outweigh the risks for most people. If you know you have thyroid disease and want to be especially careful, steaming these vegetables will negate the goitrogenic effect, making them a healthy addition to your diet.
If you suspect you have thyroid disease, you should visit your health care practitioner for a full thyroid hormone panel. In fact, even if you don’t suspect you have a problem it’s a good idea to get tested as part of your regular checkups.
While some thyroid issues do have complicated underlying causes, you can help to maintain your thyroid health by making sure your diet includes the important, thyroid-healthy nutrients mentioned above.
Eating for thyroid health begins with a good cellular nutrition plan, then incorporating the food choices mentioned in this article.
Eating For Thyroid Health May Not Require Huge Changes
Eating for thyroid health may only take a few tweaks for some people after a solid nutrition foundation is established. For others, it may take a lot of changes just to get a nutritional foundation, but stick with it. Although some find it easier just to make all the changes all at once, others find it more tolerable to pick 1-2 things to change every few days. Making the dietary changes over a few weeks. If your health allows this extra time, it is something to consider. Whether you are eating for thyroid health or general health, when you start feeling better, it will be worth it.