Hypothyroidism – 10 Diet Tips To Help Your Thyroid

Having battled the problems associated with an inactive thyroid, known as hypothyroidism, I have come up with a number of dietary tips that may be useful to others suffering from this condition. If you are sick and tired of being sick and tired all the time, as I was, maybe these can be of some help.

I have listed them in no particular order as there really is no set pattern they should be followed in. All you need to do is slowly employ these tips to your regular diet and you should experience signs of progress the longer you follow my suggestions.

1) Don’t Ignore The Fat

This is going to sound a bit out of the ordinary but you need to eat fats, but they need to be the good fats and not the bad ones. Saturated fats are the ones you should be eating and not the otherwise toxic polyunsaturated fats. The reason why you want to increase your intake of saturated fat is that they can work to balance blood sugar levels by improving the insulin response in your body. It will also decrease the release of stress hormones. A simple way to identify good saturated fats is to include meats from grass-fed animals as well as grass finished animals, butter and coconut oil.

2) Get A Bit Salty

If I’m telling you to increase you saturated fat intake I’m also going to suggest adding more salt. Again, it sounds odd, but the nutrient known as sodium is one that your body needs in order to complete many functions such as controlling blood pressure and not enough sodium can result in edema, slow your metabolism and increase the release of stress hormones. Adding salt to your diet will assist with controlling these issues.

3) Quench Your Thirst

Since hypothyroidism can cause water retention I am going to tell you something you may not believe, but you’ll have to trust me that it works. Do not drink excessive amounts of water. Since your body could already have problems getting rid of water you don’t want to compound the problem by adding more to your body. When your body releases water it also removes sodium from your system. I’ve already told you that you need more salt. Don’t wash it away with extra water. My rule of thumb is to drink water only when I’m thirsty. I do not drink eight glasses of water a day and neither should you.

4) Grab A Cup Of Coffee

While we’re on the subject of liquids and liquid intake I am going to remind you that coffee is good for your thyroid. It’s got to do with the caffeine content in the average cup of coffee but you should never drink it on an empty stomach and combined with the correct ratio of sugar and fats that cup of coffee can be your secret weapon. In addition to caffeine, there are high concentrations of magnesium and B vitamins hidden in that steaming cup of pleasure which all benefit thyroid condition.

5) Keep The Veggies Cooked

I’m not going to get into the debate between cooked vegetables versus raw vegetables as there are benefits to both. Primarily, raw veggies contain more nutrients that disappear after cooking. For those who suffer from hypothyroidism you need to eat only cooked vegetables. It’s got nothing to do with the amount of nutrients that enter your body but how those nutrients work inside your body. Cooked vegetables, when fully cooked, break down fibre in them which makes nutrients accessible. Failing to cook vegetables can actually compound the condition. Click here for more  ideas on a diet for hypothyroidism

6) Enjoy The Harvest

I can’t discuss vegetables without mentioning fruit. In fact, fruits contain high concentrations of potassium which, I’ve already stated, can be essential in controlling blood sugar levels. In addition, when blood sugar levels are balanced there is a reduction in stress hormone release. Not all fruits are ideal, though. You may need to do some homework but I’d suggest avoiding avocadoes only because of their rather high unsaturated fat content.

7) This May Be A Little Fishy

If you retain anything from this list I hope you remember this above all other suggestions. Shellfish can be the single most important tool to fight your hypothyroidism. Shellfish contain concentrations of thyroid hormone you cannot find anywhere else and they are high in selenium. Selenium is a key nutrient that unlocks the T4 inactive thyroid hormone in your liver by converting it to the active T3 variety.

8) Bone Up On Broth

Bone broth is another of the tools you need in your hypothyroidism cure kit. It is probably the best protein source you can find and is easy to digest because of the concentration of nutrients in it. You need to add this to your diet as meats do not have the combination of anti-inflammatory amino acids that bone broth does. That alone makes this one of your secret weapons you’ll want to use wisely.

9) Hypothyroidism Diet Tips No-Brainer Part 1

Common sense should guide you on this one, but in case you need a push, I am here to remind you to eliminate the volume of processed foods that are already in your diet. Any kind of diet should be low in processed foods, but for thyroid health this is of high priority. Processed foods contain processed grains which affect your blood sugar by messing with your insulin levels. Once this happens, your stress hormone level increases and you compound the problem you’re trying to fix.

10) Hypothyroidism Diet Tips No-Brainer Part 2

My final tip is another one that should be dealt with through common sense and that is to stay away from anti-thyroid foods. This can mean staying as far away as possible from foods typically considered healthy and contain such components as soy beans, soy milk, edamame and tofu. The reason why is that soy is considered estrogenic and thyroid hormone production can be altered, event prevented, by estrogens in the system.

Use These 10 Hypothyroidism Diet tips To Help You!

Hopefully I’ve been able to provide you with some valuable hypothyroidism diet tips on getting your thyroid back in tip-top shape with these hints that have helped me. You can learn a lot by reading labels on food packaging and once you get in the habit of doing so it’ll become a natural part of your lifestyle as you heal your thyroid. If you would like to know more about a great natural program to help hypothyroidism,

 

 

The greatest wealth is health!