ALL THINGS THYROID
Thyroid issues have become an epidemic in our country. Why this epidemic? It’s a mix of environmental factors, our diets, and our lifestyles. The biggest culprits are our tap water contamination, flouride, pesticides, processed food and stress.
Some facts about the thyroid:
Thyroid regulates your health: regulates heart rate and blood pressure, affects bone health and growth and affects brain development.
Our pituitary gland produces TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) —> which then produces T3 and T4 (active thyroid hormones)
These guys go to work to regulate metabolism
Here’s the number of thyroid hormones (when you get bloodwork, check ALL of these!):
TRH
TSH
T4 and T3
calcitonine — involved in calcium absorption
Free T3 (These are unbound (not attached to a protein)
Free T4 (These are unbound (not attached to a protein)
T4 has to be converted to T3
Some becomes T3 and some becomes RT3
in stressful environments more RT3 gets created
Some level of RT3 is normal but high levels can represent thyroid issues
THYROID DISORDERS
Hypothyroid (TSH greater than 2, however some people are okay with certain ranges. Everyone is unique so consult with your doctor)
This means you have an under-active thyroid and are not producing enough thyroid hormone
TSH is typically high in bloodwork
Can lead to obesity, infertility, joint pain. You’ll find yourself with brittle nails, hair loss, and poor exercise recovery
Causes:
Nutrient and mineral deficiencies such as iron, selenium, iodine, or magnesium.
Flouride can strip your iodine, chemicals in water can attack your thyroid, stress can lead to poor nutrient absorption, poor diet can impact lack of minerals and nutrients as well.
Pregnancy can deplete you of nutrients.
Hyperthyroid (TSH below 1.5)
This is an over-active thryoid and you are overproducing thryoid hormone.
TSH is typically low in bloodwork
Symptoms include: weight loss, hair loss, bone loss, sweating. Exercise can also be difficult.
Causes:
Causes are similar for both issues.
MORE DETAILS ON CAUSES:
Nutritional Deficiencies that impact thyroid
Iodine deficiency
Eat more seaweed, salt, yogurt, cheese, eggs, and enriched grain products, fish
150mg per day are needed
Use iodized salt
Selenium deficiency
brazil nuts, meat, poultry, and eggs
the amount depends on the soil — our soils have become depleted over the years as we haven’t taken regenerative approaches to farming. Our brazil nuts contain 50%+ less in selenium now than they did 100 years ago.
55mg per day
Magnesium deficiency
This is widely available in food
leafy greens, nuts, seeds, legumes, and whole grains
Eat 1 magnesium rich food at each meal
320mg per day
Iron deficiency
Eat grass-fed meat. They say oysters have lots of iron but be careful because heavy metals are also a cause of thyroid issues! Stick to well sourced red meats.
Plant based forms include nuts, lentils beans and fortified grain products
18mg per day
LIFESTYLE FACTORS THAT CAN LEAD TO THYROID ISSUES
HEAVY METALS
Ask doctor for test of heavy metals
Making an effort to lower exposure by being conscious of the seafood you eat
High mercury fish - consuming too much and higher in mercury
no more than 2-3 servings of fish
Sharks and Tuna, Mackeral, Swordfish all have higher mercury
Shellfish - keep to a few times a month
Rice has been found to have high levels of arsenic
Don’t make it the primary grain in your diet
keep rice intake to occasional
Excessive amounts of bone broth can lead to increases in lead
Occasional beverage is good
Drink bone broth less often
Phalates are in thousands of products and can cause toxicity. Number one thing to do is get a phalate free shower curtain
Water:
So many people tend to trust and drink tap water but the truth is, it’s not very clean and can contain many harmful chemicals to our hormones. Standard water-treatment plants cannot remove the chemical perchlorate from the water supply. According to one researcher, “There is a statistical association between low-level contamination with ammonium perchlorate and elevated or abnormal thyroid function.” Also, chlorine content in the water can displace the much-needed iodine. What to do about this?
Invest in a water filtration system for your home. AquaPure offers payment plans since it’s pricey. Berkey water filters are also great.
Don’t drink tap water at restaurants. Always ask for bottled water. If you like your lemons, squeeze the lemon juice and throw the lemon away, don’t put it into your water.
Get a shower filter as well. Your body absorbs so much through the scalp. You’re also breathing in whatever is in the water, especially if you’re taking a hot shower.
Let’s talk about fluoride. It is an enzyme poison which accumulates in the body. Since the body can only eliminate 50% of its total fluoride intake, this build-up can cause harm to the thyroid by blocking the use of iodine. We are inundated with flouride in our water. A filtration system will help remove this. Flouride free toothpaste is also a great idea.
ORGANIC vs. NON-ORGANIC
Pesticides are used without abandon in the United States. These include sumithrin (Anvil) and resmethrin (Scourge). We’re slowly starting to see how harmful these are to our health (ugh, I hate that it took us getting our country super sick to realize) but there is legislature coming out to help eliminate the uses. Specifically, these particular pesticides are coming under considerable criticism for their adverse chronic effects on the thyroid.
What can you do about it?
Befriend your local farmer at the farmer’s market and get to know their practices. See if they use these pesticides and if their practices are regenerative and organic
Buy organic whenever possible. If you can’t afford to buy everything organic, buy the Dirty Dozen organic ALWAYS.
GUT HEALTH
Gut health is CRITICAL to thyroid function.
Food allergies and intolerances. If you have any of these and are on a strict diet, you may want to consider the following:
If you don’t get enough healthy fats (i.e. are on a low fat diet), this an cause issues with your menstrual cycle and hormonal balance
If you have lots of food restrictions, this can impair your absorption of nutrients which play a role in thyroid function
Prioritize healthy fats
Salmon
Avocado
Olive Oil
Thyroid & Gluten — not a good pair!
The processing of gluten requires bromide which requires lots of iodine — therefore if you’re eating gluten, drinking water with flouride, brushing your teeth with flouride toothpaste, your iodine is basically non-existent
Iodine which is needed for thyroid function
If you have thyroid issues, go gluten free until they resolve themselves.
Candida overgrowth can also impair the thyroid. It can stem from:
A weakened immune system
Use of antibiotics
DOCTORS AND NUTRITIONISTS
WHO UNDERSTAND THYROID ISSUES BEST
HELPFUL FOODS & RECIPES
Ginger Water
Golden Turmeric Mylk (helps reduce inflammation)
Kefir (great for gut health)
Green Tea - lots of polyphenols - but don’t consume too much as it may block iodine absorption.
Brazil nuts
packed with selenium
6-8 nuts = 544mg of selenium
Stick to a small serving a few times a week
Seaweed and Kelp
natural source of iodine
Black beans
Rich in iron
half cup provides 10% of your daily needs
Also a great source of fiber
Salmon
Omega 3 fatty acids which help fight inflammation
Go for wild always!
THYROID FRIENDLY RECIPES
Thyroid Trail Mix
Himalayan Sea Salt
Brazil Nuts
Cacao Nibs
Almonds
Quinoa Buddha bowl:
Quinoa (rinse or sprout before cooking and cook with cumin)
1/4 cup of Black beans
Seaweed or Kelp sprinkled on top
Add 1 or 2 poached eggs
drizzle with a little Tahini (healthy fat)
Avocado Egg Salad
Salt
teaspoon of chopped Dill
Add two ripe avocados
add half a stalk of chopped celery
add a little onion (optional)
add 2 chopped hardboiled eggs
Sources:
This guide has been created using information presented in (1) mindbodygreen’s Functional Nutrition Program, specifically information provided by Dr. Amy Shah and Dr. Taz Bahtia (2) Tara Thorne’s functional nutrition guide, specifically Tara’s thyroid protocol, and (3) Alissa Vitti’s Floliving protocol.