Your thyroid is a butterfly shaped gland in your neck that has the very important job of regulating the energy production of every single cell in your body! Trouble is, this clever gland is also incredibly sensitive to changes in your health and environment.
When you’re battling with an underactive thyroid, it’s important to tune into your body and one way to do that is through your diet. Food truly is medicine so try ditching these foods and nurture your thyroid in the process.
1. Sugar.
It’s no secret that sugar contributes to inflammation in the body. Inflammation suppresses the conversion of inactive thyroid hormone (T4) to active thyroid hormone (T3). Additionally, if the cause of your underactive thyroid is an autoimmune condition known as Hashimoto’s, then you definitely want to kick the sweet stuff.
Why? Because when you’ve already got a condition that is causing excess inflammation in your body, the last thing we want to do is add fuel to the fire.
2. Gluten.
If the cause of your underactive thyroid is an autoimmune thyroid condition known as Hashimoto’s, then it’s worth investigating whether or not you have coeliac disease as research has shown that up to 50 per cent of patients diagnosed with Hashimotos also suffer from coeliac disease. If this is the case, then a strict gluten-free diet should be implemented. Alternatively, if you’re sensitive to gluten – either determined by pathology testing or through an elimination/reintroduction protocol – then this may also indicate a need to remove gluten from your diet to help reduce inflammation in your body and assist in optimising thyroid function.
In clinical practise, I often ask people remove gluten for 30–60 days before reintroducing it to see if it makes a difference to their thyroid function and symptoms.
3. Industrial Seed Oils.
Vegetable oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, peanut oil and margarine are all potent sources of inflammatory fats. If you’re constantly ingesting inflammatory oils then it’s going to contribute to inflammation in your body as well. Inflammation inhibits the optimal functioning of your thyroid gland by down-regulating the ‘activation’ of thyroid hormone in your body.
For more info on how foods can wreak havoc on your thyroid, check out this post.
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