Best Diet For Hypothyroidism: What to Favor, What to Avoid to Reduce Your Low Thyroid Symptoms
Are you looking for the best diet for hypothyroidism? Look no more! Here you’ll find which foods to favor and which to avoid, plus recommendations for natural supplements and specific plant-based remedies that help with your low thyroid symptoms.
Let’s get down to it, there's a lot to be covered.
The best diet for hypothyroidism includes: brown rice, whole grains, bran, oatmeal, carrots, onion, spinach, asparagus, avocado, olive oil, apricots, bananas, sunflower seeds and oily fish. Lean protein from chicken, turkey and trimmed red meats are OK too.
Make sure to include fiber, especially if you are trying to lose weight, since it gives you a feeling of fullness and helps with the constipation as well. Try to get the fiber from the foods you eat rather than from a pill. Why? Because the natural fiber in rice, whole wheat and oatmeal is much better absorbed.
More than anything else, the best diet for hypothyroidism includes the regular use of coconut oil, as it supports your thyroid function increasing your metabolism with up to 25 %.
The hypothyroidism diet makes a big difference on how you feel and help you control most of the low thyroid symptoms, as well as your weight. Also, eating five or six smaller meals rather than three (or even two) major meals stabilizes your metabolism and helps your low thyroid symptoms subside.
And there’s one more point you need to remember when on the hypothyroidism diet. Get active. A daily 30 minute workout does wonders in reducing your low thyroid symptoms and increasing your metabolism.
Best Diet For Hypothyroidism – What to Avoid
Before learning which specific foods to eat less of on a hypothyroidism diet, remember this: cut stimulants like coffee, caffeinated drinks, smoking and alcohol, as these greatly inhibit your thyroid function. Also, use various stress management techniques to cut stress as much as you can, as the effects of stress on health lead to a serious thyroid dysfunction.
So what are the foods to eat less of or plainly avoid on a hypothyroidism diet?
This might sound strange… However, although considered healthy for most people, these foods are not such a good idea if you experience low thyroid symptoms. Why?
Well, the problem with these foods is that they tend to interfere with your body's absorption of iodine, an essential trace mineral and a very important component of the thyroid hormones. After all, up to 80% of iodine in your body is located in the thyroid gland.
So obviously, the best diet for hypothyroidism does not favor these goitrogenic foods, which decrease thyroid hormone production and increase the chances of developing a goiter (the enlargement of the thyroid gland not associated with overproduction of thyroid hormone).
And there’s another group of foods to...
...avoid at all costs on a hypothyroidism diet: over-processed or refined foods (white bread, cookies, pastries) and packaged foods. These contain a high quantity of simple carbs and other preservatives that interfere with the insulin production, further disrupting your thyroid function.
The Best Diet For Hypothyroidism – Supplements & Herbal Remedies
Remember, the lack of iodine is the main culprit in hypothyroidism. So you may want to get iodine-rich sea salt vs. regular salt, or mix some seaweed (kelp or dulse) powder in your regular table salt, as seaweed provides the highest amount of iodine.
Also, consider taking zinc and selenium supplements, as these trace minerals improve thyroid function – among other health benefits.
Some no-side effects herbal remedies that should be part of a best diet for hypothyroidism are:
Oats extract (Avena sativa), which is very effective in treating sexual dysfunctions too
Bladderwrack (Fucus vesiculosus) and Dulse - seaweeds that grow on rocks in the North Atlantic and Northwest Pacific oceans providing iodine, vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B6, B12, C and calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron, manganese, copper, chromium and zinc)
Indian Coleus (Coleus forskohlii) – a plant frequently used in Asian traditional medicine for its wide health benefits, well-known for its thyroid-increasing and fat-burning effects
When using herbs in conjunction with synthetic thyroid hormone, always consult your doctor first, so (s)he can make any necessary adjustments. Also, make sure that the herbal remedy you take is manufactured under rigorous pharmaceutical standards to ensure its safety and efficacy.
My clients that are struggling to lose weight with hypothyroidism are always asking not only about the best diet for hypothyroidism, but for a good, safe, natural remedy to use without side effects (I’m known to only recommend natural, well-tested, preservative-free, high quality products that yield evidence-based, verifiable results and have a money-back guarantee).
