Are you Hypothyroid? And What Can Diet
Do About It?
Originally Published June, 2008 by Cambridge Naturals: www.cambridgenaturals.com
So
you think you’re hypothyroid – you have some or all of the typical symptoms of
low thyroid function: weight gain, sluggish metabolism, constipation, low
libido, cold hands and feet, dry skin, ridges on your finger nails, and shorter
eyebrows. On top of that you’re unusually forgetful, and depressed, to boot. What does your doctor think? You have the blood tests to find out. What do they mean?
The TSH test shows how much thyroid stimulating
hormone is coursing through your veins. From
0.5 - 4.0 mU/L is considered normal.
Above that and you will be followed up for hypothyroidism; below that
and your doctor will start diagnosing for hyperthyroidism, the opposite side of
the coin, so to speak. Further tests will
help the doctor discover whether your problem is (a) located in the pituitary
gland or (b) in the conversion of one thyroid hormone (T-4) into another (T-3)
or (c) in the receiving cells. Yet another test, one for thyroid antibodies, will
reveal whether you have the autoimmune disease named after Dr. Hashimoto. If so,
your immune system has for some reason started to defend you from your own
thyroid and that spells trouble. Your
immune system will need support.
Whatever the adverse diagnosis, you have a choice. Your doctor may suggests you go on Levoxyl or
Synthroid, which provide synthetic thyroid hormone T-4 (which converts to T-3
in your body), or on one of the synthetic combo medicines, which provide both
T-4 and T-3 together. Or you may decide to try alternative approaches first. Maybe you’ve found a way to manage
constipation, but you’d really like to cure the cause, not just the symptoms. If that’s your choice, what should you be
eating? What avoiding?
Vegetables in the cabbage family, also called the
brassicas, are goitrogens. That means
they combine with iodine, which your thyroid uses to make its hormones, thus
making the iodine unavailable. However,
if you cook them, apparently this effect diminishes. So avoid, especially when raw, the following
vegetables: bokchoi, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower,
collards, kale, mustard greens, radishes, and turnips. Other goitrogens include: cassava root,
millet, peanuts, pine nuts, and soybeans.
What should you be eating instead? You particularly want iodine, zinc,
anti-oxidant vitamins C and E, the B vitamins, and trace amounts of copper and
selenium. The best food to fit the bill
therefore includes seafood, seaweed, sea salt, chicken, beef, liver, eggs,
spinach, parsley, beans, whole grains, mushrooms, nuts, seeds, dates, and
molasses. Plenty to choose from! And use
the spice turmeric wherever and whenever you can because it will help your
immune system. (Cambridge Naturals sells
it in bulk, organic.)
A word about iodine.
Some authorities claim that, since goiter (the swollen thyroid gland) is
no longer widespread in the U.S.,
we must be getting enough iodine in our diets.
In short, that supplementing table salt with iodine has done the trick.
(See:The Complete Thyroid Book , Ain & Rosenthal, McGraw-Hill, 2005) A contrary claim, that we are not getting enough, in
part because of added halogens, points to epidemiological evidence that we are
consuming 50% less iodine than fifty years ago.
Iodine is in the halogen family along with bromine, chlorine, and
fluorine. With bromine added to flour as
an anti-caking agent (now less often), fluoride added to water, and chlorine
ever more present in our environment, iodine has had to compete in our
bodies. If its “brother” elements got
their first, then less iodine is absorbed for use by the thyroid. At the very least, you should avoid baked
goods made with bromated flour, town water that has been fluoridated or
chlorinated, and bleach. (See: Iodine: Why You Need It, Why You Can’t Live
Without It , Brownstein, Medical Alternatives Press, 2008)
Dr. Brownstein proposes a test for iodine sufficiency that
you can easily do at home. Using iodine
tincture (be sure not to get the de-colored kind), paint a two inch square on your
inner thigh letting it dry before you go to bed and see if the iodine has been
absorbed – or not—the next morning. If
the patch is still there, you’re OK; if it’s gone, you need more iodine. However, when we tried the experiment
accidentally on a bit of beige carpet, that patch, too, was gone by morning, so
we did wonder about the accuracy of the test on human skin.
The most important point is your health. If you are suffering from some of the
symptoms in paragraph one, try the dietary recommendations above but also be
sure to see your doctor for his or her advice.
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