Although some nutritional deficiencies (such as iodine and selenium deficiency) may be the cause of hypothyroidism, they are not common because of soil quality, diet and the use of iodized salt. In fact, autoimmune diseases are the main cause of most thyroid diseases-including Hashimoto's thyroiditis, hypothyroidism and Graves' disease with hyperthyroidism.
Although immune system dysfunction is the root of these problems, diet still plays an important role in thyroid management. Although specific foods and supplements cannot treat or reverse thyroid diseases, a healthy and beneficial diet can support your thyroid function and treatment, help you maintain or lose weight, and may even help relieve some of your symptoms, such as fatigue, constipation and slow metabolism.
The following considerations are a good starting point when you want to make some changes.
Reduce the intake of deeply processed foods: When foods are deeply processed, such as frozen pizza, microwave dinner and doughnuts, they are not healthy for anyone. Some deeply processed foods (such as processed meat) even contain some carcinogens.
In addition, foods that have been processed in large quantities usually contain a lot of calories. If possible, it is best to choose fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains and minimally processed foods.
Reduce salt intake: Most people eat too much salt. At present, it is recommended that adults should not consume more than 2300 mg of sodium every day. Since many packaged foods already contain sodium, adding salt to food may make you exceed the standard.
Natural salt is healthier for you, but if you eat too much, any form of sodium may be unhealthy.
Eat high-quality fat: Add high-quality fat to your diet, such as olive oil, avocados and healthy nuts. They have anti-inflammatory properties and may help your immune system. Salmon is also an excellent source of high-quality fat, but choose wild salmon instead of farmed salmon to get the maximum nutritional value.
Try to feed organic meat on grass instead of grain. The meat of herbivores contains higher healthy fat and nutrients than the meat of cereals, and the overall fat content is lower.
Limit sugar intake: Eating too much refined sugar will increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, which may eventually increase the risk of thyroiditis. To help reduce this risk and reduce or eliminate honey, molasses, soft drinks and other forms of sugar, consider using diet drinks and artificial sweeteners to change your habits.
Reduce caffeine intake: Caffeine is a powerful stimulant. This means that consuming a lot of coffee, tea or caffeinated soft drinks every day may cause your adrenaline to overproduce, increase your cortisol level, and actually aggravate your blood sugar imbalance.
Moderate drinking: Alcoholic beverages usually contain a lot of carbohydrates and sugar. For most people, there is nothing wrong with drinking occasionally, but excessive drinking will do harm to your liver, immune system and blood sugar.
Avoid eating too much at once: Oversatiation can lead to a sharp increase in blood sugar, which usually leads to a later decline or collapse. This is a dietary stressor, which can be avoided by making your diet more balanced in calories and stopping when you are satisfied. Paying attention to diet is a useful strategy to avoid overeating, because it gives your body time to record that you are full and improves your understanding of these signals. As a reward, it can also help digestion.
Give your body a rest every night: stop eating as much as possible after nodding at 8 pm. And let the body rest before breakfast 10 to 12 hours. When you sleep, your body begins to produce thyroid hormone, adrenal gland and growth hormone. It extracts energy from your stored fat and burns it while you sleep.
If the rest time between eating in the evening and eating in the morning is too short, your body will never get the information that it is time to enter the fat burning mode. Studies show that by allowing 10 to 12 hours of rest, you can encourage your body to accept this message, even if more food does not appear every few hours, which may help you enter the fat burning mode overnight.
Eliminate toxins: hormones, antibiotics and pesticides are all toxins, which can trigger autoimmune and inflammatory reactions. The more you can remove these toxins from food, the less damage these foods will do to your immune and endocrine systems. Buy organic, hormone-free, antibiotic-free, free-range, wild-caught, pesticide-free foods as much as possible.
Try a diet that is good for your thyroid: Because it produces hormones that affect your whole body, your thyroid is sensitive to the food you eat. Here are some ways you can try, which are good for the thyroid and can reduce inflammation.
Gluten-free diet: Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease, which will lead to the immune response of the digestive system to gluten (protein, one of wheat, barley and rye), thus causing small intestine damage. Suffering from this disease will lead to malabsorption of nutrients (such as iodine and selenium) that are vital to thyroid health, and reduce your body's ability to absorb thyroid hormone replacement drugs (levothyroxine).
The incidence of celiac disease in patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and Graves' disease is three times that of the general population. The relationship between celiac disease and autoimmune thyroid disease For celiac patients, gluten-free diet may help to reduce inflammation and lose weight.
Hypoglycemic diet: Hypoglycemic diet is a simple carbohydrate with low sugar and fast absorption, such as bread, rice, pasta, cereals, potatoes and corn. The advantage of this diet is that it helps to balance the peak blood sugar that leads to dietary stress. Persistent hyperglycemia can also cause inflammation, so lowering and balancing blood sugar can reduce the overall pressure of hormones, including thyroid hormones.
Reduce your intake: Food intolerance and allergens-such as dairy products, soybeans and nuts-can lead to inflammation, making it more difficult for you to lose weight. It may be worthwhile to try to cancel the diet and/or take an allergy test to determine whether you are allergic to food.
Pay attention to foods that cause goiter. Although you don't need to avoid these foods completely, you should avoid eating a lot of raw food often, especially if you have hypothyroidism.
Be especially careful of raw smoothies (such as kale and spinach) that may contain a lot of thyroid hormones. Cooking and cooking these foods can help reduce the level of goiter, but even so, if your thyroid treatment is not optimized and you feel uncomfortable, there is no harm in avoiding eating these foods raw to reduce the intake of cooked food.
Foods rich in goiter include broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, strawberries, peaches and peanuts.
Increase your fiber intake: Many patients with thyroid diseases are struggling with constipation and overweight. One of the key strategies is to increase your fiber intake. Fiber is very important for digestive system, heart health, healthy defecation and enhancing satiety.
The guide recommends that adults consume 22 to 33 grams of fiber every day, depending on your age and gender. Fiber is best from high-fiber foods such as beans, whole grains and apples with skins. But if necessary, food and natural fiber supplements (such as plantain) can be combined to achieve a higher level of fiber every day.
Remember, if you start eating a high-fiber diet, you should recheck your thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) within 8 to 12 weeks to see if you need to adjust the dosage, because fiber will affect the absorption of thyroid hormone replacement drugs.
Drink enough water: One of the most effective things you can do to help your health is to make sure you drink enough water. Keeping water helps your metabolic function to be more effective, and can also reduce appetite, eliminate water retention and bloating, improve digestion, and fight constipation and fatigue. If you need to lose weight, please try to drink water before eating. It may help to suppress appetite and achieve the purpose of reducing calorie intake.
Most of the liquid you consume every day should be water. Allows you to keep the type, form and temperature of water. If you drink room temperature water instead of frozen water, carbonated water instead of still water, filtered water instead of tap water, or add fresh lemon, lime or cucumber slices, you may find it easier to drink more water.
According to age, sex and source of guidelines, the recommended intake is 2000 ml (about 8 cups) to 3800 ml (about 16 cups) per day. The current evidence shows that the consumption of 1.8 liters per day (slightly less than 8 cups) can be taken as the initial goal.
Maintain adequate levels of vitamins and minerals: nutritional deficiency will aggravate the symptoms of thyroid diseases. Although they are not the cause of autoimmune thyroid diseases, they are common in patients with Graves disease and Hashimoto's thyroiditis. It is very important for your health to ensure that you have enough levels of certain nutrients.
Although there is no harm in increasing the intake of foods rich in these nutrients, please test yourself for defects before you rush to buy a bunch of supplements. If your level is good, taking supplements will lead to toxicity, which will aggravate your thyroid symptoms and lead to other health problems.
Vitamin D: Vitamin D is very important for the health of your immune system. It is formed in your skin due to exposure to the ultraviolet rays of the sun, and it also exists in some foods. Scientific research has found that vitamin D deficiency may be related to the occurrence of autoimmune thyroid diseases, which are more common in people with these diseases. Studies have also shown that vitamin D supplementation may help to reduce the antibodies to thyroid peroxidase (TPO) and thyroglobulin (Tg) in patients with autoimmune thyroid diseases.
Benefits of vitamin D: help the absorption of calcium and keep bones healthy; Regulating the immune system; Lowering blood pressure; Reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes.
Foods with high vitamin D content: tuna, mackerel and salmon, grains, cheese and egg yolk.
Current guidelines suggest that adults should consume about 15 micrograms of vitamin D every day. Adults over 70 should consume 20 micrograms a day. Most people can meet at least part of their vitamin D needs by sunbathing.
Vitamin B 12: Vitamin B 12 deficiency is also common in patients with autoimmune thyroid diseases, the elderly and vegetarians. Because vitamin B 12 plays an important role in red blood cell formation and nerve function, vitamin B 12 deficiency will lead to anemia (low red blood cell count), fatigue, loss of energy and shortness of breath, and nerve function damage will lead to numbness and tingling. The current guidelines suggest that people over the age of 14 should take 2.4 micrograms of vitamin B 12 every day.
Benefits of vitamin B 12: Help your body to make DNA, keep red blood cells healthy and prevent anemia.
Foods with high B 12 content: meat, chicken, fish, dairy products and eggs.
Selenium: Selenium is very important for thyroid health, especially because the thyroid contains the most selenium in the body. Low levels of selenium are associated with hypothyroidism, goiter and increased risk of Hashimoto's thyroiditis and Graves' disease.
Scientists have found some evidence that patients with autoimmune thyroid diseases can significantly reduce TPO and Tg antibodies after 12 months, and improve their mood and happiness.
Knowledge about selenium and thyroid: Selenium deficiency is very rare, but if your selenium level is low (more likely if you have digestive or absorption problems), you may benefit from supplements. However, over time, too much selenium may be toxic. Experts advise adults to consume 55 micrograms of selenium but not more than 400 micrograms per day from various sources, including food, vitamins and supplements, to avoid poisoning.
Benefits of selenium: It is essential for the production of thyroid hormones, helps prevent cell damage, strengthens your immune system, and reduces the risk of heart disease and cancer.
Foods rich in selenium: seafood such as nuts, shrimp, tuna, flounder and oysters, sunflower seeds, chicken, eggs and meat such as ground beef, steak and ham.
Ferritin/Iron: Ferritin is a kind of protein that can store iron in your body and release it when you need it. Your ferritin level needs to be high enough so that your cells can properly absorb and process thyroid hormones and iron. If they are insufficient, your iron content will also decrease, which may lead to fatigue and anemia. Iron deficiency is possible without anemia.
The current guidelines suggest that adults should consume 8 mg (male) to 18 mg (female 5 1 below) of iron every day. Older women need less iron, while pregnant or lactating women need more.
Benefits of iron: It is very important to make hemoglobin, which transports oxygen to the whole body; It is necessary for the production of myoglobin, which transports oxygen to muscles; It is essential for the production of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH).
Foods with high iron content: red meat, organs such as liver and viscera, seafood such as fortified grains, poultry, oysters, salmon and tuna, dried beans, dried fruits and whole grains zinc: zinc is one of the minerals needed for the production and processing of thyroid hormones, but it plays many roles in the body. Low zinc content may be the cause of hypothyroidism. Because your body can't store zinc, it's important to take zinc every day. Current guidelines suggest that adults should take 8 mg (female) to 1 1 mg (male) every day.
Benefits of zinc: contribute to thyroid hormone metabolism; Strengthen the immune system to help fight colds and infections; Accelerate wound healing; It may reduce your risk of age-related diseases, such as macular degeneration.
Foods with high zinc content: seafood such as oysters, crabs and lobsters, red meat, poultry, whole grains, beans and nuts, dairy products and fortified grains.
Appropriate iodine intake: Iodine is very important for the production of thyroid hormones triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4). Iodine deficiency can damage your thyroid function, because your body doesn't have enough raw materials to produce the necessary thyroid hormones. At the same time, too much iodine intake can also cause problems, leading to goiter-goiter-and may lead to the onset and deterioration of autoimmune thyroid diseases. When the iodine content is low, it is generally caused by iron deficiency, dietary restriction or taking certain drugs.
If you test and find that you lack iodine, you can temporarily take iodine supplements to restore your iodine level. However, please remember that taking iodine supplements just because you have thyroid disease is not recommended, because it will worsen your condition, so don't do it without the guidance of a doctor.
Pay attention to absorption: Do not drink coffee, including decaffeinated coffee, for at least one hour after taking thyroid hormone replacement drugs. This is because coffee will affect the absorption of drugs and reduce the efficacy.
It is also important to wait at least four hours after taking thyroid drugs, and then drink calcium juice, eat bean products, take calcium or iron supplements or take some other drugs, such as antacids, because these may also reduce the absorption of drugs and reduce their effectiveness.
Consider probiotics: Probiotics are foods and supplements rich in beneficial bacteria, which can help you maintain the balance of intestinal bacteria. Correct probiotics can help strengthen your immune system, improve digestion, fight diarrhea and constipation, and fight infection.
Ensuring that you get a diet rich in probiotics-or supplementing probiotics when necessary-is a safe and healthy way to help your health.