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Sep 3, 2013 by

Here are some tips how to eat to achieve a healthy thyroid:

Cook with virgin coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil

Avoid soybean oil.  Most commercial salad dressings and mayonnaise contain soybean oil or other unhealthy polyunsaturated oils.  Soy is often used in many commercially packaged foods like veggie burgers, energy bars, snack foods, and baked goods.

Use almond, rice or coconut milk, not soymilk, soy cheese, and soy ice cream as alternatives to dairy.

Replace soy-based vegetable oils with coconut and olive oils

Consume iodine rich foods like sea vegetables, cranberries, fish, and eggs.  Celtic sea salt is low in iodine so you will need other sources.

Eat small coldwater fish such as wild salmon, mackerel, halibut, sole, sardines, and snapper.

Avoid tuna and swordfish, which are high in mercury, and interfere with thyroid function.

Nutrients shown to contribute to thyroid health include zinc (juice ginger root), selenium, manganese, chromium, B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin E, and vitamin A.

The thyroid gland requires high levels of vitamin A, and people with hypothyroidism have an impaired ability to convert beta-carotene to vitamin A.  Consider supplementation of vitamin A through cod liver oil.  Choose cod liver oil from cod caught in Icelandic or Norwegian waters where fish are less likely to have high mercury levels.

Avoid foods known as goitrogens which can block iodine from being absorbed by the thyroid gland.  Goitrogens include peanuts, soybeans, millet, pine nuts, and the cruciferous vegetable family—Brussels sprouts, broccoli, turnips, cabbage, kale, and mustard.  Until your thyroid health is restored, you may want to eat these foods sparingly.

Cruciferous vegetables contain thyroid inhibitors known as goitrogens.  Fluoride can also impede thyroid function.

 

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