Hypothyroidism Diet

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Don’t expect to hear this from your doctor, but following the right hypothyroidism diet plan is by far the biggest factor in overcoming hypothyroidism. You can do everything else right and be using the best available supplements or medication, but if your diet isn’t right, then you will be forever fighting a battle that you just can’t win.

Then there’s the problem of actually finding the “right” hypothyroidism diet to follow. Most diets for hypothyroidism are completely outdated and based on poor research, if any research at all. But there’s also a lot of great research out there that is just now starting to connect a lot of the dots with hypothyroidism.

But unfortunately, it will take years or even decades for the general public, or even the medical community, to accept the fact that many of the dietary beliefs that exist today are completely false. And there’s a good chance that they never will.

Until that time comes, I plan to share all kinds of hypothyroidism diet tips with you, starting with these 10 below.

10 Hypothyroidism Diet Tips to Help Heal Your Thyroid

Below I’ve broken down 10 important tips that are a necessity for any successful hypothyroidism diet. But more importantly, I’ve broken them down so that you also understand why they are so important.

All too often, we accept many things that we read as the truth without questioning or verifying the facts with the proper research.

1. Avoid Anti-Thyroid Foods

The first hypothyroidism diet tip that I want to share with you is one that is very important. And this is because it’s a controversial topic because there are some highly touted “health foods” that you are eating which are actually contributing to your hypothyroidism.

Some of the first foods that come to mind are any food that contains soy. This includes soybeans, edamame, soy milk, tofu, etc. Soy is very estrogenic and estrogens have been shown to inhibit the thyroid gland from secreting its thyroid hormones.

And this is disturbing because I have seen more than one, very well respected hypothyroidism diet and hypothyroidism treatment program that actually recommend soy without ever discussing this very important link.

Another very controversial food that directly contributes to hypothyroidism is the polyunsaturated fats in your diet. And one reason this is such a big problem is that these fats have been touted for years for their beneficial properties while ignoring the research that clearly show the dangers.

But when it comes to your thyroid, these fats suppress its function on just about every level. First of all, they block the secretion of your thyroid hormone from the thyroid gland itself. Then they also block the transportation of the thyroid hormone within your bloodstream. And lastly, they block your cells from properly utilizing the hormone once they get it.

The research against these fats simply can’t be ignored. And the best hypothyroidism diet should exclude these fats at all costs. Or else you’re only setting yourself up for failure.

2. Increase Your Saturated Fats

Saturated fats on the other hand carry a lot of unfounded negative criticism. Criticizers of saturated fats still continue to cite outdated and poorly executed research studies from more than 50 years ago while ignoring the enormous amount of research showing their benefits.

One of the major benefits of the saturated fats being part of your hypothyroidism diet is that they help to cancel out the negative effects of the toxic polyunsaturated fats.

They also help by improving your body’s insulin response which helps you to maintain balanced blood sugar levels and reduce stress hormones. Elevated stress hormones are also one of the many hypothyroidism causes.

But you do have to be careful with many animal fats because they might not be quite what they seem on the outside. For example, all conventionally raised cattle are fattened with corn, soy, and other foods that are high in polyunsaturated fats. And because of this, their body fat becomes very unsaturated in the process.

So it’s important to include only high quality saturated fats in your diet for hypothyroidism. This includes fats from grass fed and grass finished animals, butter, and coconut oil.

3. Eat Your Fruit

Fruit can actually be one of your best friends when it comes to your hypothyroidism diet.

For starters, most fruit is very high in potassium which plays an important role in regulating your blood sugar. This helps to decrease the need of insulin which helps keeps your blood sugar more stable for longer periods of time.

And by regulating your blood sugar, you automatically reduce your stress hormone response which, as I mentioned above, is a common problem with hypothyroidism.

However, there are some fruits which are best avoided. Avocados are a good example because of their high unsaturated fat content.

So, the key is to focus you hypothyroidism diet on the right fruits and avoid those that are working against you.

4. Increase Your Salt Intake

There are a lot of myths out there regarding salt and sodium. But it’s more important than most people realize, especially when it comes to your hypothyroidism diet.

Sodium is actually a very important nutrient that your body needs to carry out a multitude of functions. For example, sodium is necessary for properly regulating blood pressure. But it also has some other important functions in dealing with hypothyroidism.

One of the more common hypothyroidism symptoms is edema. And edema is a problem with your cells that causes them to take up more water. But when your cells take up water, they lose sodium which is then excreted and lost through your urine.

And when your sodium level is low, it actually slows your metabolism and increases your stress hormones which can also lead to sleep problem. And elevated stress hormones end up making you even more hypothyroid.

And because you get sodium from salt, it should make sense that salt is a necessary component of your hypothyroidism diet in order to help keep your stress hormones to a minimum and reverse hypothyroidism.

And most people need a lot more than they think.

5. Get Plenty of Bone Broth

Most people don’t even know what bone broth is, let alone that it’s one of the best sources of protein that you can get. Bone broth was actually a common part of most people’s diets more than a century ago. But now, it’s become an almost entirely forgotten component of almost every hypothyroidism diet.

Bone broth is best known for being high in nutrients and very easy to digest. But it’s unique because it contains a blend of very anti-inflammatory amino acids that are lacking among most sources of meat.

6. Eat Some Shellfish

Living close to water definitely has its perks, especially when it comes to seafood. But shellfish in general are actually very beneficial to your thyroid and can play a crucial role in your hypothyroidism diet.

For starters, they are a good source of thyroid hormone which we rarely get in our standard meat based diet these days. So eating shellfish alone can help give your thyroid some much needed support.

Another amazing benefit of shellfish is that they are naturally high in selenium. And selenium is one of the key nutrients that are required to convert the inactive T4 to the active T3 thyroid hormone in your liver.

7. Cut the Processed Foods

If it’s one thing that almost every hypothyroidism diet can agree with, it’s that processed foods have no place whatsoever in your diet.

Processed and/or packaged foods are loaded with processed grains that cause lots of problems with your blood sugar. And this causes a spike in your insulin levels which eventually leaves you with low blood sugar. And this creates yet another stress hormone response in order to raise your blood sugar levels back to normal.

There’s also the issue of these processed foods being full of toxic chemicals like flavor enhancers and preservatives. These chemicals are toxic and contribute to liver congestion which makes it even more difficult for your liver to convert the necessary thyroid hormones into their active form.

8. Cook Your Veggies

This is another one of the more controversial topics when it comes to your hypothyroid diet. And that’s because there’s a lot of misconceptions out there regarding raw vs. cooked veggies.

Yes, raw veggies do contain more nutrients than cooked veggies. But it’s not about what you eat; it’s about what you digest.

Because raw veggies are very difficult to digest, you actually extract fewer nutrients from them raw than you do from cooked veggies.

You also want to really cook your veggies well in order to help break down the fiber and make the nutrients as readily available as possible. Otherwise, the fiber can become food for bad gut bacteria which is problematic and also contributes to hypothyroidism.

9. Don’t Overdo the Water

Continuing in our long list of controversial hypothyroidism diet topics, let’s discuss water.

Most people are led to believe that they need 8 glasses of water a day or even more. But what we already know about hypothyroidism is that is causes water retention. So why does it make sense to drink even more water when your body has a problem getting rid of it in the first place?

It doesn’t.

And this can cause your sodium levels to drop even more which as I mentioned above, also contributes to hypothyroidism.

The best recommendation for water while on your hypothyroidism diet is to drink when thirsty. If you work outside in the sun then odds are you’ll need more water than me while I’m sitting here indoors moving only my fingers on the keyboard.

The amount of water you really need depends on many variables. And your thirst is the best indicator of how much you need.

10. Drink Your Coffee

I thought I would round out the 10 hypothyroidism diet tips with… coffee.

Believe it or not, but coffee has some amazing benefits for your thyroid. But keep in mind that it has to be taken right or else it can have some negative effects. You should never drink coffee on an empty stomach. And it’s important to add the right ratios of fat and sugar.

Coffee is high in caffeine which works to stimulate your thyroid. It’s also high in magnesium and B vitamins which are both necessary for proper thyroid function.

Studies also back up these claims showing that coffee drinkers have the lowest incidence of thyroid disease, including cancer.

I know that many of the tips that I just gave you are controversial. But they are all based on research even though the research might not have made it into the public eye for one reason or another. That’s a topic for another article. But I hope that you’ve learned some very useful tips that you can immediately put into action and incorporate into your hypothyroidism diet today to start seeing some results.

Diet for Hypothyroidism

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Finding the “right” diet for hypothyroidism can be easier said than done. There are tons of diets that all claim to improve your thyroid health, however, they lack the science to back up their claims. And this can be dangerous, especially when many of these diets recommend foods that have been shown to negatively affect your thyroid.

Below I have laid out some general but useful tips that you need to consider when choosing the right diet for hypothyroidism. All of these tips are based on research that accounts for the nutrients required for your body to not only produce thyroid hormone but to also to convert it and deliver it successfully to your cells where it is used.

An Anti-Inflammatory Diet for Hypothyroidism

The best diet for hypothyroidism should be very anti-inflammatory by nature. And this is because inflammation from your diet or any other source, causes stress to your body and activates your body’s natural stress response.

The stress hormones involved with this stress response work against your thyroid to slow you metabolism as means of telling your body to conserve energy so that it can either overcome or outlast the source of the stress.

But when the stress becomes a continuous problem such as eating an inflammatory diet that places your body under daily stress then those stress hormones continuously slow your thyroid which causes many problems.

Do Grains Have a Place in a Diet for Hypothyroidism?

There are many sources of inflammation within your diet but one of the biggest and most common is from gluten containing grains such as wheat. And yes, all grains contain some form of gluten and in some amount. Wheat is just the one that gets the most attention.

Not only that but starchy grains contain sugar chains made up entirely of glucose. And glucose alone will have a much great impact on your blood sugar than many other forms of sugar. So it’s quite common for people who eat a heavy grain based diet to have blood sugar imbalances and oftentimes develop insulin sensitivity, or diabetes.

Anti-Inflammatory Proteins

diet for hypothyroidismYes, protein is good for you and it needs to be a big part of any diet for hypothyroidism. But also keep in mind that not all protein is created equal.

More than a decade ago, our diet used to be quite different. We would make use of the entire animal that we ate instead of merely using a few different cuts of meat. And that included using the bones and organs as well.

Fast forward to today and all we eat are a few cuts of muscle meat which tend to be far less nutritious than other parts of the animal. But more importantly, muscle meats are higher in amino acids like tryptophan, cysteine, methionine, and histadine which tend to promote inflammation.

This is why I always recommend incorporating bone broths and gelatins into your diet for hypothyroidism in order to get plenty of the anti-inflammatory amino acids such as glycine.

Aside from that, the anti-inflammatory proteins have a host of other benefits. They help regulate fat metabolism. They improve your clotting factors. They have even been used for more than 100 years to treat diseases such as diabetes and arthritis.

Saturated Fats

diet for hypothyroidismAnother very important component to any diet for hypothyroidism is saturated fats. The benefits of having saturated fats in your diet are enormous. But you have to break through the invalidated misinformation out there that has led so many people to wrongfully believe that saturated fats are bad.

For starters, saturated fats are easily metabolized. They inhibit the release of histamine which is responsible for much the inflammation within your body. They also counteract the effects of the inflammatory proteins I mentioned above.

But possibly most important to your thyroid, they promote availability of thyroid hormone receptors, allowing your cells to use T3 more efficiently.

Coconut oil is one of the best saturated fats that you can eat. It’s made up almost entirely of medium chain fatty acids such as Lauric acid, which are directly converted into usable energy, instead of being stored away as fat like some would like you to believe.

Butter is another great choice of fat in your diet. Butter contains plenty of nutrients such as vitamin A and vitamin D which are necessary for healthy hormone production.

A Hormone Supportive Diet for Hypothyroidism

Another very important aspect of the best diet for hypothyroidism is that it must support healthy hormone function. And I can’t emphasize this enough.

There are many different hormones within your body that all play different roles. But keep in mind that many of these hormones all interact with each other and many work to balance each other out. And when one hormone becomes out of balance then it can create a cascade of effects that effectively cause many other hormones to become imbalanced.

Take your thyroid hormone as a very simple example. Your body requires thyroid hormone along with vitamin A to convert cholesterol into the cascade of protective hormones including pregnenolone, progesterone, and DHEA.

But when you become hypothyroid and lack thyroid hormone then your body can’t produce enough of these protective hormones which protect your body from a number of different health issues, including cancer.

And I’ll also note that when you lack the thyroid hormone to convert cholesterol, then it should make perfect sense why your cholesterol becomes elevated. And using cholesterol lowering medication to drive your cholesterol lower in the absence of thyroid hormone is not doing you any good. But by following a good diet for hypothyroidism you can effectively increase your thyroid hormone production and naturally lower your cholesterol.

Selenium

Selenium is one of the most important nutrients to your thyroid and the best diet for hypothyroidism will make sure that you eat plenty of foods that are high in selenium.

This nutrient is so important because it’s used readily by your liver to convert your non-active form of thyroid hormone to the active form that can be used by your cells. And if you don’t have enough selenium then you quickly become hypothyroid.

The most notable foods that are rich in selenium as well as other thyroid supportive nutrients is seafood such as shrimp, muscles, crab, etc.

Vitamin A

As I mentioned above, vitamin A plays a very important role in your hormone production. And it also plays an important role with your thyroid function.

Too little vitamin A will suppress your thyroid, making you hypothyroid. But too much will also do the same when it’s not properly balanced with thyroid hormone.

So it’s important to make sure that your diet for hypothyroidism allows you enough vitamin A to not only promote healthy thyroid function but to also ensure that your body is capable of producing the necessary protective hormones to keep your thyroid healthy.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E plays a little bit of a different role when it comes to supporting your thyroid. There are many foods that should be excluded from your hypothyroidism diet because they tend to directly affect your thyroid function.

One example of a food that will negatively affect your thyroid and should not be allowed as part of your diet for hypothyroidism is polyunsaturated fats. These fats work to suppress your thyroid and block the use of thyroid hormone by your cells. And vitamin E is one nutrient that can really help offset the anti-thyroid effects of polyunsaturated fats.

But it also does much more than that. It also helps balance the negative effects of estrogen which also works against your thyroid. It is anti-inflammatory, prevents the degeneration of organ and muscle tissue, and is a proven factor for preventing heart disease and miscarriages.

A good hypothyroid diet doesn’t have to be overly complicated. It just has to naturally support your body’s needs so that it can produce and utilize its thyroid hormone effectively and efficiently. And it should go without saying but it’s a necessary component of any good treatment for hypothyroidism.

The healthy functioning of your thyroid is essential for life. The healthier your thyroid, the longer and healthier life you will live. So regardless of whether or not you are experiencing any major symptoms of hypothyroidism, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of eating the right diet for hypothyroidism to not only reverse the various health problems you might have but to also ensure that you live a happy and healthy life.

Hypothyroid Diet

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You’re probably sitting here reading this without realizing how huge of an impact the right hypothyroid diet can have on your health and energy level.

Most people are quite mistaken when it comes to hypothyroidism and they actually believe that there’s some magic pill out there that is going to solve their problems. So, any chance they get, they grab what some doctor or celebrity is pushing without realizing that these doctors and celebrities have a far greater interest in cashing their endorsement check than they do in you actually getting the results that you deserve.

So, what does this have to do with a hypothyroid diet?

Everything…

You need to understand that without the right hypothyroid diet, your thyroid will not heal, no matter what magic pill you take. If you continue to eat foods that are full of thyroid suppressing toxins then nothing is going to compensate for the damage that you are doing to your thyroid and your hypothyroid symptoms will continue to affect your day to day life.

And yes, you are damaging your thyroid every single day.

Top 3 Foods to Avoid on Your Hypothyroid Diet

Here’s a list of some foods that you probably eat every single day that are full of these thyroid suppressing toxins…

1. Avoid Polyunsaturated Fats on Your Hypothyroid Diet

hypothyroid dietYou might be well aware that polyunsaturated fats have been praised for decades as the “heart healthy” fat that is going to save you from heart disease and protect you from all those deadly saturated fats.

Well, you might NOT be well aware that this is one of the biggest lies of our time and polyunsaturated fats should be avoided at all costs in your hypothyroid diet. In fact, there was never any real scientific basis to make this claim.

Originally, this claim was made because farmers found that polyunsaturated fats were very effective at fattening their livestock making them even bigger ad fatter in shorter periods of time. This was great for farmers because the fatter the animal, the more money they made.

Those who stood to profit from promoting polyunsaturated fats proposed the ridiculous idea that because these fats accelerate growth, they must be healthy. What they didn’t tell you was that while it did accelerate growth, the livestock were suffering from serious health problems and the farmers were struggling to keep them alive long enough to slaughter.

Well, what do we see today now that these polyunsaturated fats are being widely used?

Let’s see… We’re seeing more and more obese people and at younger and younger ages while suffering from major health problems and struggling to stay alive.

It’s a mirror image of what happened with these livestock but for some reason, we are walking around scratching our heads wondering why people are so unhealthy today. It’s time you start taking your hypothyroid diet seriously.

Maybe the fact that polyunsaturated fats also kill your brain cells is playing a factor… who know?

Polyunsaturated fats are one of the most important foods to avoid on your hypothyroid diet because they actually suppress your thyroid on 3 different levels making them one of the most problematic foods for your thyroid.

For starters, they effectively suppress your thyroid gland from secreting the thyroid hormone that your cells need to produce the energy that you need to make it through your day.

But to make matters worse, they also block the transport proteins within your bloodstream which are necessary to take your thyroid hormone and deliver it directly to your cells. So, this means that your cells are not even able to get the little thyroid hormone that your thyroid is producing.

To top it all off, these polyunsaturated fats actually impair your cells from efficiently using thyroid hormone. So, your cells aren’t even able to efficiently use what little thyroid hormone they can get their hands on.

It gets even deeper than that but I hope you get the picture and understand why polyunsaturated fats must be removed from your hypothyroid diet.

2. Avoid Soy Products and Other Legumes on Your Hypothyroid Diet

hypothyroid dietI’m sure you’ve heard of soy or many of the food products that are made from soy such as tofu. In fact, soy is considered to be a “health food” in many circles. Even the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has praised soy as a health food.

The use of soy as an alternative plant based protein source has become quite popular within the vegetarian and vegan communities who choose not to consume animal products or proteins.

But is it really healthy?

Much like polyunsaturated fats, science has shown time and time again that soy comes with some major health risks which are completely swept under the rug. In fact, it’s been wrongfully praised for properties that actually suppress your thyroid, all because people don’t understand the true effects of soy.

Needless to say, soy is another food that you need to cross off your hypothyroid diet and never consume again in any form.

Soy, as well as all legumes, have very estrogenic properties and can cause the buildup of estrogen to occur in your body. Many doctors have wrongfully praised soy because they believe that estrogen is the answer to female hormone imbalances, especially around menopause. While they are completely wrong, that’s a whole other topic for a different time.

When you consume soy and other legumes, all of which are estrogenic, as part of your hypothyroid diet the estrogens are effective at blocking your thyroid gland from being able to release thyroid hormone. This results in the buildup of thyroid hormone which eventually causes a goiter to form or in many cases, causes Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis.

This also has some greater implications as once you create a condition within your body of excess estrogen, this hormonal balance not only causes hypothyroidism but will continue to inhibit your thyroid long term.

This is why the vast majority of cases require a well designed hypothyroid treatment plan to correct the associated hormonal imbalances before your thyroid can begin to function properly again.

3. Avoid Raw Cruciferous Vegetables on Your Hypothyroid Diet

hypothyroid dietYou’ve been told since you were a kid to “eat your veggies”. But what if not all veggies were actually healthy for you? Yes, there are actually a number of veggies that should be avoided on any diet for hypothyroidism, believe it or not.

Some of the most commonly used veggies are of the cruciferous variety. Vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower which may seem harmful or even a fun snack idea, actually contain thyroid inhibitors that block your thyroid from functioning properly.

This is why you have to very careful before deciding to eat raw veggies which are also highly touted within the vegetarian and vegan communities.

Cooking these cruciferous vegetables does help to break down these thyroid inhibitors but they need to be cooked very well done and still should not be the focus of your hypothyroid diet.

Just remember that no amount of a bad thing can ever be a good thing.

The right hypothyroidism diet is oftentimes the difference maker between those who get real and permanent results with healing their thyroid and those who see glimmers of hope that quickly fade as they end up right back where they started, or worse.

Keep in mind that these 3 top foods to avoid on your hypothyroid diet are really just the tip of the iceberg. But DO NOT take them for granted because these 3 foods alone can cause serious detrimental damage to your thyroid and you can achieve some significant relief with these simple and minor changes to your hypothyroid diet.