Raw foods that hurt your thyroid

Raw foods that hurt your thyroid

Have you heard of goitrogens? A goitrogen is a substance in some foods that prevents the thyroid from functioning properly by blocking iodine absorption. Iodine is important for the production and activation of thyroid hormone and is one of the main minerals that accelerate cell metabolism.

Goitrogens get their name from the term “goiter,” which represents an enlargement of the thyroid gland. The thyroid gland is located in the neck area just above the collarbone. When the thyroid has difficulty making thyroid hormone, it may enlarge to compensate for inadequate hormone production and may be seen or felt as a soft pad about 2 to 5 inches in diameter on the neck, usually on one side but occasionally on both sides.

Goitrogens can cause hypothyroidism and goiter. I'm bringing it up this month because diet foods often contain goitrogens. When eaten in large quantities, the dieter wonders what he is doing wrong and why he is not losing weight.

More than four cups/week of the following foods – only in RAW form – will impair your thyroid function. You can eat as much of these cooked foods as you like - with the exception of tofu and soy products, which we'll talk about later. The foods are: Brussels sprouts, cabbage of all kinds, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi, peaches, pears, rapini (a vegetable similar to broccoli), spinach, strawberries, radishes, rutabagas and turnips.

Other foods with goitrogenic activity include soybeans (tofu), pine nuts, peanuts, millet and rapeseed (rapeseed oil).

Goitrogenic foods are typically high in sulfur (particularly the brassy family of plants such as kale, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kohlrabi, and broccoli). Sulfur, copper and iron interact with each other and must be in perfect balance for everything to function properly. Therefore, some researchers believe that an excess of sulfur competes with iron and copper and can cause anemia. This raises a good question, as lately many people are taking MSM, glucosamine sulfate, and chondroitin supplements, all of which are high in sulfur.

The main component in soy that causes thyroid problems are isoflavones. Genistein is a soy isoflavone marketed as a hormone replacement for women that appears to reduce thyroid hormone production by blocking the activity of an enzyme called thyroid peroxidase. This enzyme is responsible for adding iodine to thyroid hormones. Thyroid hormones normally need to have three or four iodine atoms added to their structure to function properly, so this enzyme is quite important. Most goitrogens are inactivated by heat, but there is evidence that isoflavones in soy are not inactivated by heat.

Ask, you can see, this stuff gets pretty complicated. We fix one thing in our world and some other challenges arise!

While many people with hyperthyroidism try to limit thyroid production by limiting their iodine and eating more goitrogenic foods, this strategy can backfire. Iodine restriction causes the thyroid to increase in size (goiter) to filter more blood and receive more iodine. When iodine is then reintroduced into the diet or accidentally ingested, the thyroid now grows even larger than before because it now has a greater capacity to do so!

Therefore, consuming goitrogens to control hyperthyroidism is not a good strategy. It is better to increase foods rich in copper and increase the effectiveness of copper in normalizing thyroid function. After that, the body tolerates iodine without increasing thyroid hormone production.

Why is preventing thyroid disease so important? 2005 statistics for this disease show:

o Hypothyroidism affects over 11 million Americans (1999 statistics.)

o If left untreated, hypothyroidism can lead to myxedema (fluid retention under the skin) and ultimately coma, which has a mortality rate of 80%.

o Nearly one in 50 women in the United States will be diagnosed with hypothyroidism during pregnancy.

o Six out of 100 miscarriages are associated with thyroid hormone deficiency during pregnancy. This seems to be the biggest thing I see in my own practice.

Foods that stimulate the thyroid include: caffeine (coffee, tea, cola and chocolate), avocado, coconut and saturated fat. An overabundance of these foods in your diet is also not good.

I think the best way to deal with such problems is to figure out what the root cause is, correct it, minimize what you can, eliminate what you can, and repair the damaged thyroid cells with protomorphogens and glandular supplements. If the client prefers to go the medical route and take medication for the rest of their life, it is best to take a thyroid medication that appears to be working and stay on it. Switching brands or changing protocols is just another bag of worms and causes even more problems. Thyroid armor seems to be the best medication for most of my clients.

Alternative therapies that appear to work: A few minutes of heat applied to the thyroid for several months also helps. Some people also need a great mineral and vitamin program. A big problem I see is that we expose ourselves to excessive stress from our busy lives and lots of electromagnetic fields. Plasma televisions, computer screens, microwave ovens, cell phones and cell towers put enormous strain on the system and significantly disrupt hormones.

I will say that people who are on thyroid medication seem to be on them for the long haul. It seems too much for her to drastically change her lifestyle. They can't seem to stick to a program that works. They want to test the limits and end up crashing and using drugs again. Dips and spikes in thyroid hormones simply place too much stress on the body to attempt to stop taking thyroid medication in most cases.

Inspired by Denice Moffat