Top 5 Tips To Improve Your Thyroid Health
Here are the TOP 5 TIPS to improve thyroid health from Certified Trainer and Nutrition Coach Lindsey Day.
(video below)
January is thyroid awareness month! Let’s talk about the top 5 tips to improve thyroid health!
First, here are the symptoms of hypothyroidism (1):
1. Weight gain2. Low energy
3. Brain fog
4. Depression
5. Constipation
6. Menstrual irregularities
7. High cholesterol
8. Cold body temperature
9. Brittle hair and nails
10. Dry skin
Tip #1
If you have 3 or more of these symptoms, FULLY TEST! Don’t guess! Or if you have a thyroid condition but have never had a full panel run or it’s been more than a year or two, ask your doc to run a FULL thyroid panel (NOT just TSH and T4, which is a common practice):
• TSH
• T4
• T3
• Reverse T3
• TPO Antibodies
• TG Antibodies
This is important because your plan of action will vary depending on each of the levels. For example, if your T4 (“inactive” thyroid hormone) is normal but T3 (“active” thyroid hormone) is low, you might focus on increasing your body’s conversion of T4 to T3 – which leads to our next tip…
Tip #2
Include more of the micronutrients necessary to convert the inactive thyroid hormone (T4) into active thyroid hormone (T3). The two main players here are selenium and zinc (2,3)!
Brazil nuts and seafood are two of the richest selenium sources. Meat, nuts and seeds are highest in zinc.
Note: that if you're following an autoimmune paleo (AIP) diet, you may do best minimizing or avoiding nuts and seeds, at least in the initial phase until you get your condition under control to a point where you can eventually incorporate small amounts of these otherwise healthy foods! The POTG Salmon Breakfast Bowl has a good amount of selenium while the Salisbury Steak has your zinc!
Or let’s say your thyroid test shows your TPO or TG antibodies are high, or if you’ve been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s (an autoimmune thyroid condition), you can focus your efforts on techniques that have been shown to lower thyroid autoantibodies…
Tip #3:
Two very effective strategies for lowering thyroid autoantibodies are getting more iron and vitamin D if these levels are low! So yes, it’s best to get these levels checked (4). The POTG grass fed beef taco kit has a good amount of iron!
Tip #4:
Eating an Autoimmune Paleo (AIP) Diet diet was shown in a recent randomized control trial to significantly improve Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis (5). For example, it reduced inflammation and improved immune system function as measured by C-reactive protein and WBC counts. Plus, participants had statistically significant improvements in their quality of life (5)!
It can be hard to follow an AIP diet in today’s times when we’re bombarded with foods that are not so AIP friendly! That’s where POTG can be a lifesaver, especially on busy days!
Tip #5:
Sometimes your T3 thyroid level hormone is low… but it’s not really a thyroid problem! Sometimes it’s a liver or a gut problem! These are the sites where the T4 to T3 conversion happens! So be kind to your liver and gut! Eating your veggies, especially the green ones that contain nutrients that support the liver, and incorporating gut healing bone broth (like the POTG beef or chicken bone broth) in your diet can be great tools here (6)!
Tip #6:
Here’s a bonus!
Consume the APPROPRIATE amount of iodine! There is a “goldilocks effect” here - meaning too little iodine can create thyroid dysfunction, but so can too much iodine! For this reason, iodine supplements can be dangerous, particularly in high doses and used long term. Yet, make sure you’re getting iodine somewhere in your diet! Iodine is primarily found in seafood and iodized salt. Note that sea salt, pink salt, Himalayan & mineral salts do NOT contain significant iodine (7). Restaurants & processed food companies have been replacing iodized salt with non-iodine containing salts.
With thyroid conditions, sometimes medication is necessary, but even so, incorporating some of these tips can at times reduce the amount of medicine necessary and improve your thyroid health, overall health and quality of life!
Lindsey Day is a Certified Personal Trainer, Nutrition Coach, a former broadcast meteorologist and is the founder of NutTriDay Fitness and the NuTriDay Fitness App. Lindsey is currently working on obtaining her Master's in Nutrition and is helping people achieve optimal health and wellness through better nutrition and fitness. Learn more at: nutridayfitness.com
Would you benefit from a customizable fitness and nutrition challenge program? Are your interested in burning fat, building muscle, balance hormones & gut health, boosting your energy, and bettering your mental health? If so, you would be an ideal candidate for the NuTriDay app developed by Lindsey Day! Visit her Instagram account @lindseydayfitness or the NuTriDay website to learn more about her wellness app and the 12 week “charge up challenge."
