Hey there, viewers! Imagine a small, butterfly-shaped gland in your neck
having a huge impact on your health. We’re talking about your thyroid gland. It
influences your hormones, metabolism, menstrual cycle, hair growth, and more.
When your thyroid gland struggles to produce enough thyroid hormone,
you get hypothyroidism. This can happen due to chronic stress,
poor diet, or even gut issues. Luckily, you do a lot to improve your thyroid function naturally.
In today’s video, we’ll talk about natural ways to manage hypothyroidism. Should you reduce
the amount of sugar you eat? Can probiotics help? We’ll talk about all of these AND more…
(Pause) Reduce sugar
We’re starting off with a tricky one. For most of us, sugar is a part of our
daily routine. From the moment we wake up, it’s like we’re pumping it into ourselves.
What’s crazy is that we all know sugar is bad for us.
Turns out, it’s particularly bad for your thyroid gland.
If you’re suffering from hypothyroidism, you can manage it by following a sugar-free diet.
This is important because sugar and processed food increases inflammation in the body.
Inflammation can reduce the speed your body converts the T4 hormone to T3.
When that happens, the thyroid gland won’t be able to control the body’s metabolism of carbohydrates.
This can hurt your blood sugar levels and also cause weight gain.
Also, sugar only gives you an energy boost for a short amount of time.
When you remove sugar from your diet, it improves your energy levels.
This can also help reduce your stress levels, and do wonders for your skin.
Wondering how to reduce sugar in your diet? Start by cutting back on all sugary drinks.
Even smoothies and fruit juice have loads of sugar. Swap them with water or lemonade,
without sugar of course. Drink more green tea than coffee or regular tea.
We all love having a delicious dessert after dinner. Try relatively healthier alternatives like
Greek yogurt with fruit, baked fruit with cream, or dark chocolate with over 70% cocoa content.
You’ll also need to give up on sauces like ketchup,
barbecue sauce, and sweet chili. These are all loaded with sugar.
Instead, go for healthier seasonings like vinegar, lime juice, mustard, and chili.
Another important thing you need to know is that low-fat versions of your favorite foods,
like peanut butter and yogurt, are loaded with sugar to make up for the taste. To
cut back on your sugar intake, make sure you buy full-fat versions of these foods.
One of the most important things you can do for your diet is eat whole foods.
They haven’t been processed or refined. They also don’t contain sugar additives.
Try to cook from scratch. It will bring down the sugar levels in your diet tremendously.
Canned foods are particularly bad, especially the ones packed with syrup, or the ones with
sugar on the ingredient list. Pick up versions labeled “packed in water” or “no added sugar.”
(Pause) Include probiotics in your diet
Your gut has the highest amount of thyroid hormones in your body. When your gut has a
good quantity of healthy bacteria, they’re able to convert the required hormones.
Research has shown there is a clear link between your gut and hypothyroidism.
The altered gastrointestinal (GI) motility common among those suffering from hypothyroidism
can lead to bacterial overgrowth in your small intestine. This leads to conditions like diarrhea.
When you have an unhealthy gut, it can cause nutrient deficiencies and lead to autoimmune
issues in your body. Inflammation in the gut can also be caused by food allergies. A leaky gut
can also bring on several negative symptoms. Including probiotics in your diet can help
maintain your healthy gut bacteria. You can get useful probiotics from foods such as cheese and
yogurt. You’ll need to look for probiotics with Lactobacillus (lack-toe-buh-sill-iss) bacteria.
Eating fermented foods can also add healthy bacteria to your gut. Tempeh, miso, kimchi, and
sauerkraut are great options to add to your food. (Pause)
Keeping your stress under control If you’re stressed on a regular basis, that
can act as a trigger for your hypothyroidism. It can cause the symptoms to flare up. It’s necessary
to make sure you keep your stress under control. You can do this by following various self-care
methods. These include meditation, a massage, or even a bath with essential oils, among others.
Even a walk in the park can help manage your stress levels.
Essentially, you should do whatever can make yourself happy. Put away some time every day to
get some relaxation. If you’re unable to do this each day, you should at least start by doing these
self-care activities once or twice a week. (Pause)
Gluten-free diet This is a great way to
manage your hypothyroidism. Many people suffering from hypothyroidism have seen their symptoms
ease up after changing to a gluten-free diet. Experts suggest a considerable number of patients
suffering from thyroid disease also struggle with celiac disease. This is a digestion-related
disorder. Research has shown that people with celiac disease are also sensitive to gluten.
The reason for this is that gluten ends up damaging your gut lining. This interferes
with your gut hormones causing inflammation. Additionally, your body processes gluten
using bromide. This displaces the mineral iodine in your body. Iodine is an important
mineral that keeps your thyroid balanced. To avoid these issues, you’ll need to remove
gluten from your diet completely. In most cases, you’ll see a significant drop in thyroid symptoms.
Wondering which gluten-free foods you can eat? How about you start with beans, legumes, seeds, and
eggs? These are all free of gluten. Non-processed meat and fish also don’t have gluten.
(Pause) Including foods rich in iodine
Iodine is an important mineral for producing the thyroid hormone in your body. Most people’s diets
usually don’t have enough iodine. One way to get more is by using iodine supplements.
The best option, however, is to eat foods that are rich in iodine.
Shrimp and oysters are some good examples. Yogurt and cheese also contain good amounts of iodine.
Iodine is also available in seaweed and other sea vegetables.
You can also add iodized salt to your food to give you the iodine you require.
But you should also make sure you’re not eating too many of these foods.
There’s a chance you may end up with too much iodine, which is not good for your overall health.
Having some of these foods once or twice a week would be enough to meet your iodine requirements.
(Pause) Get some help from acupuncture
Acupuncture has been a traditional form of medicine used in China for centuries.
It involves inserting thin needles at various strategic locations in your body.
Acupuncture is supposed to help relieve tension in your body and reduce your anxiety.
Acupuncture is also used for pain relief. On top of this, research has shown that
acupuncture can improve your thyroid markers. This is especially helpful for people suffering
from hypothyroidism. (Pause)
Medication One of the medicines
you can use to treat hypothyroidism is a low dose of naltrexone (nuhl·trek·sone). This particular
medication is usually given to people dealing with addiction issues. A higher dose of naltrexone even
gets people to keep away from alcohol and opiates. Research has shown a lower dose of naltrexone is
good for autoimmune issues. It is one of the best ways to treat hypothyroidism.
There are almost no side effects to using naltrexone, outside of the odd headaches,
as well as reduced sleep on occasion. (Pause)
Selenium Experts suggest the
trace element selenium also plays an important role in metabolizing your thyroid hormone.
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is a disease that causes damage to your thyroid
function. It does this by reducing the supply of selenium in your body.
In Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, your body will start to attack itself.
It does this by producing antibodies that end up destroying the thyroid gland.
This happens because your immune system thinks the thyroid cells are not a part of your body.
While Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is not the sole cause of hypothyroidism, around 90%
of people have it. It causes inflammation in your thyroid gland over a longer duration.
You can get the required amounts of selenium by adding certain foods to your diet. Tuna,
turkey, and grass-fed beef contain good amounts of selenium. Brazil nuts are also a great source.
Every person has different selenium needs, so it would be better to check with your doctor how many
of these foods you’ll need to add to your diet. (Pause)
Getting enough vitamin B Hypothyroidism affects
the level of vitamin B-12 in your body. This is also one of the reasons why you
feel tired when you have thyroid related issues. One way to deal with the lower levels of vitamin
B is by taking supplements. You can also include foods in your diet that are rich in B vitamins.
Milk, cheese and eggs are common foods you can have to raise your vitamin B levels.
On top of that, peas, beans, asparagus and tuna can also help increase your B vitamins. It just
depends how far you’re willing to go. (Pause)
Exercise Be honest, how much physical activity do you fit
into your week? Exercise is another good method to deal with thyroid imbalance. When you exercise,
you’ll be able to control your stress levels. Higher stress levels can impact your hormones
and cause inflammation, or even make it worse. When you’re under stress, your cortisol
and adrenaline levels are much higher. This can cause a lot of trouble for your
neurotransmitter function, which in turn worsens your thyroid symptoms.
If you exercise on a regular basis, you tend to sleep better and also manage your stress levels.
It can also help keep your weight under control. All these factors make sure your thyroid symptoms
don’t flare-up. Whether you’re suffering from hypothyroidism or not, it’s still good to get
a workout in. (Pause)
It’s a relief to know there are ways to manage hypothyroidism naturally along with treatment.
But how do you know you could be at the risk of hypothyroidism? Let's
keep the conversation going with a couple more videos, shall we? Here’s what you need to know…
Check out 13 Foods That Can Help Heal Your Thyroid. You can also try
Thyroid Symptoms In Women: Signs, Causes & Treatment!
Go ahead, click one. Or better yet, watch both, and learn more about how your body works.
Did you know about hypothyroidism before watching this video? Let us know in the comments below!