So I often see clients who are struggling with their weight and despite being on a restrictive diet, they just can’t shift those pounds. Well the likelihood is there may a reason or an imbalance in the body that is preventing the weight from dropping off.
One symptom of hypothyroidism is difficultly losing weight, despite a decreasing appetite.
Thyroid hormones are vital in the body and every cell relies on them to regulate their metabolism. Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is an autoimmune disease that causes the antibodies to bind to the thyroid preventing them making thyroid hormones. It is usually characterised by goiter and as the thyroid gland is enlarged it makes it difficult to produce thyroid hormones.
Symptoms of an underactive thyroid?
This list is by no means conclusive but below are some of the common symptoms:
Difficultly losing weight, despite decreasing appetite
Fatigue and sleepiness
Low mood or depression
Infertility and increased risk of miscarriage
Irregular period
Pale dry skin and hair
Hair loss
Thyroid problems are more common after pregnancy and childbirth.
The thyroid gland requires a host of supportive nutrients to function effectively, so restrictive diets can encourage this.
Top 5 ways to support your thyroid
Remove gluten - celiac disease and hypothyroidism showed that both shared common immunopathogenic mechanisms. This suggests that restricting gluten in patients with hypothyroidism could reduce their symptoms
Vitamin D – check your levels and either get out in the sunshine or supplement through winter if that is not possible.
Check your iodine levels, the thyroid gland adds iodine to tyrosine to create T3 and T4 so if you are low in this it will make this conversion difficult.
Excessive intake of goitrogens, foods that block the utilization of iodine. Mainly found in the brassica family, soybeans and peanuts. Typically cooking would inactivate these so just avoid eating in their raw state as they have many health benefits in their own right.
Environmental goitrogens, which include mercury, fluoride and perchlorate, will also block iodine uptake so if you have low thyroid look at removing these from your life.