Why I have Thyroid Food Rules

There is a lot of confusion out there as to what to eat to nourish the thyroid, so I am going to share my basic Thyroid Food Rules so that you can get an idea of how to eat for your thyroid health. So I am sharing what my general rules are for myself to give you an idea.
I am a firm believer that everyone is different and therefore some foods will be both good and bad for an individual thyroid person. For example, everyone raves about coconut oil for thyroid health, metabolism, and weight loss, but for me personally, if I consume it too often then I feel ill. However, there has to be a starting point before you can drill down into your specifics.

Update: I wrote this at the beginning of my healing journey and still stand by this as a great starting point. Since writing this I have learned so much more about my own condition including the understanding of Lipedema (which I have) and how food significantly impacts this. So now I pretty much follow are carnivore / keto type of lifestyle. I will write about that soon, but you can follow along on my YouTube Channel HERE if you wish.

1. Avoid Gluten, Dairy, Soy, and Sugar

This would be the most important of the Thyroid Food Rules to follow, even if you did none of the others do this!
Gluten, dairy, soy, and sugar are inflammatory to the body and will worsen your symptoms. Gluten includes wheat, barley, rye, and oats. Some thyroid experts suggest removing grains altogether, and I know I feel better if I keep them to a minimum, but only you can decide that for yourself by going without grains for a while to see if you feel better for it.

Oats are not the same gliadin molecule as the other grains, so can be classed as gluten free as long as they have not been processed in the same plant as the others, which is why you see GF oats. I am actually great with oats, so again only you can decide if this is ok for you. And oats are amazing for the cardiovascular system, blood pressure, cholesterol and even fluid retention, so give it a test and see how you go. Cooked with water and fruit though, not milk and brown sugar... just saying!

Another point on gluten, even a small crumb from a toaster can actually take 6 months to work its way out of your body. So going Gluten Free actually means, NO GLUTEN for at least 6 months before you can make the call of how it is affecting your antibodies and inflammation. I would suggest using a different spread, toaster, breadboard etc than the rest of the family if you want to do this right.

Dairy includes milk, ice cream, yogurt, cream, butter, and cheese. These foods actually behave similarly to gluten. I found personally that dairy caused me to have anxiety attacks. It took a lot of digging but that was the cause and since I have shared that, many followers have had major aha's in discovering the same thing themselves.

Soy products include tempeh, miso, tofu, soy sauce, and keep an eye on ready-made products as soy shows up in a lot of those.
Unfortunately many years ago when people began to realize cows' milk was not doing them any favors, soy milk was really the only plant alternative, and like anything, it is easy to get stuck in a rut once you start. Before you know it you are in your new "normal" routine. But Soy messes with hormones in general unless it is traditional fermented soy and you are eating in light quantities. The trouble is we go from having nothing to having all of the GMO and oil, sugar added versions and we are not of a heritage that is used to these foods, and everything seems to go wrong.

Sugar is anything ending in “ose” so check your ingredient labels carefully…

Did you know that many T4 medications contain lactase?

This does not include fruit!
People with thyroid disease struggle with insulin which is the fat storing hormone that comes out when there is sugar in the blood. Too much sugar means insulin is going to store it as fat. It's really that simple.

2. Eat clean, whole foods, preferably organic

This means, don’t mess with your food too much or buy it pre-prepared if possible. The least amount of processing retains the most nutrients.

The minute we buy anything that has been "done for you" it always contains items that hampers the Thyroid Pathway. Even simple spice mixes contain sunflower oil, which can affect the transport of your hormone to your cells.
Keep it simple, learn to cook and take joy in preparing your own meals.

When it comes to organic foods, I know the price is always a consideration so do the best you can. Keep in mind that pesticides that are sprayed onto our food are toxic to the thyroid and cause further hormonal issues as they are designed to stop pests from reproducing.

3. Bone Broths daily to help with Gut Repair

Most people with autoimmune disease and thyroid disease suffer from Leaky Gut. This is when small particles of food are getting through the gut wall into the bloodstream where they don’t belong causing allergies and further immune issues as the immune system goes after the things that don't belong there.

This causes inflammation and a further breakdown of the gut wall.

Bone broths are by far one of the quickest ways to heal the gut and therefore allergies and intolerances. The GAPS protocol takes about 2 years but is hailed by top Gut Doctors as being the quickets way to repair the damage. It's not for the faint hearted though as you need to be consuming 5 cups of home made bone broth a day along with following the rest of the protocol. But I do know people who have successfully healed their gut and other more serious chronic diseases doing this.

Make sure the bones are grass-fed and organic though because lead is stored in all mammal bones (including our own) so you may end up with heavy metals which is a whole other dilemma to deal with.

4. Fresh veggie Juices every day

With a compromised gut function, it is hard to get the nutrients we need to help our thyroid function optimally. Vegetable juices are fantastic for this as the fiber has been removed leaving the nutrients to soak straight into the cells without a poor digestive system slowing it down.

Now there is a difference between juices and smoothies. Juices have had the fiber removed, smoothies contain the whole food which has been pulverized in a blender. If you blend it but then strain it through a nut mylk bag or similar, then you have a juice.
Here's what you need to remember:-

***Juice = Medicine***

***Smoothies = Food***

If you drink with your meals (which you really shouldn't), swap it out for a nice green juice which will also give you extra enzymes to process the meal. You will see me having green juice with all kinds of meals... even on pizza night (which is about every 6-8 months to be clear) I will have a green juice with my pizza and I always feel soooo much better for it!

5. Little or no Goitrogenic Foods… with a “however”

Number 5 in the Thyroid Food Rules list may be the cause of your hair dropping out! I say this because it was the very thing I experienced many years ago.

Goitrogen foods include Cabbage, Cauliflower, KALE, Broccoli, and Brussel’s Sprouts. The goitrogens in these foods block iodine from getting to the thyroid and in doing so slow’s down the thyroid function. HOWEVER, these foods are actually vital to our liver which is necessary for the optimal functioning of our Thyroid Pathway.

Cooking will destroy the goitrogens mostly but just take it easy if you haven't eaten them in a while. My experience was around sauerkraut that I started adding to my meals every day for the probiotic value. within 3 weeks masses of hair were falling out when I washed it and brushed it. Eventually, I figured out via my Thyroid Diary that it started not long after starting the sauerkraut and so I stopped. Within a few weeks, it went back to normal.

So now I tend to avoid raw and stick with cooked, and not every day but 3-4 times a week. I have found through trial and error that my best cruciferous food is Broccolini, which causes me no issues even if consumed daily.
So all those thyroid people out there eating raw Kale chips to be healthy, you could be making things worse!

6. Eat good quality protein regularly

To be clear, this does not have to be animal protein, this also means plant protein, however, if it is animal try to make it grass-fed and wild-caught to avoid messing with your thyroid.

The thyroid needs the amino acids in protein to make the hormone, so getting some every day is vital. If you have compromised digestion (most thyroid people do) then plant-based protein is often easier to get the amino acids out of than animal protein.

Another tip is to eat protein within an hour of waking (not getting out of bed – WAKING) if you have Adrenal issues, which many thyroid people do. This will calm the adrenals at the start of the day as opposed to drinking a cup of coffee first thing which puts your adrenals into fight or flight before you even walk out the door.

7. Get prebiotics and probiotics daily

20% of thyroid hormone is converted from inactive form to active form in the gut, so great gut health is necessary for this process to occur. Our gut health is also primary in the battle against inflammation, absorbing iron (low iron anyone?) and keeping our weight even.

There are two ways of increasing the good guys in our gut. One way is to increase our probiotic foods such as fermented vegetables and also take a probiotic with your thyroid medication every day. (The strain of probiotic you are looking for is LGG and it is helpful for inflammation).

The second way is to increase your consumption of prebiotics which is the food for probiotics. This includes a high fiber diet and foods such as Jerusalem Artichokes, Dandelion greens, and Persimmons.
I watched a BBC show years ago where they took a bunch of cowboys on a ranch and measured the bacteria in their poop. They then put half of them on a probiotic supplement every day and the other half were fed a raw salad filled with prebiotic ingredients such as dandelion greens and raw onions twice a day with lunch and dinner. Guess who had the better gut bacteria at the end?
The ones who ate the prebiotic salad. This tells us, there is no point in spending a fortune on probiotics if they don't have prebiotics and fiber to keep them alive in your gut.

8. Remove Food Intolerances

When we are intolerant to certain foods and continue to eat them our body is always on high alert. If you know there is a food or group of foods you feel bad after eating, then stop eating them!
Intolerances change with health status, so if you remove something for 6 months or so, you may find you are able to slowly introduce them again without problems.

I often ask clients, "What is the food that if I asked you to stop eating, you would have heart palpitations over?" When you see the look of horror come across their face and they meekly say "nuts" or "peanut butter" or "tomato" or "avocado" you can pretty much almost (almost) guarantee they have an intolerance to it and have developed a chemical addiction triggered by the food.
27% of the population are intolerant to lettuce at any given time, so intolerances can be healthy or unhealthy, so don't think that just because you are drinking almond milk now instead of cow's milk you are out of the woods.

You can get saliva tests easily now that tests a huge variety of food and ingredients so ask your health care provider to point you in that direction, or consider an elimination diet starting by removing that "favourite" food for 4 weeks and track your symptoms.

9. Give up Coffee & Tea

Oh, I can just feel the resistance, and hear you cry “Does this really have to be one of the Thyroid Food Rules!! It’s always the hardest to do.

Coffee inhibits iron absorption and overstimulates the adrenals. Black tea is full of naturally occurring Fluoride which will block iodine from getting to the thyroid. Now when I say Black Tea, I am not referring to drinking it without milk. I mean any normal tea such as English Breakfast, Earl Grey, etc.

If you choose to swap the coffee and tea out for herb teas (which I highly recommend) be careful that the herb tea is NOT just an infusion, which is black tea with herb flavors added. Those teas will still contain fluoride. I know, I'm not much fun am I?
Best to stick with organic straight-up herb teas such as peppermint, rosehip, hibiscus, lemongrass & ginger kind of thing. Oh and brew them with filtered water so you removed the chlorine and fluoride to ok?

10. Compatible Food Combinations

Back in the early 90s (yes I'm that old lol) I was given a book by my then-boyfriend (yes the same one that accused me of eating chocolate in secret when my thyroid gave up) called "Fit for Life" (yes I should have seen the writing on the wall right?) by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond. The book talked about the significance of food combining for natural health hygiene and reaching your natural weight.

I followed it (because you want to please your new love don't ya?) but it turns out, this style of eating suited me. This was prior to my thyroid taking a holiday so I hadn't yet stacked on the weight, just a standard (Australian) size 12 to maybe a 12-14 on the bottom and even though I now know I have had lipedema my whole life I still shrunk down to a size 8-10 without really trying too hard.

It kinda went like this: Melon on its own first thing in the morning - Fruit only till lunch - protein and salad/veg for lunch - carbs and salad/veg for dinner. Dinner and lunch are interchangeable the point was that you did not consume protein and carbs together. So that meant no meat with potatoes, no ham sandwiches, no potato with bacon and sour cream (dairy is a protein) no butter on bread etc etc.

Fit for Life also encouraged all fruit days every now and then, which again, tended to suit me. It was also very low in oils which I now know is the ingredient that moves your weight set-point.

11. Eat Simply

I eat minimalist meals a fair amount of time- not too many different ingredients at one time, just a larger amount of 1-4 ingredients. With compromised digestion, this makes absorption easier and I just feel better for it.

Mono meals are actually a common tool used in Naturopathy to reset compromised digestion. We cannot absorb nutrients if we are compromised so even if we have the best organic salad with a million antioxidants or taking the most expensive supplements and multi-vitamins but we may not actually be receiving them.

You could do this by eating only a single ingredient for the whole meal, say watermelon for breakfast, roast chicken for lunch, and baked sweet potato for dinner. You can still have what you want, but your body will find it a little easier to cope with one thing at a time while you are healing. But just to be clear... because I know you are thinking it... that doesn't mean an entire meal of donuts ok?

Final Thoughts…

I keep healthy jars of snacks in the fridge at all times. This is the difference between me sticking to my health plan and not. It is also why I wrote the recipe book Thyroid Jar Food. It is actually a book filled with my own recipes so I could have them all in one spot!

So that’s the basics of what I do. Just a note to anyone changing their diet in any way. Always follow a new way of eating for a reasonable amount of time (at least 4 weeks) before deciding if it is helping or hindering. Keep in mind, if you cut back on some of these things or remove them that detox will most likely occur which may have you thinking the new food regime is not good for you. Rest assured if coffee is removed – YOU WILL FEEL LIKE CRAP – which does not mean necessarily that going back to it is a good idea. You get my point here right??

The other thing to be vigilant with when changing a diet is to always keep an eye on your blood work numbers, particularly if you are on medication as it may need to be changed. This is THE piece of information I want you to take away from this!!

I hope these Thyroid Food Rules help you change your health and feel better.

11 Thyroid Food Rules