Best ways to support the thyroid.

What is the thyroid?

Well it is a gland that sits on your throat. For guys it is placed just below their Adam’s apple. It has two different parts, one located to the left and the other to the right. And a middle part that connects the two parts that is called isthmus.

The thyroid dictates our metabolism

The thyroid steer the metabolism in the body. This means how well our brain works, how fast our heart beats, how many calories we burn, body temperature, the speed of our gut motility etc. It acts as a throttle in the body. If it goes too slow then this means that you suffer from constipation and fluid retention, brain fog and at times it makes it hard to sleep even though you feel tired. Some people also gain weight. If it goes too fast then you have a higher pulse, the heart works harder, you feel warm and break out into a sweat, you feel tired and suffer from muscle soreness, you lose weight despite eating all of the time and you might get a lose tummy.

Autoimmune diseases

The most common illness related to the thyroid is something called “Hashimoto’s”. What happens is that the body creates antibodies called TPO that attacks one of the enzymes in the thyroid gland. This prevents the thyroid to do its job properly. It interferes with the thyroid stimulating hormone so that not enough of T4 is created. What also usually happens is that the gland grows to compensate for it not being able to do what it is supposed to do. This is what is called an autoimmune disease. Also, women  seem to be more accessible to catch this disease. Autoimmune means that the body turns against itself, it attacks itself. Our immune system starts producing antibodies.

Another example of an autoimmune disease is type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease (IBS) and rheumatism. There are currently roughly 150 autoimmune diseases in the world and the number is growing. Probably because of the way we lead our lives now a days.

Women more subjected

The reason why women are more subjected to getting these diseases is most likely because of our ability to carry a fetus without repelling it. Our immune system is because of this built up in a different way compared to men. The fluctuations of our sex hormones as women can interfere with the thyroid. Especially when we go through big hormonal changes such as puberty, after pregnancy and menopause.

Health markers connected to the thyroid

To get an understanding of how your thyroid is doing there are some health markers you can check via a simple blood test.

TSH

TSH is short for thyroid stimulating hormone and is produced by the pituitary gland and stimulates the thyroid to liberate the hormones thyroxine (T4) (has four iodine molecules bound to it) and triiodothyronine (T3) (has three iodine molecules bound to it and is produced in the liver). These two are important for regulating the metabolism.

Free T3 and free T4

Free T3 is the active hormone and free T4 is the storage but T4 also regulates how much activity T3 should have in the cells.

The role of estrogen

One thing to also keep in mind is that estrogen has an influence on T4. Estrogen also plays a part in how much of the T3 hormone that should be carried around in the blood. So whenever we are in a phase in life where estrogen fluctuates a lot – such as perimenopause – this can also have an effect on the thyroid function.

Best ways to support the thyroid

So what does the thyroid need to function optimally? Well first thing is nutrition and particularly iodine (can be found for example in seaweed, fish, dairy, eggs, beef liver, and chicken), selenium (Brazil-nuts are a great source of selenium), and zinc (can be found for example in meat, shellfish, legumes, seeds, nuts, dairy, eggs, and whole grains). It also needs a non-essential amino acid called tyrosine. Tyrosine and iodine are needed for the body to create thyroxine (T4). Foods high in tyrosine are for example cheese, soybeans, beef, lamb, pork, fish, chicken, nuts, eggs, dairy, beans, and whole grain.

As you can see you will cover most important nutrients in the same types of food. Focusing on organic whole foods will get you very far when it comes to nutrients our bodies need.

Besides food we need to manage stress levels, get enough sleep, and keep a good sleep hygiene, focus on having a healthy gut that can absorb all nutrients that we eat and exercise regularly. In fact, we get better at converting T4 to T3 when we exercise 😀👍

Further reading

My view on stress from a female perspective you can go here.

How I eat and fast around my cycle to not get too much stress you can go here.

My view on liver you can go here.

How to improve your blood sugar response you can go here.