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00:00:00 Hi everyone and welcome to how to support your thyroid naturally of course. My name is Pilar Manzanaro and I am a registered nutritional therapist. When your thyroid is working well and by that I mean producing thyroxine or T4 at the optimal rate and converting it effectively to its more active form T3, you have plenty of energy and you get to spend it at a normal rate. This means you'll feel more energized and find it easy to keep your weight in check because a good functioning thyroid helps you use carbs for energy, protein to build muscle and also burn your fat reserves to produce energy when glucose is not available in between meals. If burn your fat reserves to produce energy when glucose is not available in between meals. If
00:00:34 your thyroid is not working as it should be, you may feel fatigued, lethargic, struggling to concentrate, your hair and skin may not look the best and even your mood may fluctuate, your libido decrease and your periods can become less regular. Now, let's see how what you eat affects your hormonal balance. Diet and nutrition are very important to support your thyroid gland, not just produce the hormones T4 but also to ensure the conversion to the more active form is working well. produce the hormones T4 but also to ensure the conversion to the more active form is working well. Selenium and zinc are necessary to ensure proper conversion to T3. High levels of selenium can be found in Brazil nuts so add them to your smoothies, roast them for snacks or crush them and sprinkle
00:01:15 them on salads and soups for a little crunch. Also, salmon, sesame and sunflower seeds and red meat are good sources of selenium and let's not forget that selenium is also essential to to maintain a healthy immune system, which we'll see later how it can also affect your thyroid. which we'll see later how it can also affect your thyroid. Selenium plays a fundamental role in your body's antioxidant activity that reduces those nasty, aging-free radicals.
00:01:37 Zinc is also necessary for thyroid hormone compression and can be found in abundance in red meat, but also green leafy veggies like kale, broccoli, and legumes like food lentils and chickpeas. We have plenty of recipes to include those foods. Just go to our website and click on recipes and then hormonal balance. Now, let's talk about iron.
00:01:58 Iron is also necessary for conversion Iron is also necessary for conversion to the active form of thyrohormones. So if you are a vegetarian, make sure you include plenty of green leafy veg and pulses in your diet, and have them with a good source of vitamin C, like raw veg such as salad or a few strips of red pepper
00:02:15 to ensure you absorb iron more efficiently. Nutrients for production of thyrohormones include first and foremost iodine, which can be found in seafood, fish, seaweed, and to a lesser extent, dairy. So if you are vegan, ensure seaweed is regularly in your diet. ensure seaweed is regularly in your diet.
00:02:30 Zinc is also necessary for thyroid hormone production, and so is vitamin E from almonds, sweet potatoes, and lovely avocados, which also happens to be a fantastic antioxidant. But diet is not the only factor supporting your thyroid. Lifestyle is as important as nutrition because lack of exercise, poor or not enough sleep, and of course, stress,
00:02:49 can negatively affect your thyroid function. Chronic stress can inhibit the conversion to the active form of thyroid hormones while exercise stimulates the production. Now, there are a few things that can work Now, there are a few things that can work against your thyroid and are worth bearing in mind. The first one is environmental toxins,
00:03:05 including mercury in fish, fluoride in toothpaste and tap water, cadmium and lead in cigarettes, pollution and tap water, and PCBs and dioxins, which enter the food chain and can be stored in animal fat. So the more fatty meat products you eat, the higher your dioxin load will be. These toxins can disrupt your thyroid function, so avoid swordfish and eat tuna and salmon in moderation. Avoid smoking for this and another million reasons.
00:03:28 Avoid smoking for this and another million reasons. And switch to organic to avoid pesticides as much as you possibly can. You can also avoid exposure to chemicals by switching to organic cleaning products and toiletries. Oh, and let's not forget about water. Tap water is fine, but only if you filter it to remove heavy metals, hormones and other toxins. Another thing to avoid whenever possible is storing your food in plastic that is not BPA free as BPA can interfere with your thyroid action at the cellular level where it really matters. And that includes bottled water and other drinks.
00:03:59 And that includes bottled water and other drinks. Some foods contain goitrogens. They are compounds that can block the utilization of iodine which can as a result cause an enlargement of the thyroid known as goitre. These foods need to be eaten in moderation if there are any concerns about your thyroid functioning below par. However, there's no need to eliminate these foods completely from your diet because they're very nutritious otherwise. Ideally, you should consume them cooked, lightly of course, to reduce their goitrogenic activity. Foods that may contain goitrogens include vegetables from the brassica family, like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, turnips, mustard greens, kale and kohlrabi.
00:04:29 Foods that may contain goitrogens include vegetables from the brassica family, like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, turnips, mustard greens, kale and kohlrabi. and also foods like soybeans, peanuts, pine nuts, millet, peaches, strawberries, spinach and cassava root. Now, does the immune system have anything to do with hormonal balance? Well, yes. Oid immunity can play an important role in your thyroid health as when the immune system is dysregulated,
