Your thyroid gland regulates the metabolism of every cell in your body. Since the thyroid affects every organ in the body, it can cause you to gain weight, lose weight, and have dry skin, to be anxious or depressed. It can cause heart palpitations, constipation or diarrhea.
I would like to share a few ideas that you may like to try to protect your thyroid gland. First, your thyroid gland requires a small amount of iodine in order to make thyroid hormone. It doesn’t require a lot, because the body recycles it. Some foods that contain significant amounts of iodine include asparagus, seafood, garlic, kelp, lobster, salmon, sea salt, seaweed, spinach, and sunflower seeds. Iodized salt contains a small amount of iodine, but I recommend the use of Himalayan salt or Celtic sea [both can be found at the Fort Collins Food Cooperative] salt because of their broader mineral content.
Your thyroid needs to be protected from fluoride, chloride and bromide, since they act similarly to iodine and may displace it in the thyroid. Avoid drinking fluoridated water as it has little, if any, strengthening effect on the teeth. A person takes in more chlorine from showering in chlorinated water than they do from swimming in a chlorinated pool, so you may want to install a chlorine filter on your showerhead. Bromine is often found in hot tubs, so you may want to run a fan to blow the fumes away from you while hot tubbing. Some commercial flours and Mountain Dew contain bromine, so avoid them.
Since many thyroid conditions have an auto-immune component, it is important to keep your immune system healthy by avoiding inflammatory foods and by promptly addressing infections.
By Joan D Waters, ND Practical Health Solutions, LLC
Providing you with the tools to live healthfully in this increasingly challenging world.
