Thyroid Healing Foods

Thyroid Healing Foods. When it comes to healing your thyroid, there are different avenues to consider, and depending on your condition, your healing journey might be completely different from someone else’s. That being said, there are some incredible thyroid-healing foods to include in your diet, whether you’re dealing with an under or overactive thyroid. 

Underactive Thyroid Healing Foods

When your thyroid doesn’t produce enough thyroid hormones, you’re suffering from what’s known as hypothyroidism. This condition slows down your metabolism, causes issues with your digestion and sleep, creates a massive negative impact on your mental health, and brings an overall sense of fatigue and tiredness. 

Depending on the causes and intensity, your healthcare provider might have a specific treatment plan for you in order to help you heal. Still, there are some amazing foods and superfoods you can talk to them about adding to your diet, which might further help decrease inflammation, support your immune system, aid digestion, and help your thyroid get back on track. 

Kelp and other Seaweed

Seaweed is extremely rich in iodine, a trace mineral that’s essential for the proper function of your thyroid gland. If you’re thyroid deficient, you might develop an underactive thyroid, so it’s important to know your iodine levels and adequately supplement if you need it. 

Getting your daily iodine amount is easy with seaweed. Nowadays, you can find a large amount of seaweed snacks, noodles, and even foods with seaweed flavor, such as cashews coated in a seaweed mix. Additionally, you can simply buy dried seaweed sheets and make homemade sushi or ramen. 

My favorite way of snacking on seaweed is by making chips. They are delicious, low-calorie, and can be dressed up with spices and condiments. 

Gelatinized Maca Powder

This Peruvian superfood is actually a cruciferous plant that has served as food and medicine for thousands of years. Among its many various uses, maca was usually eaten to promote sexual health and reproduction, help support the immune system, as well as promote a healthy and active thyroid. 

Most cruciferous plants (also known as goitrogens) aren’t recommended for an underactive thyroid as they tend to slow down an overactive one, but maca that’s been gelatinized is actually free from the goitrogenic enzymes. It’s extremely important to always choose the gelatinized version of this superfood and ensure where it’s sourced. 

There are many maca powders on the market that are sourced in China, and these plants are harvested at much lower altitudes, and studies show their hormone-balancing abilities are way lower. Always choose Peruvian maca, preferably straight from the farms.

Maca is of interesting taste, with slightly nutty and caramel tones. I love adding mine to coffee, cacao drinks, puddings, and brownies. 

Camu Camu Powder

Another incredible Peruvian superfood, camu camu berry is extremely rich in vitamin C, containing over 60 times more of this important vitamin than oranges. Known for its anti-inflammatory properties, vitamin C helps reduce thyroid inflammation, which is the most common cause of hypothyroidism. 

Once again, make sure that the camu camu powder you’re taking is sourced straight from Peruvian farms and harvested at high altitudes. This ensures high levels of micronutrients and a higher absorbability rate.

I love adding camu camu in my morning smoothie, oat bowls, and in a variety of desserts for that juicy, berry kick. 

Overactive Thyroid Healing Foods

On the other hand, when your thyroid is producing large and excessive amounts of thyroid hormones, your body is speeding up its metabolism, elevating your daily body temperature, increasing anxiety and nervousness, wrecking your digestion, and, once again, leaving you prone to immune deficiencies. 

This condition might be completely the opposite of hypothyroidism. Still, it’s once again coupled with high levels of inflammation which weakens your immune system and its ability to protect you from disease and infections. Important foods that can help support your overactive thyroid work in a slightly different way than those to support an underactive one, but the goal is all the same: optimize the function of your thyroid gland and promote overall health. 

Cruciferous Vegetables – Thyroid Healing Foods

Veggies like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and cabbage all fall under goitrogens, or plants that contain substances that can interfere with the function of the thyroid. A goiter, or an enlarged thyroid gland, is one of the most common signs of iodine deficiency and that’s because goitrogens directly interfere with the body’s ability to absorb iodine. 

That’s why cruciferous plants, especially in their raw form, are never recommended for those with an iodine deficiency. On the other hand, when you’re working with an overactive thyroid, goitrogens help inhibit the synthesis of thyroid hormones, slowing your active thyroid down and helping you find balance. 

The best effect of goitrogens will be if you’re eating them raw, but since that’s not always the best (or the most delicious) for your digestive system, I recommend minimally processing your cruciferous veggies. Steam them, blanch them, or slow-roast the. Just don’t boil them down or burn them!

Green Leafy Vegetables – Thyroid Healing Foods

Spinach, kale, bok choi, chard – these are all dark green, leafy vegetables that contain a considerable amount of iron. Another important mineral to optimize the function of your thyroid, iron is often very low in people with hyperthyroidism. That’s why it’s extremely important to pick and choose those vegetables which will supply you with adequate levels. 

That being said, there is an ingredient that contains iron you should be aware of: spirulina. Now, this may not be a dark, leafy green as we know it, but it’s a dark, leafy seaweed that’s high in iron. It is also high in iodine, so try to avoid spirulina with an overactive thyroid. 

I love using green leafy vegetables in a variety of meals. From making kale chips and spinach dip to sauteing bok choi with chickpeas and steaming chard with quinoa. Delish!

Criollo Cacao

Criollo cacao is one of the highest-quality and highest-antioxidant foods in the world, and it’s sourced straight from the highest altitudes of the Peruvian mountains. Chocolate lovers will agree that once they try this sort, they never go back. 

The number of antioxidants helps fight free radicals and their oxidative damage, reducing the levels of inflammation along the way. These antioxidants, also known as flavonoids, are another goitrogenic compound that can help slow down an underactive thyroid and stabilize its function. 

Rich in flavor and smooth in texture, I love using cacao in my everyday life, from drinking the most delicious hot chocolate to adding it to all of my healthy desserts. 

Final Thoughts

Food is really our medicine and by being intentional and smart about our food choices, we can significantly affect our overall health and well-being. Sometimes the choice is not the easiest, but when it comes to your health, always do as much as you possibly can from the comfort of your own home. There’s nothing better than knowing that your lifestyle actions and choices are working for you and not against you, so take these thyroid-healing foods and make them a part of your daily diet.