Essential Thyroid Nutrients
You need essential thyroid nutrients like a car needs gas in order to run. Selenium, zinc, iron, iodine, tyrosine, and Vitamin A are crucial to thyroid health.
Your Thyroid Drives Your Physical Functioning
Your thyroid is like a car. Because it drives every function in your body, you will get the most mileage out of your body if you have a “sporty” model.
But what if you have one that doesn’t accelerate well and won’t keep up with the flow of life?
Then your digestion is sluggish, your detoxification is torpid, your thinking is lackluster, healing bogs down, weight loss is lethargic, and so on.
Essential Thyroid Nutrients to Fuel Your Tank
Just because you have a car, it doesn’t mean that it is driving anywhere at all! In order for your car to go anywhere, it has to have gas.
Now, the gas in the tank is called T4 hormone. Gas, or T4 hormone, has to be manufactured. Just as crude oil is required to make gasoline, iodine and tyrosine are required to made T4 hormone. Your body can’t invent them. So, you extract have to them from the food you eat, just as oil is extracted from reserves by drilling.
A great source of iodine is kelp flakes. The easiest way to use kelp is to mix it 50/50 with your Himalayan pink salt or Redmond Real Salt in your shaker. Tyrosine comes from animal products. Good sources are beef steak, pork chop, salmon, and chicken breast.
Turning Potential Energy into Kinetic Energy
So, now you’ve got gas in the tank. But still, the car won’t go if you’re not pressing on the gas pedal. You have to have some kind of action to power the engine. T3 thyroid hormone is what presses the gas pedal.
Essential thyroid nutrients to convert T4 to T3 are iron, zinc, Vitamin A and selenium. Your best source for iron and vitamin A is liver! For selenium, Brazil nuts are an excellent source, and for zinc, seafood and pumpkin seeds are supreme.
Please note that it doesn’t do any good to keep pouring gas in the tank (taking T4 hormone, usually in the form of prescription levothyroxine) if the tank is already full. Overflowing gas does not make the car move better. First, you need to address why the gas pedal is not working. Mineral deficiencies are common.
Another Essential Thyroid Nutrient
Regardless of how much potential there is to race down the freeway, the car simply will not get you there if you’re pressing on the brake instead. Reverse T3 hormone is like a brake pedal. It keeps the gas from doing its work.
Stress is a brake pedal. No matter how many nutrients eat, too much physiological or psychological stress just slows the car down!
If you want your thyroid to work, you have to prioritize essential primary nutrients such as sleeping 8-9 hours, deep breathing at mealtimes, meditating morning and night, laughing often and deeply, and finding joy every day through some form of play.
Food Inspiration for Essential Thyroid Nutrients
The next time you make pesto, use Brazil nuts instead of pine nuts to help supply selenium to your thyroid. When you brown some ground beef, mix in some pureed or grated liver to supply iron and Vitamin A.
Believe it or not, you can even add liver to muffins! Here is a delightfully delicious muffin recipe designed for skeptics of organ meat. You won’t be able to detect the liver, and you will love the sweet blueberry flavor!
Mystery Muffins
Ingredients
- 6 oz. fresh chicken livers
- 1 large ripe banana
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 cup oat flour
- 1 Tb. arrowroot, tapioca, or corn starch
- 1/4 tsp. sea salt
- 1 1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
- Blend the liver and banana in a high-powered blender or food processor until smooth.
- Add the oil, syrup, and eggs and process again until smooth.
- Transfer batter to a bowl and mix in the flour, starch, salt, baking soda and cinnamon.
- Fold in the blueberries.
- Scoop the batter into the muffin tin, filling 2/3 full.
- Bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes, until the muffins are lightly brown on top. Place on a cooling rack to cool.