Eating for your thyroid
Thyroid imbalance is much more common today than it was a decade ago. Despite all the information available through books, magazines, and articles like this, more needs to be done to educate the public and the medical community. It has become a hidden epidemic in the United States, so it is important to learn how to eat right to support your thyroid.
The best eating plan for someone dealing with any thyroid disorder is one that contributes to their overall health. This means a diet low in fat, high in complex carbohydrates, and low on the glycemic index. Eating foods that fall into this category will make you lose weight and keep it off forever. The best part is that you’ll stay full longer, consume fewer calories, and get plenty of vitamins, minerals, trace elements, and fiber.
This means staying away from refined sugars and simple sugars that cause sugar to enter your bloodstream faster and lead to a greater spike in blood sugar. The higher the blood sugar levels after consuming food, the higher the insulin levels. The GLYCEMIC INDEX is defined as how high blood sugar rises in response to eating a particular food. The greater the rise in blood glucose, the higher the glycemic index of the food.
You must learn to reduce the amount of simple sugars you eat each day, as well as lower the glycemic load at each meal. Here are some hints and tips on how to do just that:
1. Replace white bread with 100% WHOLE BREAD which has a lower glycemic index.
2. Increase your consumption of AVENA and BARLEY.
3. Eat foods like whole grains, barley, nuts, rye bread, and dried vegetables that have a much lower glycemic index.
4. Avoid white bread, white potatoes, French fries, sweetened breakfast cereals, sweet potatoes, sweet corn, white rice, crackers, biscuits, and buckwheat, all of which have an intermediate glycemic index. .
5. Choose leafy greens, whole grain breads, sugar-free crackers made from rice, and sugar-free muffins.
6. Avoid cookies, cakes, ice cream, donuts, and pastries that are full of refined sugars and fats.
To lower the glycemic index of your meals, increase the fiber content. This will increase the efficiency of insulin, keep you full longer, and reduce your caloric intake naturally. If you eat cereal, choose whole grain varieties that provide more calcium, fiber, iron, folate, vitamin C, and zinc. They will make you eat less fat and cholesterol and will help you lose weight by eating more fiber.
Although fruits are high in fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants, they are quite high in simple sugars. For this reason, keep your fruit intake to 2 servings per day. Eat fruits with the lowest glycemic index which are organic apples and berries. When it comes to fats, you should avoid fats that come from meat and dairy, as well as fats that are solid at room temperature. If you eat too much fat, you’ll still be hungry and eat more calories as a result.
Your body can adjust its metabolism when you eat good quality protein and carbohydrates. You can’t do this if you eat too much fat. Fat is absorbed from the intestines and goes directly to fat cells for storage. If you reduce the fat in your diet, you will lose weight even if you eat the same number of calories. In other words, if you reduce your fat intake by 10%, you will lose approximately 10 pounds. Include good fats like olive oil, sesame oil, macadamia nut oil, and walnut oil.
The Mediterranean diet is a great way to eat. Include plenty of vegetables, nuts, fish, lean meats, whole grains, and olive oil that will help you lose weight and prevent you from gaining weight. This way of eating is your first line of defense against chronic illness, heart disease, and weight loss.
Here are some more tips for a successful weight management program:
1. Don’t skip meals: Make a plan to eat 300-400 calorie meals every 3-4 hours. Increasing meal frequency will promote lower insulin levels, improve insulin efficiency, and lower cholesterol in the process.
2. Eat breakfast: It’s the best way to jump-start your metabolism for the day and give you energy.
3. Be careful what you drink: Avoid drinking drinks with high fructose corn syrup used in many soft drinks that cause weight gain.
4. Keep portion sizes in mind – you can fill your plate with vegetables, leafy greens, etc. but the protein source should be about the size of a deck of cards and the whole grains should equal about 1/2 -3/4 cup.
5. Increase your calcium intake: Calcium affects fat cell metabolism and speeds it up, helping you lose weight when consumed with high amounts of branched-chain amino acids. You can get these amino acids by eating fish, whole grains, chicken, sesame seeds, mushrooms, lentils, and chickpeas.