I met a woman this week that had just been diagnosed with low thyroid. We talked about her diet, and she was very upset because she is doing everything “right”. She was eating kelp (which is helpful to the thyroid because it contains iodine). She is a vegetarian, stays away from dairy, and when asked, substituted soy milk for dairy. She didn’t want to start medication, but was frustrated with her results.  I told her to substitute soy milk with almond or rice milk. Soy contains substances that depress the activity of the thyroid. In eastern countries they balance the soy with large amounts of seafood including kelp to keep the thyroid going properly. Most of us westerners aren’t eating the muchseafoods and many of us can’t take large amounts of soy.  If you suspect that you have a thyroid problem, stay away from soy.

Many people can have thyroid issues even though their blood tests are within “normal” range. Classic low thyroid symptoms are cold hands and feet, loss of hair (including the outer third of a woman’s eyebrows), tenderness in the front of the chest where the ribs meet the sternum (breastbone).  A great way to test the thyroid is to take your temperature 3x a day for one week. If it regularly runs below 98.6, then there is probably some hyperthyroidism happening.

The best iodine supplement is iosol, which, if you are a client, we can test for you.

Here is a good article on foods that are harmful to the thyroid.