Foods to Eat For a Healthy Thyroid

The thyroid gland which is located in your neck is responsible for the production of T3 and T4 hormones, these hormones helps in regulating the metabolism of the cells in the human body. Therefore, the thyroid hormones are responsible for the bodily functions. These therefore depend much on the types of food that you are taking in, as too much of these hormone production would lead you to hyperthyroidism and too less would lead to you hypothyroidism. Both of these conditions have pretty bad effects on people.

Whole Grain Foods

Those foods which are whole grain contain grains with the germ, bran and endosperm still intact. Many processed foods, such as white rice and white bread, remove the bran and germ, and this also removes much of the nutrients from the grain. It is a known fact that whole grains provide dietary fiber, which is the portion of a plant-derived food the enzymes in the intestines cannot break down. Also, wheat germ contains antioxidants such as vitamin E and selenium and is good to maintain your thyroid function. Whole grain foods contain B vitamins including riboflavin, niacin, thiamin and foliate, iron, magnesium and selenium, these help in keeping the food for thyroid healthy.

Iodine

The thyroid hormones that circulate in our bodies, known as T4 and the more active one is T3, these are the only iodine-containing hormones in humans, hence iodine is extremely important for your thyroid. What happens is if you are deficient in iodine, the thyroid lacks the most basic building-blocks to make its key hormones; therefore, the tissues present in the body have a negative impact.

Iron Rich Foods

Iron is much needed by the body to regulate cell growth and to produce protein hemoglobin found in the red blood cells; it is also responsible for the carrying of oxygen. Hemoglobin contains hemi group which contains an iron atom and this hemi is responsible for activating thyroid peroxides. This peroxide is an enzyme needed for the production of the thyroid hormones. Important foods are those which are derived from animals, such as meat, fish and poultry, out of these the healthiest ones you can opt for are fish such as tuna and light-meat chicken and turkey. In the vegetarian sector you can go for dried beans and peas, spinach and raisins, also helps boost iron levels.

The general advice for a better functioning thyroid gland is to avoid refined foods, refined sugar, wheat, caffeine and alcohol, and regularly exercise.

Source: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/foods-to-eat-for-a-healthy-thyroid

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