Can You Lose Weight If You Have Hypothyroidism?

October 9th, 2009 by Yuri Leave a reply »

I’ve worked with a lot of people who’ve suffered from hypothyroidism and have wanted to lose weight. In fact, my mom has an underactive thyroid.

The difficulty with a sluggish thyroid and your ability to lose weight is that the thyroid gland controls your metabolism. Specifically, if you have an underactive thyroid (ie. not enough T3 and T4 produced and secreted) your metabolism will slow down. Thus, making it more difficult to lose weight.

In general, hypothyroidism tends to affect more women than men and can be attributed to, among other factors, a mineral-deficient diet, adrenal fatigue, or having a more endomorph-like body.

Having said though, it is definitely possible to lose weight with a slow thyroid. You just need to work a bit harder and smarter when it comes to your diet and exercise regime.

Dietary Recommendations for Hypothyroidism

In this article, we’ll examine some specific nutritional steps you can take to improve your thyroid function.

1. Eat more sea vegetables!

Seaweeds like nori, dulse, kelp, and others have more mineral content than any other food on the food. Specifically, most sea vegetables contain up to 2000% of your daily recommended intake for one of  the most important minerals used to form the thyroid hormones – iodine!

If your body is deficient in iodine – which is the case with most people living in the Western world – then it will not be able to produce sufficient amounts of T3 and T4 hormones from the thyroid.

Furthermore, iodine is a mineral which is needed by the adrenal glands for the production of some of its hormones. Thus, there’s a tug of war between the adrenals and thyroid over who gets iodine.

In order to improve your glandular function, iodine-rich foods such as kelp, dulse, nori, wakame, and arame should be included into your diet on a daily basis.

2. 1-2 brasil nuts each day!

Brasil nuts are one of the highest sources of the other critical mineral for thyroid function – selenium.

The good news is that you only need 1-2 of these nuts each day to meet your requirements.

The goal is to support your thyroid (and thus your other glands as well) through mineral-rich foods. Over time, these minerals will improve the functioning of your thyroid.

As this begins to happen, your metabolism should begin to increase, which will help you burn more calories, thus helping you lose weight.

But remember that these recommendations are not going to produce miraculous results. Instead, adding these nutrient-rich foods into a healthy diet alongside daily exercise are the key to long-term weight loss.

=> CLICK HERE if you need help losing weight.


Be Sociable, Share!
Advertisement

8 comments

  1. Lucy says:

    Great info…Hypothyrodism runs in my family and have never known much about how food affects it. I will defenitly pass it on. P.S. love your book.

    lucy

    • Yuri says:

      Thanks Lucy for helping us spread this information. Hypothyroidism is something that affects a lot of people yet most people don’t understand how their diet and lifestyle have a huge impact. Glad you’re enjoying Eating for Energy as well. Talk soon.

  2. Pierre says:

    I suffer from hypothyrodism and wondered how I ever did. My doctor had told me years ago to remove salt from my diet and I did. Little did I know but years later I would need the iodine from the salt. Now I follow your advice and I take my 2 brazil nuts every day and eat many sea vegetables.(Changed doctors also).
    I anxioulsy await new blood test and have gone from 242 lbs to 186 lbs Before your advice I just couldn’t lose weight.
    Thanks Yuri, I will continue to talk about you and your team forever.
    Pierre Trudel

  3. gurcharan says:

    does brazil nut help you loose wieght

    • Pierre says:

      A combination of things helped me lose weight but the Brazil nuts helped my dependency on drugs for my thyroid. I went from the 186 down to 155 since I started using the Brazil nuts.
      I also use apple cider vinegar and honey in the morning.
      I then drink a fruit smoothie fro breakfast to eliminate waste.
      Then I green juice in the beginning of the afternoon.That gives me the Energy and controls my appetite at the same time.
      The answer is yes.
      Pierre
      Thee Quest For Perfect Health

  4. gurcharan says:

    does brazil nut help you loose weight

  5. One thing I’d prefer to comment on is that weight loss program fast can be carried out by the perfect diet and exercise. Ones size not merely affects appearance, but also the quality of life. Self-esteem, despression symptoms, health risks, and physical capabilities are damaged in fat gain. It is possible to just make everything right and still gain. In such a circumstance, a condition may be the offender. While excessive food but not enough exercise are usually accountable, common health conditions and widely used prescriptions can greatly enhance size. Thx for your post here.

Leave a Reply


eight + = 16