11/07/2025
Food Fridays!
At a recent talk I was giving to women about lifestyle habits to support perimenopause, I had a lovely woman mention concerns about hypothyroidism so I thought I would share this post. Yes there are nutrition aspects so it fits with today's theme 😉
Postpartum, like the woman I was chatting with, I was one of the unfortunate percentage of women to develop hypothyroidism. While being medicated to bring my TSH levels into the "normal" range, I noticed a small improvement in symptoms, but still didn't feel right. I felt like some things were being missed and sought the help of a naturopath, who helped me understand the root cause of my condition.
Some things I learned along the way.....Your thyroid makes mostly T4, an inactive form of thyroid hormone. Your body must convert it to T3, the active hormone that powers energy, metabolism, mood, and focus. That conversion can slow down with stress, nutrient deficiencies, inflammation, or poor gut health — even when labs look “normal.”
So yes, you can have symptoms like fatigue, brain fog, stubborn weight gain, cold hands and feet, or low mood… and still be told everything’s fine.
Some lifestyle tips that I adopted to support my thyroid naturally were:
1) Eating foods rich in selenium, zinc, iodine & vitamin D (think: Brazil nuts, eggs, seaweed, wild salmon, mushrooms). I also reduced consumption of raw cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, kale (goitrogens) which block iodine uptake.
2) Managing stress through mindset shifts, boundary setting, yoga and meditation because cortisol blocks T4→T3 conversion.
3) Healed my gut — 20% of thyroid conversion happens there. This involved reducing or eliminating inflammatory foods like gluten & dairy because these were my trigger foods for discomfort.
4) Reduced my exposure to toxins like alcohol, plastics, harsh chemicals, heavy metals, cleaning and cosmetic products.
And.... I started to feel better. More energy, less brain fog, better mood. My biggest takeaway is that while medication helps replace hormones, lifestyle can heal the system that makes and converts them. I hope you found this helpful!
