The thyroid plays an integral role in just about every process of the body, so when it’s not in balance, hundreds of different symptoms can arise. Thankfully, it’s possible to heal the thyroid naturally when the body is given the right tools.
Before we head into specific steps to heal the thyroid, it’s important to understand that we’ve been led to believe that the thyroid “controls it all”, but this isn’t necessarily true.
In reality, thyroid disease is a symptom of other things that are off balance in the body.
Here are some examples:
1. When the body is stressed, this taxes the adrenals and also creates blood sugar imbalance. The hypothalamus sees this and tells the pituitary to send out more or less TSH, creating a hypothyroid or hyperthyroid situation.
2. If the body is not digesting food well (this is VERY common), then the thyroid doesn’t have the raw materials it needs to make thyroid hormones and can cause fT4 and fT3 to decline. The thyroid is simply responding to the vitamin and mineral deficiency in the body.
3. When there is chlorine or fluoride in the bloodstream (from chlorinated or fluoridated water), the thyroid grabs onto those halogens thinking they are iodine, and the fT4 and fT3 levels can go off balance.
4. Low fT3 is often a symptom of excess cortisol or liver congestion.
5. Elevated rT3 is often rooted in elevated cortisol.
Your thyroid is super sensitive to any kind of stress, be it mental, physical, or emotional stress, synthetic chemicals, poor digestion, nutrient deficiencies, radiation, etc. and it simply responds to the environment it’s in.
The good news is that your thyroid WANTS to work properly, but you have to give it the right environment.
Thyroid disease is always about something more than just the thyroid. Keeping this in mind is actually very empowering because it means it’s not the end of the road. It’s just the beginning!
So, let’s dive into the top 7 ways you can heal the thyroid naturally:
1. Take steps to support your adrenals. Why? Because anyone with thyroid disease is also dealing with some kind of adrenal issue. I can’t tell you how many people have taken the steps I list and come back a month or two later telling me how much better they are already feeling!
2. Reduce your sugar intake. Sugar and stress basically do the same thing in the body (minus the calories), so to help balance your thyroid hormones and support the immune system, you need to watch your sugar intake. If you have sugar cravings right now (I’ve been there before!), make this recipe for buttermints and follow the directions listed.
3. Start moving away from processed foods and eat real, nutrient-dense foods. I’ve got hundreds of recipes here on my site and another 125 in my cookbook, The Grain-Free Family Table. Eating healthy foods will reduce the strain on your body and help bring things back into balance.
4. Test for more than just TSH. TSH is a pituitary hormone, not a thyroid hormone, so you have to check your thyroid hormones to know what’s really going on.
Here’s a list of labs to ask your practitioner for.
TSH
Free T4
Free T3
Tpoab
Tgab
Reverse T3
I also recommend getting a CBC, CMP with phosphorus, iron panel and Vitamin D, if possible.
If your practitioner won’t order labs for you, you can order them via LetsGetChecked (use the code ORGANIC20 to save 20% at LetsGetChecked). Once you have your thyroid labs, you can go here to see what the optimal levels are and steps you can take if they are too high or too low.
5. Make sure to eat slowly, sitting down, and in a relaxed state. When we eat too fast, or when stressed, this reduces the amount of stomach acid production. When stomach acid decreases, this can create nutrient deficiencies which can then lead to thyroid hormone imbalance.
6. Support your liver. The liver performs over 500 different functions and it’s responsible for converting most of the fT4 into fT3. FT3 goes to every cell of the body, so you definitely want your liver to be working well! Here are some steps you can take to gently detox the liver.
7. Reduce your stress. Your thyroid is super sensitive to any kind of stress be it mental, physical, or emotional stress, synthetic chemicals, poor digestion, nutrient deficiencies, radiation, etc. When the body is stressed, this taxes the adrenals and also creates blood sugar imbalance. The hypothalamus sees this and tells the pituitary to send out more or less TSH, creating a hypothyroid or hyperthyroid situation.
Stress also suppresses the immune system which can then cause Hashimoto’s or Graves’ antibodies to rise. I know this step can be difficult, but it’s definitely worth it in the long run!
If you’d like to learn additional steps you can take to support your thyroid, check out my class, “3 Keys to Thyroid Hormone Balance”. It’s just 45 minutes and I promise you’ll learn something new!
Note: The purpose of this post is to give an overview of thyroid imbalance from a holistic perspective. Due to biochemical individuality there can be many various reasons for the root causes of thyroid disease, and many ways to help improve thyroid imbalance in the body. This information is not intended to take the place of your doctor’s advice.
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