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One of the thyroid’s main jobs is to manage your metabolism. That’s why there’s a big connection between weight gain and thyroid health.
Minerals are one of the things that the thyroid needs to do its job properly.
Minerals are like the spark plug for the body! The right amount of each type of mineral helps the body function optimally. A missing mineral (just like a missing spark plug), can instead wreak havoc.
So let’s explore a few of the minerals needed for optimal thyroid (and metabolism) health, and how you can get more of these minerals in your diet.
Too much calcium in the body will slow the thyroid down. Magnesium, however, helps regulate calcium levels.
Magnesium is also known as a relaxing mineral. It’s something I always recommend taking at night, as it can help you relax and sleep better. Sleep and stress are two other factors that can harm the thyroid, making magnesium that much more important!
Want to know more about the different types of magnesium supplements available?
Check out my YouTube video on this.
Iodine is literally what the thyroid hormones are made of. T3 is made of three iodine molecules, T4 is made up of four iodine molecules. When the body converts T3 to T4, the active thyroid hormone, that simply means it’s adding an iodine molecule.
So, I think it’s pretty clear why iodine is crucial for thyroid function.
Fun fact: one of the easiest ways to get iodine is through regular old table salt. The rise in popularity of sea salt has actually caused a rise in iodine deficiency in many people! If you’re having some thyroid issues and you exclusively use sea salt at home, consider incorporating table salt back into your cooking (but make sure it’s iodized).
Selenium helps with that T3 to T4 conversion process I mentioned above. It helps take our store of inactive T3 hormones and converts it into T4, the active hormone our thyroid needs to make systems like the metabolism function properly.
Brazil nuts are a fantastic (and delicious) source of selenium! But be careful, too much selenium can also be harmful. So stick to 1-3 Brazil nuts a day and that should be the perfect amount to support optimal thyroid health.
This often overlooked mineral does a lot in the body, including helping with thyroid hormone conversion and also keeping magnesium in the cells - and we’ve already talked about why both of these are pretty crucial for the thyroid!
You can get boron from fruit, such as avocado, peaches, apples, and pears; legumes including peanuts, peanut butter, and beans; vegetables like broccoli, spinach, and beans; and interestingly enough… coffee!
This is the mineral that I get the most aggressive with if I see it being too low in a person’s test results.
Potassium also helps with thyroid hormone conversion but plays an even bigger role than selenium and boron. It’s so important for the thyroid!
A varied diet with lots of fruits and vegetables is the best way to increase potassium intake. Starchy vegetables such as winter squash and potatoes are some of the best sources, as are leafy greens, beans, dried fruit, banana, and avocado.
I look at most of these minerals on the Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis that I give my clients. This test shows an average mineral level over the past 3 months and can really help us identify what minerals you specifically need to get your thyroid back on track.
Remember: each of these minerals is needed, but we won’t know which exact ones
you
need to focus on until we see your test results. You may not need to jump into stocking up on Brazil nuts -
your selenium levels might be perfectly fine! This is why it’s so important not to follow a cookie-cutter approach but instead get a customized solution based on your individual needs.
If you want to learn more about this,
book your free discovery call with me!
Phone: (314) 226-3137