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What you eat can directly affect your thyroid and metabolism. That’s why weight gain is such a common symptom of hypothyroidism in women.
If you have a sluggish thyroid or have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism, it’s important to take extra care of what you’re eating. Those of us who suffer from these conditions know that if we don’t eat well, we’ll feel pretty miserable and likely see a spike in symptoms.
However, oftentimes when we want to lose weight, we’re automatically told to restrict calories. Just reduce the number of calories you eat in a day and the weight will shed right off!
Well, I hate to tell you, but this is not good for the metabolism long-term.
Why? If you drastically reduce your caloric intake, your body will think it’s starving. It will go into
life-saving mode and try to hang onto as many calories as it can to keep your vital organs and systems safe. This can actually make you store unwanted fat and gain weight. In women, this weight usually sits around our bellies.
I rarely, rarely recommend counting calories.
Not only can it lead to this starvation panic by the body, but it can lead to a bad relationship with food.
Think about it: 700 calories of french fries and beer is not the same as 700 calories of homemade ground turkey tacos and guacamole.
You need to eat. You need to feed and nourish your body, even when you’re trying to lose weight.
The only time I recommend counting calories is when we are trying to figure out how much you have been eating in order to find a good balance for you.
For example, if you have been restricting calories, I do think you need to wean yourself off of that routine slowly. If you increase too quickly, you may also put on weight quickly as your metabolism needs time to adjust.
So, we may continue to count calories for a little bit to find your happy medium. Think about adding one small snack a day for a couple of weeks. Then, either add another small snack or make that first snack a little bigger. Keep doing this - slowly adding a little bit at a time, until you can stop counting calories altogether and focus on nourishment, instead.
It’s the same thing if I think you may have been eating a lot more than you need to. We may count calories for a little bit to understand your baseline. We also would not want to reduce your diet too quickly, otherwise, the metabolism might panic. So, we would slowly reduce portion sizes, again until that happy medium has been reached.
Instead of calorie counting, I work with my client on what’s called
macro ratios: the ratio of protein to fats to carbohydrates.
We look at the ingredients are that are on your plate. Is it 90% carbs and 10% protein? It’s probably not the best meal for you. Is it 90% protein and 10% fat? That’s going to be hard on the digestive system. Instead, we’ll find a ratio of these three macronutrients that suit your needs and lifestyle.
Beyond that, eating for the thyroid means eating the
right things. It means reducing (hopefully eliminating) things like processed foods, trans fats and
gluten. It means making sure you’re getting the vitamins and minerals that boost your metabolism and support thyroid health through a diet made up of
clean, nutritious, whole foods.
I want you to always think about quality, not quantity when planning your meals, so you can have a happy, healthy thyroid. Here are a few more resources from my blog and YouTube that can help you with meal planning.
Food intake matters. It will support your metabolism and thyroid when it’s done right. It will make you feel better inside and out. Calories aren’t the enemy - but if you have a bad relationship with them,
I’d love to help you heal.
Phone: (314) 226-3137