HELP! Are Certain Vegetables Bad for Thyroid?

[Allison]

When I first went raw I lost a lot of hair. My doctor has since told me I may have hypothyroidism due to that and other symptoms. Back then I had eaten a lot of spinach- more than any other green. Recently I've read that kale and spinach inhibit thyroid function and shouldn't be included in juicing if you have this kind of thyroid problem. I wonder if anyone knows anything about this. I've been juicing with them since day one!

[Margo]

Hi Allison,

I use spinach, I think you should do what feels right in your body. there are so many great greens to juice, if you are concerned only drink the greens that are not listed as adverse for thyroid conditions. Then test them yourself if you like and see how it makes you feel. I hope that helps:))

[Bronwyn Preece]

Allison --

I was just flipping through my book Heinerman's encyclopdia of Healing Juices -- and it said that RADISH juice is GOOD for thyroid...

worth a try!

[Allison]

Yes, I know about radishes but thank you!! I am hoping it works; I've been doing 1/2 a cup daily as recommended on juicefasting.com. Does your book say that spinach or kale are bad for thyroid, by any chance??

[Bronwyn Preece]

No...it does say that Cranberry juice can be good for an underactive thyroid, too.

I bought this book on-line for about 15 dollars...so far it's proving to be a great resource.

[Debbie Maddox]

Is there anything on blood sugar lowering in that book?

[Carrie]

Hi Allison,
There is a class of foods called goitrogens which can be problematic for people with thyroid imbalance. This includes cruciferous veggies (kale, mustard greens, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, brussels sprouts, turnips), peaches, strawberries, radishes, spinach, millet, and soy products. Radishes however, also contain adaptogens, so I believe they can regulate under-active thyroid by balancing levels of T3 and T4 hormones.
Hope this helps!
Carrie

[Allison]

Yes it does help- especially with the radishes question. Thank you for that information, Carrie.

[Lori]

I am in the same boat here! I am taking kelp to heal the thyroid. However, i understand how amazing kale is for our bodies....I dunno what the best thing to do is..I was planning on going ahead with using the cruciferous foods.

[Allison]

I've been doing research and found some good health sources regarding raw foods and thyroid. Seems that if you cook vegetables with goitrogens, their harmful effect is eradicated. You can therefore steam them, if you like, and not have to worry. However, if you are a raw foodist, that's a problem. So far I'm just going to try to avoid those foods, but there is a long list of popular produce that falls into the goitrogenic category. I wrote about it in my blog Raw Odyssey to try to get the word out. The information out there is unclear because some is contradictory, but I figure that rather than risk having my hair fall out again, I'll just avoid those foods until I learn more. I hope that the Rainosheks put out some information on that as well to help us avoid possible problems.

[Lori]

I heard the same thing about a light steaming would do the trick, but yeah....that sucks for the juice feasting. Hmmmm, I did see the list Allison posted...OMG, those are all my favorites too...yikes!

[juicespirit]

FLUORIDE will cause issues with the thyroid.

My aunt switched from fluoride water to spring water and organic-nonflourinated toothpaste.

Three months later she went to her Endocronologist and she wasn't diagnosed with any thyroid issues.

[Allison]

Thank you- i did not know this.