In my last newsletter I promised to give you tools to address the top underlying causes of fatigue I revealed. If you missed that newsletter, you can find it right here.
Each one is so ridiculously common that it’s well worth getting to know them.
Energy is something I’ve been obsessed with for a long time. The overwhelming exhaustion I experienced in my late teens is what originally kicked off my healing journey.
These days, as a working mum of twin toddlers I’m always trying to find ways to help me survive and thrive during this full-on time. I’ll be honest, there are days when I’m so tired I can’t wait to get into bed at night…and that’s before I’ve even gotten out of bed 🙂
But when fatigue takes over your life, there’s something bigger going on.
Today we’re diving deeply into your thyroid function.
When your thyroid is struggling, you can have trouble losing weight, feel depressed and completely exhausted, have a hard time concentrating on things, and suffer from muscle and joint pain, among so many other issues.
Your thyroid is a MAJOR energy center in your body. It’s in charge of your metabolism and it’s health is critical to your energetic health.
Is Your Thyroid Doing OK?
To stay on top of your thyroid function, you’ll want to work with an integrative practitioner who can:
- Test your thyroid hormones, including TSH and free T3,
- Screen you for thyroid antibodies AND,
- Interpret the results from a functional perspective.
In this way they’ll help you catch a thyroid imbalance early on.
Whether you have a thyroid issue or not, these tips are essential for you.
They’ll help you restore it’s function and avoid problems down the road.
How To Keep Your Thyroid in Top Shape:
a) Avoid fluoride and chlorine – both of these interact with iodine, which is a key thyroid nutrient. Two simple ways to get started include switching to a fluoride-free toothpaste and filtering your tap water. Environmental working group (EWG)’s water filter buyer’s guide will help you pick the right one.
b) Avoid/reduce thyroid-blocking foods – keep soy foods to max one serving a day since they can block the release of thyroid hormone, and in general reduce raw foods from the brassica family – this includes turnips, cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts, mustard kale, cauliflower.
You don’t need to stop drinking your kale smoothies, but be sure to mix them up with other greens like spinach.
c) Heal your digestion – if you’re positive for thyroid antibodies, you’ll want to take a good look at your digestive health and diet since both of these are so intimately tied to autoimmune thyroid issues.
For example, gluten has been found to have strong links to autoimmune thyroid, and even simple digestive issues like mild constipation can be linked to thyroid function.
d) Move until you sweat – sweating while you exercise, do yoga, dance, or any movement that you love to do stimulates your thyroid gland and revs up your metabolism.
Sweating also helps your body detox powerfully. This is important since your thyroid gland is VERY sensitive to environmental toxins.
e) Eat clean seafood – fish high up on the food chain tend to have the highest concentration of toxins like PCB’s that disrupt your thyroid function.
Anchovies, catfish, mackerel, sole, sardines, oysters, trout and whitefish are some thyroid-safe options.
Take Action Now
1) If you haven’t had a full thyroid assessment done in over a year, or ever, book in with an integrative practitioner now.
2) Start looking for a fluoride-free toothpaste. Taste is so personal on this front. My husband personally can’t stand my fennel-flavored toothpaste but I love it 🙂 Lots of great brands are available at your local health food store and online.
3) Pick one of the bigger pieces, like a water filter, exercise or food and focus on it through September.
When you feel balanced, energetic and like yourself, you step forward confidently into your bigger dreams.
What I’ve learned though from my own journey, and that of so many of my clients, is that your best tools for thriving through busy times are:
- Eating foods that work for your body,
- Building a daily rhythm of lifestyle habits that support you like sleeping, drinking water and releasing stress,
- Having support at your side, and
- Receiving guidance to resolve your body’s unique underlying imbalances.
With these pieces in place your energy levels naturally come up. And when things get crazy, you can handle it with much more ease.
If you’d like to gain valuable insight on what’s going on with your body and learn about potential solutions for you, I encourage you to connect with me for a complimentary Health Insight call.
I’m often told the call helps people feel inspired and relieved about their health concern after having it with me!
Simply email me at info@drvivianlord.com and let me know you’re interested.
I look forward to meeting you.
All the best,
x Vivian