Any food that puts stress on your body will also impair your thyroid function. The good news is that most of the foods to avoid are actually pretty bad for you in many other ways too.
Thankfully the list of foods to avoid is not that large, and if you follow the diet you'll be giving your general health a real boost too.
Give your body a fighting chance and avoid these foods. They are all energy-sappers that contain very little goodness but require lots of energy to process. Additionally they are likely to cause the hormonal imbalances that prevent your thyroid from working properly.
Recent studies have shown that some members of the Brassicas family of vegetables can reduce thyroid function. These include broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, kale, kohlrabi, turnips, rutabaga, and mustard.
If you’re a broccoli fan though, don’t despair! It is believed that once these healthy vegetables are cooked, the thyroid inhibiting substance is destroyed.
There are a few more foods to watch out for, although it's thankfully a short list.
Soy contains isoflavones that reduce the body’s production and use of thyroid hormones. They can even wreck havoc on your entire endocrine system. This is not such good news for vegetarians – many meat and dairy substitutes have soy as a main ingredient.
Soy is used in many foods so it might not always be practical to cut it out completely, but try to avoid foods like edamame, tempeh, tofu, veggie burgers and miso. Also steer clear of dairy replacements such as soy yogurt, soy cheese and soy milk.
