Diet for hypothyroidism for weight loss

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

A diet for hypothyroidism for weight loss sometimes becomes a necessity, since hormonal changes in the body contribute to obesity. What should be its basic principles and what should be included in the menu - find out further.

Choosing the Right Diet: Tips

A proper diet should provide a calorie deficit and metabolic stimulation. Compared to other meal plans, choosing the right food is most important for the hypothyroidism diet, not how much it is consumed.

The key emphasis is on vegetarianism, and the menu also includes seafood. The results from the diet can be felt in about 6 months. At the same time, it is important to tune in to the fact that its observance is to be done on an ongoing basis.

Approximate calories for 1 day

The approximate calorie content of food for hypothyroidism should be between 1700-1800 kcal. This is the optimal indicator that ensures the supply of the required amount of nutrients and supports metabolism in tissues.

If you do not follow this rule, the weight will not budge. If the calorie content is too low, it will also harm the body, because hypothyroidism prevents fasting.

Why hunger is forbidden

Due to pathological reasons, the lack of thyroid hormones has a side effect of a lack of appetite, which patients often rejoice at, because they do not have the temptation to overeat. But the loss of desire to eat can also negatively affect the patient, because he needs food in any case.

Excessive restriction of food also slows down the metabolism, as does overeating, in which, moreover, the emphasis is often on unhealthy foods. In hypothyroidism, slow metabolism is unacceptable.

In addition, it is important to take into account that the body is not able to produce a number of substances on its own. He needs them from the outside.

These substances include:

• iodine;
• tyrosine;
• a number of vitamins and minerals;
• individual amino acids.

Suppliers of all these substances can be simple and inexpensive products.

What foods reduce the effectiveness of hormonal treatments

Hypothyroidism involves lifelong hormonal therapy. When choosing a dose, a specialist takes into account the state of the thyroid gland and how many hormones it is able to produce on its own.

Sufficient production of hormones by thyroid cells is indirectly influenced by foods consumed by a person. Some of them can lower the level of tyrosine and iodine. The lower the amount of these trace elements entering the body, the less hormones iron can produce.

There is a list of foods that can affect thyroid hormone levels:

• cabbage;
• beans;
• soy;
• buckwheat;
• peaches.

This list also includes spinach, peanuts, broccoli, peas, and rutabagas. It is not necessary to completely abandon these products, but it is definitely worth limiting them.

Unhealthy diets

Among the most harmful and not recommended by an endocrinologist diet is protein. It has a depressing effect on the kidneys and intestines, metabolism. Increased protein intake is potentially dangerous, even for a healthy person. The protein menu is especially harmful for autoimmune hypothyroidism. This diet can even provoke an exacerbation of chronic inflammation of the thyroid gland.

Do's and don'ts

It is recommended to focus on the calorie content of foods. In addition, the menu should contain many dishes rich in iodine and tyrosine necessary for the thyroid gland. Protein and valuable micronutrients should also be sufficient. But excess protein is undesirable.

If you are not allergic to seafood, be sure to consume them. Constipation is common in people with thyroid hormone deficiency. To prevent such phenomena, periodically include in the menu fiber-rich foods such as cereals, fruits and vegetables. In this case, it is desirable that they are all cooked boiled or steamed.

The second option is even more desirable, since it helps to preserve the nutrients contained in the core. In addition, steamed dishes are much better absorbed. In hypothyroidism, this aspect is especially important because the metabolism slows down.

What foods are recommended for nutrition with hypothyroidism for weight loss:

1. A fish. These can be ocean fish species rich in omega acids, such as salmon. You can also include mackerel and herring in the menu.
2. Meat. You should give preference to lean varieties, such as lean beef, chicken breast.
3. By-products. For people with hypothyroidism, cod liver is beneficial.
4. Low-fat dairy products such as milk and kefir. You can also eat lean and mild types of cheese.
5. Porridge. For people with hypothyroidism, rice, wheat, and buckwheat porridge are good options.
6. Walnuts.
7. Dried fruits. Dates are especially recommended.

From fruits, you should pay attention to apples, bananas, kiwi, avocado. As for berries, currants, cherries, blueberries have a beneficial effect on people with hypothyroidism. Fruit jelly can be used as a dessert.

Bread is recommended whole grain or specialty, sold in the departments for diabetics. From vegetables, it is allowed to eat cucumbers, tomatoes, beets, bell peppers, zucchini, eggplants and pumpkin. You can eat them whole or make a salad dressed with vegetable oil and sprinkled with sesame seeds. Seaweed is very useful.

People with hypothyroidism can drink up to several cups of coffee daily. This drink helps to launch metabolism, which is especially valuable in this pathology.

What foods are best to avoid

According to the diet for hypothyroidism for weight loss, when drawing up a menu for a week, you will have to refuse such products:

• rich pastries;
• fatty meats;
• fast food;
• smoked sausages and fish;
• carbonated drinks and alcohol;
• jams, marmalades, preserves;
• pickles, pickled products;
• dishes with a fried crust, whole fried.

Also, polished rice is not recommended, which is better to replace coarse and unprocessed varieties, such as brown, wild red, etc. Due to the high cholesterol content, the consumption of caviar and fatty cheeses should be minimized.

Pasta tends to not digest well enough in hypothyroidism, so it is also recommended to limit them.

Potatoes are allowed only boiled and in small quantities. Cottage cheese, sour cream, milk (with the exception of skimmed milk) should be limited due to the presence of calcium in them, which can damage the thyroid tissue. Salt promotes puffiness, so its amount should not exceed 5 g per day.

Sample menu

Despite the fact that a diet for hypothyroidism for weight loss is extremely beneficial and allows you to use available products, you must understand that any restriction in nutrition is always stress for the body. For those who are thinking over the menu for the whole week, you can take the meal plan for the day as a basis:

1. Breakfast: steamed scrambled eggs of 2-3 proteins, low-fat yogurt, tea with sugar substitute.
2. Snack: orange.
3. Lunch: seafood stew, such as mussels with bell peppers, onions and tomatoes; salad of cucumber, lettuce, herbs with a little vegetable oil, sesame seeds and garlic. An apple baked in the oven or microwave.
4. Afternoon snack: fresh fruits or berries.
5. Dinner: steamed chicken breast with stewed vegetables, low-fat kefir.

Reviews and the results obtained indicate the effectiveness of such a diet. At the same time, it requires strict self-discipline and patience from a person.

Important nutritional principles

If you want to bring your weight back to normal with hypothyroidism, it is worth considering a number of important prescriptions that will help you achieve your goal:

1. Try to consume iodine-rich foods every day, such as seaweed and other seafood.
2. Do not forget about physical activity and take the drugs prescribed by specialists on time, because with an unstable hormonal background, even a low-calorie diet will not help.
3. Eat regularly, but in small portions. For 1 meal, it is better to consume such a volume of food that is comparable to the capacity of a regular lunch box.
4. In the diet for hypothyroidism, the thyroid gland should have enough protein. Fats and carbohydrates should also be, but less. In addition, protein is a supplier of the amino acid tyrosine, which is especially important in hypothyroidism. Without it, the thyroid gland will not be able to produce hormones.

Also, the most high-calorie foods are best consumed before 4 pm. This is the period when any person is most active. Through this approach, most of the calories from food will be used.

Outcomes

1. With hypothyroidism, you should eat daily meals, the total calorie content of which does not exceed 1800 kilocalories.
2. Avoid fried, smoked foods, pickles and marinades. Fats and carbohydrates should be present on the menu, but in relatively small quantities. In this case, there should be enough protein.
3. The menu should be rich in foods containing iodine and the amino acid tyrosine, without which the synthesis of thyroid hormones is impossible.