3 妨げを取り除く

With the basics of nutrition and supplementation out of the way, lets now look to remove all of the other friction that could be lowering your thyroid and, importantly, learn about how we can optimise our environment to fully support its function aswell. ### **Step 1: Cut Out Fluoride:** The first key point to address is the harmful effects of fluoride on your thyroid. Fluroide is whats called a halogen, essentially meaning that it chemically mimics iodine (which we now know is a crucial nutrient for thyroid function). This is not good however, because it means that fluoride competes with iodine for absorption, meaning that you could make yourself iodine deficient if your not careful. Even if youre consuming enough iodine through diet, you might only be absorbing half of it due to excess fluoride intake. **How to Avoid:** Fluoride is abundant in most tap water and traditional toothpaste. Therefore, to reduce our exposure, make sure to get a high-quality (ideally reverse osmosis) water filter, or in the best-case scenario, drink local spring water only. In regards to toothpaste, it's as simple as buying a product that is fluoride-free (see the products list). ### **Step 2: Decrease PUFAs, Cut Out Seed Oils** The next element to thyroid health that you must consider is the consumption of PUFAs. By this point, you all know that PUFAs (found in seed oils) are completely horrible for your health. They also wreck thyroid function. Heres why: Essentially, PUFAs are highly unstable fatty acids, meaning that they oxidise very easily in the body. This is bad news, because too much instability and oxidation generates free radicals, which causes inflammation in your body, and inflammation damages thyroid cells. The thyroid gland requires a stable and efficient metabolic environment to produce T4 and T3, and PUFAs create the exact opposite of this. **How to Avoid PUFAs:** The first step to doing this is simple: eat absolutely no processed foods, and specifically, avoid any seed oils. I've mentioned this in other areas of the community, but seed oils include the following: - **Canola Oil** (Rapeseed Oil) - **Sunflower Oil** - **Soybean Oil** - **Corn Oil** - **Safflower Oil** - **Cottonseed Oil** - **Grapeseed Oil** To avoid them, try to cook mostly at home, using only coconut oil or beef tallow. At restaurants, ask for food to be cooked without any seed oils and with butter instead (say you're allergic to seed oils if you want to - it works every time), It also crucial to note that even clean foods that are included in the diet protocol contain PUFAs. Whilst this is less of a worry (as the PUFAs found in clean foods aren’t industrially processed and bleached like typical seed oils) PUFAs are still PUFAs at the end of the day – they still rapidly oxidise, cause inflammation and damage our thyroids. Here are some whole foods that still contain PUFAs: - Fatty Pork (generally avoid) - Fatty Seafood - Chicken and Turkey skin/fat - Grain-fed red meat - Egg yolks (especially grain fed). This certainly doesn’t mean to say cut out these foods completely but just be mindful of this point. I would recommend continuing to consume beef and eggs for sure, as these are staples in the diet protocol, so to limit PUFA intake from these two sources, try to find a 100% grass-fed source and eggs that are not fed corn/soya and other grain. If this is not possible, do not stress either. ### **Step 3: Avoid Goitrogens** On this same topic of dietary avoidance, you must beware of plant toxins known as Goitrogens. These are compounds that, again, inhibit iodine uptake, lowering production of T4 and T3. **How To Avoid:** Goitrogens are found in a variety of foods, particularly in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, kale, cauliflower, cabbage, brussels sprouts, and bok choy, as well as in soy products like tofu, soy milk, and edamame. Other sources include millet, peanuts, pine nuts, and fruits like peaches and strawberries. Occasional consumption of certain goitrogens is unlikely to do harm, but it is crucial to be aware of their harmful effects, especially if some of these foods form a large part of your diet. ### **Step 4: Manage Calcium:Phosphorus Ratio** Another important dietary consideration is to do with managing what's called the Calcium:Phosphorus ratio. (ie, keep calcium intake higher than phosphorus). This balance plays a big role in supporting your thyroid and overall metabolic health. Calcium and phosphorus are like two sides of a scale; when phosphorus intake overshadows calcium, it disrupts the harmony of your thyroid. Phosphorus and calcium both compete for absorption in the intestines, and when phosphorus dominates, it reduces the amount of calcium that can be absorbed into the bloodstream. This is problematic for the thyroid, because low blood levels of calcium lead to the release of PTH, which causes inflammation to the thyroid, thus worsening its function. (as discussed previously in the Nutrition section of this guide). In short, too much phosphorus depletes your calcium levels, and calcium is crucial for preventing PTH-induced inflammation at the thyroid. **How To Take Action**: This step is pretty simple to go about integrating - just make sure your consuming plentiful amounts of raw dairy (it has slightly higher calcium than phosphorus), and also, consider consuming raw (well-cleaned) eggshells every couple of days. This is pure, bioavailable calcium, without any phosphorus at all, and so will just ensure that ratio is properly in favour of calcium. --- ### **The Pro-Thyroid Environment** Moving on from the diet component of things, when trying to reduce the friction to your thyroid function, we must look to optimise your environment. In essence, you need to perfect the three pillars of environment, being the following: **1. Plentiful Sunlight and Red Light Exposure (Ideally 2 Hours Daily)** Sunlight and red light exposure are essential for thyroid health because they directly influence your circadian rhythm and energy production at a cellular level. The thyroid thrives in an environment where the mitochondria are functioning optimally, and sunlight is the number one most important factor for thriving mitochondria. Mitochondria produce ATP, and ATP fuels pretty much every crucial process that the thyroid undergoes. **How to take action:** To take action on this step, go for walks throughout the day, and try stack other daily habits with being outdoors. (work outside, read outside, eat outside, walk to work instead of drive etc etc). **2. Plentiful Sleep (and High-Quality Sleep)** Poor sleep is puts a direct hit on your thyroid function. It does so through multiple ways: - Bad sleep lowers TSH which leads to lower T3 and T4 levels. - Bad sleep creates a stress response, elevating cortisol. Cortisol inhibits thyroid function directly by damaging thyroid receptors (worsening their ability to use T3) and also inhibits the conversion of T4 into the useful T3. This is a big deal. With this in mind, good sleep is therefore crucial. Prioritising a consistent sleep schedule, optimising your sleep environment, and getting 7-9 hours of quality sleep each night is one of the most effective and low-hanging fruit methods to support your thyroid function. **How to take action on this:** Follow the full sleep guide—IT'S CRUCIAL. **3. Minimal Toxins (Including Blue Light)** Reducing toxins in your environment is non-negotiable. Toxins include heavy metals, pesticides, endocrine disruptors like BPA, and even blue light at night. These toxins increase oxidative stress and inflammation, which harm thyroid cells and disrupt the production of the various important thyroid hormones. Similarly, the thyroid is particularly sensitive to inflammation and prone to oxidative stress, and so it's even more important to dial in your toxin exposure. **How to take action on this:** To reduce environmental friction on your thyroid, focus on minimising exposure to artificial lights at night (no screens, proper red light glasses, link in products library), choose organic food and chemical-free hygiene products (again, products library), and support your body’s detoxification pathways by following the Detox Guide in the healthmaxxing section.