Some uncooked veg bad for underactive thyroid?

[cormie]

I recently heard that a specific type of veg group, which I forget the name of, but the family includes broccoli, cauliflower, kale and a few others, can have bad side effects for people with an underactive thyroid if eaten raw and that they should be cooked for even say 3 minutes to change the properties so they don't have this effect. I think it even includes spinach and other dark leafy greens which is a pain as I have spinach smoothies quite often and like to convenience of bag to blender to belly :)

Has anyone else heard of this and what is your take on it?

I'd rather keep to the facts if possible and not theory so any legitimate studies etc would be great to hear the results of.

Any feedback appreciated!

[Revvell]

My only legitimate study in the last 3 decades is myself and I always ask myself the question ~ How does it make you feel? If you feel good-to-great after.... carry on. If not, change what you're doing.

[Mary Kay]

Revell, I have to respectfully disagree. I think it's more than the way you feel. No one ever suspected I was hypothyroid because I didn't have any real symptoms...But with a blood test, found I was. I truly believe in testing.

And Cormie---they're called cruciferous veggies and are considered "goitrogenic." They can in fact, if eaten to excess adversely affect your thyroid. However, if you up your seaweed intake at the same time, it balances it out. I believe cruciferous veggies are so important and I do a lot of them - mostly raw ---but also add a fair amt of seaweed myself.

I actually cured my hypothyroid when I went on raw juice fast....

Mary Kay

[cormie]

Thanks for the replies folks. I know you can feel good after something, probably a lot can be to do with your head that you think you're eating great food, but I'd rather not continue even if I do feel good if there's going to be long term implications.

Mary Kay, when you say "Cure" do you mean you went from being diagnosed with an underactive thryoid, being perscribed medication (eltroxin in my case, for the rest of my life apparently) and now you've come off medication and your test results are all good? Is it that level of cure or more a self diagnosed one? I didn't know that about the seaweed, where did you hear that? So that's for underactive?

[T-Bird]

Cormie,

Goitrogenic is the term, mainly brassicas and soy foods are the culprit. As always rotate greens, each family has something that can build up. And testing can't hurt if you are truly worried about it.

[cormie]

Thanks for the reply, sorry, but I'm not sure what Goitrogenic is the term of? And what are brassicas?

[streetsurfer]

Brassicas are the family of cabbage, kale, broccoli, mustard greens, bok choy, collards, etc. Also called crucifers. That which you inquired about. They are considered goitrogenic or have compounds that suppress the function of the thyroid.

[cormie]

Thanks for that, damn, they are all my most commonly eaten veg! So this is well known I guess even though I've had my underactive thyroid 15 years and only heard it now. What to do what to do?

[streetsurfer]

I don't know much else about it but I wouldn't be alarmed. Someone mentioned rotation of the foods. That seems like the sensible approach. Keep researching, but don't automatically get worried too much in the meanwhile.

There are many other foods listed as goitrogenic. I suppose the problem comes in when eaten in excess. I really don't know.

[cormie]

Yeah, well I haven't felt anything strange after eating such foods ever so will keep an eye out :)

[Revvell]

Revell, I have to respectfully disagree. I think it's more than the way you feel. No one ever suspected I was hypothyroid because I didn't have any real symptoms...But with a blood test, found I was. I truly believe in testing.

That's fine, I don't. Doctors WANT to find things wrong with folk; 50% of their diagnosis is inaccurate and, I choose to find what's right. Not having been to a doctor since 1980 ~ I guess I'm doing alright!

ANYthing eaten to excess (that's pretty much what the word means) is bad for us.

[Mary Kay]

LOL, Revvell, we can agree to disagree! That's what's good about forums...The OP has to make up her own mind, and I think it's great to see different viewpoints....

Cormie, you've heard of the word "goiter" --well, it has to do with the thyroid, so goitrogenic is anything that is anti-thyroid.

Yes, I was on medication for being hypothyroid.. It was not severe, like I think my TSH was at 7.6 --or something like that at its worst. However, I got pregnant at the age of 51, and would have typically not due to old eggs, but two sperm fertilized an egg and it became a molar pregnancy. That is when the body tries to produce a placenta but can't because it's not a real/viable pregnancy, and it produces a bunch of cysts. Instead of a D& C, I went on a raw-juice fast. Did this for 11 weeks. During the second week though, my thyroid actually became slightly hyper..It was something like -.39....And I've never had to be on Levoxyl (generic Synthroid) ever since. That was six or so years ago.

However, more recently my ATA - anti -thyroid antibodies were a teeny bit elevated, which means my body is doing a bit of an auto-immune thing, but my TSH was still good at 2.1. I learned that gluten can sometimes cause this and for one year now I've been gluten free, so it'll be interesting to test again.

I learned about including seaweed to help stave off the goitrogenic effects of cruciferous veggies from Kevin Gianni. It was on one of his vids where he answers a bunch of readers' questions. Try a Google search.

He is also a big believer in blood tests....

HTH,

Mary Kay

[cormie]

Thanks a lot for the continued feedback folks. A lot of new terminology and numbers above which I've never even heard of. I hate bloodtests for a start so I wouldn't be the type to volunteer for one typically, I've gotten better and get them every year or so now I guess but I've never had a look at the numbers or knew what the numbers or terminology meant. Just a "everything is fine" from the doctor and I was on my way. I'll keep an eye on it anyway, but I'm not even sure what I should be keeping an eye on, whether if it was effecting me negatively would be something I'd notice say 5 minutes after eating them, or whether it's something that would build up say over 10 years and I wouldn't notice until it's too late? Hopefully the former :)

Also, I wonder does blending spinach for example make it ok? Or dehydrating kale into kale crisps?

[garden granny]

So, I would just slightly cook the kale, etc., and eat everything else raw....problem solved. Also, I think Revvell is right ....it's how do you feel when you eat it raw. I'm hypothyroid, and I eat kale, cabbage, etc., raw and have no change in how I feel.

[cormie]

Thanks again for the input, might have to do that alright, I'm by no means a strict raw foodist anyway, the main hassle in this would be having to worry about spinach as I add them a lot to smoothies. I wonder would blending have a similar effect as cooking with whatever properties need to be diminished?