What to eat or not is complex!

HeidiCooksSupper

Yes, I know. One can eat anything and lose or gain weight. What I am talking about here is the complexity of choosing what to eat. The human body is complex and our understanding of the nutritional needs of it is still under development. For those of us who have a smorgasbord of health issues, it's very complex.

For example, even after years of needing to take medicine for my poor, little half a thyroid that's giving out, I am only now learning about the foods one should avoid for hypothyroidism.

Take broccoli, for instance. Broccoli is a goitrogenic food, meaning it suppresses the effectiveness of the thyroid gland by interfering with iodine uptake. As a cruciferous vegetable, broccoli is good for me for a variety of reasons and helps fights many of the components of metabolic syndrome such as cardiac disease, inflammation, high blood pressure, etc.

Of course, I have or have all the precursors for those aspects of metabolic syndrome, and clinical depression, and 1/2 a thyroid running as fast as it can.

So, what to do? Educate myself and make choices to try to eat the best I can for me. I'm not going to give up cabbage, another goitrogenic food, but perhaps I won't eat it as often and I'll avoid too much raw cabbage. I will cease trying to salve my wounded psyche with peanuts only to wonder why my depression seems worse. Peanuts are goitrogenic; hypothyroidism exacerbates depression.

Using the word "diet" as the totally of what a being eats, I will try to develop a diet that walks the tightrope among these conflicting needs.

So, it's complex. Anyone who says otherwise is either disingenuous or ill-informed.

ksolksol

So true. Which is why I hate when people demonize foods. Our bodies can be very different.

There are a lot of things that go into what foods you choose -- including pleasure and convenience.

bellesouth18

I have low thyroid and take a Rx for it. I had no idea that cruciferous veggies did that! They are my favorites, too, unfortunately. Oh well. I wonder if this is partly why my weight loss has been so stalled out for the past year--I've been eating lots and lots of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts. Rats!!! What's a girl to do?

BusyRaeNOTBusty

I have never before heard of goitrogenic foods. I'm going to guess that most healthy people do not have to worry about them. Did your doctor advise you to avoid them?

JoRocka

For those of us who have a smorgasbord of health issues, it's very complex.

So, it's complex. Anyone who says otherwise is either disingenuous or ill-informed.

no it's not- don't over think it- it's only an issue if there are outstanding issues.

don't panic people about stuff that's not that serious- unless you have reason to be concerned- which you need to be consulting with a physician and a dietition about- not the internet.

It's food- not rocket science.

Unknown

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Tuliper1

Heidi, it is interesting when we can observe positive AND negative health effects from foods. I have something like this with dairy products: they make my teeth feel great (yay for calcium), but make me pale, constipated, and acidic-feeling. So I avoid dairy (generally) and get my calcium from greens and fortified almond milk.

Way to go for starting to figure yourself out! No, food isn't rocket science, but it-- and our responses to it-- are more complex than most of us realize.

hookilau

OP; I think I understand what you mean :flowerforyou:

However, there are TONS of foods out there that are not goitrogenic.

I live with increased markers for progressive disease as well, however, I try to focus on what I *can* eat rather than what I can't.

I'm T2D and sugar & starchy carbs & me ain't friends.
Meh.

I've just turned 46 -___- I've got a loooong way ahead of me (God willing) so I figure I may as well get it right.

I'm on a keto diet with less than 20g of carbs (net) per day. It keeps my BG's within normal non-diabetic range (vs. good for a diabetic). All of my markers for disease went away once I got my blood sugar under control.

Chin up :flowerforyou:

Do what you need to do for you, to be as well as you can.
You can make it work.

melimomTARDIS

Yes it can be complicated. I have some gut issues, and eating a lot of fatty food is just awful for my condition. I do much better on a carb heavy and low fat regime, ala mcdougall or pritikin style eating.

Most dieters I meet talk all about how bad starchy carbs are, and I'm over here eating bread or rice at every meal. Works for me though, and I lost all the weight I had to lose.

hookilau

Yes it can be complicated. I have some gut issues, and eating a lot of fatty food is just awful for my condition. I do much better on a carb heavy and low fat regime, ala mcdougall or pritikin style eating.

Most dieters I meet talk all about how bad starchy carbs are, and I'm over here eating bread or rice at every meal. Works for me though, and I lost all the weight I had to lose.

There you go!
:laugh:

See Heidi?!...two different people with different issues, eating opposing diets, but we both were able to get what we individually need from the foods we eat.

Take what you need & leave the rest :drinker:

ksolksol

no it's not- don't over think it- it's only an issue if there are outstanding issues.

More people have outstanding issues than you might think. It's hard sometimes to choose the diet that works for you when faced with a steady barrage of "No! No! No!"

don't panic people about stuff that's not that serious- unless you have reason to be concerned- which you need to be consulting with a physician and a dietition about- not the internet.

I didn't perceive a call to panic in this.

It's food- not rocket science.

On this, I wholeheartedly agree.
How I perceived the OP's post is that there is not one standard diet that applies to every single human for optimum health. I think we can agree a steady diet of fast food is probably unhealthy for nearly everyone. But there are a lot of nuances and a lot of finding our way through to what works for us.

As for goitrogenic foods -- yep, the cruciferous veggies, soy, which I ate in quantity when my thyroid was sputtering like an engine missing a cylinder for years. Knowing what I know now, I would have found alternatives. Now that I have no thyroid, I don't worry about damaging it.