Sweet potatoes bad for hipothyroidism ? page

[Avarim]

I know cruciferous vegetables can interfere with your thyroid (especially raw) but I stumble across some info saying one should avoid sweet potatoes if one is suffering from thyroid disorders cause they are rich in goitrogens, any thoughts on this?

Hoping people with Hypo show up for answers,

So sad about this one, they are my main starch!

[Minxxa]

The thing with most goitrogenic foods is that cooking them tends to neutralize the affect on the thyroid. I do eat broccoli and brussel sprouts, but cooked for sure, and they're not my MAIN veggies.

I eat a lot of sweet potatoes as well since Im' trying to keep my carbs between 50-80g and without sweet potatoes and/or a banana it's pretty impossible with my veggies/meats. I tend to only need 1/2 of a sweet potato though to get me where I want to be, so take that into consideration. I took a look and it seems like most places do say that they have a mild goitrogenic effect, but in the raw state. They should be fine cooked.

http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/goitrogens/

Some lists don't even include sweet potatoes at all:

http://thyroid.about.com/cs/drugdata.../goitrogen.htm

So my thought is not to worry about it too much, cook them well and load them up with buttah!

But if anybody has more info that'd rock, too!

[The Big L]

After getting a high TSH reading recently (but normal/marginal free T4), I started looking into this business about goitrogenic foods. Considering that I ate veggies on the "goitrogen list" pretty much every single day (especially brussel sprouts, broccoli, and sweet potatoes), I wanted to find out what the facts were so I could take appropriate action with my own diet.

I found very few useful facts. I found lots of general statements about how certain foods contained goitrogens, and a whole lot of wishy-washy information about how much these foods would really affect one's thyroid activity. I read everything from "cooking effectively eliminates the goitrogens" to "cooking may eliminate up to 1/3 of the goitrogens" -- the latter appeared repeatedly on many websites in the same wording, which made me believe people are just passing on the same (possibly faulty) information. Lots of claims and rarely were there credible looking references to back it up.

Goitrogens apparently interfere with the uptake of iodide in the thyroid, which I suppose means that the thyroid has trouble efficiently using iodide to create the constituents of T4 and T3. One might imagine that this could be at least partially mitigated by having plenty of iodine in the diet. In fact my doctor (not an endocrinologist and admittedly not a thyroid expert), felt that it would be OK to continue consuming goitrogenic foods -- though perhaps not at the volume I have been -- as long as I made sure to use plenty of iodized table salt concomitantly.

[jem51]

i agree that this list is just passed on w/o any research.
but if you are concerned re the sweet potatoes, try subbing the winter squashes.....they are my preference.

[emmie]

Since I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's (about 8 years now--although I had symptoms long before I was able to get diagnosed), I've done a lot of research and talking to my endo, and I think there's a lot of 'panic' info on the Internet related to thyroid.

Every expert I've talked to says that cooking effectively negates the goitrogen effect on the thyroid--and even something like spinach salad would be OK so long as I don't have it too frequently.

If I believed everything I read on the Internet, I'd have to give up my green tea, along with most of my vegetables.

Keep in mind that if you're taking thyroid hormones and are being checked, anything that causes interference and lowers your T4 or T3 can be adjusted with your dosage. My endo pointed out that there are a million environmental factors that can affect the thyroid (many of which have not even been identified) so the really important thing is to take my meds as prescribed and make sure that I get regular check ups.

I have never felt better since eating primal, and the basic test of how well your thyroid is functioning is how you feel.

[PrairieProf]

I've read and fretted over lots of lists of foods with goitrogens (earlier in my time after being diagnosed with Hashimoto's, when I was tuned in to all the internet anxiety) and I've never seen sweet potatoes listed. So I wouldn't worry about it. I agree with the previous poster about cooking, too. I now do avoid most raw cruciferous veggies, but I've stopped worrying about cooked ones (and other things on the list like, gasp, strawberries) -- if you avoid those and are limiting the starchy vegetables it leaves you mighty little to eat, veg-wise.

[Chefgerry]

Seems everything is bad for something or other.

[Avarim]

Thanks you guys for your input!

I think I would rotate my starch more often, besides my hands & feet are looking way to orangy lol.

I´ve heard from an holistic approach that thyroid issues are strongly related with emotional disorders, the thyroid is located at the level of the throat which controls the release of emotions, if they acumulate they will eventually cause thyroid related problems.
I think is quite an intereresting take on this disease, especially when so many people are emotionally fuc% up.

[emmie]

I think this idea of thyroid disorders from accumulated emotions is nonsense!

In women, hypothyroidism has been correlated with times of hormonal shifts--puberty, childbirth, and menopause, clearly indicating a hormonal trigger. The fact that it often appears within families also suggests a genetic predisposition.

[Avarim]

I think this idea of thyroid disorders from accumulated emotions is nonsense!

In women, hypothyroidism has been correlated with times of hormonal shifts--puberty, childbirth, and menopause, clearly indicating a hormonal trigger. The fact that it often appears within families also suggests a genetic predisposition.

Not saying EVERY thyroid issue is related to blocked emotions...
On the other hand, I Do think many illnesses are emotionally related even though we are not aware of it. Emotions can trigger all sorts of stuff.