This episode lays out a foundational overview of foods that are best avoided when healing from hyperthyroidism or Graves’ disease. It cover the “big ones” like gluten, dairy, refined sugar, alcohol, and grains, as well as the less obvious culprits. It also explains the reasoning behind these recommendations, including gut permeability, immune reactivity, and long-term thyroid stability. If you would prefer to listen to the interview you can access it by Clicking Here [1].
Keep in mind, everyone is different, and there is no single diet that fits everyone perfectly. In addition, different practitioners will have different recommendations with regard to diet. They will have different recommendations as to what you should eat and what you should avoid.
Another point I want to bring up has to do with food sensitivity tests. Over the years, I have had a lot of people ask, “Can’t I just do a food sensitivity test to determine what foods I can eat and what foods I should avoid?” The problem with food sensitivity testing is they are not accurate. I am not saying there is not a time and place for them. Some tests are better than others. Still, false positives and false negatives are possible.
Also, it’s not just about reacting to the food. That’s part of it. For example, we’ll definitely talk about gluten. With gluten, even if you were to do a food sensitivity panel and tested negative for gluten, that doesn’t mean it can’t have negative consequences on the gut. It can still increase permeability of the gut, which means it could cause a leaky gut. You would still want to avoid gluten, even if it tested negative on a food sensitivity test. Same is true with some other foods as well.
Also, the obvious foods that you should avoid. You all know you should not eat fast food. There are too many to mention, but eating things like French fries, candy, soda, and other junk food. Those are obviously foods we all should avoid, not just people with hyperthyroidism.
Finally, my book The Hyperthyroid Healing Diet. If you haven’t read that book, I will give a good amount of information here, but you might want to consider reading or listening to the book. If you purchase the book, you can access hyperthyroid healing diet checklists. There are yes and no checklists. There is not just one single diet. There are a few different diet options.
That being said, let’s talk about foods that you should avoid while healing from hyperthyroidism. Let’s start off with gluten. Anything with gluten, this is the most obvious one we are getting out of the way. An example is bread. We are talking about the non-gluten-free versions of bread and pasta. A lot of other foods have gluten. Unless it’s a whole, healthy food, or if it’s something packaged, but it doesn’t say gluten-free, then it very well might have gluten. Even if it says gluten-free, Certified Gluten Free is even better.
If you are eating whole, healthy foods; vegetables; fruit; if you’re not vegan/vegetarian, meat. We will talk about some other controversial foods, like eggs. Should you avoid eggs while healing? My answer is not everyone with hyperthyroidism should avoid eggs. I’ll get that out of the way.
Gluten, you definitely want to avoid while healing. We’ll talk about whether or not you can introduce it after you’ve healed later. Some might wonder if you can just test for a gluten sensitivity, not necessarily a food sensitivity test, but maybe a Celiac panel, or just run gliadin in the blood. You can do it, but like I said, it’s not just about reacting to gluten. That’s part of it. It could also affect the gut negatively. That’s true with some of these other foods, too.
Let’s talk about dairy. While healing, I would recommend avoiding dairy. The only exception would be ghee, I would say. This isn’t to say that there aren’t people who can get away with eating dairy. It’s the same with a good number of these foods. Some people might be able to get away with these foods, but dairy is a common allergen. You could do a food sensitivity test to see if you’re sensitive to dairy, but these tests also aren’t perfect. I would say while healing, take a break, and then reintroduce it after you’ve healed. Or is that something you need to avoid permanently? I will give my opinion later.
People will still ask, “Are there exceptions? Are you talking about all dairy? Can I drink goat milk, raw milk, or A2 milk?” I mentioned ghee as an exception. Otherwise, I would recommend avoiding all dairy while healing.
Next on the list is corn and other grains. You want to avoid these while healing. This also includes gluten-free grains, GMO-free corn. The reason for these foods is because they can be harsh on the gut. There is actually a really good book called No Grain, No Pain by Dr. Peter Osborne that talks about the negative consequences of grain, not just grains with gluten, but gluten-free grains as well.
As I asked the question, but didn’t answer with gluten and dairy, can you introduce grains after you’ve healed? I’ll say here, I am not completely grain-free. I was avoiding grains when I dealt with Graves’. I can’t say I completely avoid grains. We will talk more about foods you can introduce and eat on a wellness basis.
Refined sugars. No good reason to eat refined sugars. Some things with refined sugars taste good. From a health perspective, there is definitely no good reason to eat them.
How about natural sources of sugar, like fruit, honey, 100% maple syrup? All of these are okay, in moderation. You don’t want to overdo it. I am not saying to completely eliminate all sources of sugar. I specifically said the refined sugars are what you want to avoid while healing.
How about natural sweeteners, like stevia, monk fruit? It’s debatable. Some practitioners will say to completely avoid them while healing. Others will say they are okay to eat. I think in most cases, if you could avoid them, avoid them. You might find them in powders if someone is adding a protein powder to a smoothie. They could be in other foods as well. If you can avoid them, avoid them. Definitely not as bad as refined sugars though. If someone is having a little bit of stevia or monk fruit, usually it’s not a big deal. Some practitioners would disagree with me, and others would agree.
If you’re unsure, there is no good reason to eat stevia or monk fruit either. I will say that. It’s not like you have to eat them.
Next food is foods very high in iodine. Without question, iodine is important. I am not anti-iodine. In the past, I’ve had good experience with iodine. I talk about this in my book The Hyperthyroid Healing Diet as well as Natural Treatment Solutions for Hyperthyroidism and Graves’, my other book on hyperthyroidism.
Too much iodine can be problematic. I am not too concerned about foods like eggs or salmon, their iodine content. But kelp is pretty high in iodine. Sea vegetables in general, but especially kelp. Shellfish tends to be higher. Not as high as kelp. If someone has shellfish every now and then, it might be okay. It depends on the person. Even some sources of fish, like cod is higher in iodine. I mentioned salmon is not higher in iodine. Sardines are not higher in iodine. I talk more in detail in my diet book. I also have a bonus chapter where I talk about food sources of iodine, which you can access if you purchase the book.
Foods very high in iodine in some cases can exacerbate hyperthyroidism or in some cases could also exacerbate the autoimmune component of Graves’.
Alcohol is something you want to avoid while healing from your hyperthyroid condition. The big reason is the negative effect on the gut.
I probably should mention that the reason you want to avoid anything that has a negative effect on the gut- First of all, for those with Graves’, there is the triad of autoimmunity. There are three components necessary for autoimmunity to develop. That is genetic predisposition, exposure to one or more environmental triggers, and an increase in intestinal permeability, which is the medical term for a leaky gut. That is one big reason to avoid anything that disrupts the gut.
If someone has toxic multinodular goiter, you need a healthy gut to metabolize estrogen. Problems with metabolizing estrogen is one reason why people develop toxic multinodular goiter. Subacute thyroiditis is usually caused by a virus, and the health of the immune system is important. Most immune cells are located in the gut.
A lot of these foods, you want to avoid because of the negative impact they can have on the gut. Just about all alcohol does this, even red wine. People ask me about red wine. It is more questionable. There are studies that show that red wine can increase permeability of the gut. There are also studies showing that the polyphenols in red wine can be beneficial to the gut microbiome.
I think it’s more of a debate when someone has already restored their health. Can they have a glass of red wine every now and then? But while healing, I would say definitely avoid all alcohol.
The one exception would be alcohol used in herbal extracts, like ethanol. It’s such a small amount. You might wonder if you are going to have a liquid herbal extract, why don’t you just try to find an alcohol-free version? You could do that, but keep in mind, besides alcohol being such a small amount, even if it says 50% alcohol, it’s still small.
Also, the alcohol is a better solvent than glycerin, in an alcohol-free extract. This is important because you want to get maximum benefit from the herb. Alcohol does a better job of extracting phytonutrients from the herb. That would be the exception.
When I dealt with Graves’, I took the herbs bugleweed and motherwort as liquid extracts. I did fine. A lot of my patients take these herbs as well. Not everybody, but a lot of them do. Not concerned about alcohol in liquid extracts.
Let’s talk about nightshades. While healing from hyperthyroidism, I would avoid them. Nightshades are tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, white potatoes, ashwagandha. Ashwagandha, I am not as concerned about it as the rest of the nightshades. If you are trying to strictly avoid them, makes sense to avoid ashwagandha, too. Ashwagandha is controversial for other reasons. The goal here is to focus on food sources. If you are interested in learning more about ashwagandha, I have another episode where I talk about it in relation to hyperthyroidism.
With nightshades, arguably more of a concern with Graves’. They could be harsh on the gut, even if you don’t have Graves’. If you have toxic multinodular goiter, you might still want to take a break from nightshades.
With most of these, you do want to wait until you have restored your health before reintroducing them. You could make the argument that you could reintroduce nightshades before healing later on. It does depend on the person. That would be much later on, as far as reintroductions. I talk more about nightshades in my book. I am pretty sure I have some episodes where I talk about it as well.
This is the last one I will cover here. This one will be controversial: spinach. Maybe one you weren’t expecting. Definitely has some health benefits. I am not saying it doesn’t. The problem is it is extremely high in oxalates. I won’t get into detail with oxalates here. I have other episodes that talk about it as well as in the book. Oxalates can cause kidney stones. They can cause other problems.
The thing is there are other green, leafy vegetables that are healthy and lower in oxalates, like green leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, arugula, and many others. For more information, listen to some of the episodes I have on oxalates, including one where I interview Sally K. Norton, the author of the really good book Toxic Superfoods. If you read my book, I have an entire chapter where I discuss oxalates.
Let’s go ahead and talk about foods you should continue to avoid after you have restored your health. These are foods that arguably you should never eat, even after you have restored your health.
Gluten-containing foods are ideally avoided permanently. 100% avoidance is ideal. The question you might have: Have I completely avoided gluten 100% since 2009? I was dealing with Graves’ in 2008 and have been in remission since 2009.
I’d be lying if I told you that I have been 100% gluten-free, that I have never had any gluten exposure. We are talking about in a perfect world, ideally, you would want to completely avoid gluten. If I go out to eat, I am not going to speak with the cook and the waiter and talk about minimizing cross-contamination. Even when I eat out, I will try to avoid gluten. Most of the time, I am avoiding gluten, but I am not taking extra precautions like if I was dealing with Celiac. I have been pretty good. There is no good reason to eat gluten. When I have been exposed to gluten, there wasn’t a good reason. I just had it. It definitely has negative consequences.
I don’t feel bad when I consume gluten. In a way, that’s not good because it’s not telling me that it’s bad. When someone eats it and reacts to it, they know they should avoid it. Just because I am not experiencing any symptoms does not mean I am not having any negative consequences.
Gluten-containing foods, you ideally should avoid even after restoring your health. Refined sugars also. I can’t say I have 100% avoided refined sugars since 2009. Definitely greatly minimized exposure to refined sugars. That is also something you should ideally avoid.
Gluten-free grains. I think it depends on the person. Even Dr. Peter Osborne might disagree and recommend for people to avoid grains forever. It’s been a while since I’ve read his book. I don’t know if he recommends everybody permanently, but autoimmune conditions, he would probably say to permanently avoid them.
I don’t eat a lot of grains, but sometimes I’ll eat some rice or quinoa. I am not a big grain person to begin with. Every now and then, it’s okay. Some buckwheat every now and then.
Corn though, I would say if you could avoid it, continuously avoid it. Even organic, GMO-free corn. It’s not just about the GMOs, but corn has been shown in the research to elicit a gluten-like response. It could also increase permeability of the gut. I would say to minimize corn. If you can completely cut it out, that would be great.
Let’s talk about dairy. There will be some practitioners who say that especially those with autoimmune conditions should not only avoid gluten permanently but dairy, too.
I find that I can tolerate some dairy. I don’t eat a lot of dairy. I don’t drink cow’s milk. I kid around that if I had pizza, it would be cauliflower crust pizza but with my mozzarella cheese. More recently, I have been drinking goat milk kefir. I don’t consume a lot of dairy. Obviously, I am talking about my experience.
Over the years, I have found a lot of people can tolerate reintroducing dairy. It’s not just about lactose. I am not too concerned about that. More so casein and whey. That’s one I don’t think everybody necessarily needs to eliminate, but it depends on the person.
Alcohol. I mentioned red wine. I think you can drink it every now and then after healing. While healing, ideally take a break from it. After healing, honestly, I think most people can get away with an occasional glass of red wine. Even once a week. That’s just my opinion. I’m not an alcohol drinker. I don’t drink red wine. I don’t drink any alcohol. I would say avoid all other sources of alcohol. Minimize if you are going to drink red wine.
Spinach. For the most part, I avoid spinach. There are so many other vegetables that I can eat. Some would disagree and say spinach is so healthy. They would say it’s a myth with the oxalates. It’s not just Sally K. Norton’s book Toxic Superfoods, but well before that, Mosaic Diagnostics, which used to be known as Great Plain Laboratory, going through their workshops, they do testing for oxalates and talk about the concerns.
I am pretty much convinced that spinach is something that’s a good idea to avoid permanently. That’s all I wanted to cover. If you haven’t yet read my book The Hyperthyroid Healing Diet, I highly recommend you doing so. If you prefer listening to audiobooks, you can get the audiobook version from Audible. I hope you found this information to be valuable. As usual, I look forward to catching you in the next episode.
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Hopefully you enjoyed that episode. Definitely want to expand on some things, starting with eggs. I briefly mentioned in the beginning how I don’t recommend for everyone to avoid eggs. If someone is following an AIP diet, which I commonly recommend, they do want to avoid eggs. Some people will start with a paleo diet, which eggs are allowed on. If someone is following an AIP diet, eggs are usually one of the first foods I recommend reintroducing. Even if someone is following AIP with Graves’, and they’re avoiding eggs, it’s not like they necessarily need to avoid eggs until they have completely restored their health. Wanted to mention that.
Some people are sensitive to eggs. Some people should avoid eggs. Or maybe they will reintroduce eggs and won’t do well with them, so they will take another break from them and maybe completely avoid them at that point until they have healed. I can’t say everyone with hyperthyroidism should avoid eggs while healing.
I also wanted to mention nuts and seeds. Some might be familiar with my story, where I was eating nuts and seeds because back in 2008/2009, there wasn’t an AIP diet. I was following more of a paleo diet. Not much of an egg eater. Definitely loved eating nuts and seeds as a snack. I hit a roadblock in my recovery, gave up the nuts and seeds for a couple of months, and then I started progressing. That was my experience.
Nuts and seeds are not AIP-friendly, but they are paleo-friendly. Also, some nuts are harsher on the gut than others, such as cashews and almonds. Almonds are also higher in oxalates. I talk more about this in my book The Hyperthyroid Healing Diet. I don’t think everybody needs to avoid nuts and seeds. If you are following AIP, you will want to avoid those. Similar with eggs. You don’t necessarily need to avoid nuts and seeds until your health has been completely restored.
Let’s talk about spinach and other high oxalate foods. I just mentioned spinach during the presentation. I recently mentioned almonds being high in oxalates. I would be careful with other foods. One thing I probably should have mentioned is I can’t say I never eat almonds. There are so many almond substitutes, like almond milk, almond yogurt, and almond butter. That could definitely get out of hand when it comes to oxalates.
Beets, sweet potatoes, Swiss chard are all higher. Nothing is as high as spinach. Would I minimize some of the other high oxalate foods that I mentioned in my book? Yeah, absolutely. Spinach is the one I pick on because it’s extremely high. There are so many other good substitutes.
I want to talk about popcorn. Even though I say to avoid corn, people will ask about popcorn. I’ll be honest. It’s not like I never eat popcorn. Obviously, if I eat it, it’s organic. Make sure it’s GMO-free and all that. I do like popcorn. Every now and then, I enjoy it.
Should we avoid popcorn? Yeah, probably. Should avoid potato chips, too. I sometimes eat the healthy versions of potato chips, too.
I am telling you this because I am not perfect. I don’t expect you to be, especially after restoring your health. Even while restoring your health, you want to be strict. I don’t want to say “perfect,” but you do want to be more strict. It’s not like I never indulge. Even the foods I say that we should completely avoid, every now and then, I’ll have some of these foods.
Whey protein. I mentioned how I will drink goat milk kefir. The reason is because I mentioned in another episode and in my newsletter “Healthy Gut, Healthy Thyroid,” how in 2024, I got the surprise that I have low bone density. I had a DEXA scan done. I should have gotten one years ago with my history of hyperthyroidism.
But for years, I wasn’t consuming enough calcium. I was convincing myself that calcium is overrated. Now, the more I think about it, I was relying mostly on plant-based food sources of calcium. Wasn’t supplementing with calcium or eating dairy. Now I’m doing both. I am supplementing with not high doses of calcium but some calcium. Goat milk kefir is a good source of calcium. Sometimes, I will also use a whey protein powder. It’s up to you.
I am not saying that you should do this. I will say that with hyperthyroidism, it does increase the risk of having low bone density. If you’re following some of these diets that I talk about in my book, if you’re avoiding dairy, that combination of hyperthyroidism and avoiding dairy for a prolonged period of time could have negative effects on your bones.
I wish I did the DEXA scan sooner, but I’m grateful I did it when I did it and didn’t wait another 5-10 years. Just wanted to bring that up.
No Grain, No Pain. Again, wanted to mention the name of that book by Dr. Peter Osborne. Like I said, I do eat some grains.
One thing I didn’t mention was polka bread. I’ll eat this sometimes. I don’t eat it all the time. It has minimal ingredients. It’s gluten-free sourdough bread. It comes frozen. The one I get has buckwheat and sea salt, two ingredients.
When I first ate It, I didn’t like it. I gave it to my two daughters. They don’t like it. They have only had it once and said they wouldn’t have it again. That was me when I bought the first loaf. This will be the first and last loaf, but I learned to like it. I actually enjoy it. When you’re not having regular bread, just like if you’re not eating pizza, gluten-free pizza tastes amazing, even though these days there are some good gluten-free pizza options.
The polka bread is not as good as making your own fresh bread. There are other breads that are better. I have learned to like it. I just wanted to bring that up.
That’s it. Again, a lot of controversy when it comes to diet. This is just my opinion. Different practitioners will have different opinions. I have done research to get here. For more information, check out my book and other podcast episodes.