Watch out for Goitrogens
 

Hi guys. I used to be here under another name. Anyway several years ago I went from around 310 lbs to 175. I felt fantastic and happy, but when I got bloodwork done, apparently I had "subclinical hypothyroidism". My doctor wanted to put me on synthroid. I did what they said and it caused a sharp increase in appetite plus other problems like headaches. The weight started piling back on and I ended up having to quit it. (If you do quit synthroid let your doctor know so they can help you, because I've heard it's dangerous to quit cold turkey). I tested negative for Hashimoto's. I told the doctor I wanted to get to the bottom of why my numbers were off since I didn't have Hashimoto's and he acted incredulous as if bringing the numbers back with a pill solved the problem. He pretty much refused to help me investigate further and told me to just take the pill. Since I had to get off the medicine it was up to me to figure out why I had this problem.

Back when I was on my diet, I was eating large amounts of cruciferous vegetables, soy, and other goitrogenic foods. I always thought that eating vegetables was good for you and eating a lot of vegetables was even better. Nobody told me it could be dangerous to overeat certain ones. A lot of what I was eating were things like Broccoli, Cauliflower, Radishes, Cabbage, Kohlrabi, Edamame, Low calorie Vegan soy burgers, Almonds, strawberries, stone fruits, and other foods that were goitrogenic. About 70-90% of my daily diet had been made up of these kinds of foods every single day for months. Before putting me on synthroid the doctor hadn't asked anything about my diet. When I went back to a varied, but fattening, Standard American Diet, my numbers went back to normal. I was lucky I didn't do more damage.

The takeaway here is the vegetables are good but don't overeat cruciferous vegetables or other goitrogenic foods and try to keep a variation because it can cause these kinds of problems. Some people are also sensitive to things like solanine and oxalates so watch out for overeating those too.

I'm losing weight now again but I'm doing it differently than I did before and I am eating seaweed snacks once or twice a week and two brazil nuts every day to help support my thyroid.

Thanks for telling your story. I love seaweed snacks (I just eat the plain nori sheets), so I'll be more conscious of their benefits now.

Impressing story! Good luck to you in the future!

That's kind of scary to think about, but I appreciate you sharing. I eat quite a bit of broccoli. I thought the worst thing it would do for me were the farts...