The thyroid gland is one of the most important glands in your body, but sometimes it might not work properly. When your gland does not produce sufficient amounts of hormones, the condition might become chronic. Then we are talking about hypothyroidism.
Your body lacks thyroid hormone, which is mainly responsible for running a person’s metabolism. Therefore, if you have this condition, your metabolism may slow down, but it isn’t always the case. It may be surprising to you, but this is a very common health condition. It is estimated that nearly 10 million Americans have it. It is often associated with women, and the statistics say that 10% of women have a certain degree of thyroid hormone deficiency.
A lot of people are diagnosed with the condition, but a lot more of the population are hypothyroid and they don’t know it. Let’s get back to the hormone production by the thyroid gland and give a simplified explanation.
Hormones can be seen as messengers whose role is to give orders to your cells in your body to do certain things. In fact, they are chemicals controlled by glands and released in your blood to act upon a particular cell. That’s how they interact with your body cells and balance is kept.
When everything is working as it should, there is hormonal balance, but in this condition, there isn’t hormonal balance. You can easily spot hypothyroidism as there are many obvious signs and symptoms. However, according to the Mayo Clinic, the symptoms may depend on how much you are deficient of the thyroid hormone.
Also, the unnoticeable symptoms may gradually become worse, but develop in a very slow pace over a number of years. If this coincides with you getting older, you might just think that it is normal for your age to experience such symptoms and body changes.
Nevertheless, be very precautious when you experience some of these:
- High sensitivity to cold;
- Constipation;
- Fatigue;
- Weight gain;
- Thinning hair;
- Dry skin;
- Irregular or heavier menstrual cycles;
- Depression;
- Impaired memory;
- Puffy face;
- Pain, swelling or stiffness in the joints;
- Slowed heart rate;
- Hoarseness;
- High cholesterol level;
- Muscle weakness or pain.
If you happen to have the condition or you are not sure whether you have it or not, we have an excellent juice recipe that will not only regulate your thyroid hormones, but also help you lose weight.
Here are the necessary ingredients:
- 1 cup of cranberry juice;
- 7 cups of water;
- ¼ of a teaspoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice;
- ¾ of a tablespoon of freshly squeezed orange juice;
- ¼ of a teaspoon of dry ginger;
- ¼ of a teaspoon of nutmeg;
- ½ teaspoon of Ceylon cinnamon.
Instructions:
First, boil the water and then add the cranberry juice as well as the spices. Simmer this well for around twenty minutes. In the end, let it cool down and then add the orange and lemon juice. Your drink is ready to consume throughout the day.
This juice is efficient because of many reasons. Cranberries are full of iodine, which helps in the production of thyroid hormones. Vitamin C is also this type of helper and you get that from the squeezed juices.
Also, ginger gives you magnesium, which reduces the risk of thyroid diseases. The risk of getting hypothyroidism is also lowered with the help of cinnamon. Another tip for boosting your thyroid gland is increasing the intake of vitamin D, selenium, and vitamin B12.
