Take the Barnes Basal Temperature Test
: Place a mercury thermometer at your bedside each night at bedtime.
: In the morning, before getting out of bed, place the thermometer in your armpit for 10 minutes. Do not move around or get up.
: While you are waiting for the thermometer to register, take your pulse for 60 seconds and record.
: At the end of the 10 minutes, record your temperature and keep a record of it daily for several weeks.
Do not use electric blankets, heating pads or waterbeds as this will affect the reading.
If your temperature is consistently below 97.8 degrees and your pulse is consistently less than 65, you may have low thyroid and should follow up with your doctor for further testing.
Get Tested
All women over the age of 35 should at least have a TSH on their annual visit to their physician. Another blood test, called a T4, will measure the actual level of thyroid hormone in your system.
Stay away from tap water and even spring water, which contain many minerals that have an impact on the thyroid gland. One of the most important is copper, which can slow down your thyroid function. Try drinking distilled or purified water instead.
Researchers have found that drinking only three ounces of alcohol can reduce the body’s ability to burn fat by about one-third. Alcoholic beverages are filled with empty calories, which will be difficult to lose if your thyroid function is low.
Limit your iodine intake. Iodine was originally added to table salt to create a safe source of dietary iodine. Only one milligram of iodine is needed for the whole day. Americans are consuming more than three milligrams of iodine a day. Chronic iodine overdosage can actually force the thyroid to burn out, after which the gland releases too little thyroid hormone. While eating fish and seafood is a healthy practice, a diet rich in seafood that also includes iodized salt and iodine supplements can lead to iodine overdosage.
Avoid fluoride toothpaste and fluoride treatments from your dentist. Fluoride has also been put into medication to help deliberately suppress overactive thyroid. Flourine forms a compound known as flouroxyapatite, which hardens bone. While this is good for bone and tooth enamel, too much fluorine is not good for your thyroid gland.
If you can get at least 7 1/2 to 8 1/2 hours of sleep every night your thyroid will produce the most hormone. Less sleep or more sleep can be equally damaging. Going to bed every night at the same time and waking up every morning at the same time will help your thyroid hormone.
Increasing physical activity is important to maintaining weight loss. Every time you pick up a weight, or do a push-up, lunge or climb stairs, each rep is one calorie. If you are a beginner, start with 150 calories. Keep moving until you have done 150 reps. It’s so easy that it takes less than ten minutes.
