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Welcome back to the Thriving Thyroid Podcast. You guys, lots of changes and a lot of things are coming in the pipeline, and today I'm so excited to be chatting about you, about with, about <laugh> lifestyle, things that help improve your teeth. Three. And if you aren't familiar with t3, that's okay. We're gonna dive in. Welcome back to the Thriving Thyroid Podcast, where we choose to become empowered patients and take our health into our own hands. Hi, I'm Shannon Hanson, a Christian entrepreneur, a mom of three. And after dealing with my own health mysteries, I made it my mission to learn everything I could about the thyroid. I soon became certified as a holistic wellness practitioner, a functional nutrition practitioner, and a functional diagnostic practitioner. And so much more after that, I founded the Revolutionary Thyroid Program, the Handsome Method. As a health professional and a mom, I fully understand the importance of having a fun, simple, and sustainable plan for achieving a responsive thyroid.
(01:12):
So I share actionable and practical strategies for developing a responsive thyroid so that the ambitious moms and women can gain freedom from fatigue and lose the thyroid weight once and for all. Each week, I will be here for you, along with my guest experts. We will be sharing simple and tangible tips that work for not only your thyroid, your hormones, your family, and your mindset, so that you can get back to living the life that you envision for yourself. Welcome to the Thriving Thyroid Podcast. All right, you guys. Welcome back. We are talking about T3 and the importance, importance of t3, what it does, why we want levels, why you wanna get them checked, all of those different things. So first and foremost, hopefully you guys have been around for a little bit where we've talked about different thyroid hormones. If not, you can head over to the show notes and download the, uh, thyroid panel guide.
(02:14):
It will break down what those levels are, different things to have testing, what to ask for, all of that. Okay? So T4 turns into T3 in the thyroid gland, and T3 is the active form of thyroid hormone. And it's going to make you feel energized. It's gonna regulate your body temperature, it's gonna help you lose weight. It's gonna, it is really like the life force of your thyroid. And so it's super important that you are getting this tested, because if you're not, this could be why you're feeling cold or confused or have a difficulty in speaking or remembering those words that are categorized as brain fog or dizziness, or double vision or headaches, irritability, The list goes on, even feeling lightheaded. Um, all of those are impacted by t3. And so if you have had a full thyroidectomy or even a partial thyroidectomy or your thyroid can't regulate your hormones, you may need to look into getting some synthetic forms of, of T3 through like cytoma or something along those lines. Okay? Today we are talking about 10 lifestyle tips, tricks, hacks, um, that you should begin to incorporate if you want to improve t3, which is going to help drive down thyroid symptoms overall. Okay? So you may wanna get a pen and paper <laugh> and jot down some notes or, or if you're driving, don't do that, okay? Or you might wanna like listen to it a little bit later. Okay? So here we go. Let's dive in. Number one, practice daily Exercise.
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Exercise is a really key part in helping to increase our metabolism. Everyone should be exercising for just overall wellness. And I will say I started with this one because I've, you guys know me, I, I hired a personal trainer, I went to the gym, I did all the things. I, it hurt my thyroid and my adrenals even more, and I gained weight. Now, when I talk about exercise, yes, sometimes we need to be careful about the exercises that we're doing. I always recommend people start with low impact type stuff. Um, I do peer bar, you can cycle, you can do yoga, pilates, swimming, walking, all of those different things. Okay? Um, for those of us who have hypothyroidism or at risk for hypothyroidism, we should be exercising at least three times a week. Exercise should be done for at least 40 minutes per workout. This is for the lowest people with thyroid disease, okay?
(05:21):
Um, but for long term improvement, you really should aim to do, um, some form of exercise seven days a week. Now that might be, you know, pure bar three days a week, and then the other days you are maybe doing some lightweight training, or the other days you are walking your neighborhood or cycling or whatever, right? So we <laugh> we are all living more of a sedentary lifestyle than we ever have before. And so getting up and moving is really, really important because several health studies have shown that exercise can increase T3 and T four levels naturally in addition to helping to stimulate thyroid hormone production. So exercise will prevent many side effects of hypothyroidism such as weight gain, muscle loss, depression, low energy levels, and exercise also helps burn calories and helps you lose excess weight. So I know <laugh>, the struggle is real.
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You guys, especially if you are a mom of young kids, I find that it is very difficult to get to the gym sometimes cuz it's like literally one more thing, literally one more thing when I feel like my plate is super full. But as I have been very consistent in my exercise, uh, for the first time in like two years, <laugh> for about two months now, I feel so good, I can show up better for my kids. And it, it has just been a huge blessing in my life, um, giving me a community of other people and it's been great. Okay, number two, manage your stress. There is a relationship between adrenal health and thyroid health. So it is wise for us to maintain these stress levels when you are under a lot of stress for a long period of time. Adrenal fatigue comes, excess stress on the adrenal system can trigger your body to secrete hormones to as a way of coping with this.
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And the chronic stress may make your thyroid symptoms worse, causing hormone levels to be unbalanced. You guys, this is probably the biggest area that I am currently struggling with is managing and balancing my stress levels. And I did just make one change this week that it's only been day two. Yeah, day two. And I feel a lightning in in my body in my stress, and I'm like, is this too good to be true? This is working a hundred times better than I ever imagined. And I'm like, why did I not do this sooner? So, um, I will let you know, <laugh>, but you also may notice slow metabolism and weight gain when you are consistently under a lot of pressure and this stress can further lower your T3 and T4 and cause, um, the, the T4 to convert into t3, into reverse t3, which is the negative t3 and it's gonna deplete you even more.
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So for this reason, you should find regular stress management practices to increase T4 or T3 and T four levels naturally. And you can do this by yoga, meditation, journaling, eft, also known as tapping counseling. Uh, like I find a lot of, um, self care and stress management by going hiking, going on walks, being outside, camping, whatever it is for you, just focus on your mental wellbeing. Regular walks in nature, um, also called earthing or forest bathing have been shown to reduce stress levels really well. So go spend some time at the beach <laugh>, there's really some truth behind that. Okay, number three is consume iodine rich foods. Iodine is an important mineral that you need to add to your diet to increase T3 and T4 levels. So our body will not be able to synthesize thyroid hormones without iodine. And this can lead to the hypothyroidism, although it is a trace element to produce thyroid hormone.
(10:09):
It is one of the most essential building blocks for thyroid hormones. So T3 and T4 both contain iodine that is absorbed in our gut. So it is obviously very, very important to maintain good gut health. Um, many of the ladies that I work with have gut, I don't know, I call 'em infections, pathogens. So they're dealing with like cbo, they're dealing with candida, they're dealing with mold, they're dealing with all of these things and they don't know because this stuff isn't being tested regularly. <laugh>. And yeah, anyways, I could go on a rant. We're not, we're gonna stay on track today. So it's really, really important in main making sure that you have good at gut health, that you're doing things to help feed the gut flora, fiber, prebiotics, probiotics, um, you know, making sure that you are having good regular daily bowel movements at least once a day. Aim for two times a day. Um, it's not my favorite to add iodine to our table salt, I prefer sea salt or pink altan salt or something along those lines.
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But you can add iodine rich foods. So shrimp or, um, noni, what is noni, seaweed, um, those types of things into your diet. However, taking too much iodine can also damage your thyroid gland. Um, but you know, just do some research. Do a quick Google search and make sure that you're eating I iodine rich foods. Number four, we are talking about nutrition. So <laugh>, so let's go into zinc rich foods. Zinc is linked to thyroid function in a multiple different ways and plays a great role in the activation of thyroid hormone. So in case in the cases of low levels of zinc, TSH is not produced resulting in low T3 and t4. If tssh is not produced, it will not be able to tell our thyroid gland when to release the T3 and the t4. So we need to be getting zinc into our diet.
(12:40):
Now here's another little tidbit that is not widely known. So there are copper and zinc and they play this wonderful balance inside of our body. Now what I have seen more and more and more, especially lately is when we do htma testing, we see some interesting patterns on the first test. The first test usually shows what is called a calcium shell. So calcium is super high on the levels, but what it's actually doing is it's pulling the calcium from the tissues, from the bones inside of our body, and it covers up these high levels of copper. And the, those high levels of copper are throwing our zinc levels really far down. Hopefully you guys are still following me, <laugh>. Um, basically to sum it all up, you don't have to remember all of that is there's mineral imbalances. Okay? So that's usually what we see on the first one.
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We don't see high levels of copper until later, until we start putting the calcium back into the bones and the tissue and the minerals or like it the bones and the tissue inside of your body where they're supposed to be. And then we start to see this, these high levels of copper. And this is what I was dealing with, um, right before I got pregnant <laugh> and why I had my copper i u d taken out because I was like, this is just, I'm battling these copper toxicity levels. And so I have driven up my zinc, um, supplementation zinc foods over the last several years. And I've noticed many, many benefits from it. But when, again, when zinc levels are low, you could be experiencing a lot more food sensitivities, food allergies, food doesn't taste good. Um, different things like that. So number five, consume fatty acids.
(14:46):
It's also really important to include fatty acids in our diet. Some essential fatty acid foods include avocados, unsal, unsalted, and nuts seeds. Um, one of my favorite seeds are those rob pumpkin seeds or pepitas, um, extra virgin olive, excuse me, extra virgin olive oil, <laugh> fish oil. And eating these essential fatty acids can really help improve those thyroid hormone levels. So eat fat foods. <laugh>, No, just kidding. Um, eat foods that are high in fat to help with our body's cellular absorption for thyroid hormones balancing. All right, number three or number six, balancing our body with cold therapy. Dun dun da duh, <laugh>. Okay, so I have a friend locally who does like ice baths and she has an autoimmune condition. She has Hashimotos with it, but she has another one, um, ulcerative colitis. And she's been doing cold therapy for a long time for at least, I don't know, probably two plus years.
(16:04):
And when I was pregnant I was like, Oh my gosh, I so want to do that. Well, I didn't. Um, I talked to my doctor about it and they were like, uh, probably best if you didn't. And honestly, when I Google searched it, it was like 50 50, Yeah, you can do it while you're pregnant. No, don't do it. And I was like, I'm gonna just go with the safer side <laugh> of that, um, and not not do it. And then we were gonna get together and do ice bath and I had to leave early. So, um, I have not done an ice bath, but there are other ways to do some cold therapy. One of those that we recommend is wet sock therapy, and I'll give you some instructions on that here in just a second. But what it does is it stimulates your adrenal glands and they work with the thyroid gland or your adrenal glands works with the thyroid gland to make the hormones.
(16:57):
This therapy can involve taking baths, um, the wet sock therapy, especially in the lower part of your back, exposing that area to cold <laugh> ice. Um, and then after a warm bath, or if you are like me and you have a sauna, you can go sit in a sauna. This is a proven method to help increase thyroid hormone production. Okay, now onto wet sock therapy. So essentially what you're gonna be doing for wet sock therapy, um, is you're gonna be getting socks <laugh>. You're gonna get an organic pair of socks, an organic cotton pair of socks, um, that come midway up the calf, right? We want long socks. You're gonna get a bowl of ice water or use the freezer. So like get your socks wet, put 'em 'em in the freezer. You want the socks to be super, super cold. And then you want a pair of thick warm socks, preferably something like wool that also come up mid-calf.
(17:59):
So again, long socks, which, and then you also need a bucket which will reach mid-calf. You're gonna fill with hot water as hot as you can stand without burning yourself or your kid. If you're doing this, like make sure you're testing. You're also gonna need some absent salt, about two to three cups. This is totally optional option, optional. That word is hard for me, <laugh>. Um, right now. So what you're gonna do is you are gonna take the pair of socks and you're gonna soak them completely in ice water. Be sure to ring out the socks thoroughly. Um, so that they're not damp. We just want them like, or we want the, we don't want them dripping, we want them just damp. Okay? Um, and then you can put them in the freezer. You can use ice water, however you wanna do that, then you're gonna warm your feet first.
(18:52):
So this is really important as the proceed for this process, um, because if you don't do this, it's not gonna be as effective and could harm your feet if they're not warm first. Okay? So one of the things that I like to do is, I grew up doing this and so it, like, it's kind of nostalgic for me is heat up the oven and um, sit there with like a chair or whatever with my feet on the thing. It's on a very low temperature. You're not putting your feet in it, you're putting your feet like on the door. We did this cuz we lived in Minnesota and we didn't have a fire. And I don't know, sometimes you just need to warm up. Okay, <laugh>. So, um, let's see, where was I at? So warm up your feet, you're gonna warm them up however you want.
(19:42):
Um, and then you're gonna place your lower legs in the bucket of the hot water. Again, caution with the temperature to avoid burning, which you have prepared. So be sure that the water is pretty hot, it's warm, um, but it's not gonna burn you. Then you're gonna soak the lower half of your legs in the bucket for two to three minutes, or take a warm bath beforehand, you know, to accomplish this. Then you're gonna dry your feet with a dry towel. Then you remove the socks from the ice bucket, ring them out, or have someone help like remove the socks from the freezer and bring them to you and you're gonna, um, put them on, right? So <laugh>, if this is the first time, try without the freezer and build up the tolerance. Okay? So start with just like an ice bucket or something like that.
(20:38):
You're gonna place them on your feet cover with thick wool socks and then go to bed, go lay down, go watch a movie, read a book. Um, avoid anything like, avoid getting chilled. Like don't go outside where it's super cold and you're gonna keep the socks on overnight. Um, place the second pair, place the second pair of pajamas next to your bed if you have a desire to do that. And then during the night, you may wake up with your whole body covered in sweat and that can be completely normal. Just get up and change your clothes, go to the bathroom, do what you need to do, Um, and then you can do this nightly if your symptoms aren't, um, improving. So try that out and let me know what you think about that, but really what you're looking for, um, so some symptoms or things that can be give you a good idea on like, hey, should I do this or not?
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If, if you're having regular headaches, migraines, insomnia, a lot of stress and anxiety, um, or in a weak or, um, a weak, weak immune system, hopefully you guys know what I'm saying. <laugh>, um, number seven is apple cider vinegar. Apple cider vinegar is very beneficial for the body. It's not one of my most favorite things because I find that it's really hard for people to be really consistent with because of the taste, but it is also very effective if you drink it for detoxification and hormone regulation for the body to improve thyroid activity, you're just gonna take a spoonful of, um, apple cider vinegar, the organic with the mother kind of deal, apple cider vinegar with some warm water. Um, and this helps with hormone balancing as well. It's gonna restore the nity balance in your body. It's gonna help aid and weight loss and improve your metabolism.
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Okay, number eight, we are getting close to being done, you guys, the fish oils, Okay? So fish oils are also thought to be really good at boosting thyroid hormone intake. This can also help maintain your healthy thyroid function. So rich in omega three fatty acids, this is gonna help fight the inflammation and boost your immune system. You can take it as a fish oil supplement. Um, but just make sure that you're talking to your doctor or if you're working with a practitioner or something like that, you always want to check with a physician. All right, number nine, you guys eat well, <laugh>, that's what it is. There is no single diet for thyroid, but there are foods that help with overall health and function in the body. So fruits, veggies, fatty fish, beans, whole grains, lean proteins, and then just avoid unhealthy empty calorie foods.
(23:46):
We should all be doing this <laugh>, right? Um, because those are really gonna increase the feeling of fatigue or being lazy due to thyroid problems. So just avoid processed foods, candy, sugar, junk, um, sodas, those types of things as much as possible. And I typically recommend people start with more of a crowding out method. You know, make a decision. Hey, I'm drinking three Dr Peppers a day. I'm gonna cut back to two. Okay, now I'm gonna cut back to one. Now I'm gonna cut back to every other day. And if you don't have to do that, like every day, you can, you can go from three to two and be there for two to three weeks and then go from two to one, you know, be there for two or three weeks and then go to every other day and then every third day. And then, you know, before you know it, you're decreasing that.
(24:44):
Um, I've used that method a lot with our clients inside the Hansen method, especially when it comes to coffee. They're like, I know coffee is so bad for me, but I, I know that I want it and you know, but I know it doesn't make me feel good and we just go on this, this hamster wheel because sometimes, sometimes it's really stinking hard to give up things that you love. Coffee may be one of them. Dr. Pepper may be one of them <laugh>. And so if we go with this, let's slowly decrease. I find that people are much more successful and it lasts a long time. Okay, last one. Uh, number 10, take more vitamin D. Now I'll be honest, I have a love hate relationship with vitamin D because vitamin D is not a vitamin. It's actually a hormone. And so if you are taking, well, let me, let me say this and then we'll get into the solutions. Okay. Vitamin D deficiencies have been linked to a variety of diseases including thyroid disease, especially early exposure to sunlight. Um, not especially you guys, ignore that part. I didn't say that early exposure to sunlight in the day is a good way to make or increase vitamin D levels inside the body.
(26:19):
So make it a habit to expose your body to early morning sun for at least 15 minutes. One of the things that I have done for years and I got, I honestly got away from it when I got sick last year and I'm, I'm trying to get back there, is going outside like first thing in the morning. Like I, I usually have a water next to my bed and so I start drinking water, get up, go to the bathroom, brush my teeth, whatever. Um, and then even really before I get dressed or do too much, I like to go outside and just sit there for a second and just collect myself, collect my thoughts. Um, I know that that's not the case. <laugh>, that's not always the case, especially if you have little kids, but I find that I feel much better when I do that.
(27:11):
Um, and it gives you a healthy immune function and also helps maintain, um, good calcium metabolism. So that goes in with calcium shell that we talked about earlier. And so you want to be making sure that you are getting all of the vitamins and minerals and nutrients balanced correctly so that the body can do what it needs to do in order to make the root hormone. And as we mentioned earlier, make sure that you are talking with a physician or a nutritionist or a practitioner or someone, um, about supplementation and what they recommend based off your, your levels. Because we really want the calcium and all of these other nutrients to be where they're supposed to be so that you feel completely energized and good and ready to go. So thank you guys so much for joining me on today's episode. I hope you found value, and if you did, please share this with your friends, with your social media or head over to Instagram and give us a like and follow. I'll see you on the next
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Way too. Before, before you please subscribe. If you found value in today's episode, leave us a review and share on Instagram and please tag us. We love your.
