I love how deeply food can change our state. Whether we’re happy, sad, sick or healthy- what we put into our mouths has the potential to right the wrongs. 

This is especially true when we are very fatigued. It’s definitely typical among the women I work with, my chronic daily fatigue is absolutely not normal. In fact, it’s our bodies screaming at us for help. Give me what I need to function!

That’s where food comes in. As part of my 28-Day Fatigue Fighting Meal Plan for Moody Women, I designed the following smoothie recipe to be highly nutrient dense- with exactly the right things to fight fatigue, mellow moods and balance hormones.

This smoothie makes an excellent breakfast, or it can be used as a snack or small meal on the go. Smoothies are great when we’re tired because they take little effort and time to make- simply load up your blender with the ingredients and you’re good to go!

Swiss Chard + Strawberries

Not an entirely popular vegetable, Swiss chard is highly nutritious. Like other leafy greens, it ranks high on healing power for hormonal imbalances- including those that cause use to feel fatigued all the time. For example, Swiss chard contains at least 13 different types of polyphenols, potent antioxidants that can reduce inflammation. Inflammation is a major contributor to fatigue. 

Swiss chard is an excellent source of vitamin C. Vitamin C is extremely beneficial for restoring the health of our adrenal glands- two tiny glands that help regulate our stress response, and the chronic stress that leads to our fatigue. In fact, the adrenal glands are one of the organs with the highest concentrations of vitamin C in the body. Plus, the more stressed we are, the more vitamin C our adrenals need to function properly. 

Strawberries are also incredibly nutrient dense, with high concentrations of fatigue-fighting vitamin C. Be sure to purchase organic strawberries, as these berries are among the highest in pesticide residue of any other fruit or vegetable. Strawberries are also one of the lower sugar fruits, meaning that they won’t spike blood sugar in the same way an orange or melon would. Research has even shown that strawberry intake is connected to blood sugar health. Lastly, strawberries are highly concentrated with folate, a B vitamin essential for the creation of red blood cells and energy. 

Coconut Oil

Simply one of my favourite sources of healthy fat, coconut oil has huge benefits for adrenal health, fighting fatigue and balancing mood. The saturated fat in coconut oil is used to create steroid hormones- cortisol (a major stress hormone), being one of them. In fact, coconut oil has properties that help reduce the weight of our adrenal glands, which become bigger and inflamed when we are chronically fatigued. 

Fats like coconut oil are also needed in abundance to balance blood sugar. Women who are chronically fatigued and have adrenal glands fighting to work optimally most often have blood sugar imbalances because our bodies become unable to recognize the signals of insulin. And the constant up and down of cortisol sends all of this into a tail spin. 

Collagen

Collagen, which can be found in powders (like Great Lakes, Organika or Vital Proteins brands), is extremely beneficial when fighting fatigue and restoring adrenal health. Collagen can also be found in bone broth, an easy-to-make superfood if ever there was one. 

More specifically, collagen is helpful for healing the gut. When we are stressed out over years, and don’t take proper care of ourselves the lining of our gut becomes compromised. This “leaky” gut allows for inflammation and extra stress on the body, creating more fatigue. Collagen can help reinforce the lining of our gut and “seal” the lining, thereby reducing inflammatory and stressful particles from getting into our bloodstream and making us tired. 

Collagen powder is also a very easy protein to digest.

Hemp Seeds

A huge favourite of mine (I buy them in 5lb. bulk bags!), hemp seeds or hearts are rich sources of many different types of beneficial fats. For example, they contain good amounts of GLA (gamma-linoleic acid), which helps to control inflammation. Hemp are also high in omega-3 fatty-acids, a highly anti-inflammatory source of fat that has been shown in research to improve mood and balance hormones. 

Due to the high concentration of fats and protein, hemp is a natural appetite suppressant- a great thing when you’re dealing with fatigue-related cravings for sweets and carbs. Like collagen, hemp also has benefits for digestive health. They are high in fibre, and so help us to have healthy bowel movements and they feed our good gut bugs or “probiotics”. 

Salt

Highly debated, there is a strong myth circulating that salt is bad for you. I’m so excited to dispel this myth for you today! Yes, regular table (iodized) salt has been treated and bleached- leaving it without nutrition. However, good quality salt (grey sea salt or pink Himalayan salt) has huge benefits for fatigue. I often recommend to my clients that they drink a glass of warm water with salt in it first thing in the morning everyday to help fatigue (try it!!). 

Like vitamin C, salt (and the minerals it contains like sodium and potassium) is used in droves when our adrenals are struggling. The adrenals release a hormone (aldosterone) which regulates the balance of salt, potassium and water in our bodies. When overworked and fatigued, our adrenals require more salt to function properly. Some women I’ve worked with even need to add salt to every glass of drinking water while they heal. 

Adrenal Nourisher Smoothie

2017-07-07 08:39:26

Serves 1

A smoothie packed full with ingredients to support the adrenals glands for healthy stress response, to fight fatigue and balance moods.

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Ingredients

1. 1 cup swiss chard
2. 1 cup organic strawberries
3. 1/4 cup fresh italian parsley
4. 2 tbsp hemp seeds
5. 1 tbsp chia seeds
6. 1 tbsp collagen powder
7. 1 tbsp coconut oil
8. 3/4 cup water
9. 1/4 cup full-fat canned coconut milk
10. 1/2 - 1 tsp good quality grey sea salt or pink himalayan salt

Instructions

1. Put everything in a high-powered blender and blend until smooth. Drink immediately!

Notes

1. Drink this immediately because if you let it sit the chia seeds will thicken the mix.

By Robyn Srigley - The Hormone Diva

The Hormone Diva http://thehormonediva.com/

After a long day complete with energy crashes and “angry” moments, you have dinner. Suddenly, 6PM, 7PM roll around and you’ve got energy to burn. By the time it’s 10PM, you definitely can’t fall asleep- your mind is on overdrive! You’re thinking, you’re worrying, you’re planning. 

And why should you go to bed earlier? This is the only time you have to yourself, after all. 

When you do finally fall asleep, it’s choppy. Maybe you toss and turn, or get up a bunch of times to pee, drink, grab something to eat or do more worrying. 

By the time your alarm goes off in the morning, you can’t get out of bed. So you hit snooze. Again. And again. And again. Then you can’t wait any longer, so you burst out of bed to throw on some clothes and grab a coffee before heading out the door. 

This sequence repeats itself in your life day after day, and it’s enough to drive any woman crazy! For reals. 

Fatigue is no joke. So let’s get serious(ish). 

5 Crucial Strategies to Sleep Easy + Fight Fatigue

#1 Balance Blood Sugar

Blood sugar is always number one in my book. There’s even a running joke among a wellness business mastermind group I’m apart of that if everyone balanced their blood sugar, we could cure the world’s problems! While that might be an exaggeration, balanced blood sugar is extremely essential for being wired at night and tired in the morning. 

You see, insulin, our blood sugar regulating hormone, can meds with your stress response (see #2 below). When we eat like sit, we sit on our butts all day and we internalize stress (perhaps without even realizing it), insulin’s “key” to our cells to let sugar in, doesn’t happen. It’s like our cells have changed the locks. So we get loads of sugar and insulin in our blood. 

This turns insulin into a fat storage hormone, putting weight on our bodies and making us feel sluggish. Often with this type of insulin resistance, our blood sugar will crash during the night (making you wake up) and in between meals (like those 10AM and 3PM energy crashes). This means that by the time we get to dinner, usually our biggest and most satisfying meal of the day, our energy finally goes up. 

If our meals contain a lot of refined carbs, sugar and not enough fat or proteins, those spikes and crashes effect everything in our lives, leaving you wired at night and tired in the morning(/all day). 

So, balancing blood sugar is the first place to start when aiming for better sleep, less fatigue and more YOU. 

#2 Support Your Adrenals

What the @#%& are adrenals you ask? Well, they’re two small organs in your body that sit on top of each kidney. They’re small, about the size of a walnut, but are incredibly important and often forgotten- especially in the traditional medical world. Adrenals not only regulate your entire stress response (aka Fight or Flight and Rest or Digest), they also produce sex hormones in small amounts, like progesterone. 

Our adrenal glands also have a hand in our sleep-wake cycle, and often times over prolonged physical, mental or emotional stress (aka modern life), they get fatigued, and all turned around.

Normally, cortisol, one of the main adrenal-produced stress hormones, is highest in the morning and lowest right before bed. Makes sense- it helps us get up and moving and then helps us fall asleep easily at night. 

When we have that stress, and blood sugar stuff like we talked about above is a big part of this, the adrenal rhythm gets messed with. What ends up happening is the reverse of ideal- cortisol is too low in the morning, and spikes in the evening, preventing us from having a good night’s sleep and feeling anything but fatigued during the day.

#3 Heal Your Gut

Next up we have to talk about our gut. There’s a million and one reasons why gut problems will influence that feeling of being wired at night but being unable to get going in the morning and fighting fatigue all day. 

Our gut is our body’s first line of defence against pretty much everything. Basically your gut is one long tube from your mouth to your butt. It has an important yet delicate lining that keeps all the bad stuff away. In many ways modern life slowly eats away at this lining, and bad stuff like pathogens (aka viruses and bacteria) plus undigested food particles get into the blood stream. 

Let’s say for example you’ve eaten a lot of dairy today. And yet again your wired at night and the next day dragging yourself out of bed. It could be the dairy. If undigested dairy particles are getting into your blood stream due to “leaky gut” or “intestinal permeability”, your immune system will overreact. In some people, this is a legit dairy allergy. In others, it’s a sensitivity or intolerance. 

This immune system overreaction puts stress on your body. And what happens when our body is stressed? We get more cortisol. And more insulin resistance. And more shitty sleep and daydreams of napping at our desk.  

#4 Evening Routine

In keeping with the theme of regulating our stress response, a crucial strategy to fight fatigue and sleep easy is an evening routine. Sounds obvious, right? But do you have one? And no, Netflix and chillin’ doesn’t count, sorry to burst your bubble. 

Removing ourselves from stresses (like staring at blue-lit screens all the time) is key for the 1-2 hours before bedtime. Turn off ALL screens (yes, that darned phone too), read a good book, take a bath, lotion that delicious skin, do a few stretches and just b-r-e-a-t-h-e for awhile. Or any combination of things that relax you. 

Stick with it every single night, no matter what. Make it a non-negotiable. Like breathing, eating and pooping, your evening routine must get done to survive. Whether it’s for 5 minutes or a few hours doesn’t matter. As long as you do it, your body will thank you.

#5 Eat Your Veggies

Lastly, we didn’t talk too much in detail about proper diet for this wired and tired thing. I do want to give you a little hint, and that’s to eat your veggies. One of my clients seriously unlevelled her veggie game recently and couldn’t believe how much less fatigue she had!

My recommendation is always to go for green and orange veggies first. Aim for at least 4 cups daily. And get some starchier ones, like orange sweet potatoes, in with dinner for better sleep and to relax your adrenals and nervous system. 

My daily fatigue started back in university. I had trouble getting through the day without a nap or an Ativan to calm my anxiety. I was severely depressed after a breakup with a man boy I was with for over 3 years. It came all of a sudden and I was blindsided. 

The months after I became increasingly tired, and felt as though I’d lost my zest for life. Even as I got over him, my energy didn’t return for several years. Trying to complete a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminology was extremely difficult when all I wanted to do was sleep. 

So I did what any smart woman would do and went to see my doctor. I told her about this fatigue that had me skipping both classes and any kind of social life. The anxiety that crippled me into not having any friends in school. The depression that often had me crying myself to sleep at night.

She agreed to do some tests for the typical things like iron levels. 

After the results came back, everything of course was “normal”. I asked her what could possibly be making me so tired then, and she replied, “some people are just tired”.

A non-answer. An easy out. 

I begrudgingly accepted her advice for a long time. It wasn’t until I was in nutrition school and learned more about the causes of my unexplained tiredness, depression and anxiety that I was able to make positive change in my own life. 

Now my energy is stable throughout the day, I’m no longer fighting fatigue and my moods are (mostly) dependable. 

I want this so badly for you too. I want you to feel well, and stop watching your life pass you by. I want you to be happy. 

So here I’m going to give you the information you won’t get from you doctor. 

The Valid Reason You’re So Tired, Depressed and Anxious

Stressed? Tired? Craving sugar? Can’t sleep?

All of these can be related to the constant stress we feel in our lives. We know that stress can have a huge impact on our health and wellness. And, since your adrenal (aka stress) glands produce stress hormones, adrenal fatigue (or “HPA Axis Dysregulation,”) is a popular theme lately.

Your adrenal glands look like walnuts that live on top of both of your kidneys. These important glands produce many hormones, including stress hormones like cortisol.

But what happens when they become “overworked?”

You’ve heard of “adrenaline junkies,” right?

Adrenaline and cortisol are the stress hormones that give you the commonly known adrenaline rush; when you’re totally alert and living in the moment. This feeling is known as your body’s “fight or flight” response.

Some people (perhaps you?) just love that intense feeling.

The release of hormones in the fight or flight response is your body’s normal reaction to stress.  Stress can sometimes be positive, like when it helps you swerve and prevent a crash.

After a short time, the flight or flight response dissipates, your body goes back to normal, and all is good.

But what would happen if you felt constant stress? Like all day, every day? Like “chronic” stress?

It wouldn’t feel like an awesome (once-in-a-while) “rush,” anymore would it?

And what do you think happens to your poor adrenal glands when they’re constantly working?

They’d get fatigued, right?

Do I Have Adrenal Fatigue?

When your adrenal glands start getting tired of secreting stress hormones day in and out, you can start getting other symptoms.

Symptoms like fatigue, difficulty sleeping, mood swings, weight loss or gain, joint pain, sugar cravings, even frequent infections like colds and the flu are signs that your adrenals are overworked.

First off, I have to tell you that there aren’t medically accepted blood tests for adrenal fatigue. In fact, it’s not recognized by most medical professionals until the point when your adrenals are so fatigued they almost stop working. At that point, the official diagnoses of “Adrenal Insufficiency” or “Addison’s Disease” may apply.

However, if you do have symptoms, you should see your doctor to rule out other conditions. He or she may even be open to discussing adrenal fatigue (if you’re lucky), or at the very least, wellness strategies that can help to reduce your stress (and symptoms).

What To Do If I Have These Symptoms?

There are many actions you can take to reduce your stress and improve your health and energy levels.

Ideally, if you think stress is starting to burn you out, stress reduction is key. There are tons of ideas how you can reduce your stress. My favourites are meditation, walking in nature, light exercise, more sleep, or taking a bath.

Of course, I also recommend reducing sugar and processed food intake and eating more fruits and vegetables. Better nutrition can only help your body. So go ahead and do it.

Conclusion

Your adrenal glands produce hormones in response to stress. After long-term daily stress, they may get tired.

Adrenal fatigue is a controversial disease that doesn’t have a true diagnostic test, nor specific telltale symptoms.

The most important thing you can do is to get tested to rule out other potential conditions. You can also try stress reduction techniques like meditation, walks in nature, light exercise, more sleep, or even a lovely bath.

Stress-Reducing Lavender Bath Salts

2017-06-17 10:30:59

Yields 1

Calm your body and mind with these easy-to-make and super indulgent bath salts.

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Ingredients

1. 2 cups epsom salts
2. 10 drops lavender essential oil

Instructions

1. Add both ingredients to the water as you run a hot bath. Relax and enjoy!

Notes

1. You can make a big batch of this ahead of time by doubling, tripling or even quadrupling the recipe and keeping it in a glass jar by the tub.

By Robyn Srigley - The Hormone Diva

The Hormone Diva http://thehormonediva.com/

References:

https://www.thepaleomom.com/adrenal-fatigue-pt-1/

https://www.dietvsdisease.org/adrenal-fatigue-real/

Waking up, stepping on the scale. Shocked by the number, you remove jewelry and heavy clothing. It barely budges. Stripping down naked, you step on again. Still a scary number. How is it possible to gain 5lbs in a week? Depressed and exhausted by what you see, you would rather climb back into bed under the covers than get dressed and go about your day. What’s the point of leaving the bed anyways? You’re just going to be tired all day, and self-conscious that everyone is judging your ‘lumpy’ body. 

This is a familiar tale among the women in my 21-Day Happy Hormones Diet program that even I have felt from time to time. Why will my body not cooperate? How can I make it do what I want?

Firstly, don’t give up- there’s ALWAYS an answer, even if it takes some time to find it. 

Today, I want to help you find that answer- the relief of knowing that you’ve been searching for. 

Why Am I Exhausted and Gaining Weight Like Crazy?

The answer could be connected to what’s happening in your neck. Yes, that’s right- I’m talking about your thyroid gland. And before your close out this article because your thyroid test has come back “normal” I urge you to finish reading and take my Hormone Imbalance Quiz to see if those ‘normal’ tests are telling a lie. 

Under active thyroid, sometimes called hypothyroidism is a very common issue with women. Your thyroid gland has many very important functions in the body (which you can see below) and may become sluggish over time for various reasons, which are outlined below. 

Simply put, if your thyroid is under active, it may not be producing thyroid hormone (T4) and may not be able to convert T4 to the more metabolically active form of thyroid hormone, T3. Doctors will often test Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH), but this is a hormone made in the brain to tell the thyroid to make more hormone rather than being an active thyroid hormone itself, so it’s often not the best measure of thyroid health. However, high TSH levels could indicate a sluggish thyroid as well.

NOTE: Research suggests that upwards of 90% or more of under active thyroid cases are Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, an autoimmune thyroid condition that requires slightly different treatment than regular hypothyroidism. If you are unsure or would like more clarification, please don’t hesitate to contact me or ask your doctor.

The thyroid gland has many functions, such as regulating:

• Metabolic rate
• Heart and digestive function
• Muscle control
• Brain development
• Bone maintenance 
• Menstrual cycle length and blood flow
• Estrogen metabolism and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) production
• Progesterone production

Symptoms of Under Active Thyroid

• Weight gain that won’t shift no matter what you try
• Depression
• Hair loss (sometimes very dramatic)
• Dry or cracked skin and heels
• Low libido
• Constant fatigue- like you could sleep 12-14 hours a night and still be tired all day
• Weakness
• Cold intolerance and/or cold hands and feet
• Muscle cramps and aches
• Constipation
• infertility
• Irregular, heavy or painful menstrual cycles
• irritability
• Memory loss and/or brain fog
• Puffy face
• Hoarseness
• Lump in the throat or chronic sore throat
• Weak immune system- chronic colds, flus and other infections

To see if your thyroid gland may be under active, contributing to your symptoms, and learn why this might be happening and what to do about it, take my quiz. 

5 Foods to Shift the Scale and Energize 

#1 Sea Vegetables

Food is medicine. If only our traditional medical doctors would subscribe to this school of thought, we would all be better off. But instead of blaming others for our lack of answers or relief from suffering, it’s time to take back control of our own thyroid health with foods. As the thyroid gland requires small amounts iodine to function (T4 uses 4 iodines and T3 uses 3 iodines per molecule), sea vegetables can be beneficial. 

Unlike iodine supplements, which can be extremely high in dosage (and too much iodine actually depresses thyroid function), sea vegetables contain iodine in a natural form along with many other vitamins and minerals that promote good thyroid health. 

For example, just 1 tbsp of dried dulse (a type of seaweed) contains 500% of your daily recommended intake of iodine. Sea vegetables like dulse and other listed below also have loads of hormone-promoting vitamin C, blood sugar-balancing manganese, skin-clearing vitamin A and energy-boosting iron. 

Like the mineral iodine, iron is important for thyroid health. Low iron (Ferritin blood levels below 70) contribute to thyroid dysfunction, thyroid-related weight gain and hair loss, fatigue and mood disturbances like depression. 

Some examples of sea vegetables you can use in your diet include:

• Dulse 
• Kelp
• Nori
• Kombu
• Agar 
• Wakame
• Arame

How to Use Sea Vegetables

• Purchase a shaker of dulse and/or kelp flakes and sprinkle on your food in place of salt (sea vegetables have a naturally salty flavour)
• Rehydrate strips of arame and/or wakame and add to salads and soups (these are nearly tasteless)
• Add to cooked gluten-free whole grains like buckwheat, brown rice and/or quinoa
• Make a lunch wrap with nitrate-free deli turkey, sauerkraut, avocado wrapped in nori sheets instead of flour or lettuce-based wraps

#2 Sesame Seeds

A favourite seed very high in the mineral zinc, sesame seeds could be supportive to a healthy thyroid gland to shift the scale and energize you. As little as 1/4 cup contains 25% of your daily recommended intake of zinc. 

Zinc is required in a few steps to creating healthy thyroid hormones. First, zinc is required to produce T4, the less metabolically active form of thyroid hormone. Zinc is also necessary to convert inactive T4 into the highly metabolically active thyroid hormone, T3. Lastly, Zinc is needed for the health of your thyroid hormone receptors. You can have sufficient levels of T3, but if your thyroid hormone receptors aren’t working optimally, you can still experience thyroid symptoms like weight gain, fatigue and hair loss. 

Zinc to the rescue! 

How to Use Sesame Seeds

• Sprinkle a tsp or two on soups and salads
• Add a tbsp to smoothies
• Use tahini (sesame seed paste/butter) in place of almond or peanut butter
• Make a salad dressing with tahini, lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, spices and a bit of honey and drizzle on salads or dip proteins like chicken or fish
• Add sesame seeds or tahini to the batter of gluten-free baked goods like muffins

#3 Brazil Nuts

Brazil nuts are one of my favourite “therapeutic foods” to recommend to my private clients. A therapeutic food is simply a food high in one or several nutrients, which if taken consistently in high enough amounts, could help to alleviate symptoms. Brazil nuts are one of the highest sources of selenium, another healthy thyroid mineral, like zinc, iodine and iron. 

Two Brazil nuts contain about 100mcg of selenium, and most times about 100mcg to 200mcg of daily selenium is recommended for thyroid disorders. This means that simply eating 2 to 4 Brazil nuts daily as a “therapeutic food” could increase selenium levels in the body, assisting thyroid health. 

Selenium is required for the conversion of inactive T4 into the more active T3 thyroid hormone. Selenium deficiency could contribute to low levels of T3, creating those yucky symptoms of weight gain, fatigue, hair loss and menstrual irregularities. Having adequate selenium levels in the body also helps to lower antibody levels, which is fabulous for the autoimmune thyroid disorder of Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis (which makes up about 90%-97% of all thyroid disorders). 

How to Use Brazil Nuts

• Simply eat 2-4 raw Brazil nuts daily with a meal or as a snack
• Chop them and use them in a grain-free, nut/seed based granola
• Add chopped nuts to salads
• Throw a few Brazil nuts into smoothies or hot tonics/elixirs

#4 Apple Cider Vinegar

Raw, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar (like Bragg’s or Filsinger’s) has numerous health benefits, and supporting a healthy thyroid gland for weight management and good energy is one of them. 

Specifically, apple cider vinegar contains acids, enzymes and beneficial probtiocs- all necessary for thyroid function. 

Remember that T4 must be converted into T3 to be used effectively in the body? Well, about 20% of this conversion happens in your gut! So, if your gut health is in disarray (as it is in every women with thyroid dysfunction I’ve seen clinically), your thyroid will suffer. 

Using apple cider vinegar could help to increase stomach acid, which is great for disgusting food properly. Insufficient levels of stomach acid (aka hypochlorhydria) is a leading cause of leaky gut, and a leaky gut will reduce active thyroid hormone and increase inflammation- potentially contributing to hypothyroidism and autoimmune Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. 

Apple cider vinegar also contains beneficial probiotics, and these healthy bacteria are very important for thyroid health. For example, gut bacteria assist the conversion of T4 to T3 in the gut. Specifically there is an enzyme involved in the gut conversion that actually comes from healthy gut bacteria. If this conversion is reduced, you may end up with “normal” thyroid labs despite having thyroid-related symptoms like unexplained weight gain, fatigue, hair loss and depression. 

How to Use Apple Cider Vinegar

• Put 1 tsp to 1 tbsp in a small glass of warm water and drink 15-30 minutes before meals to increase stomach acid and aid digestion
• Use ACV with lemon juice, cayenne and cinnamon in warm water as a stimulating morning tonic
• Use ACV instead of other vinegars or lemon juice in your homemade salad dressings
• Add 1 tsp to 1 tbsp ACV to smoothies

#5 Beet Kvass 

Beets are a serious superfood. They support the liver, build the blood and provide valuable vitamins and minerals. When you use beets to create the tonic Beet Kvass (see recipe below), it’s like putting those benefits on overdrive. 

Beet Kvass is a fermented beet drink. It contains loads of nutrients including iron, folate, manganese, magnesium, fibre and vitamin B6. 

Because it’s fermented, Beet Kvass also had loads of those beneficial bacteria or “probiotics” that I mentioned in the previous section. 

We know that iron and probiotics are both important for healthy thyroid function, and beets are a great way to get both (and more)!

Beets also help to detoxify the liver. Liver health is important for thyroid function in a few ways. For example, when you eat a meal with fats, your liver and gall bladder create and secrete things like bile acids to help break it down. Bile acids need to be converted into secondary bile acids in the body to function as they should, and probiotic gut bacteria are how it’s done. 

When bile acids are converted properly by probiotics, activity of enzymes that convert T4 to T3 are increased. 

How to Use Beet Kvass

• Drink 1/2 to 1 cup daily as a beverage
• Use as a base in smoothies
• Use as a base in salad dressings

Beet Kvass Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 litres water
• 1.5 tbsp sea salt
• 3 beets (peel if not organic)

 
Instructions

1. Wash beets and chop roughly. Add to a glass mason jar big enough for all beets and water, or use a couple of smaller jars if necessary. 
2. Add the sea salt.
3. Add water to about 1/2 inch below the lid.
4. Twist on lid tightly, and you might want to label with the date.
5. Keep the jar at room temperature for 4-5 days or up to a week. 
6. After fermentation time, store the kvass in the fridge. 

 
NOTES

• Optional flavour additions: thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped; 1 lime, washed and quartered, turmeric powder, star anise, cinnamon sticks
• You can reuse the beets for a second batch, but after fermenting a second time, throw the beets away and start fresh.