Seaweed and Thyroid Health

Time after time, I find myself in a situation where I have to remind myself of the old mantra, "Listen to your body." It seems simply, really, the idea of being in tune with your body. Even for those of us who don't have food allergies or diet restrictions, there are foods we eat that definitely leave us feeling just "icky." It might be a nasty bout of heartburn, a feeling of being too bloated to mood, or something even worse.

That said, the crazy person inside my head still tries to fight through it. I don't know what's wrong with her- maybe she's just really hungry sometimes- but she drives me nuts! She's this little voice in my head, whispering, "Oh, don't worry about how you had massive indigestion last time you ate spicy fried shrimp. That was like six months ago. You should be fun."

Umm...not so much. She's always wrong, and I always regret making the choice to eat that fried chicken sandwich (because of the gluten)...

bad (for me)

or that bowl of pralines and cream (because of the dairy)...

bad (for me).

or that Venti Starbucks white chocolate mocha (because of the massive headache-inducing amounts of caffeine)...

bad (for me)- but still so tasty

or that third helping of shrimp scampi with rice pasta (because that's just stuffing myself).

not so bad for me with rice pasta, but I end up eating an entire pound of shrimp

In this recent case, the crazy lady talking to me inside my head was more of an after the fact, "This must all be in your head."

I was over at a friend's house who is Korean. She is a lovely, lovely friend, and she always makes some sort of homemade treat for us to nosh on. This time it was freshly prepared kimchi sushi. I got into sushi in my twenties, as an occasional treat, and I liked it quite a bit.

kimchi sushi

Five enormous sushi rolls later, I was stuffed. I knew the rolls were gluten free, because she knows I can't eat wheat or gluten, so I didn't think twice about it.

Thirty minutes later, as were sitting on her couch watching American Idol, my heart starts pounding like a jackhammer in my chest. If you haven't experienced heart palpitations before, I can tell you it is one of the most frightening feeling in the entire world. The first time I had these palpitations after indulging in Olive Garden's endless pasta bowl I literally thought I was having a heart attack.

Having had them several times since, I was familiar with the discomfort and chest tightness. Not wanting to alarm my friend, I discretely rubbed my chest and tried to take deep, slow, calming breaths. The feeling passed in about two hours, but my feet and hands were swollen and red the rest of the evening- another dead giveaway that I'd eaten something my body just didn't like.

A key ingredient in sushi is Nori, the edible form of seaweed used to wrap up the roll. Yes, it's the green part you see on the outside; it's actually salty and rather tasty.

Nori, an edible form of seaweed

After doing some research, I found out that seaweed has high levels of iodine, something that is linked to thyroid disruption.

Furthermore, I found this article that suggests a direct link between sushi seaweed consumption and thyroid health.

Lesson learned: listen to your body. And tell the crazy voice in your head to shut up.