Combatting the Symptoms of Hypothyroidism

Tags

aching, ageing, bath, dark circles, decleor, dermalogica, Dermalogica Power Rich, Dermalogica UltraCalming Redness Relief Primer SPF20, Dermalogica UltraSmoothing Eye Serum, dry skin, Elemis, Elemis Absolute Eye Mask, Elemis Aching Muscle Super Soak, Eyes, fatigue, gentle, harmful, hydration, hypothyroid, hypothyroidism, joints, limbs, medication, muscles, pharmaceutical-grade, protection, puffiness, puffy eyes, rays, redness, repair, sensitive, serum, soak, sun, thyroid, thyroxine, tiredness, underactive thyroid, UVA, UVB

Image source: http://bit.ly/2rcu2SY

Hypothyroidism, also known as an ‘underactive thyroid’ is a condition that occurs when the thyroid gland, located in the front of your neck, doesn’t produce enough thyroid hormone and causes your metabolism to work too slowly. Hypothyroidism is mostly seen in women between the ages of 40 – 50 and is seen in women ten times more often than men. It often occurs during the menopausal years and symptoms are often ignored during the early stages by both patients and doctors if the patient is at this age. There are many symptoms associated with hypothyroidism, and while taking medication and maintaining proper levels will help, some of the symptoms will persist. Here, we take a look at a few of them and how Pure Beauty can help:

Dry Skin

One of the single most common symptoms of an underactive thyroid is dry skin. As well as maintaining good levels of hydrating by drinking plenty of water, you should try to use a rich moisturiser like Dermalogica Power Rich, which is a pharmaceutical-grade formula, designed to give maximum levels of repair and hydration to depleted skin.

Facial Redness

As well as dryness, hypothyroidism can cause redness and tight-feeling skin, similar to the symptoms of rosacea. As well as feeling unpleasant, it can be tricky to hide without layers of heavy make up, which is why Dermalogica UltraCalming Redness Relief Primer SPF20 is a great product to help with this. As well as providing a sheer green tint to counter redness it also contains ingredients to calm and soothe the skin as well as protecting against skin-irritating UVA and UVB rays.

Fatigue

When your metabolism grinds to a halt, it can feel a lot like you’re wading through custard constantly, with fatigue dragging you down. We don’t have a magic trick to make you feel less tired other than getting a good night’s sleep and eating well) but we can recommend something to help with a tired complexion. Elemis Absolute Eye Mask will help to decongest, firm, tone and minimise dark circles, making you LOOK less tired, even if you don’t feel it.

Muscle and Joint Pain

Muscle and joint pain is hugely common with an underactive thyroid and when you combine this with tiredness, it can make you feel about 100 years old. Elemis Aching Muscle Super Soak

Is designed to be added to a hot bath to help you to soothe aching limbs, harnessing the powers of birch, juniper, clove, alpine lavender, wild thyme and blue chamomile, combined with sea salt to recharge mind and body.

Eye Puffiness

As well as dark circles around the eyes, hypothyroidism sufferers also suffer with puffiness around the eyes. This can be easily combatted by adding Dermalogica UltraSmoothing Eye Serum into your daily routine; it’s a highly active eye treatment which is designed to be used on even the most sensitive eyes, giving excellent results whilst being completely gentle. It’s perfect for getting rid of puffiness and will have you feeling yourself in no time.

Clean eating recipes

Tags

apple, avocado, bay leaves, bean salad, blender, breakfast, can, carrot, cheese, chicken, chickpeas, chunky, coconut water, cucumber, cumin, dates, dinner, dressing, drizzle, garlic, heart, ice, ice cubes, joints, kale, kidney beans, lunch, mint, new potatoes, oven, pepper, pitta, pumpkin seeds, recipe, salad, sandwich, season, sesame seeds, slump, smoothie, spinach, strawberry, wholemeal

Last week we looked at getting to grips with the concept of clean eating. Today we are following on with some easy to make, delicious recipes so you can put theory into practice.

As we said, clean eating doesn’t have to be a radical departure from the way you eat today but a shift towards enjoying more the good stuff and dropping the less healthy, processed foods that can be so tempting.

Clean eating meals tend to be lower in salt, sugar and calories and because they don’t contain processed ingredients you know exactly what’s in the food you’re cooking.

So here we go with a breakfast, lunch and dinner option.

If you start the day the clean way, you’re more likely to carry on the same. This clean strawberry, avocado and mint smoothie is the perfect way to kick start your system.

You will need:

1 organic banana
2 cups fresh strawberries
3 teaspoons of fresh mint
1 avocado
2 pitted dates
1 cup of coconut water (mineral water if you prefer)
A few ice cubes

Put all the ingredients in your blender, whizz until smooth and enjoy. You can add a handful of organic oats to keep your fuller for longer and of course if you want to go green, blast some spinach or kale into the mix too.

A chunky, bean salad loaded with goodness and nutrients will not only protect your joints and heart but also stop that mid-afternoon slump a cheese and mayo packed sandwich can cause.

This is really simple but really filling and can be made the night before and taken to work.

You will need:

Small can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
Small can of kidney beans, rinsed and drained
Salad leaves of your choice
A large handful of fresh shredded carrot
One chopped apple
½ a red pepper, sliced
¼ cucumber chopped
1 tablespoon of pumpkin and sesame seeds

Mix these ingredients together then create a dressing from half the juice of a lemon, two teaspoons olive oil, a small teaspoon of ground cumin and a pinch of salt. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and enjoy with a wholemeal pitta.

A chicken and potato tray bake is a super-easy, totally tasty dinner that the whole family can enjoy together ad it is perfect when entertaining friends.

You will need:

4 large organic chicken thighs
3 tablespoons of olive oil
500g of organic new potatoes (halved)
1 organic, unwaxed lemon
140g green olives
8 bay leaves – preferably fresh rather than dried
6 cloves of garlic
Watercress and spinach salad to serve

Set your over to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Pour the oil into a roasting tin and add the potatoes, olives, lemon, bay leaves and garlic. Mix everything together and insure all ingredients are equally coated in the oil. Next add the chicken, skin-side up, season and put in the over for an hour. Check the potatoes are softening after one hour, then cook for another twenty minutes to ensure the meat is perfectly cooked. Serve with a salad and iced water with lemon and cucumber.

During the day enjoy healthy clean snacks, drink plenty of water and keep caffeine and alcohol to a minimum.

If you have a clean eating recipe, let us know about it.