Oxygen feeds the fire of your metabolism. Like snuffing out a candle, a lack of oxygen depresses metabolism. Under conditions of poor circulation the thyroid will naturally shift to a hypo-active state. The placement of your thyroid close to the lungs is not coincidental, but has meaning.

The thyroid tends to get a lot of the blame in the metabolism & weight loss game. The thyroid approach can leave you feeling a little fatalistic about metabolism - as if it's a fixed thing - you were either born with a high or a low metabolism and there's nothing you can do about it. But the foods you eat can affect your metabolism.

Rich foods such as bread, cheese and sugar, depress your metabolism because they thicken your bodily fluids. As your blood thickens, it becomes harder to circulate. Your circulation is responsible for carrying oxygen to all the cells of the body. When blood is thick and sluggish, oxygen delivery is thwarted, depressing your metabolism. A thick coating of mucus in your lungs doesn't help. The mucus thwarts absorption of oxygen. So you should avoid these foods if you have a low metabolism, no matter what your thyroid count is.

Low thyroid is simply the end of a chain reaction. If you set off a long string of dominoes on a table - thyroid might be the last one to tumble. But the process started a long way back. In order to rectify it, you must start at the beginning.

Home Remedies for Low Metabolism & Thyroid Disorders

• General detoxification
• Antioxidants & Anti-inflammatories (Fucus vesiculosus, Selenium)
• Liver Herbs - To normalize hormones
• Antivirals (Andrographis paniculata, Artemsia annua)
• Immunomodulators (Astragalus)
• Mood lifters (St. John's Wort, Lemon Balm)
• Mint family herbs (Motherwort)

If your thyroid is low, your smooth muscle tissue may lose strength and tone. Your heart, diaphragm, and intestines will become weak. As your diaphragm weakens, your breath becomes shallow and you get even less oxygen. Pranayama is a great way to strengthen your diaphragm and get a full breath again. It helps circulate the blood in your core, improving your circulation in general.

Pranayama detoxifies your body, the lungs in particular. Remember, one main cause of impaired circulation of oxygen is a too-thick mucosal lining in the lungs. So, incorporating a daily breathing practice cleanses, detoxifies, and whittles away at this thick layer of mucus. This allows your body to utilize the oxygen you inhale. The sensation of light, bright, clear-minded freshness you feel after just 10 minutes of breathing indicates that your body is receiving more oxygen.

Exercise is another way to improve your metabolism. Like pranayama, moderate exercise like walking improves your circulation, strengthens your muscles, and oxygenates your blood. The following yoga poses can help your thyroid gland:

• Interlock hands behind the back and take a deep breath.
• Stretch the thyroid with fish pose, plow pose, shoulder stand
• Sun salutations to increase cardiac rate
• Lung openers like camel, cow pose, and gentle backbends in general are good for thyroid

Green vegetables, and especially those with bitter taste, increase prana, making you feel fresh and vital. Examples include chicory, red leaf lettuce & cooked kale. Avoid raw cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cabbage, and kale but these are fine when cooked. Avoid water containing fluoride, which was used as a thyroid suppressant in the 1950s.

Healthy fats are the building blocks for all hormones. Support your thyroid's hormone production by providing it with great materials to work with! Coconut oil, ghee, flax oil, and fish oil are all great sources.

Spices like ginger & black pepper stimulate your heart rate and get your circulation moving. Your circulation can also be improved through warm teas, turmeric, mild exercise, stretching, and massage.

• Punarnava- Lights a fire for slow digestion, especially helpful for toxicity. Punarnava gives a big boost to your metabolic fire. Reduces kapha and aids in weight loss by removing excess water.
• Vacha- Stimulates the mind. Vacha is great for brain fog and kapha type depression.
• Trikatu- Very hot and dry- trikatu jumpstarts the digestive fire. Have a pinch before meals.
• Bacopa- Brightens and sharpens the mind to address brain-fog and depression.
• Eleuthero- Commonly known as Siberian Ginseng. Adaptogenic herb that supports adrenals, which are often compromised in hypothyroid patients.
• Lemongrass- Digestive and boosts fat metabolism.
• Guggulu- Studies show guggulu can increase thyroid output of hormones and stimulate the conversion of the T4 into T3 form, thus addressing two of the three hormonal deficiencies responsible for hyprothyroidism. This can help increase metabolism and burn fat. Gugguisterones (what a fun word!) are the chemical constituent responsible.
• Lemons are especially useful for dry skin in hypothyroid, as it dilates the pores.
• B vitamins- Although not an herb, B vitamins greatly help fatigue
• An easy home formula to improve your circulation: Try an herbal tea with lemon, turmeric, and cinnamon

Many people with hypothyroidism of all types also suffer from depleted adrenals, known as adrenal fatigue. Typically, depleted adrenals comes first, followed by a depressed thyroid. The reason is that when adrenals become weak due to chronic stress, poor diet, trauma either physical or emotional, they release unnecessary stress hormones that put the body process of breakdown. Since the thyroid controls metabolism, it does it's best to balance the process started by your adrenals. The result is a slow thyroid as a result of weakened adrenals. This process can happen over a period of months to years. So, in order to support your thyroid function, it's imperative that you take notice of your adrenal strength. If they are depleted, you must address both your thyroid and adrenals.

Supporting your adrenals is quite simple. It takes rest and stress reduction, mainly lifestyle changes that calm down buzzy, anxiety ridden vata dosha. Many herbs that calm vata also support the adrenals as do adaptogenic herbs like ashwagangha, tulsi, eleuthro, and schisandra.