Nutritional Detoxification for your Thryoid

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Nutritional Detox

1. Most detoxing takes place when we are sleeping. If you are always in overdrive detoxification can’t take place. We must be relaxed for detoxification to happen. 

2. Your body is designed to constantly be “cleaning house” or removing toxins and debris that build up in the body. 

3. Without ensuring your digestion and other systems are running optimally, detoxification can overload a system and toxins can recirculate in the body. 

Detoxification is the way the body heals and repairs itself 

Body Systems involved in Detoxification: 

Cardiovascular ~ circulating blood cleanses other detox sites such as the liver

Lymphatic ~ fluid flow through lymph where pathogens are filtered out

Digestive ~ GI tract scans food for invaders, detoxes poorly digested and 

  fermented toxins all of which leave the body through elimination

~ Liver- cleans and purifies blood by filtering toxins from blood &

    neutralizing them before elimination (includes pharmaceuticals)

~ Gallbladder neutralizes toxins which are carried out through the bile

    and excreted in elimination!

Kidneys ~ Filter blood and remove waste through urine

Skin ~ Sweat glands are like a second kidney removing waste through sweating

Lungs ~ eliminate waste like carbon dioxide

• Fasting is not recommended for someone with blood sugar issues or what is commonly called hypoglycemia or low blood sugar.

• Releasing toxins too quickly can be detrimental

• The liver is the Spring organ. A good time for detoxification is in Spring because our bodies tend to hold on to things through the winter. 

• Scientists estimate that humans carry over 700 toxic chemicals in their body. A toxin is defined by any substance that creates irritating and/or harmful effects in the body. 

• ANY substance in excess can create toxic elements in the body. 

Pesticides and your food

Strawberries: the soil in strawberry fields are/were repeatedly saturated with methyl bromide and covered with plastic sheets. Methyl Bromide kills all weeds, insects and soil microbes. In 1999 over 5 million pounds of Methyl Bromide were applied to strawberry fields in CA. Methyl Bromide is a category 1 acute toxin (the most toxic kind). Side effects of exposure include: headaches, nausea, muscle aches, blurred vision, dizziness, damage to lungs, kidneys and other systems in the body. Field workers are often told they have the flu when picking berries in June and July. Source: Kimbrel, A., Fatal Harvest 2002.

Processed lifeless food is seen by the body as a toxin. 

Too much food consumed at one time uses too much energy. It doesn’t leave any energy for “house cleaning” 

The best foods to consume for maintaining healthy systems and proper detoxification 

Check EWG.org for the list of the CLEAN 15 and DIRTY DOZEN produce guides to know which items you should always buy organic and which are okay to buy conventional. 

Foods that love the liver:  

acerola cherries rose hips red chili peppers kiwi mango  guava sweet peppers

strawberries parsley  cantaloupe citrus fruits papaya asparagus  collard greens

kale cauliflower red cabbage broccoli brussel sprouts spinach

Consume High Quality Fats: keeps your gallbladder working well and bile free flowing

Avocado oil, coconut oil, olive oil, ghee, lard, tallow or expeller pressed sesame oil 

If you are not digesting your food, even the most perfect diet can clog detox pathways.

• It is important you are relaxed when you sit down to eat a meal. Take time to give thanks, take a deep breath, chew and savor each bite (ideally 20-30 times). 

• The breakdown of proteins provides amino acids that are critical to detoxification throughout the body. It is important to know if you are making enough stomach acid!

• Poor fat digestion clogs the lymphatic system and the liver- if you don’t have a gallbladder it is imperative you take bile salts with each meal. 

• If your blood sugar is out of control your liver will be stressed  Sugar depletes B vitamins (B6 needed by the liver to detox and B2 needed for the detoxification pathways to work properly

• Fat tissue is the storage shed for toxins like metals, petroleum and other chemicals (soap, shampoo, hair styling products, make up, shave cream)

• Consuming and Digesting healthy fats causes less liver stress

• Bile is built of healthy fat- toxins flow through and are removed by bile

• Minerals from the soil and your food are needed by the body for detoxification

• Selenium detoxes heavy metals (many people with thyroid problems are deficient in selenium)

• Zinc is depleted by heavy metals and needed to produce adequate stomach acid

• Molybdenum plays a role in detoxing- if you are sensitive to perfumes, smoke, diesel fumes it indicate deficiency

• Water is extremely important for detoxification. Keeping hydrated (half your body weight in water approximately) helps the body flush toxins through the urine and keeps elimination regular (two major detox pathways)

• Keeping hydrated allows the body to sweat out toxins. The skin is the largest detoxification pathway the body has. Taking regular saunas is ideal

• Hydration allows your lung tissue to remain moist and detox through carbon dioxide

• Hydration keeps your blood fluid allowing intracellular waste to be transported through the liver 

Super Foods For A Super You

We are talking about foods that build a healthy thyroid and a healthy body today.

How can I put my Hashimoto's in to remission if my thyroid is burnt out?

Welcome to episode 52.

I can’t believe I made it a year. I’m grateful you are listening. I suppose I should have done something to celebrate a year of podcasting but I have a crap ton of work to do for school this week which is generating a fair amount of stress for me so one day I will get it together and do some kind of giveaway. 

I have been monitoring my blood sugar levels for the last few days because I have really been struggling with some symptoms of blood sugar dysregulation. It turns out that my body is not so much appreciating the morning protein shake, especially when it is made with raw cacao. The caffeine from that alone is causing me to get a jittery feeling. I did much better with a meal of chicken and cabbage for breakfast yesterday with more stable blood sugar all through out the day. 

I am hoping to get a handle on this so my adrenals can have a break and I can gain some muscle. I’m finally able to get some exercise in after my broken collarbone. 

Okay- on to a listener question

Hi Stephanie,

I get confused with all the varying things I am reading about Hashi's, in particular how can my Hashi's be put into remission when  technically it has burnt out?  I am hoping you can shed some light on this for me, please.

Good luck with your studies - I know how much work goes into a Masters Degree.  

Many thanks

Kind Regards

Dorothy

There are varying degrees of damage done to your thyroid when you have Hashimoto’s. The longer you go with inflammation in the body that creates higher antibodies you may have more damage done to your thyroid leaving it unable to produce hormone. 

When you are putting Hashimoto’s in to remission you are putting out the inflammatory fire that is causing your body to be out of balance. That inflammation will be different for everyone and it will cause your thyroid to be damaged but how long it takes to put your autoimmune disease in to remission depends on how much damage was done and how long you have gone before you started making changes to your health. 

It can often be diet changes that will bring antibodies down and put your disease in to remission. Often times though, you will need to do more than just a few simple diet changes. 

Food is information for our cells. What you put in your body matters. Processed foods are basically dead foods. They have no good information for our cells to take in to build healthy tissues which build healthy organs which build healthy systems which build a healthy person or organism. 

So food is important. What you eat is important and the quality of that food is equally important. It can be expensive to eat healthy, especially if you are buying any amount of convenience “health food” such as gluten free crackers or breads or lunch meat that is of higher quality. 

It is time consuming to cook healthy foods especially if you get caught up in all the fun stuff so many food bloggers are making. I don’t have time for complicated dishes so I don’t make them. I made venison steak bites seasoned with Redmond Real Seasoned Salt, and pepper cooked in coconut oil and I steamed broccoli and sautéed Brussels sprouts in olive oil and added minced garlic at the end with some lemon juice. I added a side of my homemade sauerkraut and that was it. The night before I had chicken breast cooked in a cast iron skillet and roasted cabbage. 

Real whole clean foods are a good place to start to put your disease in to remission. 

You also have to look at what your blood sugar is like. If you have blood sugar dysregulation you will likely still be dealing with inflammation and thyroid issues even if your diet is perfect. 

• Do you wake up a few hours after falling asleep (or between 1-3am) and find it hard to get back to sleep?

• Do you crave sweet things?

• Do you have binge type eating  or uncontrolled eating?

• Do you feel like your appetite is excessive?

• Do you crave coffee or sugar in the afternoon?

• Do you get sleepy in the afternoon or after a meal?

• Does your fatigue get relieved by eating?

• Do you get a headache or feel shaky if meals or skipped or delayed?

• Do you get irritable or hangry before meals?

These are all signs you need to work on balancing your blood sugar which can be done with diet but also lifestyle changes because it isn’t only food that causes a rise in blood sugar. 

Lack of food, low blood sugar in the morning or not eating soon enough in the morning can cause your adrenals to have to get involved in raising blood sugar- a cortisol release and then you have an insulin surge and maybe you are insulin resistant and you are then storing fat because insulin is a fat storage hormone. 

Foods to help blood sugar regulation include: 

• asparagus

• avocado

• soaked and sprouted beans

• brewers yeast

• broccoli

• brussels sprouts

• butter

• carrots

• cauliflower

• eggs

• full fat dairy

• kale

• liver

• onions

• peas

• pecans

• salmon

• seaweed

• sweet potato

• tomatoes

These foods and others have the very important B vitamins which are so important in blood sugar regulation as well as some amino acids and other compounds that help promote insulin to do its job as well as maintain hormone balance. 

You won’t be able to put Hashimoto’s in to remission if you have low iron stores- ferritin. So have a full iron panel done at the lab. the lab range for ferritin is ridiculous. It is like 17-80 or something. Most people with thyroid issues feel better with ferritin in the higher range. 

You also won’t put Hashimoto’s in to remission if you are dealing with adrenal insufficiency or hpa axis dysfunction. Your adrenal glands have many roles, one of which is to manage blood sugar. Another is to manage stress. So if you are having fights in your head with your parter or spouse, your mom or whoever, if you get really mad in traffic or have a lot going on and zero support you will likely be dealing with some kind of adrenal issue. 

• If you tend to be a night person- you get a second wind later in the evening and have trouble falling asleep and then are slow to start in the morning. 

• If you feel keyed up and can’t calm down. 

• Higher or lower than normal blood pressure, get dizzy when standing up. 

• Feel wired or jittery after drinking coffee. Caffeine is one of the worst things you can do for your adrenal health, especially if you are dealing with some kind of adrenal imbalance which most of us are. 

• If you get a headache after exercising- I had a friend who this happened to and she never could figure out why this was. I wonder now if she wasn’t dealing with adrenal issues. My guess is yes based on knowing a bit about her life. 

• Do you clench or grind your teeth? 

• Do you crave salt or salt your food before you taste it?

• Do you have chronic low back pain that gets worse with fatigue?

• Have chronic fatigue or get drowsy or tired often or easily?

• Do you get a headache in the afternoon or yawn a lot?

These are all signs you may be needing to do some work on your adrenal glands. 

Making sure you eat a meal with protein in the morning within an hour of waking will help your adrenals heal. Also make sure that you are getting plenty of rest and doing some gentle exercise along with a no sugar diet for a few weeks will help your adrenals reset. 

There may be some burn out in your thyroid or damage. You may need medication for the rest of your life but you are not resigned to a life of fatigue and general malaise. 

In my functional medicine training we are talking about making the whole person better- mind, body and spirit.  One cannot work great without the other two in balance as well.

You can feel better and you deserve to feel better. This disease ruins so many lives but we don’t have to let it. 

You can take charge of your health. This is what I most passionate about. Take charge of how you perceive your illness. Do not let it be who you are. This is so important. 

I spent a lot of years hiding behind my disease and letting it define me. My kids got a sick mom. They also got a mom who for years let that sickness be her excuse until one day I woke up and wanted more. 

I wanted a better life. I took that to an extreme for awhile too and now I have finally found some balance. I am less dogmatic with myself and am okay with the choices I am making in food and in life. 

It is a process and takes some time to figure out- which can all depend on your life view and what kinds of baggage you took from your childhood and all that stuff. 

Getting well is a bit of a process but it can be done. Of course it is much easier when you have support from those around you and the energy to get started but it doesn’t have to all change over night. Baby steps can be just the right place to start. 

And one more thing about diet. The autoimmune protocol is a wonderful diet. Elimination diets in general are the best way to figure out which foods your body doesn’t really do well with. They are not the be all end all. You don’t have to stress about doing it.

Start with what you are comfortable with but also know that healing may take longer if you are consuming things that inflame your body. The stress of trying to change your life can also cause inflammation so do it in a way that works for you and don’t compare your journey to any one else’s. We are bio individuals and so is our healing. 

Thanks for writing in. I thank you for that. If you have any questions about this episode please head over to helpforhashimotos.com and leave a comment on episode 52. 

I’m not loving how the social media outlets are banning some people these days because they don’t align with big pharma or big food companies.

 People are starting to notice that these big companies care much less about our health and more about profits no matter the expense of the people consuming or being forced to use their products. 

Nothing wrong with making a profit but there is a lot wrong with the integrity of some of these big companies and people are standing up for their health and changing the marketplace. 

Please continue to do that. Stand up for what you believe no matter what side you are on and have a conversation about your side rather than slinging mud at others. We can’t change the world with mud but we can agree to disagree. 

So anyway, I don’t have a big social media presence and not many of you would miss me if I disappeared off of social media. I encourage you to take a break from it as well. Spend time looking at the sunset instead of scrolling at pictures of one. Go for a hike or a walk with someone you love instead of texting them. Go to someone’s website instead of their facebook page. 

You have the power to change the way things are done in this world and because it is money that rules the world, choose wisely where you spend yours. 

Thanks for listening. 

Find me at helpforhashimotos.com or email me at helpforhashimotos@gmail.com or fill out the contact form on my website. 

Have a great week. 

Should I give up gluten and what kind of vitamins should I take? Should you remove gluten from your diet? What k

Q: My daughter-in-law just got diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and told to go on a gluten-free diet. I've had Hashimoto's and have never been told to change my diet. I feel like I live in the outback of some remote mountain. My doctors don't seem to know anything. Just want to put me on medications. So frustrated!

While there are no studies for hashimoto's and diet now, there is one being done and there has been one done showing the positive effect that an elimination diet has had on IBS. Gluten and dairy have proteins that are similar in structure to the thyroid and if you have intestinal permeability and those proteins get in to your blood stream your immune system can attack your thyroid tissue. So, many people with this disease and other autoimmune diseases find that starting with an elimination of those two things along with then going on a full elimination diet can be helpful to find triggers that may be causing your antibodies to be higher. It isn't forever and you will be able to reintroduce many foods but you might also find that you feel much better having eliminated some of them for good. Can't hurt to try it. 

Also, you said you have had hashimoto’s. I just want to clarify for everyone that once you have this disease you will always have it. You can put it in to remission but you will always have to manage it. 

Q: Any recommendations for best vitamins to take to help with vitamin levels ? Grace

You need to first make sure that your digestion is working well. 

Are you chewing foods 20-30 times per bite? The breakdown of carbohydrate starts in the mouth with enzymes in our saliva. Then in the stomach pepsin is triggered to break down proteins. If you are not making enough stomach acid you will not be breaking down proteins. Stomach acid also helps to release vitamins and minerals from the food you ate. You will find yourself deficient in those if you are not having enough stomach acid. Once food is broken down in the stomach then it will be released little by little in to the small intestine where bicarbonate will be released to neutralize the chyme so it doesn’t damage the small intestine and bile is released to break down fats. The brush boarder of your small intestine further breaks things down to ensure you are getting all the nutrients out of your food and it can be shuttled to the cells for use as energy and in other chemical processes and in building healthy cells and a healthy body. 

Before wasting money on vitamins check your digestion. How is your stool when you go to the bathroom? Does it float? Is it greasy or shiny? Do you see food particles? Is it a soft blob or is it like rabbit poop? Maybe it is that perfect shape and comes out with no issues and the toilet paper is relatively clean when you wipe. This is what you are striving for but if it isn’t then you have an issue with your digestion and that should be fixed before spending money on supplements, except something that will help your gut heal and maybe some betaine HCl to help you digest your food. 

Cabbage juice is supposed to be super healing to the gut. I don’t know if there are any studies on it but it is what I have been told. 

If you are dealing with hashimoto’s you should definitely have your iron levels checked in a full iron panel. You need to have good iron stores in order to heal. Iron brings oxygen to your cells. It is important.  If you don’t have enough oxygen getting to your cells, your body is going to struggle to heal itself. Make sure you don’t have anemia, including pernicious anemia which is an autoimmune disease where you don’t absorb B12. Sometimes supplementing with iron won’t help bring your iron levels up. This was the case for me. Nothing brought my iron levels up. I have not had them checked either and I should. 

If you are not absorbing iron when supplementing, you should look at how red blood cells are breaking down. 

Other things that can be helpful for someone with thyroid problems is essential fatty acids like DHA and EPA or the omega 3 fatty acids. They should be in about a 1:1 ratio with the omega 6 fatty acids which we typically get way too much of because our biggest source is from “vegetable oils”. You may want to take a fish oil supplement with EPA and DHA if you are dealing with any insulin resistance. This condition makes it hard for the body to use an EFA like flax oil, evening primrose oil, borage or black current seed oil which are popular as well. Those oils will actually become inflammatory in the body rather than anti-inflammatory when someone has insulin resistance. EPA and DHA will help your cells take in glucose better and keep insulin levels in check. 

The enzyme thyroid peroxidase helps make thyroid hormones. In order for the chemical processes to work well, you need selenium, copper, magnesium, B vitamins and zinc. 

You may or may not need these- work with someone to know for sure so you don’t waste your money. 

Vitamin A helps the receptors on cells for thyroid hormone to work better. 

Magnesium is needed if you are dealing with blood sugar regulation problems. It takes around 20 or so  molecules of magnesium to process one molecule of glucose or sugar in the body. 

What you need will be different from what someone else needs. Remember that. Bio-individuality is important. 

Listener question answered.

Is there a magic pill for thyroid disease? How to detach from the false promise of a magical solution or quick fix to our thyroid problem.

We are often looking for a quick fix to our health problems. In today’s episode I am talking with Danna Bowman and Ginny Mahar from Thyroid Refresh about how you can make small changes which can lead to bigger ones that ultimately gain you your health back. I love talking with these two fabulous women who have turned their own chronic health problems in to something so positive.

You can find out more about them at www.thyroidrefresh.com/thyroid30 Registration for their summer session starts June 3, 2019.

My hormones are all screwed up. What can I do to get my adrenals back in to balance?

Welcome to episode 48. 

Hi Stephanie,

I love listening to your hashimoto’s podcast

I’ve been listening now consistently for a few months and feel it’s been so helpful for just more understanding of hashimoto’s and knowing I’m not alone in this battle

I was diagnosed after I had my son (he is 2.5 now). I had no difficulty conceiving him but since him have had 2 miscarriages. I feel like my thyroid is to blame. I’ve been working with a functional medicine doctor and have gone gluten free 100% and as much as I can grain free dairy free and soy free. 

I’m on 60mg on NP thyroid

I’m 33 years old 

My latest blood work still show concerns. My TSH increases from .11 (nov 2018) to 3.29. My t4 is low at 3.9 and free t4 low at .68

My t3 is 88 so low on the normal scale

My free t3 is 2.4 again low on the normal scale

My anti thyroglobulin antibodies did decrease from 329 to 183 (so I guess that’s one good thing)

My dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate is 104

Estradiol is 223

Progesterone is .33

Testosterone is super low at less then 12

She thinks if I decrease my adrenal stress this should help thyroid and testosterone . I’m trying to get more sleep and decrease stress but let’s face it with a 2.5 year old, I work full time, my husband travels a lot for work so I’m solo a lot -it’s just hard.

She said to try acupuncture so that’s on my list to start 

I’ve read some info about having hashimoto’s and low stomach acid . What are your thoughts on this? Having low stomach acid might mean I’m not breaking down and getting as much nutrients from food. I read it talking about taking a pepsin enzyme with meals but it did caution about taking them if you don’t really have low stomach acid. It said papaya and pineapple might naturally increase stomach acid so I was thinking of adding more of these into my green smoothies in the morning

I just added hemp seed for more zinc in my morning smoothies and would like to try selenium too (you have talked on both of these in your podcasts previously) 

I have stopped doing orange theory and other high intensity exercises and now just do yoga or light short jogs. I have always done consistent regular mod to high intensity workouts so this is a change for me

Any feedback you have would be so helpful

Thank you again for providing me with a hashimoto community 

Have a great day

Jennifer 

Thanks for your question Jennifer. It sounds like you could have had pregnancy induced hypothyroidism which is not the correct technical name for it but it is really common. It could also be that you had the autoimmune component before pregnancy and the pregnancy triggered a full blown attack which you felt symptoms of after your son was born. 

If you want to see if your thyroid can function on its own, so meaning you get off your medication, then you are going to have to be diligent with your diet and your doctor is right- you will need to work on getting your adrenals in to a normally functioning range which will also help your body keep a pregnancy. I am so sorry you have had two miscarriages. Your body definitely needs some time to get back in to balance. 

There are several things that could be going on here. I mentioned pregnancy being one thing that is messing with your thyroid. The other is the possibility that your pituitary is sensing the thyroid isn’t working well and will release more TSH in order to tell your thyroid to make thyroxine but your T4 is low so I’m honestly not too sure about that. 

DHEA is on the low end which means your adrenals have become tired so to speak. I can’t comment much on the other hormone levels as I am not even close to being an expert on them. They do work in concert with adrenals and thyroid though so if one is not working well the others will not be either. 

I think you need to work on your adrenal health first and foremost and then retest hormones and thyroid levels. 

Here are some signs you might be struggling with hypo or hyper adrenal function: 

• You tend to be a night person or have that second wind late evening

• You struggle to fall asleep, tend to be keyed up and have trouble calming down

• You are a slow starter in the morning

• Have either really high blood pressure or really low blood pressure

• Do you feel wired or jittery after drinking coffee?

• Do you get a headache after exercising?

• You clench or grind your teeth?

• Feel calm on the outside and troubled on the inside

• You have chronic low back pain that gets worse when you are tired

• You become dizzy when you stand up suddenly

• You crave salty foods, salt foods before tasting them

• You tend towards arthritis

• You sweat easily

• You have chronic fatigue or get drowsy often

• You experience afternoon yawning or headache

• Tendency to sprain your ankle or get shin splints

• Do you need sunglasses when you go outside?

If your cortisol is highest in the morning, you will not be dragging yourself out of bed. High cortisol in the morning and low cortisol at night is what you are striving for. You need your melatonin to kick in at night so you can feel tired and fall asleep. 

Being keyed up with trouble calming down is a sign that your adrenals are in hypermode and your DHEA is low. 

Chronic stress lowers cortisol which will cause your body to not be able to manage your blood sugar very well- low blood sugar, irritability and headaches. 

Wired after coffee indicates excess adrenal/cortisol output, need for supporting your liver and high cortisol with low DHEA will cause this wired feeling as well. 

If you are craving salt this is a classic sign your adrenals are not working or are in a hypo functioning state. You may also need electrolytes. Your adrenals help with mineral balancing. When you are in a state of chronic stress, you are losing minerals. 

You want to make sure you are eating real whole foods as much as possible. Avoid refined sugar and refined carbohydrates- basically avoid most things that come in a box. Avoid caffeine. Make sure you are eating a clean source of protein at every meal and avoid those foods that may cause a reaction because the inflammation in the body will also affect your adrenal health. 

Do not fast. Fasting will affect your blood sugar levels which will then affect your adrenals. No cleanses, no detox diets. 

You can take things like herbs from the ginseng family that will help your body deal with stress. Licorice root can be helpful as it will increase cortisol or help you if your cortisol is low which will allow your adrenal glands a chance to take a break and heal a bit. 

Please check with your functional medicine doctor about this. It might be a good idea to to the cortisol salivary panel to see just where you are in adrenal fatigue. 

Make sure you make time for sleep. Not so easy with a 2.5 year old at home but you can go to sleep when he does. Stay off screens at night and wear the blue blocker glasses starting at about 7pm. 

Work on relaxation techniques, meditation, biofeedback, acupuncture. 

Keep exercise to a minimum for about a month. Stick to walking and light weights 2 days a week for a month. You have to give your body a break, especially since you are on your own so much with a spouse that travels. 

If you can buy pre-made meals for some way to give yourself a break on cooking- buy from Paleo on The Go or some other delivery service like that. You can get $10 off your first order with the code GETCLEAR. I use them for situations where I know I need food and I don’t have the time or ability to cook up a bunch of stuff for myself. When I broke my collarbone I bought a weekends worth of food from them for a seminar I was going to. I couldn’t cook so I didn’t have a choice. 

Lastly- for the adrenals- get outside and expose your eyes to natural light as much as possible especially right away in the morning. 

You asked about stomach acid. If you are dealing with chronic stress, it is likely you are not making enough stomach acid. Dealing with hypothyroidism also means you are probably low on stomach acid. So, you can start out with pepsin and digestive enzymes and see if you notice a difference. You may need to get some Betaine HCl which is actual acid that is needed to convert pepsinogen to pepsin (I hope I have that right- I just learned that in school- it is that way or the opposite) which is what breaks down protein and then more breakdown happens in the upper small intestine and then absorption of nutrients through the rest of your small intestine. 

So, you need to be relaxed when you eat and you may still need some digestive support. Just adding papaya and pineapple to your smoothie will not help you digest your meals well. In fact, those are pretty high in sugar if I am not mistaken so they may make your blood sugar worse which will just trigger a cascade of issues, including more adrenal stress. 

 Most brands of Betaine should be fine- there is no one betaine that is more special than the other. Although many supplement company reps will tell you the quality of their betaine is better which may be true. Who knows.  You will know if you don’t need the stomach acid if you feel a burning sensation after taking it. Do a “challenge” to see how many you need and start small at about 150mg of betaine.  If you have an ulcer or an H. Pylori infection, you can make things worse so be aware of that. 

Speaking of your smoothies- add frozen chopped zucchini and frozen riced cauliflower to them. I have been adding those to my smoothie and zero fruit which is helping my blood sugar a ton. Here is what I put in my smoothie: 

• 1 cup crushed ice

• 1 scoop Designs for Health Pure Paleo Protein powder

• 1 scoop Designs for Health Pea Protein powder

• 2-3 tablespoons cocoa powder

• ⅓ cup coconut flakes

• Apex Energetics Nourish Greens and Collagen- 1 scoop each

• 5 or so drops vitamin d, and AEK

• 2 tablespoons hemp seeds

• 2 tablespoons chia seeds

• ½ cup chopped frozen zucchini

• ½ cup frozen riced cauliflower

• sometimes 2 tablespoons sunflower seed butter, sometimes 2 drops mint essential oil from organic ecocertified oil 

• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

• sometimes 2 teaspoons monkfruit or ⅓ ripe banana

• 1 cup or so of water

For selenium, I take GTA Forte II from Biotics which also has zinc and copper in synergistic amounts so that one mineral doesn’t deplete the others. Getting your minerals from food is fine because our food, real food, is packaged perfectly so that we get just the right amount of each mineral. If you are supplementing, you maybe don’t want to just go buy selenium because someone says it works for them. It is always a good idea to have a practitioner monitor that type of stuff. 

I hope this helps. Good luck to you and thanks for writing in.

That is it for today. Please leave me a rating or review on iTunes so more people can find the podcast and get the ever loving help they need. 

Sign up for my newsletter at helpforhashimotos.com and get the ebook- 5 things your doctor won’t tell you about hypothyroidism. 

What do high TPO and TgAb antibodies mean when T3 and T4 are in range? Episode 47.

I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis 2 years ago and I'm 26 years old, but I don't know how long I had it before it was detected. I found out by accident. I went in because I thought I had kidney problems, but the blood work came back it showed I had hypothyroidism. The TSH came back in the 400 range, but my T3 and T4 were in range. A dietitian came and told me that my condition could be "cured" through the AIP diet, so I gave it a shot. And then I gave up. I travel a lot and just moved to Japan (the move has been stressful and my hair has started falling out quite a lot). I also just discovered your podcast and it's blown my mind. I feel more motivated to try again, but it's difficult to communicate with Japanese doctors. I just got my most recent blood work back and my TSH is 9.413 (so the Dr increased my meds), the T3/T4 is still in range, but my TPO and Tg are super high. TPO is 198 and Tg is 954. My bf is super supportive and wants me to get into remission and I want to get off of the medication, but I'm not really sure how to start, especially since I'm a foodie and I'm in Japan with wonderful food available. I feel hopeful and discouraged all at the same time.

-Laura

TSH high

T3 in range

T4 in range

TPO and TgAb high

Thyroglobulin antibodies- TgAb: thyroglobulin is made in the thyroid and helps make thyroid hormone- a common trigger for Hashimoto’s. 

Thyroid peroxidase antibodies- TPO. This is an enzyme that is needed for the production of thyroid hormones and is often the first thing attacked in hashi’s. 

I found a paper (Woeber 2016) that said high thyroglobulin antibodies are used to diagnose cancer. These antibodies are found in blood tests in about 20% of patients with thyroid cancer that develops in the thyroid follicular cells.  Follicular cells use iodine in the blood to make thyroid hormones. 

Most thyroid cancer is what is called papillary cancer which grows slowly and develops in the lobe or one side of the thyroid.  Often the cells look normal.  

I might check with a doctor over there if possible to see if they can do some further testing just to be safe. 

A study in 2017  (Matana et al 2017)discussed diet and how it contributes to antibodies. They acknowledge that genetics play a pretty big role in thyroid autoimmune disease but environment also plays a role. 

What contributes to Hashimoto’s disease?

• Either too much or not enough iodine

• Smoking was a risk factor for Graves Disease but not Hashimoto’s.

• Selenium and Vitamin D intake or lack of intake

• Stress

• Nutrient deficiencies

• Infections/viruses

• Impaired gut function

• Low iron

• Adrenal fatigue

Being infected with enterovirus which is a common infection in babies and kids- runny nose, cough, feeling unwell, fever. 

The study pretty much bashes animal fats as something that increased antibodies but the study was done using a questionnaire- we don’t know the quality of the food and they are saying that it was an association and not a cause. 

The point of AIP is that it is anti-inflammatory and contains healthy fats. When I did AIP I didn’t eat enough veggies and sometimes I think that is where we go wrong with it. I think trying out AIP again would be good. 

I would not just go off your medication. There may be too much damage to your thyroid and you don’t want to end up with more damage to your body. I’m still recovering from going off my meds 4 or 5 months ago. I’m still really puffy and can’t get rid of the weight I gained from that. Plus it is dangerous. Your organs start to shut down. That is not good. 

So- do you know anyone in Japan? Having a support system will help. 

Start with one meal at a time. Avoid all the big inflammatory foods- I don’t know what the food is like over there. Maybe someone who is listening can help us out here. Send me an email if you know how you can help Laura navigate Japan. 

Take it one meal at a time. You need to get the inflammation down, calm down the immune system and figure out which foods, if any, are causing the antibodies to go up. 

You mentioned traveling a lot which makes me think maybe you got some kind of bug and that could be the trigger here. Until you can get to the root cause you need to calm down your immune system and the best and easiest way to do that is to remove those potentially inflammatory foods. 

Sometimes we need to take it one step at a time. Start by removing all grains and alcohol but add in some good healthy fats- coconut oil (not sure how easy that is to get there), olive oil, avocados, olives and if you like fish and get fish that is not contaminated from the radiation then eat fatty fish once a week. 

The next week remove legumes and nightshades and add in some soups and bone broth from pastured animals. 

The following week take out the dairy products if you have not already as well as coffee and chocolate. 

Then take out processed foods, refined sugar products, eggs and poor quality oils like vegetable oils and add in some fermented foods like sauerkraut or kimchi. 

Lastly, remove the nuts and seeds and add in nutrient dense meats like liver if you can tolerate it. 

Keep this up for at least a month and then see how you feel. You may want to continue eating this way for a couple months or more depending on how sick you are. 

You can begin to reintroduce foods when you feel like your body is ready. There are lots of resources online to know just how to do it, or in books but the basics look like this: 

Take just one food. Eat it 2-3 times in one day taking note of how you feel after you eat it up to an hour or two later. If you do okay- wait 4 days to a week before reintroducing another food and don’t eat any more of the reintro food for those 4-7 days. Be mindful of your well being during those days to see if you can attribute anything to the food. For example- I get pain in my right hip- almost like arthritis when I eat corn sometimes. But it is a trigger I can look for when eating something my body might not like- I think it is the oil the corn is cooked in rather than the corn itself but I’m not going to just eat a crappy oil to test it out. :) If you don’t have any symptoms, you can add that food back in to your diet and test out something else. If you have a reaction then don’t eat that food for awhile- like another month of healing and if you have a reaction give your body a good week or so to recover from it before you reintroduce anything else. 

Reactions to foods can come in many forms- your skin, your mood, your joints, headaches, digestion, poor sleep, extreme fatigue. Food journaling with your mood is a good way to track all of this.  

Some other things I would make sure you are working on are:

• sleep

• stress management- so meditation, connection, exercise (too much or not enough)

• spritual stuff- whatever that means for you

• get out in nature

I understand wanting to get off your medication. I wanted that so bad. You might be able to but if you can’t it doesn’t mean you are a failure. The medication we have to take is a hormone. We need it to survive. It is okay if you need it. 

If you want to go way out there though- check out the work of Dr. Joe Dispenza. He was in a terrible accident while biking and he crushed his spine. The doctors told him he would never walk again and he healed his injury with his mind. Now he travels around the world and teaches people how to use their mind to bring good into their life. That is some woo woo stuff but also pretty miraculous. 

And as far as I’m concerned, meditation of any kind is good for us and we really do become what we think. That is why I do this podcast. You don’t have to be victim to your disease. You have some choices in life and how you spend your time matters.

Thanks for writing in Laura, and if anyone out there can help Laura navigate through this while in Japan, please write to me and I will connect her with you. 

Until next week! 

Woeber, K. A. (2016). The Significance of Thyroglobulin Antibodies in Papillary Thyroid Cancer. Endocrine Practice: Official Journal Of The American College Of Endocrinology And The American Association Of Clinical Endocrinologists, 22(9), 1132–1133.

Matana, A., Torlak, V., Brdar, D., Popović, M., Lozić, B., Barbalić, M., … Zemunik, T. (2017). Dietary Factors Associated with Plasma Thyroid Peroxidase and Thyroglobulin Antibodies. Nutrients, 9(11).

I feel like I am dying... A listener writes in detail of his symptoms. Episode 46.

Episode 46.

Can I eat almond flour with Hashimoto's? What is functional medicine? Episode 45.

*******These are my notes below- this is not a transcript*********

Hi Stephanie

Thank you for all your email. I really appreciate what you do to help people like me who suffer the same disease as you. I have been listening to your podcast lately in Spotify which is very helpful. 

Currently I have been prescribed levothyroxine of 75 mg which I take everyday in the morning. I have tried to ask my doctors several times about the kind of diet I should be following. My family doctor told me to avoid Soy but nothing else while my endocrinologist said my thyroid is not even working to begin with and that there is nothing I can do to reverse it. He just advised me to eat less calorie and work out. 

After I listened to yours and other podcasts, I have been trying to follow gluten free diet while also doing keto. I have been trying to eat lot of green vegetables which is really difficult for me. For fat I am consuming olive oil, coconut oil, ghee and grass fed butter. I also eat avocado for fat. I haven’t stopped eating dairy products or eggs though. I don’t feel bloated or bad when I consume them or may be I am unable to say how I feel after I consume them. 

Do you still recommend not eating eggs or dairy products ? 

I have substituted bread and rice with gluten free organic almond and coconut flour using which I bake my own bread. Do you recommend using almond flour ?

I would really appreciate your response to my questions. 

Thank you again for taking our your time to send constant emails and podcasts 

Regards ,

asked that name be withheld 

Thank you for listening and for your kind words. 

Soy- good to avoid. 

GMO and can compete with receptors on your cells for estrogen.  This is called a xenoestrogen which mimics the effects of estrogen in the body and can lead to estrogen dominance as well as affecting your immune system, adrenal glands and how well your thyroid works. 

inhibits T4 to T3 conversion by blocking the enzyme activity that does the conversion. It is the TPO enzyme. 

If you have hypothyroidism and/or hashimoto’s avoid soy. 

Millet also keeps your body from converting T4 to T3. 

You may not be able to reverse the damage done to thyroid by autoimmune attack but you can reverse symptoms. 

Eat less and workout is not the answer. 

Ask doctor for a full thyroid panel - TSH, Free T4, Free T3, Reverse T3 and TPO and TgAb antibodies. If they won’t do it, order it yourself from somewhere like Direct Labs and then find help interpreting the results from a thyroid book or a holistic practitioner. 

If your T3 is low you will want to ask why? Always ask why. 

Maybe your body is not converting your Levo very well. Maybe you need a T3 supplement or a different medication. 

Why you may want to give up dairy. 

Why you may want to give up eggs. 

AIP and Nuts

Elimination diet and then reintroductions- why you may not feel bad while eating eggs and dairy right now— dopamine hit foods that harm us. 

Eliminate for a minimum of three weeks. I recommend a month or two to give body a chance to calm down. You may consider a healing type diet for up to two years if there is a lot of damage done. 

Reintroduce 1 food at a time and wait 4 days before introducing another food. Look for digestive reactions, mood issues, sleep issues, joint pain etc. Everyone’s reactions will be different. 

Baking your own bread is great. I miss bread. Sometimes to really heal what is going on in the body we need to give up those convenience foods. Because nuts are a top allergen and you have autoimmune disease I would recommend cutting out the nuts too just for awhile to give your body a chance to calm inflammation and have a proper reaction. 

There is no perfect diet here. It is trial and error because we are biochemical individuals. You have to do what works for you. In order to heal your body and bring your symptoms in to remission it is something that is wise to do but if the stress of it is too much, then it is not good either. We have to find balance. 

Keto is not for everyone. I’m working on a presentation about Keto so when that is done I will talk more about that. Some people do fine on it with autoimmune disease, some do not. Personally I do much better with more plants and a small amount of meat in my diet. I am not a fan of veggies either but I eat them because they make me feel better. Try roasting veggies in olive oil and Redmond Real Salt until they are crisp and golden brown. They are quite delicious that way in my opinion. 

Without knowing more about how your blood sugar is, how your adrenals are doing, how your digestion is working it is tough to really say if these foods are causing a problem for you or not. 

I get a good picture of this from my clients using a Nutritional Assessment Questionnaire which shows where each persons body is out of balance from your stomach to your immune system and everything in between. Then I look at a food journal and help clients figure out where they can make changes, what they can add and what might need to be taken away. 

Thanks for your question. I hope this helps.

Ok, Now I want to talk about functional medicine a bit because my Principles of Functional Medicine class has me really excited to learn and be able to dive deeper with clients. 

What is Functional Medicine? 

It is evidence based, science based. The estimation is now that your current conventional medical providers are 50 years behind the current science. I had always heard it was 17 years so this was new to me. Either way, that is really behind. 

FM is about critical thinking and being open to knew information either supportive of your thinking or not. 

It looks at the whole person- body, mind, spirit and how all of those contribute to disease or wellness. 

It looks at you as an individual, how your body operates. It removes what is creating and imbalance in your body and adds in what will balance you back out. So it is about finding imbalances and bringing your body back in to balance. 

It is a personalized way to work with individuals seeking health concentrating on the person and not the disease. 

Things contributing to your body being out of balance are toxins, allergies, infections, bacterias, parasites and other bugs, diet, stress, lifestyle, sleep habits. 

What is missing from your life keeping you from feeling your best. 

What might feel like normal to you may not be normal. For example, you feel tired a lot or your joints hurt a bit. You don’t remember not feeling that way so it feels normal and you deal with it. Maybe you have forgotten what it really feels like to feel good!?

Functional medicine is great at helping people with chronic diseases like Hashimoto’s but when you have an acute condition like a broken bone or you need surgery or you have a heart attack, your local hospital is the place to be. 

Preventing disease is where it’s at. If you have a disease, like autoimmune disease which affects 50 million of us in the US, then you can use functional medicine to put your disease into remission or at least reduce your symptoms. 

This is very exciting. I look forward to sharing more as I learn more. 

My doctor says I have Graves disease and Hypothyroidism? What is methimazole? Episode 44.

Hi, I have an appointment with the endocrinologist coming up in a month. What questions do I need to ask? I have recently been diagnosed with Graves/Hashimoto's and am very confused about my diagnosis. I was told I was hyper in January, they put me on methimazole and last month I was told to stop taking it because they had over medicated me and I am now Hypo. I was referred to an endocrinologist for further treatment.  Any suggestions are welcome! Thank you in advance!!

Alyssa

Thanks for writing in Alyssa. Let’s hope you hear this before your appointment. 

Graves is the autoimmune condition where your body will make antibodies against the receptor for thyroid stimulating hormone (aka thyrotropin or TSH- it is made in the pituitary gland and tells your thyroid gland to make T4 or thyroixine and T3—the big metabolism stimulator).  The TSI  or thyroid stimulating immunoglobulin antibody will help diagnose Graves as well. 

In this disease you can also make antibodies to T3 and T4 causing a hyper thyroid state. Anti-TPO antibodies can also be a sign of Graves though they are often tested for Hashimoto’s. 

You actually may have both Hashimoto’s which leads to hypothyroidism or a slow thyroid and Graves disease or hyperthyroidism which leads to an overactive thyroid. You may swing between the two and feel like crap. Finding a doctor to treat your symptoms is ideal when it comes to how much medication you might need. 

Symptoms of Graves disease include things like: 

• anxiety

• tremors

• sensitivity to heat

• weight loss without diet changes

• enlarged thyroid

• insomnia

• bulging eyes

• heart palpitations

Treatment for Graves includes methimazole which is known as an antithyroid drug. It basically stops the thyroid gland from making too much T4. Before pharmaceutical drugs were created for this, Fluoride was the treatment to slow down the thyroid.

Side effects of this drug are numerous but include hair loss, headache, toxicity to your liver, muscle or joint pain, nausea, changes in skin pigmentation and more. 

I think the biggest concern with this drug is the damage it can do to the liver. 

Another treatment option for hyperthyroid or graves and even Hashimoto’s is to use Radioactive iodine which results in killing off the thyroid gland by the radioactive iodine. The thyroid gland is a big consumer of iodine and so if you give it radioactive iodine it will destroy the tissue making you hypothyroid for life. 

Let’s talk about the diagnosis of hypothyroidism after the methimazole. This drug keeps the iodine and peroxidase from having their biological interactions with thyroglobulin to make T4 and T3 which will chemically slow down thyroid hormone production. 

If you are dealing with Graves disease the best thing you can do is immediate diet changes to stop the autoimmune attack.

Remove gluten and dairy and then go on some form of elimination diet for at least a month with three months really being optimal. 

Elimination diets will remove all the big allergens or triggers for the body. It will include removing eggs, nightshades, beans/legumes, nuts, seeds, sugar, alcohol, all grains and of course all dairy. The stricter elimination diets like the autoimmune protocol also remove chocolate or cocao, coffee and all spices made from night shades including vanilla which is a bean.

After eliminating these foods for the suggested three months you can begin to reintroduce them one at a time waiting 4 days in between reintroductions to be sure you don’t react to it. It is often suggested the reintroductions start with a teaspoon of a food and then if no reaction after a short time period you add more and more of the food gradually throughout the day checking for reactions as you go. Then wait four days before reintroducing another food. 

There is an introduction schedule that shows how to reintroduce foods and which foods to reintroduce which you can easily find by googling AIP diet and AIP re-intro foods list. I use this diet with my autoimmune clients when they are ready to make the commitment because it is a huge commitment to do this diet. 

It is a lot of cooking from scratch and a lot of dishes to wash and it really never ends. Even if you are able to reintroduce many foods yet you still need to eat really clean. I’m not going to lie. For me, it gets old to have to cook all the time. I don’t like fish so that is one whole group of food that I don’t eat that would make it much more convenient to eat on the go. Eating a can of salmon or tuna or even sardines would make my life easier on the go but I can’t stand fish of any kind and I cannot bring myself to eat organ meats which are highly recommended on AIP. 

So anyway, you do the best you can and you eat clean and cook your food and really stick with it and you will feel better. 

Let’s talk about going to the doctor’s office and specifically the endocrinologist. They are a little harder to work with. My endocrinologist was zero help to me- he didn’t know I had autoimmune disease and didn’t bother to check. Is this his fault? 

Not really.

 I was still really angry for a long time over this because my baby died in a thyroid storm and no one knew what to do for me. His death could have been prevented so I was angry. I still get tiny bouts of anger over it, especially when I read more and learn more about the thyroid and how my diet could have prevented a bunch of problems for me and my family over the years. The important thing is not to hang on to the anger. I have to let it go or it would consume me and that does no one any good. 

So - the doctor. 

They are taught to find the correct or right answer all through their schooling. 

They are taught about synthetic thyroid hormone replacement like Synthroid. 

They are taught to not question the norm or status quo. They are taught to conform in order to do well in school. 

They spend countless hours having to memorize what they have read or been lectured on so they can have the right answer which means they are a worthy medical student, doctor and professional person. 

We look at doctors as all knowing. We forget they are in a medical practice. Practice means they don’t have all the answers but we expect them to have all the answers. So, do you think they would want to admit they are wrong about something they studied for 4-6 years or more?

We expect doctors to tell us how to feel better yet we are not willing to listen to our own body which innately wants you to be in balance and healthy. 

Doctors cannot and do not know everything and that is okay. They do have faith in their education and in what their textbooks and class materials are telling them. An endocrinologist should be more familiar with the workings of the thyroid than a family practice doctor, you would think. 

If they see the same thing coming through their door every week and the treatment isn’t working, you would hope they are wondering why. Maybe they are but they have to remain with the status quo and conform to what the medical board says or they risk losing their license. 

It seems that the doctor who has suffered the condition you are there to see him or her about is way more sympathetic to your symptoms than a doctor who has not had to deal with it. 

We all would love to have a doctor that can admit they don’t know it all about our condition and that they want to hear what our symptoms are and how they can help alleviate those symptoms. Sometimes that is what the functional or holistic nutritionists job is because food is medicine and I am a living example of recovering my health through diet and lifestyle changes. 

But you are in your doctors office asking for natural thyroid hormone instead of synthroid because you feel like crap and you think this will help you. But maybe you have only read a couple books that suggested this. So, is your doctor who has spent years training for their job just supposed to listen to you? This can be hard form them and while I think they should listen, just think about it from their end. 

They have to worry about answering to their boss and the rules of the clinic, worry about getting sued, they don’t have enough time to sit down with you to really understand what is going on and their protocol is synthetic thyroid hormone or methimazole or radio active iodine treatment. 

Your endocrinologist probably got in to their line of work because they wanted to help people. Believe that they really do.

They don’t want to be challenged by their patients and may not understand how to treat your condition without what they consider the gold standard. 

It is not unlike my own nutrition practice where I know very well how to help people with autoimmune disease because I have spent countless hours studying this topic. But if you came to me with say, SIBO or Colitis- I could help you to some degree but I have less knowledge about those two very specific conditions than I do autoimmune thyroid disease so I would refer you out to someone who works specifically with that condition. 

How can you be ready for your endocrinologist visit?

1. Be prepared but don’t inundate your Doctor with too much information. Write a list of your symptoms to give him or her. Let them know what your goal is for the visit and have a short list of questions. So for you it might include getting an explanation of how you became hypo from hyper and getting a full thyroid panel including TPO, TgAB and TSI, TSH, Free T3, Free T4. These are the biggies. 

2. Have a complete list of every medication and supplement you are taking at the time of the visit. Include the name of it, the dosage and what form you take it in like capsule or drop, etc. 

3. Take notes or bring someone along with you to take notes so you can remember everything. 

4. Don’t trash talk other doctors you have seen. This will not serve anyone in the end. It may put your current doctor on the defensive. 

5. Try not to cry on your visit. This is overwhelming to the doctor. 

When you are done with your appointment ask yourself this: 

1. Can you work with this new doctor?

2. Do you feel comfortable with them?

3. Did you feel listened to?

4. Will they agree to work with your symptoms and adjust your dose accordingly?

Good luck Alyssa. I hope your visit goes well. 

That is it for me. You can find me at Help For Hashimoto’s dot com. You can sign up for my newsletter on my site- on the left side bar there is a little sign up form. I am told that needs to be more prominent. 

Please leave a rating and review on iTunes so more people can find the podcast. I would really appreciate it. 

If you are looking for help with your thyroid condition, use the contact form on my website and we can chat to see if we are a good fit for working together. I’m here to help.   Until next week. 

Why do I have hives? Hives and Hashimoto's — is there a connection? Episode 43.

I broke my collarbone so the following is not really a transcript but my notes on the listener question. It has been challenging to type so I took some notes instead of typing up a transcript.

Listener question:

I recently discovered your podcast and have power listened to every single episode since the weekend before last. Thank you so much for all you’re doing; you’ve already helped so much.

My question is pertaining to the correlation between Hashimoto and Urticaria. I’ve suffered with chronic hives for a few years; however, must admit, I haven’t been as proactive as I should have been to find resolve. I am changing that.

My hives come and go. Approximately 3-4 episodes a year, each about 3-4 weeks in duration. There are no apparent triggers with diet, activity level or stress. My endocrinologist pulled my off Synthroid and onto Tirosint. I was hive free for quite sometime following the change a I was assuming it was secondary the Synthroid.

Wrong! Sadly, they’re back and I have already scheduled to see my Endocrinologist but also was curious as to your thoughts.

Thank you again,
Susan

Everything I have read about thyroid and hives says there is no real explanation for why it happens in thyroid patients but I have some ideas. 

Hives or urticaria are a reaction by your immune system that causes the release of histamine and results in swelling, itching and redness of the skin. 

A mast cell is a cell full of white blood cells called basophils and are found in connective tissues. They release histamine and other chemicals during an inflammatory or allergic reaction. 

Histamine is a chemical that our cells release in response to an injury or in allergic reactions or inflammation. it causes your smooth muscle tissue to contract and capillaries to dilate or swell up so white blood cells can get to the source of the problem and attack. It plays a big role in controlling itchiness in the body. 

It is a neurotransmitter that also plays a role in digestion as a part of stomach acid so you can break food down properly and the central nervous system uses it to communicate between brain and body. 

Hives are the result of histamine which can be caused by consuming foods high in histamine, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, intestinal permeability, and a deficiency in an enzyme called diamine oxidase (helps clear histamine from the body). 

In about half of patients with chronic idiopathic hives, the explanation is that body's immune system is, in a sense, overactive. The urticaria is "autoimmune". The immune system is attacking the normal tissues of the body and causing hives as a result.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19331714

Caused by an allergic reaction to medications and food.

Hives lasting less than six weeks: The most common causes are certain foods, medications, or infections. Insect bites and internal disease may also be responsible. 

The most common foods that cause hives are nuts, chocolate, fish, tomatoes, eggs, fresh berries, and milk.

Foods high in histamine include things like: 

• fermented foods and drinks including alcohol

• vinegar based foods

• cured meats including bacon

• dried fruits

• citrus

• cheese that is aged

• nuts

• avocados, eggplant, spinach, tomatoes

• smoked fish and certain kinds of fish

Foods that keep the Diamine oxidase enzyme from working: 

• alcohol

• energy drinks

• black, mate and green teas

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5839887/ —- a histamine free diet is helpful for tx of adult patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria

Another option for urticaria is adrenal dysfucntion. 

When the body experiences stress it can cause a flare of hives due to increased adrenocorticotrophic hormone or ACTH. ACTH is secreted by the pituitary gland which then stimulates the adrenal gland to release cortisol. 

This can be triggered by emotional or physical stress in the body. Keep in mind that the physical stress can be inflammation from food intolerances or unmanaged autoimmune disease. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3256343/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11270265 (A cross-linking of IgE receptors of mastocytes induced by antithyroid antibodies may be a cause of histamine release)

IgE or immunoglobulin E are antibodies made by the immune system when you have an allergy to something which will cause an allergic reaction to something from the environment or from a food.

chronic infections or autoimmune disease can cause that overreaction in your immune system. 

What is Armour Thyroid? Episode 42.

Welcome to Episode 42. Thanks for joining me. We have a listener question today. I may have covered this in the past but we are going to discuss her question anyway. 

Before we do that I want to talk about your reviews on iTunes. I want to thank all of you who have left a review. It helps me help more people and it helps me know what I am doing well and what I can improve on. So, someone left me a 1 star review but didn’t leave any comments. Can you all help me out? If you think there is something I can do better, something to improve the podcast, please let me know. Send me an email at stephanie@outofthewoodsnutrition.com or fill out the contact form on my website. Thanks so much. 

Okay, let’s get started.  The question from a listener today is: 

What is Armour Thyroid? I have never heard of it before.  I take levothyroxine and been on it for years and I still feel awful... I'm curious if Armour is the best for Hashimoto’s. 

Shirley

Thanks for writing in Shirley. I appreciate you! 

Most doctors are going to prescribe Generic Levothyroxine or Synthroid which are T4 only medications. There are others but the only other one you are likely to hear about is Tirosint which is kind of considered a hypoallergenic medication because the ingredients are levothyroixine (T4), gelatin, glycerin and water in a gel cap. 

Synthroid ingredients are long but they start with:

• the synthetic or man made T4 along with

• acacia (binder, emulsifying agent, and a suspending or viscosity increasing agent)

• confectioner’s sugar with corn starch

• lactose monohydrate (used to keep the tablet formed)

• magnesium stearate (a water insoluble powder used as a release agent and as a lubricant or part of the production of pharmaceutical drugs and cosmetics. Hydrogenated cottonseed or palm oils are a common source for it)

• povidone (a synthetic polymer vehicle for dispersing and suspending drugs. It also acts as a binder) and

• talc (used as a binding agent). There are also a number of artificial colorings depending on the strength of your medication all of which contain aluminum and are produced from coal tar or petroleum. 

So nice for a medication you might have to take the rest of your life. 

These synthetic forms started making their way in to our lives around the 1950’s and the natural stuff was said to be unreliable and not as effective. So most doctors stopped prescribing it and started prescribing these synthetic forms. 

Synthetic means it is made in a lab. Doctors often have to go along with what their medical association says is best or face penalties. So don’t blame your doctor 100%.  Do be proactive in your own care and fight for what makes you feel best. 

Armour Thyroid seems to be the only widely available Natural Desiccated Thyroid hormone these days. 

All natural desiccated thyroid hormone pills come from a pig thyroid gland. This was the original thyroid hormone replacement back in the 1800’s. It has been around a long time and made a whole lot of us feel so much better than a synthetic T4 only medication like Synthroid or Levothyroxine.  Some people do fine on the synthetics but it sure seems like most of us do better on NDT. 

These “natural” thyroid hormones are called natural because they come from a an animal rather than a lab. They also contain all of the thyroid hormones that are available in our own tissue. 

You mostly only hear about T4 and T3 but there is also a T2, T1 and T0. There is not as much research on exactly what the other ones do for us but if they are there it must mean we need them. 

The word desiccated means that the thyroid gland removed from the pig, who is bred just for this purpose, in a special way. The pigs thyroid gland is frozen, minced, dried and turned into a powder. The fat is removed with chemicals and then many batches of thyroid powder are combined to keep the ratios of T4 to T3 more consistent. 

This means you are getting ratios more consistent with what your own body would produce. 

NDT has a naturally occurring hormone called calcitonin which is also produced by the thyroid gland and is used by the body to maintain bone health as well as blood levels of calcium. 

NDT products are often referred to in grains rather than micrograms or milligrams. This is becoming less so now but was quite common even just five or ten years ago. 

What is a thyroid grain?

One grain of NDT is 60mg in Armour Thyroid. It has 38mcg T4 and 9mcg of T3. Not all medications are the same. Every manufacturer will be different and your body will probably respond differently to each one so it is a bit of trial and error to find the one that is just right. 

Thyroid medication is often called the Goldilocks medication for this reason. 

The ingredients in Armour besides the thyroid hormones are:

• calcium stearate (a white waxy powder in lubricants, soaps and in some food products)

• dextrose (a form of sugar)

• microcrystalline cellulose ( refined wood pulp used as a texturizer, anti-caking agent, fat substitute, emulsifier, extender and bulking agent in food production most commonly used in supplements or tablets)

• sodium starch glycolate (used in pharmaceuticals to cause the tablet to disintegrate quickly or as a suspending agent)

• and lastly opadry white ( polyvinyl-alcohol film-forming polymer used to keep the pill from absorbing moisture). 

I did really well on WP Thyroid which is another NDT but it is tough to get. I cannot get it locally here in Minnesota. I also did really really well on compounded NDT which was just thyroid powder and cellulose. The one pharmacy I found her that could make it for me can no longer get the thyroid powder. 

Nature-Throid and WP Thyroid have an info page on their website about how you may be able to obtain their products through mail order pharmacies. That link is in the blog post for this episode at helpforhashimotos.com. 

getrealthyroid.com

Why is Natural Desiccated Thyroid Hormone better for so many people?

Let’s take a look at what this medication is doing for us.

There are two kinds of T4 in our body- a levo and a dextro and synthetic T4 has only the levo type. I’m not going to get deep in to science and will just leave it at that. 

Around 80-90% of T4 is made by the thyroid gland as thyroxine (so levothyroxine is from the levo type which is a left rotating isomer of the thyroxine molecule). 

T4 is converted to T3 in the thyroid a bit and in other tissues much more. About 40% of T4 is converted to T3 in the body and some is converted to reverse T3. 

T3 is more bioavailable or bioactive and is about 10% or so of thyroid hormone and most is made in tissues in the body by converting T4. 

Now Free T3 is what our cells are using and works better than free T4 according to some. We do know that Free T3 can get to our brain by crossing the blood brain barrier better than Free T4. So Free T3 gets to the brain easier and could be why so many find that our cognitive abilities and general brain function are so much better on NDT. 

What can help brain fog?

Being on NDT is a good place to start. Often synthetic T4 medications don’t convert as well to T3 in many people OR you just are not getting an adequate dose of your medication. 

I said earlier that there isn’t a lot known about the T2, T1 and T0 but what we do know is that T2 may be involved in enzyme production that helps us make T3 from T4. 

It is thought that T1 helps the thyroid function and play a role in heart health. 

I also mentioned calcitonin which helps our body regulate calcium levels in our body and particularly in our bones. It plays a role in prevention and reversal of osteoporosis.  It also helps us reabsorb calcium from bone storage and helps the gut absorb calcium from our diet. 

So gut health is pretty important for that. 

In order for our body to convert thyroid hormone we need to have this enzyme called a deiodinase. When someone is taking synthetic synthroid (T4 only) you must rely on your body (which is not functioning well if you have the need for thyroid medication) to make enough of these enzymes so your body can convert T4 to T3. 

With a NDT like Armour or one of the other brands, your body doesn’t have to do this because the medication contains the much needed T3. 

T3 is also absorbed in the small intestine much better than T4. T3 is bound by the thyroid binding globulin (TBG) which is a protein that transports the hormone through the blood. When they are no longer bound to the TBG, they are free hormones. 

Synthetic T4 does not have this type of protein bringing it through the blood and can be more affected by stomach acid, digestive enzymes or gut flora making absorption more difficult. 

The Wall Street Journal published an article bringing to light a scandal with Synthroid in 1996. The then owner of Synthroid paid a researcher to study the medication proving it was a better product than NDT. The research did not come out in their favor and the company tried to discredit the author and threatened to sue her if she published her findings. 

Synthroid has been has been recalled a couple of times by the FDA due to problems with doses and strength. It was actually sold in the US for years without FDA approval and in 2001 a new drug application for Synthroid had to be made. 

So why does your doctor or endocrinologist typically only prescribe synthetic thyroid hormone? 

Could be financial incentives due to financial ties between manufacturers and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists who create the guidelines under which your doctor may practice. 

A NDT like Armour or WP or Naturethroid have helped many thyroid patients feel better in a plethora of ways from fixing brain fog as mentioned earlier to being able to lose weight, better sleep, more energy and so much more. All because we are getting that missing component in something that is more biologically available to our body in its full form. 

When you take a NDT medication it can be helpful to take it in divided doses such as 2x a day with a dose in the morning and one in the afternoon. Personally when I switched to Armour I got heart palpitations (this did not happen on the compounded medication or WP thyroid for me) so I started with half a dose dissolved under my tongue in the morning then the other half a couple hours later and the second pill in the afternoon. I have to do this for a week or so until my body gets used to the medication and then I can take a whole pill in the morning without getting palpitations. 

Another recommendation is to do ⅔ of your total dose in the morning and ⅓ in the afternoon. T3 has a shorter half life and so taking that second dose in the afternoon can help keep you from feeling sluggish. Some people get too stimulated by a T3 medication and cannot take it at night, others have no problem. You just have to play around with dosing until you find what works for you. 

You also don’t want to take too much, remember I said this is a goldilocks drug and hopefully you have a doctor that will work with you on treating symptoms. You can end up with heart issues, osteoporosis, insomnia, and intolerance to heat, hyperthyroidism, tremors, too many bowel movements in one day and thinning hair. 

You will want to make sure your doctor orders a Free T3, Free T4, Reverse T3 test as well as TSH when taking NDT. TSH can be below normal but if Free T3 is in normal range and you feel great, it should not be a problem. My doctor does not prescribe to this idea but she is very good about supporting me in checking my symptoms first. 

Thanks for listening. Send my your questions at helpforhashimotos@gmail.com or fill out the contact form on my website. 

Please leave me a rating and review on iTunes, the more reviews the more people will be able to find the podcast and get help. I appreciate your help! 

You can find me at helpforhashimotos.com and you can join the facebook support group help for hashimoto’s. I’m avoiding social media still but will be checking for people who want to join the group. You can also get my ebook Five Things Your Doctor Won’t Tell You About Hypothyroidism on my website by signing up for my newsletter. 

Need help figuring out how to navigate your thyroid health? I’m here for you and am taking new clients. I can’t wait to help you! 

That is it until next week. Take care! 

What do I eat for Type 2 Diabetes? Episode 41.

Welcome to episode 41. We have a listener question so let’s get started. 

Hi there. Thanks for your easy to understand information in your podcast. I have Celiac disease, Hashi's and now Diabetes! Do you have a sample simple diet plan? I just got diagnosed with the Diabetes..  I have no clue what to do about this. 

Misty

Hi Misty, 

Thanks for listening to the podcast! Sounds like you have a lot going on. I am going to assume you were diagnosed with Type II diabetes. 

A sample diet plan would look something like removing all processed foods, eating real whole foods. Meats, ideally from pastured animals, good quality fats like grass fed butter, coconut oil, olive oil and consuming lots and lots of veggies. 

This type of diet is very helpful to reset the body so it can reduce inflammation and your cells can become less resistant to insulin again. 

Often, having issues with insulin means you also have trouble with your weight. It is estimated that more than ⅔ of adults in the US are overweight. I am not saying that you are overweight Misty. 

Each year about 45 million Americans go on a diet and spend around $33 billion on weight loss products and programs. 

Let’s get something straight right now.

Diets don’t work.

Weight loss programs might work while you working them but they don’t work once you stop. This is why I am constantly preaching and teaching my clients that it is not about a diet. It is about changing your diet and lifestyle.

A diet is the kinds of foods that a person, animal or community habitually eats according to the dictionary definition. So we have a diet. We don’t go on a diet for a short time to get a result that we can’t keep when we go off a diet. 

Digging ourselves out of our chronic disease states is a JOURNEY and not necessarily a destination. 

You almost have to just make a decision to start doing the right thing by your body. Give it what it needs and craves to keep it in balance. Choose your health. 

When you are dealing with Type II diabetes, refined carbs are not your friend. 

Here is what happens to your cells when you consume too much sugar in the form of sugar itself or refined carbs like bread, pasta, cookies, cakes etc. 

Our cells need energy and they store in the form of something called ATP (adenosine triphosphate). Cells need glucose (sugar) to create ATP or they will die. 

Plants make glucose through photosynthesis, we do not. We have to get it from our diet. 

If your blood glucose or blood sugar gets too low, not enough glucose will get to our tissues and organs, leaving our cells unable to make enough ATP to work properly or function. 

Now too much glucose in the blood will make blood thicker (think of molasses and how slow that flows) and it won’t flow as well or as quickly which means nutrients, especially oxygen does not get delivered to cells and they will eventually die. 

When we eat something and digest it, glucose enters our bloodstream. Our cells need to adjust to that shift in sugar pretty fast so the cells can get the glucose they need to create energy.  

How does this happen?  Insulin. It is a hormone produced by the pancreas and it gets released just before we eat and while we are eating. It tells the liver, muscle and fat tissues to take the sugar out of our blood which lowers our blood sugar levels. 

Insulin goes to the receptors on our cells. I always think of receptors on our cells as little satellite dishes waiting to receive a signal.  When it gets to the receptor and attaches itself to it, the cell it is on (muscle, liver, fat) gets a signal to absorb the glucose/sugar molecule and store it as a form of glucose called glycogen which is a stored form of glucose or sugar. 

As your blood sugar level drops, insulin release will slow down or stop. Our body doesn’t want this level to get too low though so it will also stimulate the cells in muscle, fat and in the liver to to break down that stored sugar, glycogen, by releasing glucagon and sugar will be released. 

This is how the body maintains balance or homeostasis. 

Our body gets ready for the barrage of sugar we consume by releasing insulin before we even take the first bite. Just by us smelling some delicious food or drooling over the dessert tray at a restaurant, our body releases insulin. 

Let’s use a candy bar as an example. You eat it, it is broken down in your stomach and absorbed as glucose right into the bloodstream.

Your body will then release insulin and in a few minutes your insulin level will be pretty high so it can bring all that sugar to the cells and lowering your blood sugar levels. 

What you ate the meal before the candy bar will affect how much insulin is released- usually means more insulin is released to respond to the candy bar if you are eating a meal made from the Standard American Diet- processed, refined carbs. 

If your blood sugar is regularly high, the pancreas continues to release insulin until blood sugar levels return to normal. 

The brain needs glucose and can make its own insulin. How crazy is that. That might be why when your blood sugar gets too low, you can’t think. 

Stress will affect your blood sugar too. Noradrenaline, a fight or flight hormone, will keep the body from producing insulin because it thinks we need to hang on to the sugar in our blood to flee danger. 

In Type II Diabetes the problem is that you have insulin being released but the receptors on your cells are not taking it in. This shows up as consistently high blood sugar levels on a blood test. 

It starts out as insulin resistance. Think of insulin as a key to a door. The cell is the door and the receptor is a lock on the door. Using that key too much can wear out the lock and it just doesn’t work anymore so you can’t get the door open. Your body might try to make more keys (insulin) to try to get the door open. 

The more refined carbs and sugar you eat, the more insulin produced by the pancreas. This can wear down the receptors causing insulin resistance but if not managed with diet and lifestyle it can also wear out the pancreas to the point of it not being able to make insulin as well or make enough or make any at all. 

This is when you become insulin dependent and need to inject yourself with insulin. 

Again, the best foods for managing Type II Diabetes are going to be proteins like meat, seafood, poultry, lamb, bison, wild caught fish, pastured eggs. Always buy the highest quality protein that you eat the most of and for the rest, trim the fat and do your best. 

Full fat dairy products will slow down the absorption of the milk sugars keeping your blood sugar stable. Most people with hashimoto’s should not be consuming dairy but you can do full fat coconut milk in place of many dairy products, except cheese sadly. 

Veggies in large amounts. Avoid some of the starchier veggies for a few weeks like sweet potatoes, squashes, beans and things like that. 

Grains will cause your insulin to spike so are not recommended. 

I hope this helps. 

If you have a question about your health you would like me to answer, send it to me at helpforhashimotos@gmail.com or go to my website and fill out the contact form. 

Please leave me a rating and review on iTunes and share this podcast with anyone you think could use the help from it. I would really appreciate it. 

You can also get my ebook Five Things Your Doctor Won’t Tell You About Hypothyroidism by heading over to HelpForHashimotos.com. 

You can join my facebook group Help For Hashmoto’s and while I am on a social media break I do check daily to see if anyone has asked to join. 

I’m currently taking new clients. If you need help figuring out just how to feel better with Hashimotos, thyroid problems or other chronic illness, I’m your girl! 

Can celery juice heal my thyroid? Episode 40.

Welcome to Episode 40!

I hope you are well! Thanks for listening, I appreciate that you are here! 

I’ve been having a lot of breakfast soup lately and protein shakes with chopped up frozen zucchini, pea protein and beef protein from Designs For Health with coconut milk. Quick and easy breakfast. I have something going on with my digestion so I am taking it easy with more healing foods during the day like bone broth and soup. 

I had been eating some sour dough bread from a company called Bread Srsly but my body is letting me know that no grains seem to be okay right now. I’ve been getting itchy skin. I’m going on vacation soon so when I get back I am going to dial my diet in tight and do a lot of bone broth to see if I can get my digestion back on track. 

Ever since I did that little experiment of going off my medication I have had horrible digestion. So- I’ve started making sure I am taking stomach acid with every meal to help break down my protein better. 

I have also been doing a lot of green juice in my Vitamix. A couple sticks of celery, about ⅓ to half a cucumber. I just cut some up and put them in the freezer so I don’t have to worry about them going bad. I add a whole peeled and seeded lemon and a palmful of parsley with water and ice and blend. I do add a pinch of sea salt too. I’m pretty sure I’ve talked about this drink before on here but there you have it again. 

I got to thinking about my green juice and the celery in it. Celery juice seems to be all the rage right now and so it begs the question: 

Can Celery Juice Heal My Thyroid?

Anthony William, The Medical Medium, says that fresh celery juice every day will help you heal your thyroid. 

I’ve never been a huge fan of celery but recently my body really seems to enjoy it. I still prefer it to be covered in nut butter if I’m going to eat it raw but sometimes I crave plain old celery. 

I always use it as a base for my soup recipes but other than that celery has not usually been real high on my list of delicious veggies. 

This study says celery has many medicinal properties.  It appears to be antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, can help lower blood sugar and levels of fat in the blood. 

It grows well in cold and mild environments and is widely used in traditional medicine. It is said that it can prevent cardiovascular disease, jaundice, joint pain, lower blood pressure and is anti-fungal. It can also help protect the lining of our gut. 

Pretty crazy that Mother Nature provides us will all this good stuff to take care of our body. 

Celery has antioxidants in it which will help neutralize free radicals. Free radicals damage our tissues and cells. 

What is the best way to eat celery?

Fresh raw celery is best consumed within a week in order to get the antioxidant benefit and chopping it as needed rather than making celery sticks and storing them for the week means losing less nutrients. But if you need to chop it and store it in order to save time or make eating it easier then go for it. You won’t lose all the nutrients. 

Steaming it can protect some of its nutrients too.  So I guess this means eating it in a variety of ways can be the most beneficial. 

Be sure to choose celery that is crisp and will snap when you pull it apart and try to always buy it organically if you can. It is usually on the Environmental Working Groups list of the dirty dozen. 

What nutrients are in celery?

One cup of celery has 33% the daily value of vitamin K, 11% molybdenum (if you have multiple chemical sensitivities you could be deficient in this), 9% folate, 6% potassium and so much more. You can go to whfoods.org for a full nutrient profile. 

Vitamin K: It is a fat soluble vitamin found in foods and made in our body. It helps blood clotting- this is K1. K2 is made by the bacteria in our gut so good gut health is important. 

K is absorbed from the upper part of your small intestine with the help of bile which is made in the liver and secreted from the gallbladder and from pancreatic juices. Taking too much vitamin E or Calcium can reduce absorption of K. It is stored in small amounts. Rancid oils (like canola and soybean oil) and fats, x-rays, radiation, aspirin, air pollution and freezing of foods all destroy vitamin K. It is not a good idea to supplement with K1 unless you can have your clotting abilities monitored. 

Molybdenum is an essential trace mineral that we get mostly from food. It is deficient in the soil which can cause a deficiency in mammals including humans.  It helps in fixing nitrogen in the soil so decreased molybdenum leads to poor plant growth. 

Our body only contains about 9mg of this mineral and it is found mostly in the liver and the kidneys, adrenal glands, bones and skin. One function that relates to thyroid problems is that it helps to mobilize iron from the liver so the body can use it. This means that it can help prevent anemia. A common and important issue in thyroid health. 

It is well absorbed from the small intestine but competes with copper where absorption happens. It is thought to help prevent some cancers as well. 

This is not something you should supplement with in large amounts. You will find it in a multi mineral supplement in just the right amount with other needed minerals. Check with a practitioner before supplementing with anything. 

Deficiency is thought to lead to visual problems, rapid heart rate and breathing problems. 

Folate is also known as B9. It is a water soluble vitamin and is prevalent in dark leafy green veggies. Do not confuse folate with synthetic folic acid which is in most processed foods. The synthetic form can lead to unmetabolized folic acid and will be a problem for you if your methylation pathways are not working right. 

Our body can store enough of this in the liver for 6-9 months before we will notice a deficiency. It helps us make red blood cells and helps us break down and use protein, divide cells and is important in brain function. 

Folate is used to treat stress, fatigue and adrenal gland dysfunction. Taking high amounts of vitamin C can cause you to need more folate. The adrenals also like vitamin C but again- supplementing willy nilly because someone said something helped them can be bad for you. 

If you are taking birth control pills you can need to supplement with folate. It also helps with menstrual issues. It can help restless leg syndrome and with pernicious anemia (a B12 problem). 

And finally potassium. It is a pretty significant mineral in the body. We need it for cells to function and for the electrical connections in our body. It is part of electrolytes which help our cells get water. It actually means that it has a little electrical charge to it. 98% of our potassium is found in our cells. Those tiny little things sure do have a lot of things in them. 

Alcohol, caffeine, sugar, diuretic drugs all cause potassium losses and can contribute to lowering the blood potassium. We also lose potassium from diarrhea and throwing up. 

It helps regulate our blood pressure and deficiency is common in chronic illness and as we get older. 

Fatigue is the most common symptom of deficiency and early symptoms of deficiency also include things like muscle weakness, slow reflexes, dry skin, acne and can progress in to nervous disorders, insomnia, slow or irregular heartbeat. 

Low potassium can cause irregular heartbeat and cause blood sugar issues making our blood sugar higher. 

What is so great about celery juice?

It sounds pretty good to me based on all the nutrients in it and what they do for us! How about you?

Well, studies show that the juice has been shown to lower inflammation and if you have Hashimoto’s you likely have some inflammation in the body. 

Anthony William says that juicing celery and drinking 16 ounces  (or up to 32 ounces) of it a day will improve many chronic conditions including thyroid conditions.  You will need to have once bunch of celery to juice per day to get 16 ounces out of it. That is a lot of celery. 

He says you need to drink it in the morning on an empty stomach. I would agree with this if you were going to do it. Drinking it on an empty stomach will ensure that nothing will interfere with it doing its job. 

In his book he says that celery will help you maintain stomach acid and it helps the liver produce bile which you need to emulsify fats. His whole thing in his thyroid book is that EBV is the cause of thyroid problems, which for many people, can be a trigger and celery juice is supposed to “anti-EBV”. He says it also helps support the central nervous system and helps with adrenal health. 

He says celery juice will increase production of T3 which for many of us would be great. 

I’ve tried once to make celery juice in my Vitamix and I had a really hard time getting it down. I don’t have a juicer and don’t plan to buy one so for now, I’m holding off on drinking the green stuff all by itself. 

I have heard a lot of good stories about celery juice helping people have great bowel movements, more energy and get rid of hot flashes. 

There do not seem to be any downsides to drinking it. If you want to give it a try, go for it. You will get some great anti-oxidants, vitamin C and other good for you nutrients. There is nothing wrong with that. 

Okay. That is it for today. Thanks for listening! 

If you have a question about your health you would like me to answer, send it to me at helpforhashimotos@gmail.com or go to my website and fill out the contact form. 

Please leave me a rating and review on iTunes and share this podcast with anyone you think could use the help from it. I would really appreciate it. 

You can also get my ebook Five Things Your Doctor Won’t Tell You About Hypothyroidism by heading over to HelpForHashimotos.com. 

You can join my facebook group Help For Hashmoto’s and while I am on a social media break I do check daily to see if anyone has asked to join. 

I’m currently taking new clients. If you need help figuring out just how to feel better with Hashimotos, thyroid problems or other chronic illness, I’m your girl! 

Until next week! 

Nadkarni KM. Indian Materia Medica. 2nd ed Mumbai, India: Popular Prakashan; 2010. 

Kooti W, Ghasemiboroon M, Asadi-Samani M, et al. The effects of hydro-alcoholic extract of celery on lipid profile of rats fed a high fat diet. Adv Environ Biol. 2014;8:325–330

An extract of Apium graveolens var. dulce leaves: structure of the major constituent, apiin, and its anti-inflammatory properties. Mencherini T, Cau A, Bianco G, Della Loggia R, Aquino RP, Autore G J Pharm Pharmacol. 2007 Jun; 59(6):891-7.

Kooti W, Ali-Akbari S, Asadi-Samani M, Ghadery H, Ashtary-Larky D. A review on medicinal plant of Apium graveolens . Adv Herb Med. 2014;1:48–59. 

Six types of thyroid dysfunction. Episode 39.

Welcome to Episode 39. I’m so happy you are here. 

I spend a good couple hours cooking several things last night so I would have food to eat over the next week or so. I’ve been trying to double up on meals when I cook so we have stuff to freeze for nights I don’t want to cook. 

I made two whole chickens on Sunday night so I had leftover meat for making soup and for putting on salads. I made a double batch of chili on Monday and Tuesday was a big batch of Thai Beef Stew, braised cabbage and I tried out a meatless dish of grape tomatoes, garlic, basil, chickpeas and spaghetti squash. If you tolerate legumes it was an okay dish. I was hoping for more flavor from the chickpeas. I just sautéed the tomatoes in olive oil, smashed them, added the garlic and chickpeas and sautéed a bit longer. Then I added the spaghetti squash and basil and mixed it through. 

We are having venison chops tonight with sautéed mushrooms and roasted cabbage. 

What are you making for dinner these days?  Head over to my website and comment on this post to let me know what your cooking. Look for Episode 39. 

Today we are talking about the six types of thyroid dysfunction that cause or result in hypothyroidism so let’s get started. 

The thyroid gland is super sensitive to any changes in the biochemistry in our body. It’s job is to perceive even the tiniest of changes in the body and make up for that by changing how much thyroid hormone is released in the body. 

This is one reason you can see such different lab values over time. 

When these changes in our biochemistry become something that is chronic or constantly happening in the body then there begins to be problems with the thyroid gland and the communication between the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland. 

Things like constant blood sugar dysregulation, constant or chronic inflammation in the body, deficiencies in nutrients, poor liver function, toxic burden, low stomach acid, intestinal permeability, poor eliminations and even the use of hormones including thyroid hormones can cause thyroid problems. 

Hypothyroidism or low thyroid function can fall into six different types. Some of these may occur at the same time, and it may be that only one of these will require permanent hormone replacement. 

1.Primary Hypothyroidism. 

This is when there is decreased hormone production by the thyroid gland. So it isn’t making enough T4 or T3. One cause and the most common cause in the US is Hashimoto’s. Worldwide the most common cause of Primary Hypothyroidism is iodine deficiency. (ref)  It is also caused by removal of the thyroid gland. 

This is a dysfunction of the thyroid gland and this is the one type of hypothyroidism that needs to be treated with thyroid hormone replacement. 

If you have Hashimoto’s, you may need medication due to the destruction of your thyroid gland but you also need to understand that this condition is an immune system issue first and a thyroid issue second. 

If you catch Hashimoto’s before too much damage is done, you might be able to support your thyroid nutritionally. Sadly, for me, I am still in need of medication.  If you do not have success bringing TSH down with diet and lifestyle changes, you will likely need hormone replacement. 

Your labs might look like this if you have primary hypothyroidism: 

• high TSH

• normal or low Total T4

• normal or low Free T4

• normal or low Free T3

• normal Reverse T3

2. Secondary Hypothyroidism

This deals with your thyroid not putting out enough thyroid hormone due to an issue in the pituitary gland. Remember that the thyroid is regulated by the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus. When these two glands are not communicating and the pituitary doesn’t secrete Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) like it is supposed to. You may find your TSH at or around 1.8 but still having symptoms of hypothyroidism. 

Chronic stress in the body is usually at the heart of this one. Stress fatigues the pituitary and it can cause a failure to signal the thyroid to produce thyroid hormone. 

Stress: too busy all the time, not enough sleep, living off of coffee and processed foods, inflammation, viral or bacterial infections. All of these will mess with your adrenal function and your thyroid function and remember those two go hand in hand.

You can also have low thyroid function after pregnancy. This is a stressful time for women who tend to be the ones suffering with most thyroid conditions. Pregnancy in and of itself will put a high demand on the pituitary gland. 

If your blood tests come out normal but your doctor puts you on thyroid medication anyway, it can help you feel better for a couple weeks but then you might start to feel worse. You can develop thyroid hormone resistance at your cells much like insulin resistance. 

So your cells are refusing thyroid hormone because there is too much in the blood and you might be given a higher dose making things even worse. You have all this hormone running through your blood so your pituitary gland gets a message it can stop making TSH or it just stops talking to the thyroid altogether. 

You might need medication after enough damage has been done between the communication of the pituitary and the thyroid.  

If you have Hashimoto’s but it doesn’t get addressed, this can become you.

Your labs might look like this: 

• 1.8 or less TSH

• 6 or less T4

• symptoms of hypothyroidism. 

3. Your T4 is not converting to T3

This happens when you have tons of chronic stress and high cortisol. So you are making T4 but your body isn’t converting it to T3 which is what your cells need. When cortisol is high, you will likely have some of this going on. 

If your body is dealing with infection or inflammation your cell walls can be damaged by that which also affects T4 to T3 conversion. 

You need to damper the inflammation or infection and support your body in dealing with cellular stress (free radicals). 

T3 levels won’t affect your TSH so your labs might look like this: 

• Normal TSH

• Normal Total T4

• Normal Free T4

• Low T3

• Low Free T3

• Low or normal Reverse T3

4. Your conversion of T4 to T3 is too high.

This would mean you have too much T3 being made and you also have less thyroid binding globulin (TBG). 

Too much T3 will overwhelm the cells and you find yourself in thyroid hormone resistance again. It is common in women with insulin resistance and PCOS. It is often caused by too much testosterone in the body.  If you have developed Type II Diabetes and are taking insulin for this, you may also find yourself in an over conversion of T4 to T3.

If you are using a testosterone cream you can over convert T4 and T3. 

You will have hypo symptoms with this one. 

A big help here will be to reverse the insulin resistance to reverse the thyroid hormone resistance and begin to feel better. 

You may have labs that look like this: 

• Normal TSH

• High or high normal Free T4

• High or high normal Free T3

• Normal Reverse T3

5. High Thyroid Binding Globulin

Thyroid Binding Globulin is a protein that carries thyroid hormones to the cells so they can use them.  You can develop antibodies to this protein in Hashimoto’s. 

You can find yourself in this situation if you take hormonal birth control or estrogen replacement therapy. 

If you are on birth control, you may have high levels of estrogen you will make too much TBG and thyroid hormones are carried to the cells on TBG so if you have too many TBG proteins in the blood bound to them, you can have less thyroid hormone getting to your cells. 

You have to work to get the excess estrogen out of the body. 

Your labs might look like this: 

• Normal TSH

• Low Free T4

• Low Free T3

• Normal Reverse T3

6. Thyroid Hormone Resistance

Again, similar to insulin resistance with a root cause being stress. Your pituitary gland and thyroid gland may be making just the right amount of hormone but it just isn’t getting into the cells. It feels like hypothyroidism to you and it is the high amount of cortisol in your body that is causing your cells to resist the thyroid hormone. 

You absolutely must manage your adrenals with this one. 

Your labs might look like this: 

• Normal TSH

• Normal Free T4

• Normal Free T3

• Normal Reverse T3

You have to make sure your labs are being tested regularly in all cases. 

Ok. That’s it for me. 

I want to remind you all that I have openings in my practice for a few more clients right now so if you are needing help navigating diet and lifestyle changes head over to Help For Hashimoto’s and fill out the contact form. You can also get my report on Five Things Your Doctor Won’t Tell You About Hypothyroidism. 

One last thing, part of the diet and lifestyle changes are to look at what you are putting on your skin. I found Beautycounter to be a trusted source for skin care and make up for me. They ban over 1300 chemicals in their products while the US only has a ban on around 30 ingredients. So, you don’t have to think about safety with their products and I really like that so I became a consultant last year. I don’t work too hard at selling it because my focus is really on nutrition but if you have any interest in checking them out go to beautycounter.com/stephanieewals to shop. I would sure appreciate your support. 

I’m still on a social media break and have no desire to get back on anytime soon. I’m checking the Help For Hashimoto’s facebook group once a day. You can join that if you would like but all the action is in the newsletter which you can sign up for on my website. 

I’m grateful to you all. Please leave me a rating and review on iTunes so more people can find the show and get help. 

Until next time. 

Your immune system and Hashimoto's; Adaptive vs. Innate immunity in Hashimoto’s. Episode 38.

Welcome to episode 38.

I am 3/4’s the way through a year of podcasting. Thanks for sticking with me and hanging out. I really appreciate it. My end goal is to help as many people as possible have a great quality of life with autoimmune disease.

You can help me with that by sharing this podcast with people you know dealing with thyroid issues and by leaving a rating or a review. I have enjoyed reading the reviews and honestly avoided them for awhile because I didn’t want to see if there were any bad ones. Thankfully there weren’t any. Anyway, I am grateful to those of you leaving reviews. 

Someone in Denver who rides the train to work listens and I want to thank you! I do this for you! So you can begin to feel your best. 

I’ve had a busy week and didn’t do so well with eating enough last week. I had not prepped any food which always makes for days where I just skip a meal which is so bad for my adrenals and my blood sugar. My blood sugar is so sensitive which I think is keeping me from losing the 5-10 pounds I have gained over the last year or two. I have not done anything different with my diet but menopause and insulin resistance have made of mess of my body. I have regularly done the autoimmune strong workouts over the last month- I’m getting them in at least three days a week. I hate working out but I want to be strong as I get older so I just do it anyway. 

I ate out a lot this past weekend but we are so fortunate to have some really cool restaurants that serve at least Paleo type foods. I had a green curry with pastured chicken and organic veggies twice in the last week from a great restaurant called French Meadow in Minneapolis. They have a lot of gluten free options which is so nice and the food is good. It tastes like it is made from scratch.  

I had a yucca crust pepperoni pizza with a cheese made from pumpkin seeds and a chicken curry dish to bring home from another place called Sassy Spoon. They are 100% gluten free which is nice. They are another from scratch type restaurant. 

This weekend I was at a party for a family member and there were gluten free cookies for dessert and I had at least one whole cookie if not a little more. I could feel the effects of that right away on my neck and my face began to itch like crazy. So, despite wanting to devour a ton of them, I didn’t. I didn’t want to suffer the physical consequences. That party had a taco bar with corn tortillas but I skipped the tortilla and just had the meat, lettuce and guacamole with a little salsa- so basically a taco salad. Pretty easy to modify that one if you can tolerate tomatoes. 

On Saturday morning I made my breakfast soup and chicken and veggie stir fry with lots of garlic to eat for the week. As long as I have food to eat during the week, every thing seems to go better for me. My moods are better, sleep is better, energy is better. It is just a matter of taking the time to make the food. 

Monday I ate at a place called Foxy Falafel which even has Autoimmune Protocol menu items. I tolerate chickpeas so I had their falafel which is such a treat. We even got their egg free, gluten free, dairy free brownie and chocolate chip cookie. I over indulged but I have not been to that restaurant in 2 ½ years so it was okay with me. They also sold Hu chocolate which is pretty darn good. 

After all that indulgence over the last week, I filled up on my green juice made in my vitamix which consists of a lemon, 2 stalks of celery, ¼ of an english cucumber, a handful of parsley, water and ice. I always feel really good after drinking that and it kickstarts my digestion for the day. 

Sauerkraut has been in regular rotation too. That helps my digestion work better as well. We have our old refrigerator full of it and everyone complains about the smell. It is sort of infiltrating the whole refrigerator. I love it! 

I’ve been doing hamburger patties on a bed of lettuce too. Quick and easy. 

Okay- let’s get started on todays subject. It is an important one to understand because it plays a big role in your autoimmune disease. 

Today we are talking about your immune system and Hashimoto’s. This episode has some scientific terms in it but I think I have broken it down to make it easier to understand. It is important for you to know how your body works and the immune system is a pretty big deal.

It is our biggest line of defense with many kinds of cells, antibodies, proteins and chemicals all working together like a country’s military defense system works to protect a nation. 

The immune system is divided in to the innate immune system aka the non-specific immune system. This side of the immune system is highly involved in inflammation- like when you hurt yourself and you get a bruise or a bump. When you cut yourself and the area gets all red and becomes scabbed. The job of the immune cells in innate is to keep pathogens out. It acts quickly and does not specify or target any one thing. For the most part, it cannot tell the difference between an invader, damaged cells or healthy cells so healthy tissue sometimes gets damaged. So if you have chronic stress causing inflammation or some kind of infection that won’t go away, this side of the immune system produces chronic inflammation. 

The other side of our immune system is the adaptive immune system which is very specific about the attacks it launches. We will talk a little more about this side in a minute. 

Your immune system needs to be regulated in order for your Hashimoto’s disease to be managed. 

Our immune system is on guard for antigens. Antigens are toxins or other foreign substance which causes an immune response in the body and can create antibodies against it. 

Things like a specific food, mold, bacteria, a chronic virus such as EBV or a parasite. These things irritate the immune system leading to an attack.  Now in Hashimoto’s, gluten is a big antigen which induces an attack on the thyroid gland every time you eat it. Remember that gluten is a protein found in all grains to some degree but the biggies that can be more of a problem for most people are wheat, barley and spelt. 

You can also have an immune response to environmental chemicals or heavy metals but not everyone will develop an immune response to these things.  You might be someone who doesn’t have a huge heavy metal burden or you just don’t react to foods. The exception would be gluten and possibly dairy because the proteins are similar to those of your thyroid so I always recommend people remove those two things from your diet. 

Your immune system might be reactive to bacteria. Many people with Hashimoto’s have antibodies to the bacteria Yersinia enterocolitica. 

Whatever your issue is you need to remove the antigen either by removing the offending food, detox the heavy metal or get rid of the bacteria to calm the immune system and manage Hashimoto’s. 

When dealing with autoimmune disease and specifically Hashimoto’s we want to look at TH-1 and TH-2 cytokines which can be high while T-suppressor cells will be low. 

A cytokine is a category of tiny proteins that work to signal cells of the immune system and are produced by cells in the immune system and a number of other places. They have many jobs in the body one of which is to work with the immune system to protect us. 

T-suppressor cells are also known as regulatory T cells which work to modulate or regulate the immune system and help us maintain tolerance to antigens against our self which helps prevent autoimmune disease. The T regulatory cells are immunosuppressive- they suppress the immune system. 

So, if we have high cytokines and low T-suppressor or T-regulatory cells then you have an immune system that is all out of balance and giving you symptoms of Hashimoto’s and maybe even causing destruction to your thyroid gland. 

Now let’s look at TH-1 and TH-2 cytokines specifically because most of us fall in to either TH-1 dominance or TH-2 dominance. 

TH-1 are T helper cells involved in an innate, or immediate immune system response. This is the adaptive immune system which is a part of the immune system that creates memory after dealing with an antigen. This means it will always remember that particular antigen whether it is a food, mold, heavy metal or parasite or bug. Every time that substance enters your body your innate/adaptive/acquired immune system will attack. It is very specific about what it reacts to. This is the part of our immune system that, once we have measles, will protect us from ever getting it again.  It is the line of defense against the pathogens.  

Sometimes it doesn’t distinguish the difference between an invader from non invader when it enters the body. It gets confused which can result in things like hay fever, asthma or an attack on the thyroid. 

When you have TH-1 dominance your immune system is overactive in the TH-1 pathway.  The majority of people with Hashimoto’s have TH-1 dominance but there are some Hashimoto’s patients with TH-2 dominance. 

You might also switch back and forth between the two depending on what your body is needing or getting too much of. Maybe you are deficient in some minerals or or getting too much of a mineral. These can trigger either TH-1 or TH-2 dominance. 

The best way to manage this is to focus on the whole body. Reduce inflammation throughout the body. Remove the triggers for your immune system. 

Once you have an autoimmune disease, you can put it in remission but you will have it forever and will have to work to manage your diet and lifestyle so your immune system can relax a bit. You must restore balance to the body. 

High TH-1 or TH-2 immune cells block thyroid receptors on your cells so your thyroid hormone cannot get in and do its job giving you symptoms of hypothyroid. 

Type 1 Diabetes, Hashimoto’s, MS and chronic viral infections are associated with TH-1 dominance. 

Lupus, dermatitis, asthma, and chemical sensitivities are mostly associated with TH-2 dominance. 

This is not always the case- remember that. As with everything there are exceptions. 

TH-2 are T helper cells involved in a delayed immune system response. Helper cells work to direct immune system activity as do the regulator cells and suppressor cells stop an immune reaction when needed. 
There are some different ways these immune cells could be affecting you. 

• You might not make enough of the T-suppressor cells that regulate your immune system and tolerate antigens. Not enough T-suppressor cells keeps the immune system on high alert and attacking self. Your thyroid gland can be a victim of this problem. 

• Maybe you make too much of the chemical messenger Interleukin-2 (IL-2) that tells other immune cells to attack and kill an invader. Too much of this one puts tissue not involved in the attack at risk of being an innocent bystander that gets attacked. 

• You might make too many Interleukin-4 (IL-4). This releases B cells that look for intruders and mark them for death. Again, here your thyroid tissue can be damaged. 

• Not managing your blood sugar or not being able to handle increases in insulin due to consuming sugar and refined carbs can send those B cells in to over production. 

• Having food sensitivities and eating those foods anyway or dealing with a parasite will increase Interleukin-4 and increase production of the B cells. 

• A chronic virus such as EBV will increase the Interleukin 2 creating more natural killer cells and cytotoxic T cells. 

Let’s get to know what these terms mean. 

Interleukin- these are a type of cytokine. Cytokines are chemical messengers within the immune system cells. Some cytokines kill pathogens on their own. 

B cells- a white blood cell that is circulating in the body and is on the lookout for for antigens that they have antibodies to. When these cells activate, they are quick to divide and grow. Some of these have memory and will forever recognize an antigen when it enters the body. 

Natural Killer cells- white blood cells that go to an infection site to destroy cells infected by a virus. They play a role in the adaptive immune system having a memory to viruses. They do not need to be activated to kill cells in the body. 

Cytotoxic cells- T cells that attack cells infected with a virus and certain bacteria. They release chemicals called cytotoxins which cause infected cells to die. 

Our ultimate goal here is to bring the immune system back in to balance. 

You need to support your immune system and you can start with Vitamin D in the form of cholecalciferol. This specifically supports the T regulatory cells so they can do their job right. Remember these are the ones that help regulate the immune system. 

Make sure you are taking an emulsified version which means it is mixed with some kind of oil so that your body can use it. Poor quality vitamin D supplements with be mixed with soybean oil or with canola oil. Look for one with MCT oil (a form of coconut oil) or I have seen them with olive oil too. Biotics makes a nice one called Bio-D Mulsion Forte. 

Fish oil will also support the T regulatory cells but taking any fish oil in large amounts isn’t a good idea. 

There are some studies to show that people with Hashimoto’s are not able to process vitamin D naturally so they may need higher amounts than the average person. If you have a Vitamin D test that shows normal levels yet your immune system is still struggling and you are doing everything else right to reduce inflammation and immune responses you may think about raising the amount you take. Having high normal levels is best for thyroid patients. 

You may need a therapeutic dose and should have your levels checked by your doctor once a year or more to make sure you don’t over do it. 

Excess vitamin D can cause calcification of the heart, kidneys or lungs and you can have too much calcium circulating in your blood. 

Glutathione (a big antioxidant in the body) in a cream form and superoxide dismutase (an enzyme that acts as an antioxidant to protect your cells). These will both help regulate the immune system. 

Don’t waste your money just trying these to see if they help. Work with someone who can first help you get your diet and lifestyle dialed in, get your digestion working well and making sure you are able to digest fats and absorb vitamins and minerals. 

Back to TH-1 and TH-2 Dominance. It is helpful to know which way you go here so you can know which things will continue to stimulate your TH-1 or TH-2 cells. 

Things that stimulate TH-1: Echinacea, Maitake mushrooms, glycyrrhiza from licorice (so if you take licorice for adrenal health and you feel worse because of it then it could indicate TH-1 dominance), lemon balm. 

Things that stimulate TH-2: caffeine, green tea extract, grape seed extract, pine bark extract, white willow bark, lycopene (found in tomatoes) , resveratrol. Taking any of these will stimulate the immune system further and cause you to feel worse. 

Again, work with someone who can help you with monitoring these things. 

Things that regulate TH-1 and TH-2:  probiotics, vitamin A, vitamin E and colostrum. 

Things that quiet interleukin one that would activate TH-1 or TH-2: Boswellia (frankincense is a species of the Boswellia species), pancreatic enzymes (often sold as digestive enzymes), Turmeric or its compound curcumin. 

It is probably best if you have some sort of immunologic testing done to find out if you are TH-1 or TH-2 dominant before messing around with the things mentioned, aside from Vitamin D. 

You also will want to work on diet, keeping your blood sugar stable, get your adrenal health dialed in and make sure your digestion is working top notch. 

After all of this is completed and you know where your body stands, where your immune system stands then you can work to find those specific antigens, the things triggering the immune response. A gluten free diet is very important because gluten is one of those foods that is inflammatory as I stated in the beginning. 

Healing leaky gut or intestinal permeability will be important too but we can discuss that in another podcast if I haven’t covered it. I don’t remember what I did yesterday hardly and being 38 episodes in, I cannot remember from week to week what I have covered. 

Thanks so much for listening. Again, if you could leave me a review on iTunes, I would really appreciate it. 

I am on a social media break and not sure when to return. I am checking the Help For Hashimoto’s facebook group once a day, otherwise I’m avoiding all social media.  

If you have a question, you can email helpforhashimotos@gmail.com or you can go to my website and fill out the contact form. 

Have a comment or question about this episode? Leave it on the blog post on my website helpforhashimotos.com under episode 38. I’d love to hear from you. You can also get my free ebook 5 Things Your Doctor Won’t Tell You About Hypothyroidism while you are there. You’ll get a weekly recipe and some nutritional nugget of information each week. 

I’m taking new clients right now so if you are in need of help navigating your autoimmune disease and especially Hashimoto’s, I am here to help. You can reach out to me on my website. You can make an appointment for a 15 minute free call to see if we are a good fit for working together. 

Until next week my friends. 

Can Hypothyroidism affect your heart? Episode 37.

Welcome to episode 37. Thanks for joining me. Today I am diving in to our heart health and what it means to our heart health when we are dealing with hypothyroidism. 

Do you have: 

High or low blood pressure?

Fast or slow pulse?

Irregular heartbeat?

Heart skips a beat?

Palpitations

High cholesterol?

Heart Disease, plaque buildup, heart attack?

These are all things that can be affected by thyroid disease. 

Our heart uses thyroid hormone. Our heart is affected by changes in our medication or by the amount of medication we are taking. It is affected by low levels of T3. How many of you have a doctor that will only test TSH? 

This could be affecting your heart. 

When you don’t have enough thyroid hormone your heart can beat too slow or it can beat irregularly meaning it can flutter or miss beats. Long term consequences of this is that your tissues don’t get enough oxygen or nutrients which will make you feel physically bad. Our heart and the entire cardiovascular system is dependent on adequate levels of T3 for proper function. T3 helps improve how the heart contracts so when you are low you will have less cardiac output. Cardiac output means the amount of blood the heart pumps through the circulatory system in one minute. 

You can also end up with plaques developing in your arteries and high blood pressure. Hypothyroidism can effect how blood is pumped in and out of the heart, how the lining of the arteries functions, cholesterol levels in the blood and more. Low T3 can increase the amount of cholesterol and fat circulating (technically called lipids) in the blood.

T3 is the main regulator of gene expression in the heart muscle. Gene expression means how genetic information is transferred in the cells of the body. It is the effect of a gene on the body.  It is thought that low T3 levels are associated with increased death in patients already dealing with heart disease. 

Hypothyroidism is associated with higher cardiovascular risk factors. This means that we have a higher chance of cardiovascular disease. The heart cells do not convert T4 in to T3 very well if at all so if T3 is low then the heart tissue feels the effects and doesn’t function as well as it should. 

Treatment with thyroid medications is supposed to improve all risk factors but the problem is if you are treated with T4 only medication and you are not converting T4 to T3 for whatever reason, you may be at higher risk for issues with your heart. 

There are not a lot of randomized controlled studies in this area but hopefully some will be done soon. 

Bottom Line:  Hypothyroidism affects the whole body. It has a negative impact on the heart and almost everything else when it isn’t treated. 

You might hear from your doctor that NDT like Armour or Westhroid etc will cause a high heart rate. If this is the case for you then you must look at your adrenal health and/or iron levels. If you have high reverse T3 which is usually the case with cortisol or iron problems or even chronic inflammation you can see an issue with your heart rate.  You could have a high heart rate if you are having a flare up of Hashimoto’s where tissue is being killed off and thyroid hormone is being released. 

If you think your medication is causing heart palpitations, discuss it with your doctor and you may also want to try to take it in smaller doses. I am currently on Armour which my body doesn’t love as much as the compounded thyroid powder so when I take one whole pill I get palpitations throughout the day. I have to take half a pill 4x a day to get my body used to it. I also have adrenal issues and low iron which is not super responsive to iron supplementation so once those things are fixed, I should be good. 

OK.  I want to explain more about heart disease so you know what you are dealing with and how you can optimize your life choices so you can give your heart a fighting chance. 

Heart Disease or Coronary Heart Disease are conditions that affect the heart muscle, valves or rhythm. 

Cardiovascular Disease are conditions that affect blood vessels- usually that they are narrowed or blocked which can lead to a heart attack. 

Heart disease is caused by atherosclerosis- a disease of the arterial wall that leads to the narrowing and obstruction of the artery. The narrowing is because of sclerotic deformation of the artery and the development of raised patches called atherosclerotic plaques in the inner lining of the arterial wall. Depending on which organ in the body the artery feeds, atherosclerosis in those arterial walls will impair blood flow to that organ. 

The two major types of Coronary Heart Disease are angina pectoris and myocardial infarction (heart attack). 

AP happens when the space inside the coronary artery is narrowed but not closed off completely.  At rest your body will be able to deal with less blood flow but any physical activity will cause the heart to have to work harder, the artery with the build up can’t supply enough blood to feed the heart muscle which can result in a gripping chest pain that can radiate to the neck and usually the left arm. 

Heart Attack or MI happens when the coronary artery closes up all the way and blood flow to the heart muscle stops. This causes a portion of the heart to die or causes death. 

About half the people who have a heart attack die in the first 2-3 hours and if you make it through a heart attack will take some time to recover and may suffer complications such as an abnormal heartbeat. 

How do we prevent these conditions?

We first prevent the build up in our arteries- the atherosclerosis. 

We avoid: smoking, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, stress, anxiety, anger and the big ones- poor sleep and the standard American diet (SAD). 

For 60 years or more we have been told to avoid fat and cholesterol in our diet. To eat margarine and cook with vegetable oils. That we need to be on statin drugs to manage our cholesterol. 

We can thank the Diet Heart Hypothesis which states that dietary fats, including cholesterol, cause heart disease. A correlation was shown in a diagram of 6 countries (carefully selected out of 22 countries that had the same data available) that fat consumption and death from heart disease were related. When all 22 countries were put in the diagram the correlation between fat and heart disease wasn’t plausible. It actually shows there is no correlation at all between fat consumption and dying from heart disease. 

A lot of money was thrown at scientific research in the US to prove this correlation to be true. The data that did not support the hypothesis was thrown out and the data that did was promoted and advertised. Studies in other countries that were done were proving this hypothesis to be wrong. 

Many of the studies proving the correlation between dietary fat and increase in heart disease or death were funded by companies that proved to benefit from this idea that fat is killing us. We were being sold a false bill of goods and we have been believing it and paying for it with our health for years. 

Is cholesterol really a bad thing?

The short answer is no. 

The longer answer-  We will die without cholesterol. Our bodies are made of billions of cells and almost every one of those cells produces cholesterol all the time. Why is this? Every cell uses cholesterol for structural integrity. 

Saturated fats and cholesterol are used by our cells to make the cell walls firm. If they are flabby and fluid we would be structured like a worm. 

Cholesterol is needed in different amounts all over the body depending on the purpose or function of the cell in that area. 

Protective barriers like our skin will have much more cholesterol because we need a strong sturdy barrier to protect us from any invasion. If a cell needs to be softer and more fluid it will have less cholesterol. 

Our cells communicate with each other and and transport molecules in and out of the cells-they need cholesterol and fats to do that. 

Our brain uses about around 25% of all the cholesterol in our body. 

Most of the cholesterol in our body does not actually come from the food we eat. Many studies have been done to show that dietary cholesterol does not have a huge effect on the cholesterol in our blood. 

Our body was made to make it on its own. It makes about 85% of our cholesterol and the rest comes from food. When we eat more foods containing cholesterol our body makes less of it. We eat less of it, our body makes more. 

Low cholesterol has been shown to produce emotional instability,  problems with behavior, aggressiveness, violence, low self control and more.

Sex hormones are made from cholesterol too- low libido, adrenal issues, high or low estrogen etc. 

Our liver produces much of our cholesterol and regulates its levels. 

When our skin is exposed to sunlight, we make vitamin D from cholesterol. 

Why do some people have high cholesterol and others don’t? Why will it be higher when we are under stress or have surgery? Why is it higher in winter and lower in summer?

Cholesterol plays a healing role in our body. It goes up when we need something to be healed. It’s higher in the winter because we have less sun exposure. 

Damaging molecules end up in our blood stream and we have this layer of cells in our blood vessels that can be damaged by things going through our blood. These cells send a message to our liver that there is damage. The liver makes cholesterol and sends it to the damaged area in the form of LDL cholesterol to repair the damage. Once the damage is repaired/the wound is healed it goes back to the liver in the form of HDL.

If you have high LDL cholesterol you should be asking, what is causing damage in my body instead of how do I lower my cholesterol. Get to the root of the problem and the cholesterol will take care of itself. 

Atherosclerotic plaques in your body are sources of inflammation in the body. Inflammation is the way our body responds to any injury. It is there to get rid of whatever is causing the problem so the body can begin to repair itself. 

Plaques in your arteries are the body's attempt at dealing with chronic, never ending damage that has been done to the blood vessels. The body is basically forming scar tissue in your arteries. 

What causes all of this?

Processed foods is a big one, poorly managed blood sugar and sugar in the diet in large amounts. Remember that women should only have around 22grams of sugar per day and men should only have 24 grams per day. High blood sugar on a regular basis creates an inflammatory environment within the body. 

Really quickly- some other things that cause inflammation in the body are the chemicals in products we use everyday- personal care products, household products, prescription drugs, exposure to smoke and pollution, pesticides, chlorine, microbes and parasites and even disrupted gut bacteria. Certain nutrient deficiencies, lack of sun exposure, no exercise and high stress are also big problems for our health in general but also in managing inflammation in the body. 

How do we manage to have good heart health and good cholesterol?

Consuming high quality healthy fats: 

Note it is NOT any particular fat that is good or bad but the way it is processed that makes it bad for us. 

The types of fats we need to know and understand: 

Saturated fat: a stable fat, doesn’t go rancid easily and our body can make it so it is considered non- essential. It is usually solid or semi solid at room temperature. 

Monounsaturated fat: pretty stable fat, won’t go rancid easily, our body can make it so it is considered non essential. Liquid at room temperature but if refrigerated should become somewhat solid. Found in olive oil, olives and oils from almonds, pecans, cashews, peanuts and avocados. 

Polyunsaturated fat: very unstable, goes rancid easily, never heat them or cook with them. Always in a liquid state, even if refrigerated. Two of these are considered essential meaning we have to get them from the diet. Flax and other seeds, nuts and fish and fish oil. Omega 6 and 3 are from these types of fats. 

All fats and oils are a combination of these three types of fats. They are categorized by which fat is most prevalent. 

We need all three types of these fats in order to have proper function in the body and to make sure that we can manage any inflammation in the body. 

We must have good digestion, proper liver function, zinc, magnesium, vitamin B6, vitamin E and C in order to have proper repair of inflammation in the body. 

Consume a mixture of about 30% saturated fat, 10% polyunsaturated fats (Omega 3 and 6) and 60% monounsaturated fats like olive oil as a very general guideline: 

• Animal fats from pastured, well raised animals if possible

• High quality butter such as Kerry Gold, Organic Valley or a locally made butter

• Ghee which is the butter fat with the whey removed- used in Indian cooking a lot

• Coconut or Palm Oils

• Cold Pressed extra virgin olive oil

• Other cold pressed oils from nuts or seeds

Cold pressed oils are expensive and more difficult to make. They are the most fragile oils as they are easily damaged by light and heat. They are the seed oils and oils made from nuts. Canola oil is a seed oil and is processed with high heat, chemicals and is a rancid and damaged oil before it hits the grocery store shelves where it then sits on a shelf exposed to light all day long- remember seed oils are polyunsaturated and are damaged by light and heat. 

Avoid hydrogenated fats, partially hydrogenated fats and those highly processed “vegetable” oils and of course trans fats. 

Other things that can be helpful: 

Vitamin C can help the body repair itself when under stress or when other factors are present that might otherwise cause damage to the lining of the blood vessels. Best choice is whole foods that are high in vitamin C (listed in order from highest amount of vitamin C per serving to lowest) like papaya, bell peppers, broccoli, brussels sprouts, strawberries, pineapple, oranges, kiwi, cantaloupe and cauliflower. 

Staying well hydrated will keep your blood free flowing and thinner. The thicker and more viscous your blood is, the more damage can be done to the lining of your blood vessels because there is more friction. Aim for about half your body weight in ounces a day but no more than 100 oz a day. That is a lot of water and even I find it tough to get that much water in each day. 

Cardio Protective Nutrition: 

• Consuming and digesting animal proteins which are the best source of vitamins A, D and the B vitamins. 

• Again, vitamin C

• Potassium- helps us maintain healthy blood pressure. Fruits and veggies in general but Swiss Chard has 1000mg of potassium per serving. Recommended amount is 4700mg per day. 

• Fill your dinner plate (and lunch and breakfast plate) with vegetables, especially cruciferous veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussels sprouts

• Consume wild caught fish, pastured eggs

• Fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, fermented pickles, miso or natto

Lastly, high cholesterol in the elderly population is associated with longer life and life expectancy in general increases with higher cholesterol. Cholesterol is protective against infections, lower cholesterol levels associated with memory issues. 

Okay. That is it for today. Thanks for listening. Please leave me a rating and review on iTunes so more people can find the podcast. Let’s get as many people as possible the information they need to heal. 

Have a question or comment about today’s episode? Head on over to helpforhashimotos.com and ask it on this weeks episode blog post. Search for Episode 37 and you will find a transcript of todays episode. 

Need help figuring out how to navigate your thyroid condition? I am taking new clients right now and would love to help you out. Go to my website and fill out the contact form. 

I’m taking a facebook break. I will be checking in to see if anyone wants to join the Help For Hashimoto’s facebook group but beyond that I am trying to stay off it. I’m not a fan of putting out a bunch of content there when Facebook owns it all. 

I am focusing more of my energy on putting really good content out in my newsletter and here on the podcast so if you have a topic you want covered contact me through my website. 

I forgot again to send the lunch ideas in my newsletter. I’m so sorry about that. I was pretty stressed out last week with lack of sleep and worrying about passing the grad school entrance exam. I got a middle of the road score which is what my school was looking for so it looks like I’m going back to school at almost 48. Am I crazy? I don’t know. I am little scared though. it is kind of daunting to be a student at my age. I am also freaking excited to learn about functional medicine! More excited than scared the more I think about it. Maybe it will be fun for you all to learn along side me! 

Go sign up for my newsletter. For sure each week you will get a new recipe to try and so far the feedback on the recipes I’ve sent out has been really good. 

All right, see you next week! Take care! 

https://endocrinenews.endocrine.org/hypothyroidism-and-the-heart/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17923583

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5512679/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17093250

Am I eating enough protein? Episode 36.

Welcome to episode 36. I’m so glad you are here! I forgot to share lunch ideas in my newsletter last week so that will be going out in this weeks newsletter. You can sign up at www.helpforhashimotos.com.  

It seems like a lot of people have questions about exactly what they should be eating and so I am going to share what I have been eating for the last few days. 

Breakfasts have been my breakfast soup or a vegetable beef soup I made last weekend. I had chili one morning and a protein shake one or two mornings. I have been combing Designs For Health Paleo Protein and Pea protein with ice and canned coconut milk. 

I had one of my RESTART participants ask about how much protein we should be eating and it got me thinking- Does the amount of protein we eat affect our thyroid function?  I did a little research and it turns out it does. 

Let’s get a little primer on protein. 

Protein is one of the big macro nutrients our body needs. It is second to water in our physical makeup at around 20% of our body weight. It makes up most of our muscles, skin, hair, eyes and internal organs like the heart and the brain. 

So, it is pretty important. 

Our immune system needs protein to create antibodies that help fight infection. I am pretty sure that doesn’t mean if we don’t eat protein we won’t create antibodies against our thyroid though. That is not where I am going with this. 

We have something called hemoglobin in our blood. It carries oxygen to our cells and it is a protein. When you hear someone talking about dietary protein or a protein in your body, they are made of the same thing. 

Insulin and our thyroid hormones are also proteins. 

When we eat protein we break it down in to amino acids. Some of these we can make our self but many we need to get from our diet. Some of the amino acids we can make on our own we might not be able to because of toxins in our environment or the use of prescription drugs. 

Tyrosine is one amino acid you might hear about in thyroid health. It may have been suggested that you supplement with tyrosine to help your thyroid. It is made in the body easily from phenylalanine, another amino acid. It is needed for the production of adrenaline, dopamine, and thyroid hormones. 

We need folate, niacin, vitamin C, and some other elements to make tyrosine. This is important. If your thyroid is not working right, it probably isn’t a tyrosine deficiency but a lack of those things that help make tyrosine. 

Try getting those precursors from your diet. A well balanced diet is important for everyone but most especially for those of us working on gaining our health back. 

Every food we eat, has a different mix of amino acids. Meat, dairy and eggs are the greatest sources of what is often called a complete protein. If you are a vegetarian you might combine beans and grains to get your complete proteins but for many of us with autoimmune disease, this can be a problem. 

We might have to avoid grains and legumes because they are an inflammatory food for us. For many of us trying to heal our gut and autoimmune disease, we will find better healing with animal based proteins. 

I respect anyone’s choice to eat the way the do. I am just telling you what I know to be true. 

In the last few months I have seen suggestions for protein requirements between 45 and 60 grams per day to 100 grams per day to between ½ to ¾ times your body weight. For me that calculates to around 90-135 grams per day. 

I know I need upwards of 100 grams per day to not feel starving between meals. You just kind of have to play around with this to figure out what works for you. 

Protein is first breaking down in the stomach. You need adequate stomach acid to break it down and guess what? With hypothyroidism you probably are not making enough stomach acid and therefore not breaking down the protein you are eating as well as you could. 

The problem with not having enough stomach acid- meaning there isn’t enough acidity in the stomach or the level of acid is not high enough is that the process of breaking down protein is not happening in the way it should. The enzymes needed to work with the amino acids are not able to gain access to those parts of the protein that are broken down in to amino acids. 

Other things affecting stomach acid production are chronic stress, the standard American diet and eating too much at once and age. By age 60 we are not making enough stomach acid for whatever reason. 

Our liver uses the amino acids we have broken down in the stomach or in digestion. 

Now as far as our thyroid is concerned. There have been some studies done on protein and thyroid function. 

It is clear that nutrition is very important in thyroid function. Remember thyroid hormones are proteins.  When we are not eating enough or possibly not digesting it well, the signals from the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland are down regulated or slowed down. This signaling - the hypothalamus telling the pituitary to tell the thyroid to make thyroxine is affected by a lack of protein in the diet. 

Reduced protein in the diet can make our brain think we are in starvation mode and the thyroid is told to slow down. But one study showed that the restriction of energy in a low protein diet caused there to be less T3 produced but no difference in TSH, T4 and FT4. 

This is interesting because many doctors are not testing T3- the actual hormone that your cells need to function and this restricted protein diet is causing less of it to be produced, yet the other markers might look normal. 

The researchers suggest that calorie restriction and a lower carb and higher protein to carb ratio could be the cause. 

It also showed that there was in increase in Reverse T3- the hormone that binds T3 in times of stress or injury. 

Their conclusion was that adequate protein intake is needed for thyroid function. For the thyroid hormones to be produced and it is also needed for the pituitary to produce TSH. 

The big take away here is that you need protein and quality protein if you can afford it and you need to be digesting it. 

Wild caught fish and seafood

100% grass fed beef

Pastured poultry

Wild Game

Pastured eggs

are all great sources of protein. 

Another take away is that you should not restrict your caloric intake when you have thyroid problems. The weight you may have gained due to your hypothyroid condition will come off gradually with diet and lifestyle changes. 

Thanks so much for listening. Please leave me a review and a rating on iTunes so more people can find the podcast. 

I’m sending out another recipe this Friday in my newsletter so go sign up for that at helpforhashimotos.com  

Have a question for me? Send it to me at helpforhashimotos@gmail.com or go to my website and fill out the contact form. 

If you have a question about this episode, leave me a comment on the blog post under Episode 36. 

Until next week! 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5793233/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3121981

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17403271

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27916585

https://www.nahypothyroidism.org/6-nutrient-deficiencies-common-in-thyroid-patients/

https://www.nahypothyroidism.org/6-nutrient-deficiencies-common-in-thyroid-patients/

Why are my hands and feet so cold? Episode 35.

Welcome to Episode 35. I’m coming to you from the frozen Tundra of MN where schools are closed and the high temps for the day will be around -15 and the low -31 with windchills reaching -50. When I got up the outdoor temp was -26.

 It is cold here and when you have thyroid problems and you are already cold, this can be an issue for you. Cold hands and feet can’t get warm and sometimes you might even be cold to the bone. 

A few years ago there were nights where I could not get warm enough to fall asleep without a heating blanket, wool socks, a sweatshirt and flannel pajama bottoms with at least 3 blankets on top of me, one of which was down. 

The struggle is real my friends. If you feel like this, you are not alone- cold weather or not.  

I got a question in my inbox about this very issue. Here it is: 

I was diagnosed with Hashimoto in 99, but given no info beyond that.  Had many problems with medication so ended up not using RX but went to Thyrophin PMG but always being ill.  Have been gluten and corn free, low dairy for years.

The past few weeks my feet have felt like they are in ice water, and my temperature has often been 95 degrees, with a hot home and heating pads and baths I can sometimes get up to 97.2 degrees.

I had been forgetting the Thyrophin frequently.

I did get a chill New Years Day.

Do you think the Hashimoto could be why I am so cold?

Unfortunately my MD moved away and there will not be a replacement for some time and I am in a remote area without much for functional medicine.

I will listen to more podcasts tomorrow.

I am taking undenatured whey to reduce hydrogen peroxide,  but can’t get catalase where I am, have upped the Thyrophin and drinking lots of ginger tea,  and bone broth and wondering what else I can do.

Thanks for any advice you can give me,

Sandy 

Thanks for your question Sandy. No doubt you will be helping many people by having wrote in and asked me this. It is a common problem. 

I would like to know what kind of problems you had on your medication. Perhaps you just didn’t feel great? Maybe you had heart palpitations? Maybe it made you feel worse?

The possible scenario here is that your adrenal health or HPA axis is not functioning properly which is leading to adrenal issues and if you have adrenal issues you may not feel well on medication. I discuss this in Episode 34 but the idea is that your adrenal health affects your thyroid health and vice versa so if you are not dealing with stress well, not sleeping well, having blood sugar issues, then your adrenals are working overtime and you are either in a state of hypoadrenia (things are working slower) or hyperadrenia (things are in overdrive) and your thyroid along with TSH and Free T3 and Free T4 output are also being affected. 

Thyrotrophin PMG is a supplement from Standard Process that is similar to the GTA from Biotics except it has magnesium citrate and bovine thyroid extract that has been processed to remove thyroxine or what we call T4. GTA  Forte II which is what I take has zinc, selenium, copper, rubidium, porcine glandular concentrate and some enzymes. 

Natural Desiccated Thyroid Hormone prescription pills are made from porcine or pig glandulars and the Thyrotrophin is made from bovine or cow thyroid glands so maybe this is partly why you are not feeling well. 

I am assuming you needed medication because you were on it but didn’t feel well on it so it might be time to have your labs done again at a doctors office or order them yourself through someone like Direct Labs, depending on where you live. Some states don’t allow consumers to order lab work. 

You probably need T3. Denis Wilson, MD has coined the term Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome which means that you can have a low body temperature and other symptoms that will respond to T3 therapy. 

I found this to be the case for me. I still have a lower body temperature but once I started on GTA, I no longer have frigid hands and feet. My hands are still a little cool but I am no longer freezing before bed and my overall comfort is much better. This, I believe is attributed to the T3 in GTA. 

It is almost like your body is able to reset itself and you may find that even after stopping a T3 treatment that you will remain more temperature stable. 

Symptoms of Wilson Temperature Syndrome (WTS) include typical hypothyroid symptoms and things like asthma, hives and migraines along with a lower body temperature. You may also have fatigue that lasts and stays, anxiety, depression, headaches, insomnia, muscle aches, brain fog, carpal tunnel syndrome, overall lack of well being. 

Low body temperature is the main symptom and is easily measured because as a whole, our body temp needs to be within a certain range to properly function. If you don’t have low iron or iron deficiency anemia, kidney disease or liver disease, and you have all these other symptoms, you might want to check in to Wilson Temperature Syndrome. 

Don’t expect to go to your regular doctor and expect them to even know what this is. You can learn more by googling Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome. 

I would make a plan to remember to take your Thyrotrophin. Find a time of day to take it where you can make it a habit. Also, don’t buy it off Amazon. Find a practitioner to buy it from. 

It is definitely you thyroid issues as to why you are so cold. 

You say you are taking undenatured whey to reduce hydrogen peroxide. 

Undenatured whey is whey that has not been heated enough to denature it or basically kill all the enzymes and good stuff that might be in it. Heat will destroy the immunoglobulins and break the peptide bond (broken down protein). It has glutyl-cysteine which is a peptide. Your cells use it to make glutathione which is our big antioxidant. From what I understand undenatured whey is supposed to raise glutathione levels and fix anemia. 

If your thyroid issues are due to a mercury toxicity from environment, amalgam fillings or anything else, you may not want to be taking this type of whey. Too much cysteine can suppress your thyroids ability to function so there may be a possibility of consuming too much undenatured whey that could be making you feel worse. 

The other issue I have with whey in any form is that the proteins in dairy products are similar to protein structure in your thyroid which can be an issue for your immune system. It can get confused and attack your thyroid tissue which can create more problems like hyper thyroid symptoms and tissue or cell death. 

Hydrogen peroxide is naturally produced by the body when we convert iodine in the thyroid. When TSH rises, more TPO or thyroid peroxidase enzyme is released which then releases hydrogen peroxide. This will cause damage to the cells in the thyroid if there is not enough selenium and glutathione. If you have Hashimoto’s you may have had a TPO antibody test done. The more peroxide in the body the more TPO antibodies may be created. The immune system may see the rise in TPO enzyme as the problem and so creates antibodies against it. 

The more iodine in your diet, the more it will need to be converted, the more hydrogen peroxide there will be which can decrease how much selenium and glutathione you have to deal with it. 

You might likely be deficient if you are eating more processed foods rather than real whole foods as well. 

You also said that you can’t get catalase where you are. I want to explain what that is for you guys. 

Catalase is an enzyme that will break down the hydrogen peroxide keeping it from damaging our cells much like glutathione does. You make catalase in your liver but maybe you are not making enough. 

Selenium also helps to form glutathione which will remove excess hydrogen peroxide. You can supplement with anywhere from 50mg to 200mg per day of selenium but no more. 

Before you do that though, look closely at your diet. Remove dairy completely for a couple of months to see if it is causing an immune response for you. Stay gluten free and find out what foods you are sensitive to. Sugar, alcohol, soy, caffeine, eggs and even other gluten free grains can be a problem for many of us. You may also want to consider if nightshades are a problem by eliminating them. They are quite anti-inflammatory for many people. 

Ginger is good for heating up the body so keep up with the ginger tea. Bone broth is excellent. Make sure you are eating enough. 

Eat foods that love the liver. Much of our T4 is converted to T3 in the liver. 

Foods with vitamin C like acerola cherries, greens, parsley, cruciferous veggies like cauliflower, broccoli, cabbages, brussel sprouts. Remember these are only a problem as a goitrogenic food if you are eating them raw in large quantities on a daily basis. 

Foods with vitamin E which will be protective to the liver and have antioxidant properties. Asparagus, Avocado, leafy greens. 

Zinc is an antioxidant and is in abundance in oysters, ginger root, many nuts and peas. 

Selenium works with vitamin E as an antioxidant. Molasses, brazil nuts, brown rice, turnips, garlic, red swiss chard, oranges and shellfish.

Most of us are deficient in magnesium and this is important for so many things in the body from helping cells to create energy to helping our liver detoxification pathways work properly.  It is found in a lot of grains and nuts but also coconut and brown rice. 

If you are following an elimination diet, this may not work for you and you might have to supplement with magnesium. My favorite is magnesium glycinate. 

There are many more things that are great for your liver- B vitamins, turmeric, milk thistle and amino acids. Remember that amino acids are coming from protein being broken down in our digestive tract. 

So eating and digesting protein is helpful as well. 

I would recommend you find a way to have your thyroid tested again and be diligent with taking the supplement for your thyroid. 

I hope this helps you Sandy. Thanks so much for writing in. 

I have had some people try to contact me about working with me one on one through DM’s on Instagram. It took me about a month to even notice they were there. I try to just pop on and off of my social media accounts so the best way to reach me is through my website www.helpforhashimotos.com by filling out the contact page there. 

Someone also asked me to talk about lunch ideas and I am going to put that in my newsletter along with a recipe for a pizza hotdish (as we call it here in MN)/casserole. So head on over to helpforhashimotos.com to sign up for that. 

You can find me on social media at out of the woods nutrition-help for hashimoto’s on facebook and @stephanieewalsntp on instagram. I have been less active there so again, the newsletter is the place to get the good information from me. There is also the help for hashimoto’s facebook support group so you can go ask to join that. 

Thanks so much for tuning in. Until next week!