For many years I have struggled with the symptoms of hypothyroidism.
The loss of hair, weight gain, cold hands and feet (even though the rest of me can be roasting), weird little circular bruises under my arms, anxiety, depression, constipation, extreme exhaustion but unable to sleep. If you, too, suffer with hypothyroidism you know what I’m talking about.
I Just Want To Feel Better
My mother used to tell me that I should get my thyroid checked because she had issues with her thyroid most of her life. I didn’t think too much about it at the time. As she has aged she has also acquired other diseases that I feel pretty confident are tied back to her thyroid issues.
She loves sugar, processed foods and alcohol. Now she is fighting psoriasis. Not the little patches that can be covered up. We are talking totally covered in patches that make her look like a burn victim.
I know that I need to start now to make changes in my diet and get exercise. To heal my liver so that my other organs can work the way they should.
These are the things that I know must go.
- Processed sugar in all of it various forms. Did you know that sugar can be in the form of bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, soda pop and of course most processed foods?
- Alcohol – because, well, it is sugar and it doesn’t do anything for me except tax my liver.
- White Flour – processed flour as found in bread, pasta and most other processed snacky foods leads to all kinds of issues.
I have watched several movies lately that have significantly influenced my thoughts on diet that I would like to share with you.
The first is a rather long lecture given by Robert Lustig who is a world renowned Endocrinologist. This lecture was given to medical students so it is rather technical in the biochemistry realm. Don’t let that scare you away from watching this though. The information he presents is critical to understanding how the liver work in the metabolism process.
The Bitter Truth
This links to another set of videos on how to combat obesity from a realistic perspective, not crash dieting. The skinny on Obesity These “episodes” are all done by professors at the University of California San Francisco.
The next movie I watched was Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead which you can watch on Amazon. Here is the trailer:
Sick Fat & Nearly Dead
This is the story of two guys who have had their bodies messed up with steroids, suffered from autoimmune diseases (you can read that thyroid troubles) and obesity. Several months of juicing later – they are transformed!
While I personally have not tried the total juicing route I do love to drink juice for breakfast, which I usually have around ten or eleven in the morning.
Farm To Table
Because I have lived on a farm for the last few years, I am intimately familiar with what it takes to get meat to the table, so I don’t eat a whole lot of it. That which I do eat, I’m pretty particular about. I like to know my chicken and beef before it is butchered.
We also keep Kosher, so I don’t eat pork, shellfish, or other things considered food, but actually are not. I tell you this only so you understand where I’m beginning this process from, not to tell you what you should and/or shouldn’t eat yourself.
And, this is very important, I am not a nutritionist or a doctor or even a chiropractor, I’m simply a woman, an older woman, who is tired of dealing with the issues related to a poorly functioning thyroid that I’m confident could be fixed with good food.
Didn’t Hippocrates say, “Let food be thy medicine”?
From the research I’ve done, and will be sharing with you here in this blog, I’m confident that eating the right foods in the right way, with the correct supplements and exercise will change my body and life. My hope is that it will help you change your life too.
Beat Hypothyroidism – Get A New Life UPDATE
Originally I wrote this article back on April 30, 2014. Today marks just about 4 years since writing this. So much has happened in my life over those four years in relation to my health!
My mother died in 2015. Pretty sure the direct cause of her death can be attributed to not fixing her diet earlier on.
About a year ago my gallbladder was removed. Something that I wish I had known more about before I let them yank it out.
I have spent the last four years studying how the metabolism works.
And have come to the conclusion that if one pays attention to what one is consuming they can reverse most metabolic related diseases such as thyroid problems, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and cancer.
Today I eat a ketogenic diet, and have been for the last 6 months. I have quit drinking alcohol lost 30 pounds, lowered my blood glucose levels, sleep MUCH better and feel better.
You can join us over in our facebook group, to share your results, ask questions and get encouragement. Please be sure to get your copy of the Keto Basics here:
