Low carb diet for hypothyroidism? Is it even a thing? Well, yes, yes it is. As you may know I have been struggling with hypothyroidism for years. Last spring
I lost my gallbladder because of weird eating habits. Trying to eat low fat. The net result is that I now have diabetes problems from eating too many carbs. Becoming insulin resistant as diagnosed by my fasting glucose levels. And to top it all off I have gained 25 pounds.
Here is my story about choosing a low carb diet for hypothyroidism
https://facebook.com/groups/ThyroidTreatmentForWomen
The normal questions about a low carb high fat diet for people how have had their gallbladder removed are:
- Won’t that make the digestive problems worse?
- And isn’t eating more fat going to make you fatter?
- Okay and then there is the conventional thought that eating a high fat diet will give you heart disease.
To begin with we only digest either carbs (glucose) or fat, not both. Carbs are stored as immediate energy and then converted to fat. If we are constantly giving our body glucose, it uses the fresh, readily available sugar and stores the excess as fat. This is why the food pyramid doesn’t really work for most people. When the majority of your fuel is easily burned and the majority of our food comes from sugar sources, we will always be hungry. And we will keep getting fatter.
Won’t Eating A High Fat Diet After Having Your Gallbladder Removed Create Digestive Problems?
I was a little concerned about that initially too. And to be honest jumping right into a really heavily fat meal caused me some issues. But after two days my bowels are producing firm stools even after consuming a high fat meal. There are two things going for me. One is that I am consuming a lot of greens for fiber. And two, I am using enzyme advantage by Purium which has some elements in it that make digestion easier.
So for me, personally the high fat diet, even without a gallbladder, is working for me. Another note about eating high fat without a gallbladder. Don’t drink while you eat. Let what you have get into your intestines where there will be bile directly from your liver. If you don’t mix in more water the bile that is there will work better.
Doesn’t Eating More Fat Make You Fat?
No. It won’t unless you are eating carbs (sugar) too. The human body is designed to eat either carbs or fat. It can get fueled by one or the other. If you train your body to burn fat you will get lean. If you train your body to burn carbs you will get fat. There are two separate systems for burning each fuel. As you switch from one to the other it takes a minute. The fastest way to get into ketosis is to fast. The next fastest way is to eat mostly fat and a moderate amount of protein. However, protein can be converted to sugar too, so watch out for eating too much in the beginning.
High Fat Diets Cause Heart Disease?
Nope on that one too! The whole low fat diet thing was based on faulty research and an outright lie. Fat doesn’t make you fat or cause heart disease, sugar does. People who eat high fat low carb diets end up developing the better type of LDL cholesterol. The nice big molecules instead of the tiny ones that get stuck in inflamed arteries and cause clots. Even if your LDL number goes up, the size of the molecules must be determined.
Products I use on my personal high fat low carb diet for hypothyoidism:
Ketone stripsFitbit Alta Fitness TrackerVitamin B ComplexORGANIC INDIA AshwagandhaOx BileJ.Crow’s Lugol’s Iodine SolutionEasy Touch Diabetes Testing KitPurium ProbioticEnzyme Advantage
Why A Low Carb Diet For Hypothyroidism?
There are a lot of vitamins that need fat in order to be digested. Not so with carbs. Carbs create inflammation which in turn wreaks havoc on the thyroid. Granted if you google high fat or low carb for hypothyroidism you will run for a slice of bread with jam just to make sure you have enough glucose to keep your poor overworked thyroid going. Let me ask you this. If you have been eating carbs all along and you are having thyroid issues how is doing more of the same thing going to fix the problem?
I am not a doctor, but is. His finding are as follows:
Is it possible to recover from hypothyroidism? Most people on thyroid hormone treatment need to continue this for the rest of their lives.
Here’s a story about an exception named Julia:
The Email
Hi Andreas,
I just want to let you know that I’ve recovered from hypothyroidism since starting LCHF.
I started to eat LCHF in August last year and had lost 44 lbs (20 kg) by the end of the year. After this I started to phase out my Levothyroxine medication and am now free from medication and my labs are just keep getting better and better (I draw blood every six weeks).
I hope this can inspire and give others hope, as I know that there are many people out there struggling with both hypothyroidism and obesity!
Sincerely,
Julia
Congratulations, Julia!
This is not a common story in my experience. Most people who are treated with Levothyroxine medication (thyroid hormone) and start an LCHF diet still need to take their medication. Some may indeed need to reduce their dose considerably, but others may even have to increase it. And many stay on approximately the same dose.
But there are always exceptions.
In Julia’s case, it’s possible that the substantial weight loss contributed to a reduction in the amount of hormone needed. Perhaps the body’s own production is enough.
Or she may have had an inflammation in her thyroid, which healed after she started eating LCHF. Perhaps the diet change contributed, but it’s difficult to know for sure.
In my world view, I think that if a strategy isn’t working one should try something else. I do, however, recommend that before you decide to go this route, especially if you are on medication, that you talk with your physician. But don’t let them bully you. Do your own research, use them for information. Like tests and results.
My plan is to do video updates once a week to let you know my progress. If you decide to join me in the lifestyle change please feel free to post pictures, recipes and questions (even videos) over on the Facebook Group.
Let’s get healthy together 🙂