The Potential Cause Of Metabolic Imbalances

“A lack of thyroid hormones that occur in hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s will slow down the metabolic rate. That makes it harder for us to lose weight. It also makes it so much easier to gain weight. A woman with an under active thyroid may be eating the same amount of calories and exercising just as much as another woman with normal thyroid function and she’s going to be putting on pound after pound,” says Dr. Izabella Wentz, pharmacist and author of Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis number one bestseller in healing.

Wentz says women often feel their weight is their fault but if the thyroid is under-active eating less and exercising more will change nothing. She says, “Sometimes you look at their food journals and their diet logs and they’re subsiding on 1200 calories a day.” Often times women gain weight in this situation.

{We are taking a leap of faith and have added a donate button instead of using advertisers. Advertisements have been removed from this page to make your reading uninterrupted. If you learn something here, please donate so we can keep offering these posts. This post contains affiliate links, which sometimes pay for this site}.

When Wentz went to her doctor suffering with these issues as well as severe bloating and exhaustion her doctor told her she was just getting older.

She was 25 years old.

Ten years later she was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Disease.

The TSH test is a good way to test the thyroid as it indicates under active thyroid production. She says the problem is it only registers a problem thyroid if it has been under active for 10-20 years. Wentz says the test to use for detecting under active thyroid that is still in the early stages is testing for thyroid antibodies. Two antibodies are common in individuals with Hashimotos, TPO antibodies (Thyroid Peroxidase Antibody) and TG (Thyroglobulin Antibody) which will be elevated for 7 to 10 years prior to when TSH will register on a test.

“In the early stages it causes destruction of the thyroid gland which will result in excess amount of hormone being pumped throughout the blood. This can cause people to have really bad mood swings, fluctuation in energy. Most people feel exhausted, some people have mania during that time,” Wentz says. “A lot of times I see people hospitalized with bipolar disorder, with anxiety disorder and misdiagnosed with psychotic disorders and it’s actually Hashimoto’s.”

Hashimoto’s is often seen with nutrient deficiencies, low adrenal function, multiple food sensitivities, problems with their gut or gut infections.

Boosting the nutrition will assist the thyroid naturally specifically with using selenium a recognized trigger of Hashimoto’s. Wentz recommends 200 mg of selenium daily saying it has reduced the attack on the thyroid by 50%.

The NIH says, “Selenium is a trace element that is naturally present in many foods. Selenium, which is nutritionally essential for humans, is a constituent of more than two dozen selenoproteins that play critical roles in reproduction, thyroid hormone metabolism, DNA synthesis, and protection from oxidative damage and infection. Skeletal muscle is the major site of selenium storage, accounting for approximately 28% to 46% of the total selenium pool.”

They recommend 55 mcg for the average adult but say tolerable upper intake levels of selenium is 400 mcg. Depending on the soil in which the nuts are grown, 6-8 Brazil nuts contain 544 mcg. Other food sources high in selenium are organ meats, tuna and Halibut.

Iron levels are generally low with Hashimoto’s, evident through low energy, exhaustion and hair loss. Iron levels can be tested through a CBC test from LabCorp. No doctor’s referral is necessary. Another, but less reliable method, is a quick test that can be done at home. Simply pull down the skin under the eye, if it is red with full blood vessels, iron levels are good, if it is pale with less visible blood vessels iron is low. Some professionals recommend cooking with a cast iron skillet as a way to add iron to your diet naturally. Eating red meat from pastured sources also adds iron to the diet.

Vitamins B12 and D are also frequently low in Hashimoto’s patients. Mehylating forms of B12 (like this affiliate link are) most beneficial. D is best absorbed in food form (like this affiliate link).

Often patients with Hashimoto’s have low stomach acid which prevents proper food digestion. To increase stomach acid production add fermented foods to your meals. Click here to read more. Some patients also need to take betaine with pepsin (often labeled as betaine scl) like this affiliate product.

Eliminating gluten, dairy, corn and soy is vital to reduce inflammation. Hashimoto’s will not heal with these food items in the diet.

*To support the efforts of this blog shop the affiliate links above like this one. You pay the same shopping through Amazon while the author receives a small referral fee from Amazon. This offsets the costs of this site.

Other sources:

http://eatingpsychologyconference.com/day-5/

Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis: Lifestyle Interventions for Finding and Treating the Root Cause

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Selenium-HealthProfessional/#en3

http://www.preventivelabs.com/

Terry EN, Diamond AM. Selenium. In: Erdman JW, Macdonald IA, Zeisel SH, eds. Present Knowledge in Nutrition. 10th ed. Washington, DC: Wiley-Blackwell; 2012:568-87

http://www.thyroidlifestyle.com/

http://www.thyroidlifestyle.com/#!author/csg8