Hypothyroidism and the right diet.

missyERnurse

Okay, I'm getting to the point that I'm having a hard time trying to find the right diet for me. I have hashimotos hypothyroidism and I'm taking synthroid 188 mcg on a daily basis. My question is, for those that have this disorder, what diet do you follow? It feels like breathing air makes me gain weight and it's beyond frustrating. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you!!!

Kalikel

If you aren't seeing an excellent and thorough endo, do that.

Diet isn't a big deal with thryroid. There isn't much you can do except eat healthy foods and exercise. I'm assuming you know to not eat for 30-60 minutes after you take your pill and to not take iron or calcium for 3-4 hours. (If you aren't familiar with all the restrictions that go with Synthroid, pull up the Synthroid website. If your doctor didn't tell you this stuff, get a new one.)

Some people go nuts trying to eliminate iatrogenic stuff, but there hasn't been anything yet to say it does anyone any good.

Are you losing at all? Before they took mine out and I began the Synthroid, I could starve myself and (at best) maintain. It was exceptionally frustrating and more than a little depressing.

Now, I can lose and that's freaking exciting and fun. I love being a little less fat all the time. BUT! I have to eat less than most people. A lot less. And exercise. And the weight still does not fly off of me like it does off many others. I'm cool with it because I'm just so damn happy to be losing!

Learning to deal with the fact that your weight loss journey may be a difficult one...it requires patience, lol. You can never compare yourself to other people or to what the charts and books say. You can only compare yourself to you.

If you can lose at all, be thrilled.

If you cannot, go back to the endo. Take your accurate food and exercise logs. Tell him to fix you and then hope that he can.

Good luck.

al142

I think for those of us with Hashimoto's it is especially important to try to eat a diet that is nutritionally solid. I keep my protein and fat on the high end (fat is needed by the body to make all kinds of necessary stuff like hormones), and the carbs on the lower end but not too low. In other words, I use the standard MFP macros and see the protein and fat values as minimums and the carb value as a maximum. I also try to make sure that the carbs I eat are high quality ones - vegetables and fruit mostly. I'm really careful about added sugars and white flours. I'm not perfect of course, but I do the best I can without getting all crazy about it. It has really helped me to log everything every day. It keeps me aware of the big picture.

Have you seen your thyroid hormone values lately? Are your doctors watching your free T3 and free T4 numbers, not just TSH and total T4? If your free T3 isn't showing up in range, your metabolism will be crap even if you have a good total T4.

You can still lose weight with a slow metabolism, but it sure is harder. This is why we have to be so careful about our food choices. We can't afford calories that aren't quality ones.

Fuzzipeg

I agree with keeping your protein at or above MFP allocation. Some of the eliminations people talk about may come about as a personal symptom of thyroid issues. I discovered I could not eat things containing Maize, this is now taken by a few as being indicative of thyroid problems, as are problems with soy, and wheat. This said I am coming to the conclusion people being treated by General Medicine rather than Homoeopathy are incorporating homoeopathic advice. To generalise Homoeopaths take the nurture and protect approach to the thyroid and its functions whereas general medicine adopt the replacement approach.

Since visiting an immunologist who told me my immune system was suppressed and till my thyroid issues were addressed there was nothing he could do, to be told by the Endocrinologist "I do not do allergies" my repost, "you do do toxins?" result levo without maize and lymbo. Half a success. How to find a good endocrinologist in the UK someone not controlled out of existence by the one size fits all treatment endorsed by NICE the organisation tasked with the cost effectiveness of medications and interventions.

I found the Stop the thyroid Madness website, it has been brilliant. It contains information on everything not least that many of us are iodine deficient, half a teaspoon throughout our lives yet it is central to many of our bodies regulatory and elimination systems, but is thought of as "only the thyroid" which can then be dismissed even though it is key to our general good health and well being.

as an aside.... If you are asthmatic, advised not to use aspirin or find yourself with dietary issues following consumption of aspirin and related pain releavers you may like to read up on Salicylate Sensitivity, there is a website for this. Aspirin is salicylate, using plant defences against moulds and mildews, a toxin, for beneficial effects, in theory. Salicylate in sufficient amounts or accumulations can in some cause pain (and other problems like chronic fatigue) pain which it is supposed to releave. (It happened to me) Maize is moderate to high on the food salicylate list. Food is never considered by medics as a source of salicylate. The thyroid regulates elimination of toxins...

Back to diet. General Medicine tries to address thyroid issues by supplementing with synthetic thyroxine, iodine salts, as T4. It is recognised that some people need additional T3 the active form of thyroid hormone. T4 is changed into T3 in the liver. There are several different causes for people to be in a deficient state. There is resistance to using natural thyroid T4 and T3 in the right proportions because of historic truths but today it is just as possible to register the levels contained within every pill as it is with the synthetic for with associated fillers and binders which could in theory clump distorting the active amounts. Many people can be left with symptoms because their "NUMBERS" are correct. For many it will take the efforts of a

Homoeopaths treatment is to rest and support the thyroid so it will function properly and the patient can control their own symptoms. This is where the elimination comes in. In order to help the thyroid recover it is essential to releave the pressure on it so by not eating, if these are your triggers or areas of deficiency, wheat, dairy, soy, crucifier veg and more. They also support with iodine and minerals particularly selenium which has been shown to reduce the activity of antibodies.

Many of us have been restricting our foods for years and may well have colluded in making ourselves iodine deficient. We use Skimmed milk products, if we use milk at all. Skimmed milk contains little or no iodine, often it is supplemented with calcium because skimming removes this as well. Eggs are bad for cholesterol though it is now known not to be because any cholesterol needed is made in the liver by using elements from our diet. A medium egg contains 24 mcg of iodine and has all the minerals needed for an embryo were it viable. One egg provides one 6th of our daily iodine requirements.

I have no idea if any of this will be of help to you. I hope you have success in finding what is most appropriate to you and everyone else reading this for that matter. I'm still sifting and thinking, reading and ruminating trying to find what is right for me.

DnTeegen

I had hashimoto's thyroiditis and later had a thyroidectomy due to cancer. I took anywhere from 175 mcg to 200mcg daily throughout the first five years. Never could my levels get stable and even when my levels were good I still felt like crap. I was always exhausted, not just tired, exhausted even after 8 or 9 hours of sleep. I made my endocrinologist run lab after lab trying to figure out what was wrong with me. I had an endoscopy to see if I had celiac's disease (as synthroid has gluten in it and I had other symptoms) A year ago I switched to Tirosint. It's an all natural synthroid. No fillers, no dyes. The past year has been wonderful. I am not exhausted anymore. I can't remember complaining that "I'm so tired" in ages, unless I really do have a reason to be so tired. My levels are within normal range and we have actually been decreasing the medication amount here lately. Also, before I was always so exhausted, there was no way I could even muster the energy to exercise. Now I've lost 18 pounds in 2 months. My family doctor ran a food intolerance test on me (just a blood test that checks for multiple food intolerances), I am intolerant to many many foods. I now only eat those foods in small amounts. I think this has also helped. At the end of the day also remember that Hashimoto's is an auto immune disorder. Once you have one auto immune disorder, you probably really have more than that. I myself have 3 that I know of and I am 33. Auto immune disorders cause a lot of havoc on the body. You will eventually be able to lose weight, it just takes us more time than others to figure out what works.

oedipa_maas

I have Hashimoto's as well, and no diet makes a difference for me. Taking the right dosage of hormones is the only thing that has stabilized my ability to lose weight. I've lost 30 lbs at a good clip with a thyroid condition, and I credit my medication for taking care of my metabolism. A healthy diet of course never hurts. I just don't find anything in particular makes a difference except taking my med.

fleetzz

I have Hashimotos (and other autoimmune stuff just not really relevant) and am on synthroid--the only problem I have losing weight is that I eat too much. When I stick to my calorie requirements, I lose. When I eat more calorie dense foods I eat more so I don't lose.


It also helps to exercise. You burn more calories and as long as you don't eat the calories back and more, you lose.


Make sure that your dosage of thyroid replacement is appropriate because if you are still hypothyroid it is harder (not impossible, just harder) to lose weight.

People make this way too complicated.

alienbabyjen

People make this way too complicated.[/quote]

^^ this

Unknown

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missyERnurse

Thanks for the reply you guys! I appreciate all of the help. I do get my levels checked for free at work and my TSH isn't where it should be. Then again, that's my own doing for not taking my new consistently on a daily basis. I work in the ER on a midshift and I literally am so dead on the days I work cause I never take a lunch or eat when I'm at work. I've made a plan, though, and I'm following that to ensure I take my synthroid every day. When I get back from visiting my family I'll check my levels again and see if my TSH goes within normal range, I'm hoping it dies, if not, I only have three endocrinologist to choose from with the insurance I have and where I live. I miss my one in California, he was really good.

As for diet I think I can figure it out from what I've read from you guys. Thanks for all of the input.

RockstarWilson

This blog might help you:
http://ketodietapp.com/Blog/page/About-us

It is a website founded by a woman that has this disease. She explains how she manages it, and her website is founded to share ideas. If she says something scientific, it has a source link that you can access. But a lot of her science is seen through personal experiments. Read through her bio, and maybe you can get some ideas from there.

good luck!