Paleo diet for Hypothyroidism

74Patricia

Oh thank you for not letting me feel so alone!!!

I am a month into going Paleo and feel terrific. I have celiac and hypothyrodism as well. I also have the skin form of Celiac, called dermatitis herpetiformis. I have tried everything from supplements, to creams, etc. to decrease the symptoms of this. I have found that since Paleo, I've had only 1 or 2 flare ups and that was when I re-introduced a meal with rice, or GF pasta. It has also decreased stomach irritability that comes with eating pretty much anything gluten free. I am under the care of a doctor for both diseases and will continue to do so, but I will also stay Paleo because I know it is improving my symptoms. I am not certain that it will "cure", but it definitely helps me tremendously!

shaumom

74Patricia wrote: »

I am a month into going Paleo and feel terrific. I have celiac and hypothyrodism as well. I have found that since Paleo, I've had only 1 or 2 flare ups and that was when I re-introduced a meal with rice, or GF pasta... but I will also stay Paleo because I know it is improving my symptoms. I am not certain that it will "cure", but it definitely helps me tremendously!

Re: paleo and celiac disease. There's no research that avoiding grains, like with a paleo diet, will help.

However...
1. There is research that shows that some celiacs do not heal unless they drop essentially all processed foods (study done on refractory celiacs, where all but two finally healed when doing this), and all grains but a GF type of rice. Higher sensitivity to gluten contamination was suspected, but no study has been done to follow up on this.
2. A couple cultivars of quinoa have been shown to actually set off celiac antibodies just like gluten does.
3. Some celiacs have been shown to have celiac antibodies react to GF oats, just like they do to gluten.
4. The majority of GF grains have never been tested to see if celiacs react to them (at least up to a few years ago). They've only been tested to see if they contain gluten, because the medical community was so certain that celiac only react to gluten (which now seems like it needs to be researched further, with the quinoa research study results). So if celiacs DO react to proteins in other grains, or some of them do, we have no idea, actually.

And add to this that a slowly growing number of celiacs are reporting essentially what you are, that they feel much better avoiding all grains? I would not be surprised in the slightest to find someday that we discover that there may be other grains that make celiac react, or that there could be perhaps different sub-sets of celiac disease where different grains trigger a similar reaction, or something else going on that we've never even considered yet.

Or in other words- you are DEFINITELY not alone in feeling bad with grains.



Re: hypothyroidism, though. The one little bit of research that might have some bearing. A recent study on a low fat diet vs. a low carb diet found that after one year on the low carb diet, participants showed lower markers of inflammation in the body. As paleo is often lower in carbs, and thyroid issues sometimes, if auto-immune related, can have higher inflammation, it might be that paleo could have a beneficial effect.

I have celiac disease and my thyroid numbers were climbing steadily. I was at the point where we were trying to figure out what to do because I'm allergic to a number of the meds, when I changed my diet, went grain free among other things, and my numbers dropped back down to normal within 6 months. I do not know WHY they dropped, and the dietary changes could have been coincidence, but if my diet goes off, my numbers start climbing again, so for me at least, there seems to be some effect. Again, what that is, I couldn't say. helped for me, though.

PeachyCarol

Anna83704 wrote: »

I used to believe the whole "just take a pill and you're fine" approach to my Hashimoto's. Until I began to suffer from horrible joint pain in my hands and inflammation everywhere. My doc suspected food allergies/sensitivities (which is very common w/ Hashimoto's), and had me do a 6 week elimination diet to figure out what was wreaking havoc on my system. Turns out, I turn into the Stay-Puft marshmallow man whenever I ingest gluten, dairy, soy or too much corn or nightshades.

So I'm Paleo due to Hashimoto's. Really only because Paleo happens to eliminate what I shouldn't be eating anyway. That said, there are plenty of Hashimoto's and Hypo patients out there that don't have food sensitivities. If I was one of the lucky ones, I'd happily be a IIFYM type gal.

I would posit that your food sensitivities are a separate issue from your Hashimoto's and I think it clouds the issue for new Hashi's sufferers to present an allergic response as being part and parcel of a genetic autoimmune condition.

There is absolutely no proven link whatsoever between any dietary malady* and Hashimoto's disease.

*caveat... because autoimmune diseases often travel in packs, some Hashi's sufferers also have celiac disease. This is also an autoimmune response, which is treated by dietary intervention. It's not a dietary issue.