Gluten Free with Hypothyroidism

I have hypothyroidism and I am gluten free - but I am gluten free because I am gluten sensitive, not because I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. I have not noticed a link at all between these two conditions.

In all honesty, I wouldn’t wish a gluten free lifestyle on anyone. It’s expensive, often times frustrating, and overall difficult to stay on top of day in and day out. Unless you have a sincere medical reason to go gluten free, I don’t recommend it. Without a significant “why” behind the change, it’s a difficult lifestyle to maintain long term.

However, as @smolmaus said... if you do go gluten free, drives the cost down for us who do have a medical reason to be GF... so, I’m not opposed to recommending you go this route for purely selfish reasons!

Op, I'm so sorry you have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Its so difficult achieving a diagnosis which is probably Hashimoto's the autoimmune form. It took me something like 40 or more years! General medicine do not see the point in knowing if you have thyroid antibodies, yet if you know you can start to track down your personal triggers. My medical system does not see this as a benefit.

Gluten, dairy - as both lactose or casein (the protein), cruciferous vegetables, soy in all forms, as well as other sensitivity reactions are related to Hashimoto's. The problems comes for someone trying to decipher their own personal triggers for antibody production. Not all people with Hashimoto's will have the same food reactions. I doubt very much that any two people could discuss their personal experience of Hashi and agree they share the same reactions there being some 300 damnable symptoms.

If you are diagnosed with Hashimoto's and do not have the medical system which supports food investigation one is left to find a private provider of such testing or use trial and error for one's self.

If someone is considering eliminating gluten, this is a very difficult one. Some may see a difference within a few weeks others it will take at least 6 months to give the body time to recover and then if someone has a mishap and eats something with gluten in it, the process will need to be repeated all over again to get to the same point. Gluten is not only in wheat it is also in other grains which makes elimination very difficult. Fortunately not my problem.

Dairy on the other hand is one of mine. I eliminated all dairy because of proven casein problems. Its by far the most common dairy reaction/allergy. Mine is an intolerance and because I prefer to have the full range of nutritional benefits from dairy, the vit d, the iodine and other minerals I chose to take dietary enzymes to releave the problem.

I will testify I had virtually instant relief from dairy digestive issues and 48 hours later I felt good. (casein is complicated because there are 4 types, bovine dairy is generally type 1 which is the most reactive casein. Goat is type 2 which is most easily digested and can make even diagnosed lactose intolerance ease to the point of not being an issue. there are also types 3 and 4 which are present in all milk but at much lesser levels and generally do not cause problems.) Some countries do have A2 milk on sale from certified herds.

Soy is something I avoid even with digestive enzymes it can really mess with thyroid function. I think this comes mostly from molecule mimicry, where one particle of food penetrates the digestive tract, is recognised as alien by the immune system but is so similar to the thyroid gland tissue that the immune system attacks the thyroid itself.

I also feel much better avoiding cauliflower, Broccoli, cabbage and the like. Its me.

Most fruits and veg are a must for me to avoid because I have progressed to having both Salicylate and histamine intolerance both have sensitivity to chemicals, personal and domestic and food additives as a key feature. These are a real minefield. I once bought a medication only to realise I had an issue with it because of digestive problems and the damnable thing had vanilla in it, I can't even take vanillin the synthetic version the molecules are so close. There are far more intelligent sites about histamine and salicylate intolerance than there were even 5 years ago. The frightening this is becoming diagnosed by the general medical profession because it has not made it into the curriculum sufficiently and does not seem to be available as on going learning for them either.

Common factors relating to Hashi is constipation or the trots. If one can regulate both of these conditions so one goes once or twice a day, this will help to reduce the damage done to the system, the essential microbes will be able to maintain their function helping with so much more than digestion. Here in Britain we are hearing so much more of the role digestive microbes play in so many areas of our lives. Great play is being made of not using antibiotics because they damage the beneficial bacteria as well as the problematic ones.

I'm sorry you have Hashimoto's and consider you may have issues with gluten. An elimination diet is not good over all because it adds to the nutritional loss which needs to be made up by supplements. Again here in the UK there are companies which make their supplements to medical standards and say so.

Thank you if any one has read this far. Thank you. I hope some of what I have written will help you.

My information came from many medical sites, functional doctors as well as main stream. Hashimoto's is the last health problem I'd chose to have. Too often it is seen as simply a cause of weight gain, its the inflammation which underpins Hashimoto's which causes the weight gain, lower the inflammation you lower your antibodies.

My wife used CICO for nearly two years and didn't have much luck. She gave up gluten and dairy (to try to improve her Fibromyalgia symptoms) and dropped 25 lbs in two months with the same calorie load. It was ridiculous how fast the weight came off of her.

I honestly think it's more of a secondary result of giving up the gluten/dairy. If you don't have gluten, dairy (I also went gluten and dairy free with her), it pretty much eliminates 99% of processed foods, which are loaded with preservatives, phthalates (common in dairy and bread in restaurants -- phthalates are a proven endocrine disruptor), xenoestrogens and other things that all dramatically impact (especially female, it seems) hormones.

If you give up gluten and simply replace it with gluten-free processed products, I honestly don't think you'll experience much difference. Many of those products have the same chemicals/preservatives (which I think is a much bigger deal than the gluten itself) as their gluten counterparts.