Lesson 12. What Is Thyroid Diet That Heals?

A Guest Article by Magdalena Wszelaki, Certified Holistic Health Coach And Thyroid Wellness Expert

Have you ever heard “You are what you eat?” I’m sure you have.

When I gave up on western medicine to solve my Graves’ and later Hashimoto’s  disease, I turned to diet. This was not an easy process. I struggled for a long  time experimenting with foods and discovered that diet can indeed influence the  thyroid. I discovered what foods to remove from my diet and what foods were needed to cure and maintain a healthy thyroid.

It’s key to know (and most people do not realize this as  doctors don’t have the time to explain things) that 90% of hypo- and  hyperthyroidism results from an autoimmune disorder. This goes to say that most  hypothyroid conditions are Hashimoto’s and most hyperthyroid conditions are  Graves’ Disease. It means that your immune system started attacking the thyroid.  Since the immune system resides in the gut, or our intestine, a lot of what you will read here is about rebuilding the digestive  system.

But before I tell you about foods and thyroid diet I use with my clients there is a one factor I would like to talk about that can sabotage all your efforts even before you start.

What You Need to Know About Thyroid Nutrition and Emotions

As a woman, I want to look and feel great. That means having a flat stomach, firm arms (I will admit hanging arm pouches terrify me), clear skin, great hair and lots of energy to get me through the NYC summer madness of concerts, cocktails and lots of body exposure.

Do you too? Yeah, I thought so.

Do you know women who are perpetual dieters, who spend 10-20% of their income on diets? It’s kinda boring or heart breaking to hear about their next dietary quest when your secret inner voice whispers “Oh dear, I really hope this one works for ya.”

Whether it is you and someone you know, I want to help you understand something: DIETS DO NOT WORK.

We lose the pounds because we deploy all sorts of tricks. The results are: deprivation of nutrients your body needs, therefore cravings kick in and you crash and binge on the 6-month mark.

70% of people who do restrictive diets put these pounds back on, and 50% of them put on even more before they started. Are you kidding me? No.

Are we paying to get fatter?

As a health and nutrition coach, I want to explain why. And most of it is not knowledge offered by Weight Watchers, Atkins, Zone, Paleo fans and the likes as they have no business (or perhaps awareness) in telling you this.

So here are the “weight loss” industry dirty secrets.

There are several major deal breakers that will sabotage your weight; addressing them is critical in weight management. You can starve yourself to 500 calories/day and still have a fatty belly. Here are two deal breakers and a glimpse at some quick solutions:

Emotions, emotions and more emotions!!!

I cannot emphasis how important this is, especially for people with  hyperthyroidism. We underestimate what stress and emotions do to us; each  flare-up of anger, feelings of guilt, fear, hostility, jealousy, etc fire up the  adrenals which release cortisol and this hormone has a detrimental impact on the  thyroid.

This is a HUGE one and the most overlooked sabotaging factor in your thyroid health and weight management, probably because it requires skills to peel off many layers to uncover why we do thing the way we do.

Let me give you an example: I recently worked with a woman who grew up in a strictly religious household and was conditioned to believe that boys and sex were “bad”. As a rebellious girl, she became highly promiscuous in her early teenage years and carries that guilt with her till today. She never maintained a lower weight for longer than 3 months as her sense of guilt for being overly attractive always kicks in. This is when she goes back to binging so she can put back on that weight, make herself less attractive so her guilt was lessened.

Can you see how our emotions, “the story” many of us have would totally sabotage our efforts? So what is your story? What fear do you have? Is fear the force behind losing weight? Is losing and regaining weight a control issue for you? What negative emotions make you take action?

So what can I do?

Seek the help of a life coach, a health coach, an insightful friend who will help you identify what is your sabotaging “story”. Identify it first before you go on another diet. In fact, it’s very likely that this very “story” has a profound impact on many other facades of your life.

Do it only if you can do it forever

If you don’t see your current diet as something you will eat forever, forget  it. Pick a way to eat that is right for your temperament, taste buds, body type  (we are all bio-individually different from each other, one person’s food is  another’s poison) and makes you fulfilled. It’s OK to have the occasional pizza  or burger but be clear what will the 90% of your daily food be like.

Lastly,  please not expect food alone to do it; having a solid movement plan (sports,  dance, tai chi, yoga etc) and a spiritual practice (even if it means to close  your eyes and breathe for 10min, great!) will be critical is keeping a healthy,  happy weight.

Hypothyroidism

What? Yes, since thyroid became my focus area, I’ve discovered that only half of the female population gets diagnosed with a thyroid condition. There are an estimated 27 million thyroid-compromised people in the US alone, this means 13.5 million do not know they have it. Ouch.

Most common effects of hypothyroidism:

· Metabolism: stubborn weight that just won’t go away (right?) even though the diet and lifestyle have been the same

· Nervous system: depression, foggy brain, forgetfulness

· Digestive system: bloating, constipation, indigestion

· Adrenal system: fatigue, moodiness.

Many, many women have a thyroid condition even though their blood work shows normal “thyroid”. This is too long of a topic for this article but I would be happy to explain more.

How to fix it?

You have these options:

· See an endocrinologist; he/she will get on hypothyroid medication that typically works for 3-6 months then the symptoms return

· Research a holistic approach of diet + movement + managing emotions and cure yourself, the way I did (watch below)

One of the first issues I delve into with clients is their current diet. What  are they eating that is sabotaging their immune system and needs to be removed. This goal can be achieved the best using an elimination diet.

Foods to ADD to your life to boost your immune system and detox the body and help the thyroid.

Our body has an amazing ability to heal; just give it the right environment  and tools and it will do all the work for you. The right foods will start healing your immune system and your  thyroid and you can expect results very quickly. But it is important to learn how your emotions, sugar or candida and poor thyroid nutrition are sabotaging your thyroid healing plan if you want to achieve long-lasting results.

Magdalena Wszelaki, a Certified Holistic Nutrition Coach and a thyroid wellness expert, is the founder of Thyroid Diet Coach, a nutrition coaching practice dedicated to alleviating and healing thyroid conditions. Magdalena herself is no stranger to thyroid issues; she had suffered from Graves’ (hyperthyroidism) and later Hashimoto’s Disease (hypothyroidism) for over 10 years. In spite of being told by western medicine practitioners that there was no cure for thyroid and autoimmune diseases, she managed to reverse her condition and today enjoys better health than ever before.

P.P.S. If you got here from Twitter or a link from a friend, why not pick up the whole series? This is one of the lessons in a free e-mail course Nutritional guide for Hashimoto’s disease. You can find out more about it and sign up here.