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I have been diagnosed with a sluggish thyroid. Instead of medicine, I would like to treat it with diet and natural supplements. Weight loss has been impossible the past 6 months.
I must preface with the fact that I am not a doctor. It is always recommended that you consult your physician before starting any new health regime. That said, this is not uncommon. Let me explain this. Think of your thyroid functioning as a mere "side effect" of a much larger picture. Most people with underactive thyroid are truly adrenal insufficient or have adrenal exhaustion. (Your adrenal glands are two small peanut like organs above your kidneys. They control fight or flight hormones, cortisol, adrenaline, etc.) Your body has a prioritizing system that it is very efficient in maintaining. When we are over-worked, over-run, or simply exhausted, our adrenal glands are overworked and burnt out. In response to this, other organs and functions begin to down regulate or slow, ie. the thyroid, so your body doesn't "blow a gasket".
There may be nothing wrong with your thyroid, its slowing down because it has to. Now you may not feel over-worked or over-run but this can come in many forms. From internal stress to external stress, years of working out too hard or years of too much worry and stress. Here are my recommendations:
1. Food aspect: Consume a small bit of food EVERY 2-3 hours. Even if you're not hungry, take a bite of a bar or something (see older post on “5-6 small meals”). Secondly, combine a protein + fat + carb at every meal. (i.e. A whole hardboiled egg, apple and cheese, a bar, celery and almond butter, etc. For more examples of this, click on "Smallest Winner At Home" and nutrition PDF to your left!) What these are going to do for you is this: Your body is stressed. By not getting regular fuel, your body now has to worry where its next meal is going to come from, storing the little food it gets as fat for fuel later. This will balance your blood sugar and eliminate excess internal stress, increase your metabolism, and therefore making it easier for your body to drop excess fat weight.
2. Emotional/Psychological aspect: De-stress, worry less, do more things for you. Find hobbies that free the mind, yoga, painting, meditating, walking, breathing, gardening, etc. Find your stressors and work on those. Do you worry about financial security? Do you feel the need to control all aspects of your life? All of these things greatly contribute to your internal balance and greatly manifests outwardly in your health.
3. As far as supplements go, it is very case specific. There are general herbs and tinctures made for thyroid however there is no point in taking them if your original problem is more stress related or disease related. For example, I would recommend more of a homeopathic stress relief if your original issue is stress related. Once the original issue is resolved, the thyroid will up regulate naturally.
However, this is no Band-Aid, healing naturally takes time.
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