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From previous bad lifestyle choices, high cholesterol and a very under active thyroid ADVICE PLEASE?

Posted by melissa on April 22, 2016 at 2:22pm in Main Chat


The last year or so of my life was made up of of terrible dietary and lifestyle choices, getting incredibly sick led me back to a plant based lifestyle. 90% raw with only minor amounts of cooked  vegan foods and still following the 80-10-10 guide lines.

Obviously going full raw etc is the end goal and I am forever committed to being vegan. I was vegan for years previously with great health.

Just got my full blood work done and my thyroid is very under active ( I have minimal symptoms) and the doctor wants to start "treatment" I DO NOT want to take any meds or do anything unnatural as I believe in the body's ability to heal itself.

Would taking iodine benefit me in this case? and does anyone have any ideas?

Also, my cholesterol is high, will it naturally lower over time with my healthy lifestyle changes, or is there more I can do?

Thanks in advance:)

melissa

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  • Taka May 8, 2016 at 12:30am

    If you have tested that you don't have hashimoto's i would try iodine, i'm having underactive thyroid issues myself first i added iodized salt, which counts up to virtually nothing but still after a week consistently doing that my symptoms were gone, but then suddenly it was over again, but than i took an iodine supplement (150mcg a drop) taking that consistently for a week the symptoms were gone again though sporadically there were days it was bad again, i went to test my thyroid levels at a day that i knew everything should be good, and it was. now however it seems it's permanently bad again, though today it might've been more ok, but i have to see about that.. been doing 3 drops now for a few days.. but i think i should take lugols iodine instead (which is a lot more).

    However there's nothing wrong with your thyroid itself a MD just treats the symptoms by giving you synthetic thyroid hormones, which i am not intending to take.. your average MD doesn't know anything they just follow their curriculum, their protocols etc. which are centrally created by people with vested interests.

    The problem lies somewhere else in your system cause it's all connected, usually because of stress physically (damage in general, gluten, all sorts of inflammation etc.) or emotionally/mentally. causing your adrenals to create cortisol and everything which inhibits thyroid function.

    high cholesterol is not a bad thing, the reason you have high cholesterol can be a bad thing, taking cholesterol lowering medication is the biggest BS you can do, you're destroying yourself then, it's the same as modern day keynesian economists who want prices to rise cause usually when the economy is weak prices fall (though that also happens when the economy is strong) in response to that they let the central bank inflate the currency to force prices to rise, that's destroying the economy, just as taking cholesterol lowering drugs destroys you.

    When you have inflammation cholesterol comes in. in terms of hormones everything begins with cholesterol.

    I'm considering going to a chiropractor to push my spine into alignment so that my nerves can communicate well again, i just don't know what to say i just want them to take an x-ray and do what needs to be done, but i'm looking into this.

    As far as you are concerned i would test for hashimoto's, if negative i would try iodine.. if you are consuming gluten i would try going gluten free, cause gluten no matter if you're tested positive or negative for celiac or what ever could be the cause of the inflammation which causes your cholesterol to rise and causes to inhibit thyroid function and even cause your immune system to attack your thyroid.

    The main tip i can give you is never blindly follow an MD, do your own research and act on your own research, just cause you read something doesn't mean you should blindly try it, just like your MD don't trust it, research it, cause for example if you would blindly take iodine and have hashimoto's you would make things work. don't buy my word either, what you read above is just typed right out of an autistic dudes head based on his recent research to search for solutions for his own problems and probably contains some flaws.

  • Manka April 25, 2016 at 10:28am

    Avoid cruciferous veggies (broccoli, kale, cauliflower, brussels sprouts etc.) for a while. These foods contain goitrogens that inhibit thyroid function. High cholesterol level is a sign of hypothyroidism.

    • Taka > Manka May 8, 2016 at 12:33am

      goitrogenic food as far as i know just inhibit the uptake of iodine in the thyroid, as long as your iodine intake is sufficient it shouldn't be a problem.. in fact these foods also protect the thyroid in several ways.

  • jim whit April 24, 2016 at 6:32am

    I'm surprised about the high cholesterol if you've been vegan for a while But I have heard this before and I did hear one doctor say that sometimes people have issues lowering there cholesterol when they go vegan while it goes down it doesn't go down as much as they like till they lower there fat intake IE with these folks they where still eating lots of oils and such.

    From my experience tho i've had good luck myself. HIgh cholesterol was a major driving force why i went vegan. I was 366 and went 80/10/10 in 90 days I was down to 165. Based on my experience I'd say give it 90 days and retest the cholesterol? 

    • melissa > jim whit April 25, 2016 at 6:45am

      I've only been vegan for the last 3 months or so, My high cholesterol is from previous dietary choices, NOT from being vegan:) My fat intake is low now, so hopefully that helps.

      I'll be re testing it for sure and am glad you've had such success lowering yours! My cholesterol and thyroid could also be from being celiac but consuming gluten for so long as apparently your body can end up attacking your thyroid and raising your cholesterol due to an autoimmune  response.

  • Nakd Nutrition April 23, 2016 at 12:15am

    Hi Melissa,

    Good for you for wanting to try and treat this naturally.
    Here are my suggestions; apologies if this is all old news to you, I just want to capture everything in one place so I can be sure you've got all the info you need as I see it.
    First off, you'll of course want to eliminate as much stress from your life as possible: emotional stress, unhappy situations, inadequate sleep, excessive/overly intense exercise, plus stimulants that cause stress hormone production.
    With regard to your diet, you need to follow your body temperature in order to heal an underactive thyroid. Ideal body temp at waking (if you wake in the morning between 6am and 8am approx) is 36.5-36.7 degrees celcius.  From lunchtime onwards it should be a minimum of 37c, with an increase after each meal, a max of up to 37.5c when your metabolism naturally peaks between 6pm and 8pm, and then a gentle descent back down to about 36.5c in the evening before bed, which brings about sleep onset.
    During the first half of the menstrual cycle, the ideal body temps are as stated above.  During ovulation, the progesterone that women produce results in an increased body temperature, so for half of the month women will have slightly elevated body temps than usual.  For thyroid tracking purposes, we want to use the first half of the cycle's temps, the lower ones - these are the baseline if you like.
    With an underactive thyroid, your temperatures should be much lower than the ideals stated above.  How low depends on how underactive your thyroid is. 
    The higher your temp, the more you're running on your thyroid hormones (so to speak - just trying to keep this simple!), the lower your temp, the more you're running on adrenal (stress) hormones.  Day-to-day, we run on a balance of our sympathetic nervous system (flight or flight/adrenal dominant) and our parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest/thyroid dominant).  Some stress is of course great for us (like exercise) but when the thyroid is underactive, we want to try to minimise the SNS activity where we can, in order for the PNS to come into effect.  (Apologies if my explanations are clunky, really trying to keep this practical and light on the science!)
    Over the years, I've seen a very strong trend of people taking drinking water, and avoiding sodium, to the extreme on this lifestyle.  This is a disaster for underactive thyroids.  Eating fruit and veg gives you a huge amount of potassium and lots of natural, nutrient dense fluid.  Which is great.  Adding in litres of drinking water on top of this, as well as minimising sodium to the max, stresses the adrenals considerably.  The potassium and sodium need to be balanced in order to keep your electrolytes in order, and too little sodium coupled with too much fluid upsets the electrolyte balance too.  Just something to bear in mind as you get reaquainted with this lifestyle.  (As your metabolism heals, your need for water will increase, and need for sodium will decrease.)
    Carbohydrates are the most therapeutic macro for the thyroid, and a decent caloric intake, along with caloric density, are key, so this lifestyle is ideal for healing the metabolism.  You're definitely starting in the right place!
    So, with all of the above in mind, you can take your temp before you eat/drink, wait 30/45mins, and then take your temp again.  If it doesn't go up, you know you need to adjust something; reduce the fluid in your smoothie, maybe add a sprinkle of salt to what you ate, try a more calorically dense fruit like dates, maybe add in an avocado etc.  You'll soon get to know what your body responds to, and what makes it function best.
    You should also take your temp if you feel a stress hormone reaction between meals.  Something like needing to go the loo repeatedly in a short space of time (stress hormones can act as a diuretic), extra cold hands and feet (stress hormones make the blood vessels constrict), sudden bad mood or irritability (stress hormones make us feel negative), stuff like that.  In these instances, you should immediately have a small, calorically dense snack, as eating turns off stress hormone production.  We want to prevent these dips. The quicker you get out of them, and the more your prevent them, the fewer you'll have and the sooner you'll heal.
    By following your temperature and constantly adjusting your diet and lifestyle to ensure your temperature is as high as possible, you are essentially calming the adrenals down and giving the thyroid everything it needs to slowly come back into action.  
    Right, I think that's everything on that bit.
    With regard to iodine, you can follow your temperature with that too.  Though I would absolutely recommend getting your diet sorted first before dabbling with that.  As Bananamomma stated, everyone reacts very differently to Iodine, so to blindly start supplementing at this stage might be a little unwise.
    I'm not sure that 100% raw needs to be your goal for now.  You may well find that you need the cooked food in order to get your temperature up.  
    I would imagine with dietary changes and a healed metabolism, your cholesterol will resolve itself.  Start with the thyroid work, and then when things are feeling better on that front, go and get your cholesterol tested again. 
    I've helped lots of people heal an underactive thyroid.  If you're keen to try this, you're very welcome to PM me as much as you'd like, I'm happy to help in any small way I can.  
    ETA - POSTING HAS MESSED UP MY SPACING AND WON'T LET ME RE-SPACE!  SORRY IT'S A BIT OF A HEADACHE TO READ.
    • melissa > Nakd Nutrition April 23, 2016 at 4:28am

      THANK YOU SO MUCH:) very helpful information, I appreciate it!!!! I'll take everything into account:):):)

  • Bananamomma April 22, 2016 at 2:50pm

    I do not suggest supplementing with iodine unless the doctor says so. I did this and it made my issues worse. Everyone is different, and I suggest working with a doctor who understands your issues and diet. I go to a functional doctor to make sure I am supplementing correctly for my disorders. (I have Hashimoto's)

    • melissa > Bananamomma April 22, 2016 at 3:24pm

      Thanks for the input:)

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