What should I eat or not eat?

[Cindy]

I am still quite new to Hashimoto's so please be patient with me.   I have read a few of you mentioning diets to lose weight and others mentioning diets in order to feel better. Are there certain foods that we should be staying away from? I have gained weight but I am not a junk food junkie. I like my fruits and vegetables but I also enjoy a cookie or piece of candy from time to time as well. Are there certain things that I should know about diet and/or exercise in order to feel more like myself? I get so tired that the thought of an exercise program makes me want to take a nap!  Any help that anyone can give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! 

[Mo]

Hello Cindy,

I think it so much depends on your current thyroid condition. If you are running extremely hypothyroid, you should avoid thyroid suppressing foods as much as possible. This includes soy, broccoli, and other thyroid suppressing foods. I think a good thing to do is to check my home page where you can navigate to my "health" tab on the top.  If you scroll down the page, there are numerous links to different approaches to diet, beginning with food choices and going as far as exploring chemicals in your food that could be causing some of the stress your body is under. The main thing is to look at all this as a "journey" - one that takes time and everything you learn is a step closer to better health.

I have to believe that weight isn't the only focus when you have Hashimoto's Disease. How you feel is in many ways more important until that is stabalized. Many people focus on losing weight as their first goal with Hashimotos but I believe our whole body health is much more tied to the disease, therefore, focusing on that first, will eventually lead to better ways to lose weight with Hashimotos. Does that make sense?

Anyway, please don't think you are bothering anyone. We are all in this together and sometimes a new member brings us a point that we haven't thought about in a long time, thus causing us to benefit from it. So, don't be afraid to ask anything related to this disease. In a way, you will need to be patient with us too, as we certainly don't have all the answers. If we did, we wouldn't need to be on a forum troubleshooting our disease.

On the exercise front, it's probably best to take it slow. Move a little more than you feel like which I know, can be very little. There are food that actually help stimulate the thyroid too. Can you remind me though... are you depending on medication only? Are you the one who had their thyroid removed? If so, you may need some more specific information.

Take care and thanks for joining us.

Mo

[Mo]

By the way, what medications are you on and have you considered asking your doctor about natural thyroid supplements like Armour? If not, you may greatly benefit from the added T3 in them. Also, it does take 4-6 weeks before your body begins to show signs of improvement when you begin a supplement so hang in there. It may just take some time. Eat as naturally as possible and keep it simple. It will take time to make more agressive changes. Work on feeling better in the most simple areas first and then tackle more complicated information as you begin to have more brain power. You will have some good days in that department evidentually if you are being treated by your doctor correctly.

Take care, Mo

[Cindy]

Thanks for replying to my post, as well as making me feel wanted here. I have been on 12.5mg of Levothyroxine for about 7 weeks now. (They are 25 mg tabs that I only take 1/2) I really don't feel any different, but the dr gave me the impression that we would start low, check my levels again and that would give him a better idea on how much of a higher dose that I would need.  My levels, from what I can see, were TSH 2.99  cortisol 13.6 and Peroxidase 156  I have not gotten my levels back since I have been taking the RX yet, but I am due for another visit in a week or two.  I guess I should have included this info in my original post. Like I said, I'm still learning.  
I will look for the health tab on the home page. I hadn't come across it yet, but thank you for the directions.  I will try to keep a simple diet in mind and again, thank you both for the suggestions.

[Mo]

Hi Cindy,

It sounds wise for your doctor to go slow on your meds because the medication builds up over time. I would give it a few more weeks for sure. However, keep in mind that you are not getting the natural components your thyroid normally produces. As you investigate the reasons for natural supplements over the synthetic, you may choose to try switching to the natural so your body can benefit from T3, T2 and other unknown components of our thyroid's natural components. Synthetic only has T4 and if your body is not converting that to T3, you will still have low energy. That being said, I think the main goal for all of us is to provide the body with enough healing aids to bring the thyroid back into working condition on it's own so supplements are not needed... and THAT is the reason for this board. It is more for overall health, regardless which method of treatments are currently being used for relief.

You may also want to read "my story" which can be found on a tab on the front page also. When I say "tab", I suppose I am really saying "pages" on my website. If you are having trouble navigating, just ask.

I am happy you feel welcome and hope you will find many resources to get you feelings confident about dealing with this disease. I tend to believe there are many aspects to this disease, diet, emotional, exercise, lifestyle choices, etc. that can effectively improve our situation. I also have a blog that you can navigate to which has some interesting articles on it too. You can find that on my home page also.

Nice hearing from you and feel free to start a new topic. It's refreshing to have others contribute. Thanks!

Mo