I get a lot of questions on hashimoto’s and nutrition and nutrition casts a wide net relative to I’m not sure if the person’s asking about supplements um or are basically diet or am i am i losing nutrients so again it’s not a clear question so i’m gonna give it a shot and kind of anticipate what that person might be asking i’m gonna i’m gonna kind of stick to uh diet and and so when we first started treating hashimoto’s seemingly light years ago long time ago we were very very thrilled when we told the person to get off of gluten and they would do so much better and we would just be kind of like oh yeah we’re bad we know what’s going on here nobody else knows what the doctors don’t know what we’re like cool of course a lot of people got off the glute and nothing happened and then we weren’t all that cocky about it but but there’s a molecular mimicry between gluten and your thyroid meaning that when you get a reaction to gluten there’s a high percentage chance that you’re going to get a reaction to your thyroid especially if you have hashimoto’s in fact only if you have hashimoto’s so certainly gluten is out another one i’ve talked about at great length are his iodine and there’s still a lot of practitioners out of there who say you should eat you should take iodine because it helps your thyroid and i would say that um iodine is like one of the last things you should do and in fact the confusion is iodine is good for hypothyroid but it’s not good for hashimoto’s and that’s a whole talk into itself and i think there’s a couple of they have several talks online on that and so um so hashimoto’s is is a part of the dietary issue um as far as groups of foods it it differs from one patient to the next so you can you i mean if you want to know about attrition you could do the autoimmune paleo diet and see what happens um because that takes out all the foods that create an inflammatory response or an autoimmune response it’s kind of hard to live on that diet for a long time at some point in time you want to find out what your food sensitivities are food sensitivities are huge dietary protein cross reactivities are huge so like like the like the gluten where you actually have a cross reactivity where the gluten gets attacked and your thyroid gets attacked but food sensitivities are big they kind of sort of fall into that category and so you know you want to find out what your food sensitivities are some people say um you should get off the milk okay and some people say it’s okay um we now are in the realm of doing a lot of testing on that and we’re finding that fifty percent of time the person can take milk out i have colleagues who literally just take their patients off of gluten and casein and they clean they get good results that’s not my patient population so i don’t know who they’re treating but but it’s a good start but it’s a good start grains were where we started it was first there was gluten and first got off of gluten and nothing happened then we got took them off all the grains and a bigger percentage of people started getting better by at that time people had already understood that milk products could be bad for a certain group of people so there was that whole thing going uh in general you’re looking to avoid a pro-inflammatory diet and uh and and so you you kind of have to so so there’s not a one size fits all uh answer to that there are uh yeah i think like they’re like food groups like lectins so you know the whole thing online now i forget what the guy’s name is and he’s uh he’s all over the lectins he’s he’s discovered this lectin thing even though alternative practitioners have been on it since the 80s i think and and definitely over the last 20 years and so can lectins be an issue for you yes um if if you again if if you’re looking for like targeted things there’s whole there’s whole presentations online about lectins or the answer to everything so they’re not but for a hashimoto’s patient lectins are a good place to start as well as the grains as well as the automated paleo diet i guess the bottom line is is there’s not one diet okay there’s probably about 12 different aspects to dietary proteins in other words the the proteins that are the grain in the grains and the proteins that are in the uh uh in the milk um the proteins that are in the lectins you you react to the proteins in a food and so um there’s um there’s questions about sodium intake and and whether that’s good or not i’ve seen a lot of different uh presentations on that that’s another area that you can delve into um so so in general um and and you want to watch your blood sugar you weren’t talking foods so now you’re talking about uh the um now you’re talking about the glycemic index and the glycemic load so foods tricky foods tricky i i guess i would have to say that across the board the best diet is probably the autoimmune paleo diet a lot of you’re going to react to it once you react to it then you got to find out what’s going on and and so that’s that is really one of the things that if you’re online you’ve tried all the diets that’s the point where you need to find a um good functional medicine practitioner and and and and i i don’t know completely how to define good but one of the characteristics is the first thing they’re going to do is is be very individualized in helping you to figure out what your diet is and and and just add one thing your diet might change every six to 12 months just to confuse the issue it’s it’s because one of the things that happens when people get on an automated paleo diet and it works okay is you start eating all those foods and if you have a digestive system that is not the best it’s going to feel better but that doesn’t necessarily mean that by just having done that your digestive system is going to heal especially if you have other things that are driving the poor digestive problem like stress responses and and and chemical pollutants and and pathogens and stuff like that so what will happen is is you’ll start developing new food sensitivities to the good foods that you’re eating so so nevertheless it’s a tough subject it’s something we put a lot of time into we use we use several different diets and then we probably use eight different adaptations of each one of those diets based on that person’s makeup based on their history based on their chemistry and and sometimes it takes us a couple of visits to really over a period of the first month that i’ll see somebody to really nail their diet down for the next six to 12 months and then and then after that you know we we advise people what to do to be able to continue to reevaluate their diet preferably on their own once we’ve got them to a stable position so so diet is yes it’s big it’s diet it’s just food i’ve had people go you’re just gonna use food to get me better it’s like yeah diet lifestyle nutraceuticals and they go like i’m gonna find somebody knows what they’re doing so they’re gonna be in trouble because food’s a big deal food’s a big part of it but it but it’s but the food in and of itself is a challenge you’ve been reading about it online there’s a zillion things online and each one of them have a little grain of truth but none of them really handle the entire web of the entire inter related vicious cycle of diet and brain and diet and gut and diet and chemicals and diet and pathogens so it’s frustrating because you go online you do the you know you do whatever diet it is i mean everybody that comes in here today has already been on one to two to three to four to five diets and and and sometimes they’re the diet we’re going to end up using for them but they they didn’t know how to implement it or they didn’t do it right or they they weren’t handling the thing that caused them to have to do that diet in the first place so so i know that isn’t probably what a lot of people wanted to hear but um but those are the things gluten lectins pro-inflammatory diet is going to make you worse anti-inflammatory diet automated paleo if you haven’t confirmed autoimmune problem that’s hashimoto’s then that’s probably the best grains are good to take out across the board figure out what your food sensitivities are um you know if you can’t do food sensitivities try to get off of gluten and and and and casein and um lectins and that’s that’s actually a pretty good start right there so so i wish i could make it like here’s the diet but then that would make my life too easy by treating people right it’s just not that way and so i don’t i tell you because i don’t want to be frustrated you’ve already been doing a lot of this i assume this is where the question comes from and every now and then i get people to come in who have nailed the diet and they don’t realize how lucky they are because it’s not that they were so like prescient and now i figured out the diet it’s just that their physiology just happened to be appropriate where one diet could fix it and if that’s you that is awesome because that puts you like light years ahead of the game that is not the patient that walks into my office so i’m sharing that with you relative to the people who come in here all right so that’s diet and hashimoto’s – So, I get a lot of questions on Hashimoto’s and nutrition.
And nutrition casts a wide net relative to… I’m not sure if the person’s asking about supplements or basically diet or am I losing nutrients? So again, it’s not a clear question. So I’m gonna give it a shot and kind of anticipate what that person might be asking.
I’m gonna stick to diet. And when we first started treating Hashimoto’s seemingly light years ago, a long time ago, we were very, very thrilled when we told the person to get off of gluten (chuckles) and they would do so much better.
And we would just be kind of like, “Oh yeah, we’re bad. “We know what’s going on here.” “Nobody else knows when the doctors don’t know.” We’re like, “Cool.
” Of course, a lot of people got off of gluten and nothing happened (laughs). And then we weren’t all that cocky about it. But there’s a molecular mimicry between gluten and your thyroid. Meaning that, when you get a reaction to gluten there’s a high percentage chance that you’re gonna get a reaction to your thyroid especially if you have Hashimoto’s.
In fact only if you have Hashimoto’s. So certainly gluten is out. Another one I’ve talked about at great length is iodine. And there’s still a lot of practitioners out there who say you should eat, you should take iodine because it helps your thyroid.
And I would say that iodine, is like one of the last things you should do. And in fact, the confusion is iodine, is good for hypothyroid, but it’s not good for Hashimoto’s (coughs) and that’s a whole talk into itself.
And I think there’s a couple of… We have several talks online on that. And so, Hashimoto’s is a part of the dietary issue. As far as groups of foods, it differs from one patient to the next.
If you wanna know about nutrition, you could do the autoimmune paleo diet and see what happens. Because that takes out all the foods that create an inflammatory response or an autoimmune response. It’s kind of hard to live on that diet for a long time.
At some point in time, you wanna find out what your food sensitivities are. Food sensitivities are huge. Dietary protein, cross reactivities are huge. So like the gluten where you actually have a cross-reactivity where the gluten gets attacked and your thyroid gets attacked but food sensitivities are big.
They sort of fall into that category. And so, you wanna find out what your food sensitivities are. Some people say you should get off of milk, okay. And some people say it’s okay. We now are in the realm of doing a lot of testing on that.
And we’re finding that 50% of the time the person can take milk out. I have colleagues who literally just take their patients off of gluten and casein and they claim they get good results. That’s not my patient population (laughs).
So I don’t know who they’re treating, but it’s a good start, but it’s a good start. Grains were where we started. First there was gluten and bursting out off of gluten and nothing happened, and then we took them off all the grains and a bigger percentage of people started getting better.
At that time, people had already understood that milk products could be bad for a certain group of people, so there was that whole thing going. In general you’re looking to avoid a pro-inflammatory diet and so you have to.
.. So it’s not a “one size fits all” answer to that. There are, food groups like lectins, so, you know, the whole thing online now, I forget what the guy’s name is. And he’s all, he’s all over the lectins.
He’s discovered this lectin thing, even though alternative practitioners have been on it since the eighties, I think and definitely over the last 20 years. And so can lectins be an issue for you? Yes.
If, again, you’re looking for target things, there’s whole presentations online about lectins are the answer to everything. They’re not but for a Hashimoto’s patient, lectins are a good place to start, as well as the grains, as well as the autoimmune paleo diet.
I guess the bottom line, is there’s not one diet. There’s probably about 12 different aspects to dietary proteins. In other words, the proteins that are the grain, in the grains and the proteins that are in the milk.
The proteins that are in lectins, you react to the proteins in a food. And so there’s questions about sodium intake and whether that’s good or not. I’ve seen a lot of different presentations on that.
That’s another area that you can delve into. So, in general and you want to watch your blood sugar. We’re talking foods. So now you’re talking about the glycemic index and the glycemic load.
So foods, tricky. Foods, tricky. I guess I would have to say that across the board the best diet is probably the autoimmune paleo diet. A lot of you are going to react to it. Once you react to it, then you’ve got to find out what’s going on.
And so that is really one of the things that if you’re online, you’ve tried all the diets. That’s the point where you need to find a good functional medicine practitioner. And I don’t know completely how to define good, but one of the characteristics is the first thing they’re gonna I do is, is be very individualized in helping you to figure out what your diet is.
And just to add one thing. Your diet might change every 6 to 12 months just to confuse the issue. It’s because one of the things that happens when people get on an autoimmune paleo diet and it works, okay, is you start eating all those foods.
And if you have a digestive system that is not the best, it’s gonna feel better, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that by just having done that, your digestive system is gonna heal, especially if you have other things that are driving the poor digestive problem, like stress responses, and chemical pollutants, and pathogens and stuff like that.
So what will happen is, is you’ll start developing new food sensitivities to the good foods that you’re eating. So, so nevertheless, it’s a tough subject. It’s something we put a lot of time into.
We use we several different diets and then we probably use eight different adaptations of each one of those diets based on that person’s makeup, based on their history, based on their chemistry. And sometimes it takes us a couple of visits to really.
.. Over a period of the first month then I’ll see somebody to really nail their diet down, for the next 6-12 months. (laughs) And then after that, we advise people what to do to be able to continue to reevaluate with their diet, preferably on their own, once we’ve got them to a stable position.
So, diet is, yes, it’s big, it’s diet. It’s just food. I’ve had people go, “You’re just gonna use food to get me better?” It’s like, yeah, diet, lifestyle, nutraceuticals.
And they go like, “I’m going to find somebody who knows what they’re doing (laughs).” So they’re gonna be in trouble because food’s a big deal. Food’s a big part of it. But the food in and of itself is a challenge.
You’ve been reading about it online. There’s a zillion things online (chuckles). And each one of them have a little grain of truth but none of them really handle the entire web or the entire inner related vicious cycle of diet, and brain ,and diet, and gut, and diet, and chemicals, and diet and pathogens.
So it’s frustrating because you go online you do whatever diet it is. I mean, everybody that comes in here today, has already been on one to two, to three, to four, to five diets. And sometimes they’re the diet, we’re gonna end up using for them.
But they didn’t know how to implement it or they didn’t do it right. Or they weren’t handling the thing that caused them to have to do that diet in the first place. So, so I know that isn’t probably what a lot of people wanted to hear, but those are the things gluten, lectins, pro-inflammatory diet is gonna make you worse.
Anti-inflammatory diet, autoimmune paleo. If you haven’t confirmed autoimmune problem, that’s Hashimoto’s, then that’s probably the best. Grains are good to take out across the board. Figure out what your food sensitivities are.
And if you can’t do food sensitivities, try to get off of gluten, and casein, and lectins. And that’s actually a pretty good start right there. So, I wish I could make it like, “Here’s the diet”, but then that would make my life too easy by treating people right.
It’s, it’s just not that way. And so I tell you, because I don’t want you to be frustrated. You’ve already been doing a lot of this. I assume this is where the question comes from. And every now and then, I get people that come in who have nailed the diet, and they don’t realize how lucky they are, because it’s not that they were so prescient in “I figured out the diet”, it’s just that their physiology just happened to be appropriate where one diet could fix it.
And if that’s you, that is awesome because that puts you like light years ahead of the game. That is not the patient that walks into my office. So I’m sharing that with you, relative to the people who come in here.
All right, so that’s diet and Hashimoto’s.
