Tired and draggy? Brain fog? Thinning hair? Can’t lose weight? It may be your thyroid.
Hypothyroidism is one of the most prevalent health issues today. And blood work “in the normal reference range” is no guarantee your thyroid is healthy or that you will feel good, or be able to lose weight.
Frankly, much of what is considered “normal” would still leave you feeling lousy and chronically tired: dragging through the day, with dry skin, thinning hair, and low libido.
There are many underlying causes for why this is becoming such a universal problem, but today I want to focus on five simple changes to have a healthy – or healthier – thyroid.
Here are my top 5 tips for healing the thyroid. For more help, please allow me to take a full history and look at your blood work, so I can optimize a program for you.
1. Stop. Eating. Gluten. No kidding, no messing around, no sorta kinda most of the time. Get this crippling, highly inflammatory toxin out of your system once and for all. The wheat we eat today has NOTHING to do with the “staff of life” that nurtured and sustained our ancestors.
2. Chill. Sleep in a Cool Bedroom. This is beneficial not only for your thyroid, but for all your hormones. Sleeping in cooler temperatures is how we mostly evolved, and does an elegant nightly “reset” for your entire endocrine system. Research shows we sleep most soundly when the room is between 60 and 68 degrees, but personally my sweet spot is in the mid-50s, with a warm blanket. (and no, I’m not having hot flashes or night sweats!) So do a little N of 1 experiment, as they say, and see what works best for you. Of course, getting enough hours of sleep is essential, but it’s important to work on the quality of your sleep, too.
3. Fats. Increase healthy fats, preferably as food, rather than supplements. Coconut oil, MCT oil (both available in my office), avocados, nuts and seeds, as well as fats from healthy animals (ie pastured butter and grass fed meat) can benefit your thyroid. Lose your fear of fats!
4. Tame your stress monster! Stress hormones always take precedence over all other hormones in our body, as they are meant to get us out of danger and keep us alive. The thyroid is part of the hormone, or endocrine, system. All the thyroid support in the world, including medications, won’t work as successfully if you don’t break up that endless cycle of stress.
5. Watch out for fluoride. Did you know that fluoride was used medically to suppress an overactive thyroid? Well, it has the same effect on a healthy thyroid. If you must use fluoride for your teeth, use it topically only. If your water has fluoride added, as most town and village water does, consider using a filter to eliminate it.
Want me to look at your lab work and give you more help? Click on the BookNow button, above to the right, and let’s get started.
Fran Sussman Holistic Services 
I was dx’d with autoimmune thyroid and was told “but we don’t treat that until your thyroid fails completely”, by a doctor. So I went and found a cytomel-friendly endo and got medicated properly, but I still have to fight to keep the levels where I feel good, as in, ‘on the edge of hyperthyroid’. There’s a difference between “normal range” (bogus) and “optimal”. Being able to do more than one task without having to sit down in between because you’re so knackered is highly underrated!
LikeLike
Heidi, I understand your frustration. I talk to clients all the time about the difference between being in the reference range, and being healthy.
There may be a lot more you can do to address your thyroid issue in terms of nutrition, supplements, lifestyle and possibly even medication, if necessary, so that you can reclaim your healthy, energetic, focused, happy self!
Please make an appointment if you want my guidance.
LikeLike