How To Lose Weight when you are HYPOTHYROID

Most people have been told by CONVENTIONAL MEDICINE (diet doctors, nutritionists, fitness gurus and pharmaceutical companies) that you have to lose weight in order to get healthy. However, in FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE, we teach that you have to get healthy in order to lose weight because you do not have a weight PROBLEM, you have a weight SYMPTOM. Let’s discuss how to Lose Weight when HYPOTHYROID.  If you want to know how to lose weight when you are HYPOTHYROID, you must FIRST address its ROOT CAUSES because you must get healthy FIRST. .

Your THYROID makes hormones that control how effectively you burn calories for energy. In other words, your METABOLISM. Your METABOLISM suffers when these hormones are too low (HYPOTHYROIDISM), making it nearly impossible to lose weight no matter how little you eat or how much you exercise.

Fortunately, the problem of losing weight with HYPOTHYROIDISM can be solved if you know the most effective nutrition to strive for, strategies to manage STRESS and the cutting-edge technology proven to REMOVE the TOXIC substances that negatively affect THYROID FUNCTION.

So, let’s examine how a safe, natural and science-based approach to supporting optimal THYROID levels can help with your weight loss by helping to restore your health to make you look, feel and function better.

 

HYPOTHYROID – IS THIS YOUR BROKEN METABOLISM?

We all know people who can eat whatever they want, and yet they NEVER seem to gain weight.

You, on the other hand, JUST LOOK AT FOOD (from across the street) yet continue to gain weight!

What’s the difference?

Certainly, a poor (or slow) METABOLISM is one of the many reasons for low thyroid function.

Many people (including those diagnosed with HYPOTHYROIDISM) are unaware that low thyroid function frequently occurs when the body attacks its own thyroid gland. The confused immune system forms antibodies against its own normal thyroid tissue, negatively affecting thyroid HORMONE production, and resulting in low thyroid function and symptoms.

This situation is called autoimmune or Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.

In other words, most people (again, including those diagnosed with HYPOTHYROIDISM) don’t realize that they actually have an AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE.

In order to be able to successfully lose weight, or resolve ANY low thyroid symptom, you must address your confused IMMUNE SYSTEM. You must calm it down, so to speak, so it does NOT attack your thyroid, or at least, attacks it less frequently.

Fortunately, addressing NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCIES and CELLULAR TOXICITIES can do this, resolving many symptoms, including STUBBORN WEIGHT LOSS RESISTANCE.

 

Essential Lifestyle Steps To HYPOTHYROID Weight Loss

The first obvious place to look when trying to OPTIMIZE HEALTH, especially in relation to stubborn weight loss resistance, is your DIET.

But it is rarely about counting calories.

More specifically…

HOW specifically are you NOURISHING your body?

Here are some KEY tips:

 

Pay Attention to your MAIN FAT STORING HORMONE.

Losing weight has far less to do with COUNTING CALORIES as it does with watching insulin. Insulin is a hormone just like your thyroid hormones T4 and T3, as well as other hormones like testosterone or estrogen

What is its role? Well, it is the hormone used to lower blood sugar, and STORE BODY FAT.

INSULIN IS A FAT-STORING HORMONE.

So, you MUST eat the foods that do not spike insulin. Those foods are the carbohydrates, ESPECIALLY the REFINED CARBOHYDRATES.

Think anything WHITE to start with…

Bread, pasta, rice. Minimizing, ideally eliminating (at least for a while) these foods will go a long way to helping lose weight, by LOWERING the FAT STORING EFFECT of INSULIN.

Generally speaking, eat MORE protein, MORE fat and LESS carbohydrate.  Sugar (carbohydrates) affect both cholesterol and heart disease. Eat more fat, and more protein, which do NOT (Yes, that is a myth) For carbs, focus on (organic) veggies, sweet potatoes. (Not breads, muffins, or pastries.

How about FRUIT?

Fruit has been called ‘bags of sugar’ since it has exactly the same effect on insulin as all the other ‘less healthy’ forms, so it is difficult to lose weight if you are eating fruit (summer fruits like grapes, watermelon and pineapple are the biggest culprits). You can enjoy fruit once you are healthier and are at your OPTIMAL weight.

Remember, FRUIT is not bad, its your broken (INSULIN RESISTANT) body that does not allow you to eat it (for now).

Lastly – to COUNT or NOT to count?

FASTING is different than restricting calories. The first can do wonders for you, the second will backfire for sure.

Hire a healthcare professional who will think outside of the box.

This means one who has MANY OTHER tools in their toolbox OTHER THAN SYNTHETIC thyroid hormones.

Find a FUNCTIONAL/FOUNDATIONAL MEDICINE doctor who is willing to keep working with you to address NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCIES, CELLULAR TOXICITIES (like heavy metals, parasites, mold, etc.) and STRESS.

Cherish your SLUMBER TIME.

We actually BURN FAT when we sleep, but only if we sleep DEEPLY. In other words, many people can fall asleep easily and stay asleep (of course many do NOT) but yet they still wake up TIRED. (Sometimes exhausted).

Until you focus on sleep, you will not achieve your health (and therefore your weight) goals. It is even MORE important than exercise because your body is showing you that you do not have good rest and recovery.

Therefore, exercise will simply be another form of STRESS on an already stressed-out body.

STOP eating Gluten. For a VAST number of people, especially (but not limited to) HASHIMOTO’S patients, GLUTEN most go. It is a major trigger for INFLAMMATION, and the body is seeing it as a foreign protein which it is then provoked to attack.

Speaking of Exercise. One of the ways we lose weight when HYPOTHYROID is by losing lean MUSCLE. This is undesirable, since it’s essential to preserve and indeed gain lean mass, as our muscle accelerates our metabolism.

Too much (Chronic) cardio is an excessive STRESS, that spikes our STRESS hormone, CORTISOL, another FAT STORING hormone (They call it the belly fat hormone). Choose resistance training and strength conditioning over chronic cardio.

QUALITY NOURISHMENT ONLY.

This means grass fed meat (over commercially raised), wild caught fish (over farm raised), pasture raised (NOT free range) eggs and raw dairy, like raw milk, cheese and butter. The harmful hormones and antibiotics injected into animals end up in our bodies.

LIQUID SUGAR – AVOID. 

Alcohol is sugar. Same for fruit juices. Sugar triggers insulin.

 

TOXICITY, HYPOTHYROIDISM and WEIGHT LOSS

 Although HYPOTHYROIDISM is often an AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE (HASHIMOTO’S) as well as a NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCY, the question remains…

WHY?

In other words, is there a CAUSE to the CAUSE?

What is the CAUSE, the reason WHY, your IMMUNE SYSTEM is confused and attacking your thyroid?

The answer, in MANY cases, is TOXICITY.

TOXICITY in our cells may be the CAUSE (or at least a contributing factor) in any disease because TOXICITY can be a possible cause of ANY imbalance in the human body.

But it is especially true, for AUTOIMMUNITY.

Our bodies are designed to DETOXIFY from the outside TOXINS as well as from the inside TOXINS made within our bodies.

Our kidneys, liver GI tract, lungs and skin are part of this natural DETOXIFICATION SYSTEM that biochemically transforms a TOXIC substance so that it can be eliminated.

Normally, your immune system defends against the daily assault of all environmental chemicals, including HEAVY METAL TOXICITY, but ONLY WHEN it is working correctly and NOT being OVERWHELMED by the extremely high TOXIC BURDEN all around us.

INFLAMMATION blocks detoxification, too. So, for many of us that have CHRONIC inflammation, this interferes with our ability to self-heal.

Failure of your body’s natural ability to detoxify itself from toxins results in health issues.

Supporting the body’s ability to bind to and eliminate toxins is a key part of healing from environmental exposure.

So, you MUST support your body’s natural detoxification and drainage systems.

New, emerging technology, designed to help remove TOXINS and SUPPORTING DRAINAGE systems (your body’s NATURAL ability to eliminate poisons from itself) are necessary to successfully recover from this kind of toxicity.

Let’s examine this more closely…

 

How do I get rid of these toxins in my body?

Special agents that BIND toxins in the gut and other tissues so they can be more easily excreted are required.

An excellent, natural REMEDY for BINDING environmental toxins is called Carbon Technology

Made of specially-selected and precisely-formulated extracts of fulvic and humic acids, Carbon Technology uses these natural substances to tightly BIND toxins to help remove them from your body via stools.

The fulvic and humic acids in Carbon Technology have advantages to binders like activated charcoal and bentonite clay, two common binders, discussed below.

One big advantage is that Carbon Technology can travel beyond the gut.

Also, fulvic and humic acid extracts are a good source of nutrition, including amino acids, phytochemicals and minerals.  This is good since cells damaged by pesticides and environmental chemicals NEED TO SELF-REPAIR.

 

Clear out OTHER PATHOGENS

Because many ENVIRONMENTAL TOXINS can weaken your immune system, OTHER things like chronic infections — such as PARASITES AND VIRUSES — may more easily take hold in your body.

It becomes a vicious cycle because then these PARASITES make the body more vulnerable to HEAVY METAL toxicity, for example.

Either way, removing unwanted PARASITES from the body helps reduce the STRESS on the immune system.

 

There Is Hope

In conclusion, OPTIMAL THYROID HORMONES/FUNCTION are essential for OPTIMAL HEALTH, which is the answer to STUBBORN WEIGHT LOSS RESISTANCE.

So, if you’ve ever asked “What is my doctor missing?” and suspect that TOXICITY may be a part of YOUR persistent, unresolved health challenges, (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WEIGHT/HYPOTHYROIDISM) do NOT give up.

 This is where ADVANCED SUPPLEMENTATION (with WHOLE FOOD NUTRITION, never SYNTHETIC VITAMINS) can be helpful.

It’s important to work with an experienced practitioner who can recommend the right supplements designed to remove these toxins directly.

The good news is that there are doctors with specialized knowledge who are ready with a science-backed action plan to DETECT AND CORRECT TOXICITY.

Addressing this will take you from TOXICITY to PURITY, and allow you to get back to looking, feeling and functioning at your best.