Latest / Health with Hashimoto’s - Thyroid or Immune Education for Autoimmune Thyroid Disease / How to manage Hashimoto's when life is busy ⎸ Ep. 218

Transcript

How to manage Hashimoto's when life is busy ⎸ Ep. 218 · Health with Hashimoto’s - Thyroid or Immune Education for Autoimmune Thyroid Disease

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  How many times have you heard an author or expert or practitioner say something
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  like, in our trial, people completely changed their diet, exercise,
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  sleep, restorative time, and environmental toxin burden for 12 weeks,
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  and 100% of them felt so much better?
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  Well, I'm genuinely happy for the people in their trial. And yes,
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  some people do turn everything around and then their health follows.
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  I am genuinely happy for them, but I'm not one of those people. Are you?
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  Well, an entire life overhaul would be beneficial.
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  I just don't have that bandwidth right now. Instead, I need to know,
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  how can I keep going in a hard, busy week? That is what I need to know.
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  How about you? Well, that's what we're talking about today. How to keep going
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  in your hardest, busiest weeks.
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  Maybe you got a prescription and a follow-up appointment for six weeks later,
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  or maybe you got told that your
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  numbers are fine for now and we're just going to keep an eye on things.
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  Either way, your provider probably did not tell you that Hashimoto's is two things and not one.
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  It's a thyroid that can't keep up because it's also an immune system that's attacking the thyroid.
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  Medication can help handle the first, but the second one is all yours to work
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  on. You are the CEO of your own health.
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  You can start working on that immune system side before your labs say that you have to.
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  Hi, I'm Esther Yunkin. I am a registered nurse. I've been a nurse for 25 years,
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  and I am the host of the Health with Hashimoto's podcast.
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  I am the nurse who helps you sort your Hashimoto's into thyroid or immune.
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  Let's sort. I just started a new book and I am absolutely going to recommend
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  it in one of the bonus podcast episodes.
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  It is really good. I love it so far, but it starts out with that story.
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  And it's a story that I have heard so many times before.
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  It's the story of a clinical group or a trial or, you know, a set of people
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  who were able to completely transform their life.
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  This trial is done in a controlled environment. They're reporting back.
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  They're saying, okay, you have to do all of these dietary changes.
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  You need to do all of the lifestyle changes. You need to clean up the toxins.
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  All of these things that are incorporated into a trial like this, they're amazing.
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  And the trial usually has support built in.
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  Often, I guess I can't speak for everyone, but.
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  The people who are in this trial, they know they're doing it for 12 weeks,
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  and they do get significant results.
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  But I can't tell you how many people in that study are also,
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  taking kids to sports practices, volunteering, working full-time,
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  hosting Thanksgiving, like having all of the family over extended family.
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  I don't know what they are also doing, but I know that in your busiest weeks, you probably,
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  are not ready to tackle a complete lifestyle overhaul, including dietary changes,
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  environmental changes, sleep changes, changes in how you rest or how you restore.
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  There's all of these different layers.
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  And all of us could make improvements in each of the aspects of the whole you.
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  Body, mind, spirit, diet, environment. All five of those parts of the whole could use improvement.
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  And that's why, you know, over the last 218 episodes or something,
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  we talk about those things. We talk about body, mind, spirit,
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  diet, environment. We talk about the thyroid side. We talk about the immune side.
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  All things to help you feel like yourself again, to figure out what you can do for better health.
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  And we're not talking about doing a complete overhaul. I don't think I ever
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  talk about that. Occasionally a guest will, because I recognize that hard weeks,
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  are when your changes matter the most.
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  Stress is cumulative. Emotional, physical, chemical, it all is stress.
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  And when you have a busy week that adds to the load, it doesn't pause it.
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  You don't get to just pause all of your regular stuff when everything hits the fan, right?
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  A busy week adds to the load, it doesn't pause anything.
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  So then you end up pausing things. For me, I've shared about this huge website
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  migration that I've been doing, I knew 100% that what,
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  I usually drop when the weeks get really busy is exercise.
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  I really like to go for a good two, three mile walk.
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  But I know that when I have a lot on my plate, that is the first thing to drop.
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  Because I was like, I don't have time for this. I have other things I need to
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  be doing. Even knowing that if I put off my walk today, I can't make up tomorrow
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  or today's walk tomorrow.
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  Like I can't just walk six miles tomorrow and have that count for both tomorrow and today.
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  It doesn't work like that. A lot of things in life only count at that time.
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  Like you can't pray twice tomorrow to make up for not praying today.
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  You can pray twice tomorrow and that's great, but it does not make up for skipping it today.
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  You can exercise double tomorrow, but it doesn't make up for not exercising today.
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  You can drink double the water tomorrow, but that does not make up for skipping
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  your water today, right?
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  There's so many things in life that are daily.
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  And you can't make it up tomorrow if you don't do it today. Your immune system
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  needs daily consistent action.
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  Your thyroid also needs daily consistent action.
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  Both sides, thyroid and immune, need daily consistent action.
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  And you have to be consistent even on the hard weeks.
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  So how can you do things? How can you survive? How can you make things work on the hard weeks?
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  Here are three quick tips.
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  Number one, shrink it, don't drop it.
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  So decide your bare minimum. I said for me for exercise, I would prefer a three mile walk.
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  But what I have done instead is a 10 to 15 minute walk after each meal.
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  It still adds up to what is that? If I do 15 minutes, that's 45 minutes in the day that I'm walking.
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  So the first trick is to shrink it, don't drop it. The second one is hold, don't add.
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  Hold to your good habits. Hold to what you've already been doing. Maintaining is a win.
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  We don't count it as a loss if you just can't do more.
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  Maintaining what you've been doing and what you know is working, that is a win.
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  A hard week is not the time to put something else on your plate.
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  You've already got enough on your plate.
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  So the second thing to do on a hard week is hold, don't add.
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  You know, every single winter, I have had a stressor, and it is the Minnesota
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  cold. I've shared that in my story before.
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  The cold itself is one of my biggest Hashimoto's triggers, and I'm not going
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  to move to a warmer climate.
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  So again, I know in that season, especially like February and March,
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  I have to hold what's working.
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  I'm not going to add new things because.
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  Over the last four or five winters, I know that those are the hardest months.
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  So I have to figure out where my spoons are going to go.
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  I have an episode about spoons. They're like the currency of your energy and
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  you only have a set amount each day.
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  The amount of spoons that you have could vary from day to day depending on a whole bunch of factors.
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  And so it is your job to figure out where you're going to spend that energy,
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  how you are going to distribute what you have.
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  And that is what I'm talking about.
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  When the weeks are hard, when you don't have enough energy.
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  So step number one or move number one, shrink it, don't drop it.
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  Number two, hold, do not add and that is a win if you are able to maintain.
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  And then number three, come back without restarting.
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  You don't have to start over. This is not like go big or go home and you didn't
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  go big so you have to go home and start over again. We are not talking about that.
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  That is not the culture of this podcast community.
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  Health with Hashimoto's and our community is not based on shame.
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  It is not based on what you can or cannot do.
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  You are accepted for who you are. You are valued because you are you and nothing takes that away.
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  If you don't feel like you are hitting all of your health goals,
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  that does not diminish your worth.
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  If you, you know, fall back on some of your healthy habits, that does not diminish your worth.
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  You do not need to start over. You don't need to catch up. You don't have to make up for anything.
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  Pick up where you left off. Sometimes something is going to go down a little
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  bit. Like, I don't know, one of my sons was doing, I don't know how many push-ups a day. It was a lot.
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  And he could take a day off, a couple of days off and not lose any progress.
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  If he took maybe a week or two off, he might go down in how many push-ups he
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  can do at one sitting or one session. I guess he's not sitting when he's doing
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  push-ups, whatever, you know what I mean.
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  Like if he, the longer he takes off, the more his progress is going to naturally
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  go down just a little bit because of conditioning.
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  But having to reduce what you're doing because of a hard week,
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  that does not diminish your worth. It does not diminish who you are.
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  We're not a shame-based community. The Health with Hashimoto's community values
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  you for who you are, not for what you do.
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  You are not valued any less because you had to step back on some of your healthy habits.
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  We do not judge you. We do not shame you. You are doing the best you can every
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  single week. You are doing the best you can with the energy you have,
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  with everything going on.
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  You are the one who gets to look at the whole picture and say, this is what I can do.
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  And so these are just three tips to help you keep going on the hardest weeks.
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  You do not have to start over. You don't have to catch up. Like I said,
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  if you don't drink enough water today, you can't even drink double tomorrow
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  to make up for today. You just can't.
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  You just pick up where you left off.
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  Ends a habit is almost never ever one missed week.
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  It's deciding that that missed week means you failed and then you give up instead
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  of coming back and just picking up where you left off.
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  We all have those weeks and you know some people will just say they're climbing
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  back on the wagon they fell off the wagon they're climbing back on and that
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  is great just climb back on just keep going you do not have to go all the way back to zero.
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  All right so on those hardest weeks those the three things you're going to do.
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  You're going to shrink it, don't drop it, you're going to hold where you are,
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  don't add anything new, and then come back without restarting and without shame.
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  No guilt, no shame. You're doing the best you can in every single season.
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  There is one little lie that we like to tell ourselves. Let me know if you have
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  ever told yourself this before.
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  I'm going to do that when things calm down. I'm going to start that exercise
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  program when things calm down.
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  I'm going to change my diet when things calm down. I'm going to rest more.
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  I'm going to pray more. I'm going to do more reading when things calm down.
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  I've said it before. You've probably said it before.
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  But when you look back, honestly, did things calm down?
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  I mean, sometimes, yes, they do. You're in a really busy season and there's a hard deadline.
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  And that deadline deadline comes and there's like, that's a demarcation.
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  The before and the after.
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  And things do calm down. But a lot of times, we just move into another busy season.
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  Because there's no version of your life while you are a woman.
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  And in whatever season you're in, there's no version where things get really easy.
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  Or if there is that version, I haven't met any women who are like,
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  oh yeah, things are really easy right now.
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  Everything's good. I have so much free time. I can implement all the change that I need to.
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  Everything is awesome. It's a Lego song.
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  Women don't really get in that season, or if they do, they're not telling me about it.
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  We figure out how to make our life fit. We figure out how to make our healthy
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  habits fit into whatever season we're in. And the seasons change,
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  and it doesn't seem like they get super easy.
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  So we get to figure out how to develop healthy habits that fit our life,
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  that fit the easy weeks, that can grow in those weeks where we feel like we
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  have extra spoons, extra energy, extra time, extra focus.
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  We can add things, but we want habits to sustain us and that keep going even in the hardest week.
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  So you don't need that overhaul that the authors and the experts and the practitioners
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  talk about. Yes, it would be amazing. And if you have time and brain space for that, do it.
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  I am so excited for you. And then come share about that and what you did and how you made it happen.
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  Share in our Health with Hashimoto's community over on school.
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  Share, I mean, contact me and come talk on the podcast if you're willing.
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  We want to know success stories and we want to share and celebrate and rejoice
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  with people who have been able to make big changes and see big results.
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  Those are awesome to celebrate.
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  And if that is your story, I would love to cheer you on.
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  If you're open to being on the podcast, let's talk about it here on the podcast.
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  But for most people, we need to start small and we need to do things sustainably.
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  And that is where the Simple Habits program comes in.
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  I just opened it. It is open for enrollment right now, September 2026.
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  It is open for enrollment. Enrollment closes on September 26.
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  So get in before that. It is 12 weeks of simplicity.
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  Yes, we're focusing on how to get healthier. We're focusing on simple habits.
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  But everything in this program is designed to work on the busiest, hardest weeks.
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  I mean, this program goes through Thanksgiving.
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  It goes through Black Friday. It goes through the beginning of December.
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  There's school. Everybody has started school in September.
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  Then we've got Halloween. We've got Thanksgiving, like I said, the run up to Christmas.
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  It seems like this is one of the busiest seasons of the entire year.
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  And that's why I do this Simple Habit program from September to December every
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  single year for the last, I think, three years.
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  Because this is the time when people need to implement simple things and feel better.
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  And I have people at the end, so we're talking, you know, middle of December.
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  They're telling me, I lost weight.
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  I'm feeling more energy. I'm feeling better. This changed my life.
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  Because it's so simple that you can do it on the busiest weeks.
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  And you might not do every single week.
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  Let me tell you about how it's structured. This is a text program.
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  I text you on Sunday about the theme.
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  Like, you know, this week we're working on hydration. And then you text back,
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  and you tell me this is how I'm going to make it fit into my week.
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  Maybe for hydration, you're telling me.
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  Before I go to bed, I'm going to fill three water bottles. I'm going to fill
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  up my three quart jars, whatever it is for you.
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  Maybe you don't like room temperature water and you need ice cold water.
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  And so you're going to text me back and you're going to say,
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  this is how I'm getting my ice cold water so that I maintain my hydration habit throughout the day.
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  Maybe you don't like plain water. And so you're going to text back and you're
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  going to say, I got some herbal teas and I am going to experiment with these
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  flavors or I got some electrolyte packets without sugar and without artificial
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  food colorings, you know, the healthy ones.
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  And you're telling me this is how I am going to implement the hydration thing.
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  So all of us in the group, it's not really a group, it's you and me texting,
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  you don't see everybody else's texts, but everybody is working on hydration.
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  And everybody is making it apply to their situation, their time,
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  their spoons, their energy, and making it work for them. And then the next week,
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  I give you the next theme, the next topic.
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  And so over the course of 12 weeks, you are working on so many different aspects of the whole you.
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  You are working on things that pertain to physical health, emotional health.
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  You're working on dietary things. You're working on sleep.
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  You're working on so many different things, but every single thing is very small
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  and simple so that it's sustainable.
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  At the end of the 12 weeks, you will feel a difference. Because when you add
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  up simple things, they become big.
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  And so if you are doing 12 weeks of small, simple actions, they compound.
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  And you are going to feel a difference.
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  That's what I hear from so many people. You can go to the page where I talk
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  about it, and you can read a whole bunch of testimonials from women who have
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  been through the program before, and they share.
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  You'll see real life you'll see some people say I didn't hit it every week and
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  yet I still feel better people who say that they liked the text-based thing
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  so they didn't have to log on to anything they didn't have to remember it was
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  just right there on their phone in their notifications
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  so enrollment closes and it is a hard and fast close on September 6 26 sorry
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  I cannot extend it because my Sunday texts to you are all pre-programmed and
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  I can't add anybody late.
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  So that is the Simple Habits Program and I am so excited for you to join and
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  to see how much progress and how things can change in 12 weeks by focusing on very simple things.
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  So when you do things and make sure that they are drop dead simple,
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  then they can be sustained in the hardest weeks.
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  And that is how you make Hashimoto's and your overall health manageable on the
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  hardest, busiest weeks.
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  You focus on the simple. You focus on what is sustainable.
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  And that's what the Simple Habits Program is all about. And hey,
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  you know what? It's more fun to do it with a friend.
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  So invite a friend to do it with you. We have room. We have room for 30 people.
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  Because I'm texting everybody, I personally reply to every single text. And.
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  I just can't add, you know, hundreds. So first 30 people and yeah,
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  do it with a friend. It's so much fun to see what kind of simple habits everybody
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  is going to focus on and just hear the wins. We celebrate every week.
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  Expect that text from me on Fridays. What can we celebrate? And then we celebrate
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  together. I can't wait to see you in the Simple Habits program.
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  The link, of course, is down in the show notes. It's also on healthwithhashimoto's.com.
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  You can find it over there.
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  And that's it for this episode. If you want the whole framework in one place,
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  I made Hashimoto's decoded at $27, seven short chapters and a workbook under an hour start to finish.
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  You will sort your Hashimoto's into thyroid or immune. So you know what to do
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  first. The link is in the show notes.
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  And if you want to talk about this episode with other women who actually get
• 20:08
  it, the free community is on the school platform.
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  The link is in the show notes for that too. I'll see you next week.