Latest / Health with Hashimoto’s - Thyroid or Immune Education for Autoimmune Thyroid Disease / 141 // How Train Your Brain to Fight Hashimoto’s

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141 // How Train Your Brain to Fight Hashimoto’s · Health with Hashimoto’s - Thyroid or Immune Education for Autoimmune Thyroid Disease

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  If you're struggling with Hashimoto's,
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  did you know that your brain has a built-in tool to help you heal?
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  I'm going to tell you all about that today. And to get you started,
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  I want you to think about how your left big toe feels.
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  Now, prior to me asking that, you probably had no awareness of how your left big toe felt.
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  You had no idea that it was like snug inside a sock. It was warm or cold.
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  It's like resting on the floor.
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  You probably had no clue what your left big toe felt like.
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  And that's how your brain is designed. Your brain is designed to filter out
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  the things that don't matter and to focus on what does.
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  And in this episode, we're going to narrow down how to tell your brain what
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  matters so that it can focus on them.
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  But before we get started, of course, I am Esther. Welcome to the Health with Hashimoto's podcast.
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  This is episode, I think, 141. I am so grateful for every single person who listens.
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  And especially if you have written a review, that means so much to me,
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  no matter what platform you are
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  listening, whether you're on Spotify or Apple or one of the other ones.
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  All of the ratings and reviews really do mean a lot.
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  And that is because they tell the platform, hey, this podcast might be useful for somebody else too.
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  So if you would be willing to take a couple seconds, I don't know,
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  maybe a minute or two and type out a sentence or two, that would be so fantastic.
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  Thank you very much in advance. And if you've already done it,
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  thank you. Every single review means so much.
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  All right. So let's talk about your brain.
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  This is my favorite part of your brain, my favorite part of my brain,
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  And it is called the reticular activating system or RAS.
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  And it's like I said, it's about the size of your pinky and it's at the base of your brain.
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  So your brain is receiving millions of signals every single second,
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  like how your big toe is feeling.
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  Your brain has to filter out what's important and what's not,
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  because your brain cannot focus on millions of messages every second.
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  So your reticular activating system is that gatekeeper.
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  It tells your brain this is important and this is not.
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  Your reticular activating system is a very sophisticated filter.
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  It programs everything to ignore what you don't want to focus on and to focus on what you value.
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  It allows you to perceive threats. Like if you've ever been,
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  you know, walking somewhere and all of a sudden your brain is on alert,
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  it's because your reticular activating system filtered through and said,
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  this is important, something is going on.
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  Or maybe you have looked at, you know, those brain teasers where there's 999
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  numeral nines and then hidden in there is one numeral six. And they're like, find the six.
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  That is your articular activating system. Your articular activating system is
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  filtering out the nines and is focusing on finding the one that's different,
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  focusing on looking for the six.
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  Or maybe you, you know, you always do your commute, you're driving on the roads,
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  and you want a new car and you know what car you want.
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  You know, the style, you know, the model, you know, the color.
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  And all of a sudden, you start seeing that specific car on the highway every time you're driving.
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  Well, does your brain conjure it up and suddenly make that car appear?
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  No. It's your reticular activating system. It has decided, or you decided and
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  told your RAS, this specific car is important to me. I want that car.
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  And so your reticular activating system, working in the background,
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  filtering through the millions of messages every single second.
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  It's going to point out or, you know, allow through the messages of,
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  oh my goodness, there's that car that I want.
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  Prior to you telling your RAS that that specific car was important to you,
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  it would have driven by and you never would have noticed.
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  But now you have told your RAS that that specific car is important.
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  And as a result, you notice every single time that car goes by.
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  Some people talk about the law of attraction.
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  My supposition is that there is no law of attraction. It's a law of your RAS.
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  You tell your radicular activating system what is important to you.
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  And that is something that is very big in people who are into manifesting and
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  that law of attraction. They're constantly telling themselves what they want to happen.
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  And they're focusing on their goals. They're focusing on what they want to attract.
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  Every time they do that, they re-solidify or strengthen the RAS's commitment
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  to looking for things that will make that happen.
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  For a super simple example, let's say I forgot my water bottle today,
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  or I have my water bottle.
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  You know, I'm at a, I don't know, a big event. I have my water bottle,
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  it's running low, and I want to refill it.
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  Well, I just told my RAS that it's important to me to find a water fountain,
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  especially one that has a water bottle refiller.
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  Now, I'm not consciously thinking about that as I walk around because I still
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  have some water left in my water bottle.
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  It's just in the back of my mind, right? It's in the RAS.
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  And if I walk by a water fountain that has a water bottle filler,
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  my reticular activating system is going to allow the signals that my eyes are
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  sending to my brain, it's going to send the signals that, oh my goodness,
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  there's a water bottle filler water fountain. Oh my goodness, that's hard to say.
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  So that is a super simple thing about, you know, the law of attraction.
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  It's your reticular activating system. You are telling your brain,
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  your RAS, what's important.
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  You're telling your RAS what you want to happen.
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  And then your RAS is looking for ways to allow that to happen.
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  In this case, your RAS allowed you to see, oh, there's a water fountain,
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  when previously I would have walked right by it because it was not important.
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  But now I've seen it and I refill my water bottle and all is well.
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  That is a simple example of the law of attraction. I did not attract that water fountain.
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  I did not attract the water, but I noticed it when I went by it.
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  That RAS and the law of attraction works in so many different things.
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  Maybe for you, it is diet related and you are going gluten-free.
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  You've never thought about going gluten-free before, but now you have maybe
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  gone through the root causes revealed course that I have for you.
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  And that is in our school community. It's in the classroom tab.
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  It'll take you less than an hour to go through.
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  It now has a really nice workbook to work through so that you can get your answers
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  like right there on paper. And it's not guessing.
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  I have a little worksheet so that you know exactly what your root causes are.
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  So you've gone through that and you realize, okay, I think gluten is something that I want to work on.
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  Now you have told your reticular activating system that you want to work on
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  gluten because you know it increases your inflammation.
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  And you're wondering if you are in the 80% of people with Hashimoto's that feel
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  better when they're not eating gluten.
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  So your RAS is now going to look for things that don't have gluten and you're going to notice them.
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  You're going to notice when things at the grocery store in the packages have
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  gluten-free on their label.
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  You're going to notice when you are walking by snacks, you're going to notice
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  the things that are gluten-free.
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  You know, the vegetables, the fruits, not the breads, all of the breads,
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  all the crackers, those are gluten.
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  A lot of the sauces and dips, those have gluten in them.
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  You are going to notice the things that you can eat because you've told your
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  RAS, this is important to me.
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  And that is one way that your reticular activating system can help you pursue better health.
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  It's constantly seeking through all of the inputs that come into your brain.
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  You know, you have your five senses, sight, hearing, smell.
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  Taste, probably not tasting all the time, and then touch.
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  That's a lot. That is a lot of things coming in and your brain has to filter
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  through what is important,
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  what is going to allow you to focus on what you value, what is going to support
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  you in achieving your goals.
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  All right, so I've convinced you that the RAS is important. It helps you pursue your goals.
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  It helps you pursue solutions that are important to you.
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  But how then do you program your reticular activating system?
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  Great question. Let's talk about it.
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  Number one, your RAS is always listening.
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  It's listening to things that you say. It's listening to things that you think.
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  It's listening to things that you write.
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  So the best way to tell your RAS what is important is by thinking.
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  Saying, and writing your goals.
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  And that's one reason that I made the workbook for the Hashimoto's Decoded Root
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  Causes Revealed course, because now you're writing it, you're seeing it,
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  you're seeing it in the videos, I'm telling you about it, you're hearing it, and you're writing it.
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  And when you're writing in the workbook, you're not just writing what I say,
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  you are writing down your root causes, you are solving that puzzle.
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  I talk about it in that course, it's like a treasure map, you need to be able to follow a map.
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  That's what the Root Causes Revealed course does for you.
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  It gives you a map to your root causes so that you can follow the map and you
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  know exactly where to focus.
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  So you know exactly what to tell your RAS to focus on, right?
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  And in other parts of your life as well, when you use as many of your senses
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  as you can to talk about or focus on a goal or to,
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  you know, say that goal, like let's say I'm
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  going to have a goal of walking you
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  know 10,000 steps I will tell myself
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  it in my mind I might write it down in my
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  planner for this week I will get 10,000 steps
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  this week every day and then I'm going to read it so I've listened to my thoughts
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  I can say it out loud that way I'm speaking it and also hearing myself speak
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  it and I've written it which is that tactile that touch but also the sight of seeing it.
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  That's a lot of different ways that my RAS just.
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  You know, noticed that this is an important goal to me.
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  So now as I am, you know, sitting at my computer, my RAS is going to maybe notify
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  me when there's an opportunity to get up and go.
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  Maybe I set my Pomodoro timer, if you don't know what that is.
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  It's just, Pomodoro I think means tomato in Italian, I think.
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  It's a timer for 25 minutes and the goal is that you have intense focus for
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  25 minutes, and then you take a five minute break.
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  Now, when I was downstairs in my office, I used to do that.
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  I would set my 25 minute timer. I'd work really hard. And then I would leave
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  that office. It was just a closet.
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  And on my way out, I had my trampoline set up, my mini trampoline.
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  And I would sometimes jump right away. Otherwise, I would go to the bathroom first.
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  I go to the bathroom, and then I would refill my water. And then I would get
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  on the trampoline and bounce for two to three minutes.
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  I can run in place or just rebound, and that would get me some activity,
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  it would get me some steps, and then I would go back and work.
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  But sometimes I just ignore my Pomodoro timer.
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  I'm like, meh, I'm busy, I'm focused, I'm lasered in, you know, I'm in the zone.
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  But if I've already told my RAS that getting 10,000 steps is very important
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  to me, is going to raise my awareness of the passage of time.
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  Even when my timer goes off, I'm going to be more likely to, oh yeah, that is my goal.
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  Yes, I'm in the zone. I really want to get some work done, but it's also my
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  goal to get moving and to get 10,000 steps.
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  It's just five minutes. I can come back and I can work. That's one example.
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  There's a lot of different examples of your goals and how your RAS can help
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  you focus on those goals and not only focus, but find solutions like the water bottle.
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  Like you have a goal of filling your water bottle and your RAS is going to help
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  you look for solutions in the background, but look for solutions so that you
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  can fill that water bottle.
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  Because when you have Hashimoto's, you can have fatigue and brain fog.
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  You can have flare-ups, it can be hard to focus.
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  And so you really want to dial in your reticular activating system.
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  And help you focus on what matters. You want to filter out distractions and
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  you want a guide to help you focus on what is going to help you heal.
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  And I think that is why I put so much emphasis on knowing your root causes.
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  It was the very, okay, not the
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  very first. It was like the second thing I did when I got my diagnosis.
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  The very first thing I did was try to understand what is Hashimoto's?
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  Like what in the world is this?
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  What is my thyroid doing? What is my immune system I'm doing.
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  What is going on? After I figured that out, then I was like, okay, what causes this?
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  Because I want to fight it. I want to put every resource that I can into fighting this.
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  I will, you know, look at our budget and apply whatever we can towards fighting
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  it, you know, monetarily.
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  But also, I know that there's a lot of things I can do for free or very,
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  very cheaply. like we talked about in a recent episode about that $10 gut solution.
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  And really, probiotics, if you're going to culture your own yogurt,
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  or you're going to make kombucha or kefir, it's less than $10 to get started
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  if you're getting it from a friend.
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  If you're getting it from a place like Cultured for Health, I think it's culturedforhealth.com.
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  Then a brand new culture might be like $15, but then you can reuse it over and
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  over and over and over and over.
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  I digress. Anyway, I love knowing my root causes and it is because I filter everything through it.
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  When somebody approaches me and they do all the time with ideas and suggestions
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  and, hey, have you looked at this?
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  Like, have you, you're in that boat too, right? People know that you're looking for better health.
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  And so they come to you all the time with, oh, have you looked at this?
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  Have you tried this? Have you done this?
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  I filter all of those suggestions and everything I come across through the lens
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  of, is this going to work on my own root causes?
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  If it's going to work on somebody else's root causes, awesome.
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  But if it's not going to work on my root causes, I don't want to invest in it.
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  I don't want to invest my time. I don't want to invest my money.
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  I don't want to invest my hope. I don't want to invest my effort into that solution
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  if it's not the right solution for me.
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  And to know that, you have to know your root causes. That is why I made the
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  Hashimoto's Decoded Root Causes course, because I want you to know your course, your causes too.
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  And if you are still on that step one, like what in the world is going on?
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  What is Hashimoto's? What is, what is happening?
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  I do have a Hashimoto's 101 guide, and that is absolutely free.
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  It's a PDF inside the school community.
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  Look in the classroom tab, and it is on the top row. It says Hashimoto's 101,
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  and you will find out exactly what's going on.
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  And then you can do the Hashimoto's decoded root causes.
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  So actually, I have a three-step path for you.
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  Step one is, it's not the Hashimoto's 101, that's like pre-step one.
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  Step one is a guide on what questions to ask your doctor. That's also in the
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  classroom in our Health with Hashimoto's community.
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  So school.com, Health with Hashimoto's, or the link is down below in the show notes.
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  You can get that. So it's a printout. You have all of the questions to ask your
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  doctor, including why it's important, and a printable sheet that has all 10 questions right there.
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  So you only have one page to bring into your doctor to take notes.
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  That's step one on your path to better health with Hashimoto's.
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  Step two is the Hashimoto's Decoded Root Causes Revealed.
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  And this is super important so that you can tell your RAS what your root causes
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  are so that you can focus, so that it can help you focus on solutions for your specific problem.
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  And then step three in your path to better health with Hashimoto's is my holistic Hashimoto's course.
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  And that is going to take you by the hand. It's going to shortcut your time
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  because if you want to DIY, that's awesome.
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  The root causes revealed course is going to set you up to do that.
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  You might have a lot of trial and error though.
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  That's just part of DIYing. And that is what I did. And that is why I don't
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  want you to have to go through that if you don't want to.
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  If you want to save a lot of time, if you want to save a lot of headaches and
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  trying to figure out, okay, this is my root cause.
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  So I have these 10 different options that are all going to, you know,
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  they'll say that they're going to work for this root cause. Which one do I want to pursue?
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  You try A, it didn't work. You try B, it didn't work. You try C,
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  it may help a little bit. Like, I don't want you to go through that.
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  I want you to have clear answers and a clear path.
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  That is what the Holistic Hashimoto's course is going to do.
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  It's going to shortcut your time.
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  Going to help you figure out exactly what to focus on based on your own root causes.
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  So I hope you have learned a lot about your reticular activating system,
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  the pinky-sized thing in your brain that filters through a million different
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  messages every single second, and it helps you figure out what's important.
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  It helps you focus on what's important, I should say.
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  It enables you to focus on solutions.
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  It allows that law of attraction by sorting through all of the different inputs
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  in search of what you are looking for and seeking out what is important to you.
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  So write down your goals and get them into your mind with as many sensory inputs
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  as you can that will strengthen your RAS's commitment to looking for those things.
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  And then go through the Hashimoto's Decoded root causes revealed,
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  where I will help you do that so you can figure out your root causes and exactly
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  where to put your focus and your solutions.
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  This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only.
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  Please discuss any concerns and plans with your trusted healthcare professional.
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  If you found this episode helpful, will you please share it with a friend?
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  Music.