Latest / Health with Hashimoto’s - Thyroid or Immune Education for Autoimmune Thyroid Disease / 119 // Balancing Sweet Treats and Autoimmune Health

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119 // Balancing Sweet Treats and Autoimmune Health · Health with Hashimoto’s - Thyroid or Immune Education for Autoimmune Thyroid Disease

• 0:00
  Hey, welcome to episode 119 of the Health with Hashimoto's podcast.
• 0:04
  This episode is coming out on Halloween and Halloween kicks off this season of sugar.
• 0:10
  I feel like from like pre-Halloween, where all of the candy is already on sale,
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  until New Year's, we are bombarded with so much sugar, whether it's candy for
• 0:21
  Halloween or pies for Thanksgiving or everything for Christmas.
• 0:26
  I feel like there's so much sugar. Do you feel that way too?
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  So today I will be talking to you and then hopefully you will be carrying on
• 0:34
  this conversation back in our new community.
• 0:36
  I will be talking to you about navigating this season of treats while supporting
• 0:42
  your autoimmune health because we're not going to go full restriction.
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  We want to enjoy the life that we have. We want to be able to live this life.
• 0:49
  We want to be able to participate, to have community, to enjoy this time.
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  We're not going to just like opt out from the entire season and all of the holidays.
• 1:01
  No, that would be bad too. So I'm going to talk to you about how we can navigate this season.
• 1:07
  And then hopefully, you will come over to school.com, S-K-O-O-L.com and join
• 1:14
  us over there. So it's the Health with Hashimoto's community.
• 1:18
  So school, like I talked about last week, school is this community.
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  It's a group of so many communities, they are hoping to build this platform to a billion users.
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  So you think about how Facebook was at the beginning, where it was much more
• 1:32
  a community feeling and how forums were before that, where you really got to
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  know people and you got to have these honest conversations and you got to direct
• 1:41
  what you wanted to see instead of the algorithm controlling it.
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  And then your feed is bombarded with ads.
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  There have been times when I'm scrolling my Facebook feed or my Instagram feed,
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  and I count every other time.
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  Thing that I see is an ad. My sister was on the other day and she said she had
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  five ads in a row instead of seeing what her friends were posting.
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  And that's ridiculous. So that's why I'm so excited about school and the community
• 2:05
  that we're building over there.
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  We do have 27 members in our first week. I'm so excited about that.
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  People are getting to know each other, sharing questions, sharing resources.
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  This is awesome. Come over and join us and listen to last week's episode if
• 2:19
  you want more details on why it's so good. Now let's talk about sugar.
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  And like I said, we are going to focus on enjoying this season without compromising your health.
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  So first, the big question, why are sweets bad?
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  Well, this can go in actually a couple different directions.
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  Number one, if you are sensitive to gluten, a lot of the treats,
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  especially, you know, pies and baked goods, they have gluten and then that's
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  going to be inflammatory for everybody. but especially if you are gluten sensitive,
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  it could be a trigger for your Hashimoto's.
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  There's a couple different episodes about, you know, where I talk about diet and I talk about gluten.
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  Another track that we could go down for this conversation about sugar and treats
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  is just sugar itself is inflammatory.
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  And inflammation drives autoimmune problems.
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  When our bodies get inflamed, the immune system kind of goes haywire.
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  And what is a haywire immune system, it becomes an autoimmune disease.
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  And we, of course, do not want that. We want to help our inflammation calm down.
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  So sugar itself can cause inflammation, gluten, or anything else that you're sensitive to.
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  Of course, there's also, with sugar, there is a direct competition for space
• 3:32
  in your body and on your cells.
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  Sugar kind of turns off your white blood cells for a set amount of time.
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  And this is information that I've had for, I don't know, 10 or 15 years.
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  So I can't remember the exact number, but I do know that the more sugar you
• 3:47
  eat, the longer it fights for that space and it beats out the white blood cells.
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  The white blood cells are your fighter cells.
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  They are the ones who go out and seek and destroy anything that's interrupting the body.
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  So when you have sugar, then you do not have a working immune system for a set amount of time.
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  It's not for, you know, for good, but this is why we don't want to have sugar
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  at breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, supper, bedtime snack, because you're basically
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  turning off your immune system for the whole time, at least the white blood cell portion of that.
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  So there's that part of sugar. There is also the artificial ingredients,
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  you know, the dyes, all of the preservatives, things like that.
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  There are so many things in our food that we would be better off to avoid if
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  at all possible. Thank you.
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  The goal, of course, is to give our body what it needs to support our health,
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  but not just our physical health. We want to support everything.
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  So that means supporting our spiritual health. That means supporting our environmental health.
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  And part of those two things is community.
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  When you were set in this world, when you were given to your mom,
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  put in your mom's womb, and then you were born, you were born into a family
• 5:03
  and into a community. Community is part of our spiritual health.
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  It's obviously not the entire spiritual health.
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  The entire spiritual health is, you know, what's going to happen for all eternity?
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  Where is your heart? Where is your freedom?
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  You know, are you free? Do you know Jesus? Do you have grace?
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  Do you have mercy in your life? Are you filled with love?
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  Are you running towards love and being driven from love?
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  Or are you being driven by fear? Those things are all spiritual aspects of your health.
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  And environmental includes a lot of things, including the sugars and chemicals
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  and everything we just talked about.
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  But also your environmental health includes community, includes the people around you.
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  And this season is such a season of community. We get together for Thanksgiving.
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  People drive and fly all over the nation, in the US at least,
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  I would assume it's the same in Canada who already had their Thanksgiving.
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  Wait, did you? Did you already have Thanksgiving? I don't remember.
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  Okay, so if you're in Canada, please let me know, because I don't remember.
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  Come to the community, and let's talk about Thanksgiving.
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  So anyway, Thanksgiving, people get together. Christmas, people get together.
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  New Year's, people get together. And the vibe is different at all of those things,
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  but they're all a time of community.
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  So it is important that we do not isolate ourselves during this season of community,
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  because isolation is not good for your health.
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  You need whole health, body, mind, spiritual, diet, environment,
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  like they all come together for your whole health.
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  So that's a little bit about why we want to eat healthy, why we're not going to isolate ourselves.
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  So let's talk about what you can do.
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  Number one, let's embrace a crowd out mindset rather than a restrictive mindset.
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  And this is the concept of filling your plate with the good things, or maybe your cup. I.
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  And they had a glass filled with nasty, nasty water.
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  It was just like black. And they put that cup underneath a faucet and they turned the faucet on.
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  Now what's going to happen? The cup was already full.
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  Well, the clean water went into the cup and started pushing out some of the bad stuff.
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  And within 10, 20 seconds, the water in the cup was clear.
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  The water in the cup had gone from black to clear because they were putting so much good stuff in.
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  And that's what our goal is during the season. We want to be putting so much
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  good stuff in that the bad stuff naturally gets crowded out.
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  Not because we're restricting, but because we're focusing on making sure that
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  we're getting the good stuff.
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  So if you're looking at, you know, a party or a meal like Thanksgiving with
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  a crowd out mindset rather than a restrictive mindset, you want to look for
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  the nutrient-dense foods,
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  the things that are packed with the micronutrients and the macronutrients that you need.
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  If you are prioritizing foods that contain fiber, that contain protein.
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  That contain healthy fats, that contain micronutrients, fruits and vegetables,
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  if you are prioritizing those foods, you're going to feel full earlier and you're
• 8:20
  not going to have room for as much sweets.
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  If you're going to go out on Halloween tonight, if you're listening right when
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  this comes out, then have a healthy meal or snack before you go out.
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  Fill it with protein. Fill it with vegetables. Don't add any carbs to your meal
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  pre-Halloween trick-or-treating because you know you're going to eat your carbs as you walk.
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  You're still having a balanced, quote, plate. It's just you're eating the good
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  stuff up front, and then you're having the carbs later. That is my tip for tonight.
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  You can do however you want. That is what I would recommend as like a crowd
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  out mindset. And you know,
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  doing the eating order where you're having the fiber, the vegetables,
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  the protein first, so that your body is ready to deal with the sweets in a way
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  that is not as impactful on your blood sugar.
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  Now your blood sugar, the more roller coasters it has, the more highs and the
• 9:19
  more lows, that roller coaster can be a trigger for Hashimoto's.
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  Whether it is for you or not, I don't know, but I know it is one of the most
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  common triggers for Hashimoto's that stress on the body, the highs and lows of blood sugar.
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  And a side note, I got my MindBody GLP-1 system.
• 9:36
  It arrived yesterday afternoon in the mail, and I started it today.
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  And already I have noticed changes. I typically do not have a good relationship
• 9:47
  with food. I could tell you about food.
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  And for me, I have to just watch the clock and I have to have a schedule because
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  my brain just does not understand intuitive eating. I don't get hungry.
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  I am either like fine ignoring food or I'm starving. It's like a zero or a hundred.
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  I don't have the in-between.
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  And today I've had the in-between. And I told my husband, it's so,
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  so weird because both he and I were a little worried if I would start this mind-body
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  GLP system, because we both know my tendency to just not eat because I'm at a zero.
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  And then I'll get to a hundred and I'll be all shaky and hangry and I just need
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  to eat right now. So we were both a little worried.
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  And then I heard a doctor talk about it. And he said, some people are getting
• 10:30
  hungrier with it because your connections and your communication between your
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  brain and your gut are working better.
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  So day one, half of the way through day one, and I have that to report.
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  I feel hungry. Instead of zero to 100, I have a 10 and a 20.
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  And a 30. It is so weird. I look forward to hearing your stories about the MindBody GLP-1 system.
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  And we do have good discussions about that over in school too.
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  Okay, back to our topic today. So the next tip is to enjoy the treats you truly love and skip the rest.
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  I know that when my kids come home with a bag of candy, like there's some in
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  there that I would love to seal from them.
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  And there are some in there that I'm like, I don't want that at all.
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  And yet on a day where I just want something sweet.
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  I'm just like looking around the house for something sweet. I will take their nasty Tootsie Rolls.
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  I don't like Tootsie Rolls, but you know, the Butterfingers are gone. I love Butterfingers.
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  Yes. I know that they're not good for me. I know that they have seed oils or
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  whatever in them, but you know what?
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  That's a treat that I enjoy, that I really love. So I'm going to have,
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  you know, a bite-sized Butterfinger and skip the ones that you don't like,
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  because is it really worth it?
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  That's what you could ask yourself. Like, you know, the Marie Kondo, So does it bring you joy?
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  Some of that candy is just there. It does not bring you joy.
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  So enjoy the treats you truly love. Let the food that you eat enhance your life.
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  It's not just about nutrients. It is about joy. And like I already said, it's about community.
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  So when you're eating together with others, it's actually healthier for you.
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  Your body deals with it slightly different, which is a little bit,
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  you know, on the woo side, like, what, Esther, do we have data for that?
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  We do, but we don't talk about it very much in the U.S. or in Western medicine,
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  because it's, we're very, especially in the U.S., we're very isolationist.
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  I am going to do my thing, and I don't need help.
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  Anyway, we could go on a topic. On that, let's not.
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  Let's go to the next step, which is, or the.
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  Instead of just the here and now. One Butterfinger, or maybe for you it's,
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  you know, a Reese's peanut butter cup or whatever it is.
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  You know, there are healthy alternatives to all of these, but one treat is not
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  going to derail your health.
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  One treat is one treat. Now, if you do one treat at every single meal or snack,
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  every single day, that's an entirely different conversation.
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  But we're talking about moderation.
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  We're talking already about crowding out the bad things or the less healthy
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  things. We're not talking about restricting.
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  We're talking about having a healthy, balanced life, and that includes what you eat.
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  So if your long-term view and your plan and your balance of eating is,
• 13:30
  I'm going to eat a lot of vegetables every day, whether that's a different variety for you or amount.
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  We can look at vegetables in either of those ways.
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  But if that's your goal, then you know that you're going to be eating more and
• 13:42
  more vegetables throughout the week and month and year.
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  And that's going to have a bigger impact than one little treat every once in
• 13:51
  a while. And that goes for other things too.
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  You know, if you go for a walk every day, especially if you go for a walk after
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  a meal, it's going to impact your blood sugar.
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  It's going to be healthy, is going to help your body process what you just ate,
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  and it's going to impact the long-term thing.
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  We are not looking at just this moment in time. We are looking at your life as a whole.
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  So going out on Halloween with your kids, or enjoying Thanksgiving pie,
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  or celebrating Christmas with friends and having a feast, these are not deal breakers.
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  These are parts of a whole and healthy life.
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  Can have a full life. And also recognize that when you have,
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  you know, maybe for you, it's when you have a lot of sugar, then you're going
• 14:39
  to have a bad day tomorrow.
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  I don't know if your health is like that, but sometimes mine is,
• 14:44
  especially if I'm close to my period.
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  I know that if I have sugar and I'm close to my period, then that drastically
• 14:51
  increases the chances that I will have a migraine when my period comes.
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  Sometimes I get the migraine no matter what.
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  I've been working on that with a lot of different things and chiropractor,
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  but I know that sugar is a trigger for me.
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  So if, you know, Halloween falls on the day before my period,
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  do you think I'm going to go trick-or-treating and, you know,
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  steal from my kids' candy bags?
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  Well, maybe yes, maybe no, but I will do that knowing.
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  That if I make that choice to have sweets, I am increasing my risk or my chance
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  of having a migraine and what one of my friends calls a bed rot day.
• 15:29
  She texted me that the other day. She said she had a bed rot day.
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  I was like, oh my goodness, I love that term.
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  I totally know what you mean. Because when I'm having a migraine, I have a bed rot day.
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  And so I know that that domino effect from the sweet treat, but also from other
• 15:46
  factors could lead to a bed rot day, right?
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  So you have to look at what you're doing and make good decisions.
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  And nobody can do that for you.
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  But I do have a way to make this easier for you as far as eating a sweet treat.
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  So let's say you decided, yes, I really want that butterfinger.
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  And I know that there's other factors going on, and this could cause an autoimmune
• 16:11
  flare, it could cause a migraine, it could cause more fatigue,
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  it could cause these consequences. And I don't want those, but I do want to enjoy this sweet treat?
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  Well, inside the Holistic Hashimoto's course, which is my full course inside the school community.
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  So I created a lesson on how to eat a forbidden treat.
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  Now, forbidden is in quotes because there's nothing actually forbidden,
• 16:35
  but I know that mindset like, okay, I want to enjoy this butterfinger.
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  So how can I lessen its impact on me? And inside that lesson,
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  I give you five different ways to lessen the negative impact of what you're going to eat.
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  That is inside the Holistic Hashimoto's course, and that is inside our school community.
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  The big thing I want you to take away from this episode is that we're going into a season of sweets.
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  We're going into a season of celebration and of togetherness.
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  And I want you to enjoy this season.
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  I want you to be able to be fully present with those you love,
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  be fully present with all the things that matter to you.
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  And that really is dependent on your health.
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  So what you are eating and drinking and doing is impacting your health.
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  And then your health is impacting how you can show up for these things. It is really a circle.
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  And I am so glad that you are listening to this episode and the other podcast
• 17:36
  episodes so that you can figure out how to create better holistic health because you are a whole person.
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  So you can approach the season with balance.
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  You can approach with confidence. You can make good choices.
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  You are in charge of your health. You are the CEO of your own health and you
• 17:54
  can navigate the season of treats and support your health at the same time.
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  You do have that power. You know how to make the decisions.
• 18:02
  And if you need support and community, we are there for you.
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  School.com and we are the Health with Hashimoto's community.
• 18:10
  I look forward to seeing you over there. Come make a post, introducing yourself,
• 18:15
  interact on some of the posts that are already there, jump into the classroom
• 18:19
  and take some of the courses that are there.
• 18:22
  This is set out for your success to empower you to take control and feel like yourself again.
• 18:28
  I will see you inside the school community and I'll see you next week again
• 18:32
  on the Health with Hashimoto's podcast.
• 18:34
  This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only.
• 18:38
  Please discuss any concerns and plans with your trusted healthcare professional.
• 18:41
  If you found this episode helpful, will you please share it with a friend?
• 18:45
  I'll see you next week on the Health with Hashimoto's podcast.
• 18:48
  Music.