Latest / Health with Hashimoto’s - Thyroid or Immune Education for Autoimmune Thyroid Disease / 108 // Navigating Hashimoto's: Should You Go Gluten-Free?

Transcript

108 // Navigating Hashimoto's: Should You Go Gluten-Free? · Health with Hashimoto’s - Thyroid or Immune Education for Autoimmune Thyroid Disease

• 0:00
  Every single person has their unique journey when they have Hashimoto's.
• 0:04
  There's not like a one-size-fits-all anything because you're individual.
• 0:10
  I do my very best on this podcast on health with Hashimoto's to not should on you.
• 0:16
  I try not to tell you what you should or shouldn't do. I try to educate you
• 0:20
  and give you resources so that you can make the decisions that will best suit your health.
• 0:26
  And that's why on the path to health with Hashimoto's that I've created for
• 0:30
  you, every step is, it's suited for you.
• 0:33
  Like you'll go through step one, and that's questions to ask your doctor.
• 0:37
  Everybody can ask the right questions so that you get answers.
• 0:40
  And then step two is figuring out your own root causes.
• 0:44
  And then step three, of course, is addressing those root causes.
• 0:47
  And you can see in those three steps, while the steps themselves,
• 0:53
  the titles have the the same step, I guess, what you're doing in that step is unique to you.
• 1:02
  Today, we're going to talk about something that is probably the most shoulded
• 1:07
  of anything when you have Hashimoto's, and that is gluten.
• 1:11
  Now, I just recently did a full-length episode on gluten and Hashimoto's and
• 1:17
  answering all those questions. So today's going to be more of a review.
• 1:20
  If you have about 20 minutes to listen and right now head back to episode 96.
• 1:25
  And that one is where I go in detail about gluten.
• 1:28
  And should you try to go without gluten? Should you adopt a gluten-free diet?
• 1:35
  To help your Hashimoto's. And by the way, every once in a while,
• 1:40
  my podcast host defaults how many episodes are available to you.
• 1:46
  And all of a sudden it cuts it down to 20, even though this is episode 108.
• 1:50
  I really, really appreciate the emails and texts I get from people saying,
• 1:55
  hey, I can only find 20 episodes.
• 1:57
  If that happens and you notice it, will you let me know? Because because I do
• 2:02
  not always notice it right away.
• 2:03
  So I would really appreciate that. I love to hear from you no matter what,
• 2:07
  especially to answer your questions and to help you make progress with your
• 2:11
  Hashimoto's. All right, so let's talk about gluten.
• 2:13
  The big question, of course, is do I have to give up gluten if I have Hashimoto's?
• 2:19
  And the short answer is yes.
• 2:21
  The short answer is for a short time, and short, I'm talking a couple months.
• 2:27
  Try it and see what happens. And here is why.
• 2:31
  About 80% of people who have Hashimoto's are reactive to gluten.
• 2:37
  Gluten makes their Hashimoto's symptoms worse.
• 2:40
  And part of this is because gluten is what we call a molecular mimic.
• 2:46
  Your body identifies gluten as thyroid hormone, or they're similar.
• 2:52
  So when you're eating gluten, your body can create more of an antibody response
• 2:58
  or an autoimmune response attacking your thyroid.
• 3:02
  Now, science, as far as I can understand from the research, science does not
• 3:06
  fully understand this mechanism.
• 3:08
  I have the words for you, molecular mimic, and I can tell you that it makes it worse.
• 3:13
  And I can tell you that by giving up gluten, about 80% of people with Hashimoto's feel better.
• 3:19
  They have more energy. They lose weight.
• 3:22
  They're losing that brain fog. They're Their mood lifts, whether it was depression
• 3:26
  that's going away or anxiety that's going away, their mood is better.
• 3:32
  They feel more like themselves.
• 3:33
  That's about 80% of people. And how do you know if you are in that 80% or not?
• 3:39
  You'll have to try it. So the short answer is yes, you should,
• 3:45
  I'm going to should on you, you should try going gluten-free for a short time
• 3:51
  to see what happens to you.
• 3:53
  And again, I said short is about three months because it takes a long time for,
• 3:58
  it's kind of funny, I said short and long, both in regards to the same timeframe.
• 4:03
  It takes a while for your body to get rid of the gluten and for the rest of
• 4:09
  you to adapt and figure out what is life like not consuming gluten.
• 4:14
  The thing is, it's hard because we're used to eating the way that we eat.
• 4:19
  So I'm going to give you some tips on what to eat and how to go about this in just a minute.
• 4:24
  But there's a couple other reasons why giving up gluten for,
• 4:28
  you know, about three months can be a good idea.
• 4:31
  Number one is because gluten itself is inflammatory, and inflammation makes
• 4:37
  autoimmune problems worse.
• 4:39
  Inflammation stresses out your immune system and causes it to go more haywire.
• 4:44
  We want to lower inflammation.
• 4:46
  It is so important, and gluten is inflammatory.
• 4:49
  And then you compound that inflammatory action based on what you eat.
• 4:57
  You know, a lot of times when we're eating gluten foods, that's a lot of baked goods.
• 5:01
  And baked goods are high glycemic. They're going to spike your blood sugar,
• 5:06
  even if you're not diabetic.
• 5:07
  They're going to spike your blood sugar, which is inflammatory,
• 5:10
  and then they're going to drop it.
• 5:13
  And the drop in your blood sugar is very stressful on the body and can be a
• 5:19
  trigger for Hashimoto's.
• 5:21
  So not only is the the gluten itself inflammatory, the high sugar or baked goods
• 5:27
  that usually have gluten in them are also inflammatory,
• 5:32
  or they will spike your blood sugar and then drop it, which is a trigger for Hashimoto's.
• 5:39
  So, you know, there is something you can do for that when you're having something
• 5:43
  that has gluten in it, or, you know, anytime you're having carbs.
• 5:46
  Just do your best to pair those carbs with healthy fats and protein.
• 5:51
  That way, it stabilizes your blood sugar more. That way, you're not going to
• 5:55
  have that drop in your blood sugar.
• 5:58
  Because when your blood sugar goes up really high, it releases a lot of insulin in your body.
• 6:03
  And insulin, its job is to take that sugar and store it in your fat cells.
• 6:08
  And then when the insulin, a lot of it is released, it does its job really well.
• 6:13
  And then all of a sudden, there's a lot of insulin left looking for a job and
• 6:17
  not a lot of sugar in your bloodstream.
• 6:19
  And so then the insulin is like, hey, I want a job to do. And then you get hungry.
• 6:23
  That is that drop in blood sugar because your blood sugar all just got shuttled into the fat cells.
• 6:29
  So then of course, there's not a lot left in your blood. And that's why we say
• 6:33
  it's a drop in blood sugar.
• 6:34
  It's still there in your body. It's just not available to be used.
• 6:37
  And that drop in blood sugar is what causes you to feel hungry.
• 6:42
  That's why you want to eat, you know, an hour after you just ate.
• 6:45
  Now you're hungry again. That's why, at least a lot of times, that's why.
• 6:49
  I go into a lot of detail about this and how to prevent this roller coaster back in episode 10.
• 6:58
  It is all about balancing your blood sugar, even when you're not diabetic,
• 7:02
  because blood sugar imbalances and the highs, especially the lows,
• 7:07
  can be a trigger for Hashimoto's.
• 7:09
  So head back to episode 10 and listen to that one.
• 7:13
  All right, so we talked about how gluten can be inflammatory just on its own.
• 7:18
  And then by nature of, you know, that it's in baked goods, it's often in inflammatory
• 7:23
  foods or foods that are going to spike your blood sugar and then your blood sugar is going to drop.
• 7:29
  I talked about a molecular mimicry. And then I talked about Dr.
• 7:33
  Isabella Wentz's survey that she found 80% of people with Hashimoto's did feel
• 7:40
  better when they gave up gluten.
• 7:43
  Now let's talk really quickly about how to give up gluten.
• 7:46
  There's a lot of resources now online, which I really appreciate,
• 7:50
  because back when I had to give it up because of my son's eczema,
• 7:54
  back when I was breastfeeding, I had to give up gluten, just cold turkey.
• 7:58
  I didn't have any time to prepare, and there were not a lot of resources online yet.
• 8:03
  I was so lost, so confused, so overwhelmed, and yet I was stuck because I had to do it for my son.
• 8:10
  You know, it's a lot harder to prioritize ourself.
• 8:13
  But when our kid is on the line, when their health depends on our actions,
• 8:18
  we're going to do that, right?
• 8:20
  So I had to figure it out. But now there's so many resources to help you figure it out.
• 8:25
  In the Holistic Hashimoto's course, I have an ebook that walks you through it
• 8:30
  step by step that helps you tackle it, how to prepare, how to meal plan for it, what to eat.
• 8:37
  It's all there. But there's a lot of resources online that you can look for.
• 8:42
  My biggest tip is plan your meals around the protein and around the vegetables
• 8:48
  and then add a carb later.
• 8:51
  That's going to really help you as you try to give up gluten.
• 8:54
  It is possible and it might really help you.
• 8:58
  So I encourage you to give it a try, but make sure that you give yourself time
• 9:02
  to prepare and to figure out the meals and the snacks that you're going to eat
• 9:06
  because jumping Jumping into a gluten-free lifestyle is difficult,
• 9:10
  and I never want to make anything difficult for you.
• 9:13
  The goal of this podcast is simple and sustainable tips so that you can improve your health.
• 9:18
  This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only.
• 9:21
  Please discuss any concerns and plans with your trusted healthcare professional.
• 9:25
  If you found this episode helpful, will you please share it with a friend?
• 9:28
  I'll see you next week on the Health with Hashimoto's podcast.
• 9:31
  Music.