We had originally shared this post in December, but since we have gotten A TON more questions about this, we decided to re-share this post! We also wanted to share this article we read that really explains why we eat the way we do, and maybe it will be helpful to y’all!
This article shares 8 foods to avoid if you have a thyroid condition, like us. We follow most of these! It does a better job (than we would) of explaining why you should avoid these foods.
We wanted to open up about something that got us into eating healthy and working out so consistently! Many of y’all probably didn’t know this, but we used to be personal trainers a couple of years ago before we started this blog. As much as we love fashion and putting outfits together, we are also super passionate about healthy eating and working out. We both suffer from an autoimmune condition called Hypothyroidism.
It all started during our junior year of college. We started feeling extremely tired, sluggish, and bloated all of the time (yes, those are symptoms that you could have any day really, but ours were almost constant). This went on for another full-year. Finally, our senior year of college (about 4 years ago), we had had enough. We felt absolutely TERRIBLE. We knew something had to be wrong with us, and that we weren’t just imagining it.
Growing up, we did eat healthy foods at home with an abundance of fruit and vegetables. We were active and played tennis and were gymnasts. When we reached high school, our main food group consisted of fast-food, pizza, Mexican foods, desserts, pasta, etc. We weren’t as physically active in high school, but like most people that age, we could eat all of that and get away with it. Those were the days, right?!
When we started college, we contintued to eat the same way, except almost EVERY meal was eaten out. Nothing was prepared at home (how things have changed!). Eventually, this led us to gain weight (probably 10-15 pounds). This doesn’t seem like a huge amount, but when you’re 5′ 1″, it really shows!
We started to watch what we were eating, but still didn’t really know or understand what to eat and how much to eat. By the time we were juniors in college, we had started cooking more and eating out a little less. We started working out and lifting weights a little more, too. Although we felt like we were eating healthier and caring more about what we looked like on the inside we still felt so tired and sluggish. By 3 PM each day, we would be ready for bed, despite getting 8-9 hours of sleep each night.
We would workout, but often times we felt like we just couldn’t even make it to the gym. In addition to that, we felt “swollen” everywhere, our digestive system was out of whack and not doing what it was supposed to do regularly (yes, that part sucks!), our skin was very dry (especially our heels), our hands and feet would fall asleep a lot, amongst a bunch of other really odd symptoms. Fun, right?
After bugging our dad (who is a cardiologist), we finally got a blood test. It showed that we both had severe Hypothyroidism.
What Is Hypothyroidism?
Hypthothryoidism is also referred to as underactive thyroid disease. With this condition, your thyroid gland does not make enough thyroid hormone. Your thyroid does SO much for your body including controlling how your body’s cells use energy from food (metabolism). Your metabolism affects your body’s temperature, heartbeat, and how well you burn calories. When your thryoid is underactive, your body makes less energy, and therefore, your metabolism becomes sluggish.
What Is The Treatment For It?
The treatment for this thyroid condition is to take medication, which we take daily. We also check our thyroid every couple of months to make sure our levels are still normal.
How Do You Get a Thyroid Condition?
We still aren’t sure how or why we got this condition, but it can be due to a variety of factors such as heredity, sex, and age. We know that it is common to experience a range of food sensitivities, especially to dairy and gluten. The primary cause of Hypothyroidism is Hashimoto’s disease, which is an autoimmune disease that causes your system to mistakenly attack your thyroid.
What Should You Eat To Feel Better?
After reading the studies and articles, we decided to cut out some of our favorite foods like pizza, bread, pasta, cereals, basically everything we were used to eating on a daily basis, and eat a gluten-free diet. While this did alleviate some of our symptoms, we still did not feel completely relieved.
We read a lot about the Paleo diet, and how following it can be beneficial for those suffering from Hypothyroidism. The Paleo diet focuses on eating fruits, vegetables, lean meats, seafood, nuts and seeds, and healthy fats. Compared to other diets, it eliminates dairy, grains, processed foods, legumes, starches, and alcohol. The goal of this diet or lifestyle is to remove the triggers that promote inflammation and intestinal permeability. The foods that are approved in the Paleo diet calm the inflammation in the gut and support healthy gut flora. We have also read that this can be benefical for others suffering from other autoimmune conditions.
We ate strict paleo for about 6 months and felt so much better. Now, a a few years later, we eat about 80% paleo and grain-free. We allow ourselves to enjoy other gluten-free and dairy-filled treats occasionally!
In case you all have missed these posts, we have covered some of our favorite snacks, and some other great posts to help you all out;)
We hope that some of this will help you if you’re struggling with these symptoms or suffer from the same thyroid conditions. You can always email us if you have any questions!
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*information courtesy of www.webmd.com
