One question I get all the time is; how can I lose weight with Hashimoto’s or hypothyroidism ?
I’ll be the first to admit - when you have a sluggish thyroid it does affect everything.
Our hormones and our weight. Our Metabolism and much much more. Even though on the outside we look pretty normal.
I spent a good 15 years trying to explain to my Dad, each time I saw him, what Hashimoto's was and what affect it had on me. He usually glazed over pretty quickly!
That was until one day when he was taken to the hospital for an operation - they also found he had an underactive thyroid - and he was so tired all the time.
Well, guess who told him all about what the thyroid controls? The Doctor!
The next time I saw him he has a better understanding our my disease.
To lose weight and maintain weight with hypothyroidism we have to be extra vigilant.
First off you need to know what foods you can eat safely and what to steer clear of.
- Some foods affect our hormones which can keep weight on
- Some foods affect our fluid retention and we know what that looks like
- Other foods can make us inflamed and or bloated
Three things you need to be aware of when trying to lose or maintain weight with hypothyroidism.
- Sugar affects our hormones. I used to get a three-day migraine every few weeks for most of my life until I gave up sugar. Often it would be at the same time as my period. But after menopause, they continued. It wasn't until I have up sugar the migraines disappeared.
Sugar is a chemical - it’s not a natural food despite what the marketing gurus tell you. Sure it's derived from a plant but it's processed and bleached before you eat it.
The chemical name for sucrose is C12H22O11.
Most sugar comes from sugar beet or sugarcane. The purification process involves bleaching and crystallization to produce a sweet, odorless addicive powder.
Sugar is addictive. More addictive than cocaine.
- Sugar increases your blood sugar and can lead to type two diabetes
- Increased blood sugar causes heart disease and high blood pressure.
- Sugar causes high cholesterol (the bad type)
- Increased blood sugar causes extra fat cells because your body needs somewhere safe to store the excess it can't use.
- Your body does not prefer to run on sugar for energy - it prefers ketones as does your brain - it's a much cleaner fuel
- When you eat sugar, it is converted to glucose and used for energy.
- Excess glucose is then stored as glycogen in the muscles and liver.
- The muscles and liver only have a limited ability to store glycogen.
- Our liver can store about 100 grams of glycogen, while our muscles can store about 350 - 700 grams.
- If you eat more sugar than your liver and muscles can store then the leftover will be converted to fat and deposited into adipose tissue. This process is called lipogenesis.
In other words, sugar turns into fat when consumed in large amounts.
You may think large amounts is about 1kg of sugar a day.
The problem is that sugar hides in most processed foods, so it's easy to eat way too much sugar without realizing it. Just check your grocery labels.
Other inflammatory foods are grains for example; Wheat, rye, corn, barley, etc. (Seeds of grasses).
Grains have the same effect on blood sugar as sugar does. Extra inflammation, extra glycogen stored in fat tissue.
- Extra glycogen.
- Extra fat cells.
The exact same process as sugar in fact. If your diet is largely bread, wraps, sandwiches, cereals, pasta, cakes, muffins, soft drinks, energy drinks, low-fat foods, etc then you’ll be consuming way too much sugar.
Diary can also cause inflation and weight gain.
If you’re allergic to dairy, which many are then it will react badly by bloating and inflammation of your body.
Dairy (if it's not free-range or organic) can have a lot of hormones and antibiotics added to the cows, therefore the milk. My advice is to buy organic and free-range for the sake of the milk and the animals. If you are not allergic to it. If you are, steer clear of the stuff.
What happens when you eat something you are allergic to?
I had macadamias by mistake the other day - for some reason, I am still intolerant to them - I say allergic for ease of reference but it's not the anaphylactic type of allergic. I felt very very full soon after eating the muffin. All afternoon I was burping at both ends and my tummy was bloated and sore.
That's what happens to me - it's really not worth eating the foods that inflame me anymore because I feel so good without the inflammation and bloating.
A lot of initial weight gain caused by grains and sugar is fluid retention. I'll gain 500g (1lb) after eating something I am allergic to by mistake. That’s why when you start a keto diet you can lose 5 kgs in one week if you do it right.
What to do 101
- Eat less refined carbs
- Don’t buy low-fat foods- they ALWAYS have sugar added
- Check labels for sugar content (less than 5g (0.2oz) per serving)
- Eat Low Glycemic Load fruits and vegetables
- Eat as clean a diet as you can (less chemicals to interfere with your hormones)
I have managed to keep my weight (even after menopause) stable with this way of eating. It's not as difficult as you think.
ps. I'm in the middle of developing a 7-week course around this so if you're interested in more info join my Facebook Group or reach out to me.
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