If we believe most information set in front of us we would be told that the reason that we feel crap, have gained weight, have low energy and have trouble sleeping is because we eat poorly and don’t exercise enough. Yet how many people think they eat well and exercise from 1-6 x per week and still don’t manage to get to ideal weight or feel good.
There are many reasons why this modern dilemma is increasing with worrying proportions and to add insult to injury here are just a few problems that are symptoms of metabolic inefficiency.
- High cholesterol
- High blood pressure
- Obesity
- Cancer
- Chronic fatigue
- Adrenal fatigue
- Fibromyalgia
- Infertility
- And the list could include hundreds more.
In fact the list actually contains thousands of so called medical issues that have literally every drug available to attempt to treat a so called symptom or syndrome. The side effects of these medications are usually recorded on the clinical trial. And a wide variety of symptoms such as suicidal feelings or hair loss have been recorded. Suicidal tendencies are actually a symptom many people get from taking anti-depressants, a paradox? In fact most medications replicate symptoms that you are getting from a current illness. Most gastro intestinal disease medications often cause nausea, degradation of the mucosal barrier, stomach cramps and many more. This is where alarm bells should start ringing!
The thyroid gland is a source of many metabolic inefficiencies but many of the symptoms highlighted above can be traced back to the thyroid gland. When a person goes to the doctor and is diagnosed with high cholesterol , they are often given statin medications which prevent the synthesis of cholesterol, but also stop the production of Co Q10 which also protects the heart. Cholesterol not only a steroidal hormone but it functions as an antioxidant and it is important not to block the synthesis of this powerful hormone and understand why we are producing it excess. But what is most important is to understand that when the thyroid is dysfunctional , cholesterol levels are often raised, cholesterol is also raised when the body is inflamed or when poly unsaturated fatty acids are consumed.
Ray peat states ‘’Besides fasting or chronic protein deficiency, the common causes of hypothyroidism are excessive stress or aerobic exercise, and diets containing beans, lentils, nuts, unsaturated fats and undercooked broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage or mustard greens.
Most people who think that they are eating healthy and exercising appropriately are pushing themselves into hypothyroidism despite healthy intentions. Gluten consumption due to its high phytic acid consumption also affects the thyroid gland and often when people come off gluten based foods such as beer, croissants, pasta and cakes they often report feeling better almost instantly. Many people also eat a so called ‘Paleo’ diet and restrict many forms of sugar in attempt to become healthier. However the thyroid requires glucose to regulate metabolism and restricting sugar in the long term often has many detrimental effects. Furthermore those on high protein diets are often just as likely to get type 2 diabetes as the consumption of protein requires similar amounts of insulin and subsequent cortisol production to counteract the destructive effects of excessive insulin.
Common symptoms of hypothyroidism
Weakness, Lethargy, fatigue, dry skin, coarse hair, cold intolerance, constipation, weight gain, muscle cramps, edema of eyelids, face, legs, hoarseness, hearing loss, menorrhagia, diminishing reflexes (e.g., knee jerk), bradycardia
So if a doctor doesn’t prescribe the usual statins approach to lowering cholesterol and has picked the potential metabolic decline of hypothyroidism. The patient can often be doomed to a life of taking thyroxin. Thyroxin manufacturers did a great job of rubbishing natural thyroid preparations due to the financial limiting factor that they were natural products which couldn’t be patented. However, natural thyroid products such as armour thyroid have shown to be much more efficient at converting the thyroid compounds of T4 to T3 and regulating thyroid production much more efficiently than their synthetic counterparts.
You can easily assess how well your adrenal and thyroid are functioning by completing a regular temperature test. Your body should be around 37 degrees and many of my clients who present with poor energy, toilet habits, sleep and difficulty losing weight often have temperatures around 35 degrees. I have often found that restricting cardiovascular exercise (as they were already doing way too much!) using caffeine, sugar and dairy in the right amounts can help to increase body temperature, thyroid function and its subsequent effect on metabolism and weight.
Before embarking on any therapeutic treatment be it medicinal or natural I recommend that every person try treating any ailment through nutrition and supplementation before resorting to synthetic medication which often has many unwanted side effects. Good nutrition can be your own doctor!
