10 Ways to Heal Hypothyroidism
You can heal hypothyroidism. If I can then anyone can. In addition, I built up my extremely depleted sex hormones without conventional interventions and became pregnant naturally. This happened twice, and I’m going to highlight the ten things I did to heal hypothyroidism, and practice to stay in balance. First, let me give a brief overview of what happened with me.
Totally Wasted
My son was 1 year old, and I experienced debilitating symptoms including extreme fatigue, brain fog, sensitivity to cold, mood swings, puffiness in my face, weight gain, inability to handle minor stressors, and generally feeling awful. Everything I did was a chore, and I was easily exasperated by tasks that should not be exhausting. When I say I thought I had a serious disease, this isn’t an exaggeration. I was fueling myself with caffeine, simple carbohydrates, sugary foods and drinks, and riding a roller coaster on all levels of my being. It got to the point where I knew something was terribly wrong, and I needed to take action.
Getting to the Root of Hypothyroidism
Disease in the body has root causes that can disappear with lifestyle change. With consistent nourishing action, the body can heal. Trust me: I was skeptical. Eventually, I experienced it for myself, and I’ve experienced it with my clients. Everyone can consider the same foundational factors, and make changes to drastically improve their health. There are exceptions because health is not cookie-cut. I have to dig deeper with certain clients, and figure out root causes that are not so common. Considering that, it’s wise to start with the foundational things I discuss below, and then you can dig deeper with an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach like me.
1. Support Matters
The Right Doctors, Practitioners, and Health Coach
As I started going from one doctor to the next to figure out what was happening with me, I realized who shared my ideals and who didn’t. I wanted to approach my symptoms with holistic treatment, because even then, I felt strongly about there being root causes of my issues. In my experience, it takes a team of people to help you on your healing journey. No, you’re not being a diva for doing this because committing to getting well takes a team. You know, raising a child takes a village? Same thing.
First, I had my Health Coach to be my “home base” for guidance, confiding, developing goals, and staying accountable to my path. I also sought help from a hormonal specialist who shared some of my ideals, but over time, wanted to do some interventions I wasn’t comfortable doing. Who I leaned on more was a holistic clinical nutritionist. He greatly helped me in pinpointing my nutritional deficiencies, as well as restoring them. I also had my chiropractor, yoga teachers at the studio I practiced in, and a massage therapist. Every one of these individuals played a key role in supporting me on my journey.
Speaking Up to Heal Hypothyroidism
Last but not least, I had the support of my husband and other family members the whole time I was working toward getting better. It wasn’t easy, but I spoke up for what I needed from him and others in order to heal hypothyroidism. I asked for help with our son, and I asked for help in doing things around the house. Ultimately, keeping communication open and doing my best to not hold things in made it easy for him and others to support me. You can get support on this in my new thyroid and hormone balancing course, or you can set up a free consultation with me to find out how I can help you.
2. Thyroid Healing Foods
Food is Fuel
This was the hardest thing for me to do, as well as the most liberating. I have always been a somewhat healthy eater, but having a child throws everything off. Slowly, I started relying too heavily on convenience foods. Processed/fast foods are nutritionally empty, and slowly deteriorate the body from the lack of nutrition. Pregnancy, birth/surgical birth (I had a c-section), and breastfeeding are incredibly demanding on the body, and I took that for granted. I have such a different perspective on how serious it is to look at food as fuel. The clarity and energy that comes from feeding yourself well in terms of physical foods is life-changing. When I was in Nutrition School, we learned the old saying from Eastern medicine that “wrecked foods lead to a wrecked life.” Having experienced substantial positive effects from changing the quality of foods I eat, I know this is 100% true.
This is Not a Diet
Think QUALITY over QUANTITY when it comes to healing hypothyroidism: vegetables, herbs, spices, healthy protein, healthy fat, natural sweeteners, nourishing condiments, fruit, and whole grains. Food that is in its natural and intended state, and sourced from sustainable farms. The crunchies, munchies, and processed snacks are out. REAL FOOD is in. ENJOYMENT is in.
There is a stigma attached to healthy eating; that it can’t be pleasurable. This is so far from the truth.Click To Tweet Additionally, there are many foods touted as “unhealthy” or “fattening” that are actually very healthy and have become absent from our plate. Bacon anyone?I have a very busy life like anyone else; 3 children, my husband, and all the life that comes with it. If I can eat healthy, then you can eat healthy.
3. Use Quality Supplements to Rebuild Nutritional Stores and Heal Hypothyroidism
Heavy Supplementation is Temporary
Taking a lot of different supplements for the rest of your life isn’t necessary. You should eventually get to a point where you just need the foundational supplements to maintain your health. Learn more about this by scheduling a free health consultation. Yes, I had a substantial protocol of herbal supplements and vitamins for a good 6-9 months to initially clean my system and rebuild key vitamins and minerals I was depleted in. The one thing I took early on to heal hypothyroidism, and stayed on for about a year, was Armour Thyroid. This gave me a jumpstart, and provided the hormones my thyroid needed to give me energy to do what I needed to do. Grocery shopping, prepping food, and cooking was difficult for me. My fatigue was extreme. After taking Armour for a year, I was able to wean off of it once my nutritional stores came back into balance (especially my iodine). As a matter of fact, I was off of Armour for five months before conceiving my daughter who is due in July.
What Was My Body Really Lacking?
I had an extremely low level of iodine in my system, low vitamin D, B-12, and magnesium. These seaweed supplements worked amazingly well to restore my iodine levels. I also took a food-based, organic multivitamin, vitamin D, B-12, and this magnesium supplement. I still use the magnesium supplement to maintain levels in times of stress or challenges that my body faces (such as pregnancy/child birth.) Furthermore, I needed to take an herbal supplement to support my adrenals, as I was experiencing HPA Axis Dysfunction, a miscommunication between the hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal glands. This was behind the dysfunction of my thyroid and hormonal imbalance. What was the root of that? Stress, poor digestion, and overall negligence of my wellbeing. Overcoming those things was the ticket to freedom from this mess.
A Ticked Off Liver and Candida
Additionally, I needed a liver support supplement as my nutritionist helped me treat my excess estrogen and general toxicity in a more holistic way. Next, I needed an herbal supplement to combat yeast overgrowth, or otherwise known as Candida. My poor diet of processed foods, caffeine, and weekly alcohol consumption had been a food-source for yeast bacteria to grow in my gut. After 6-12 months of leveling off these supplements, I was able to stick with taking the foundational supplements needed to maintain my health.
4. Seriously Reduce Stress
Simplify Everything
Look, let’s be real for a second. I’m a mom, wife, and have a career in health coaching. I do things like volunteer to help out in the concession stand with my son’s tee ball team, and teach Sunday school. Family and friends need me, and I’m just like any other girl with kids, a husband, and a home to take care of. I need things to be simple and realistic. Otherwise, I will not be able to maintain my health. As nice as it would be to wake up at 5:00 a.m. each morning and do yoga beside a pond with waterfalls, that’s not my life. The season I am living in right now consists of me sitting here in Hanes Her Way briefs, a large t-shirt, sipping my tea, and praying my son doesn’t wake up so I can actually get this blog post done before my daughter is born!
Ways to Reduce Stress: The Basics
- Set boundaries with people who give you grief.
- Say NO! You can’t do everything. Be picky.
- Realize that what you do and how you do it is ALWAYS great in the eyes of the people who truly love you.
- Do not worry about what others do, and how they do it because they don’t live your life. You do you!
- Take a hot bath with epsom salt and lavender as many nights as you can before bed.
- Make time for yourself. If you don’t, your ability to care for others isn’t on point. In other words, you’ll be pissed off all the time. I know; I’ve been there.
Ways to Reduce Stress: Getting A Little Deeper
- Realize that life and happiness comes in surrounding yourself with the right people and right experiences. My favorite times are when I’m somewhere with a friend raising our kids together. It’s a glorious mixture of laughing to tears, yelling at the kids to tears, and talking a million miles a minute because we haven’t talked to an adult woman in 12 days. Maybe we sneak in a cocktail, or maybe we just sit and breathe. That’s a happy place. Make those happen.
- Know that life comes in seasons. If you have small children who need you, this isn’t going to last long. Those days of being with a girlfriend and the kids, and thinking we won’t survive…we’ll miss it. I’m tearing up just thinking about it. If you have to tell yourself that everyday, then do it. Write it on your mirror with a Sharpie because it’s true.
- Let yourself be mad and have bad days. Feel your emotions, connect with yourself, and figure out what you need to feel better. Speak up for what you need. You probably need some lovin’; which brings me to number 10.
- Make time for physical intimacy. There are too many people not having enough physical intimacy, and this creates a lot of tension. Seek professional help if you have to, but don’t let that part of your relationship fade. We get so shut off from our bodies and our husbands when we have children and have so much going on. No one cares about dimples, stretch marks, scars, fat, or anything else. He misses you and you miss him, so go.
5. Do the Right Exercise
There is Such a Thing as Working Out Too Hard
Did you know that doing physical activity that pushes you too hard will literally destroy your hormones, and create an overall imbalance? There is such a thing as over-training, and I’m seeing it as a silent epidemic that’s causing many women my age some serious health issues. Just from the conversations with different girls, I realize that this is getting to be a problem. It was definitely a problem for me. I had to go from doing intense weight-lifting and cardio to doing yoga and moderate cardio in order to calm down the internal flames that I had. You know your body, so if you’re finding yourself exhausted after a workout rather than rejuvenated, then it’s too much!
Yoga Anyone?
I can’t say enough about yoga, and how it is a vital part of my healing journey. The breath work, the meditation that occurs, and the poses that tone your organs and biological processes is amazing. If you’ve not tried it, or you think you can’t do it because you’re not flexible, you have to give it a shot. You don’t need to be flexible to start. The flexibility comes with time, and if you go to a class, you’d be shocked at the variety of ages, ability levels, and people who come from all walks of life. There’s no judgment, so if you’re curious, give it a shot. You can always start with some basic yoga like this in the privacy of your home too.
6. Upgrade Personal Care to Heal Hypothyroidism
Water Quality
I had gotten sloppy with what I was using on my body and in my daily self-care. Your skin is the largest organ of your body, and it’s not impervious to absorbing everything that’s put on it. There are studies that have shown how the skin can absorb anywhere from 65-70% of the chemicals in water that has poor quality and contaminants. This brings me to the point that everyone should consider a quality water filter on your taps and where you bathe. People are exposed to more toxins in their water than what they realize, and filtering makes a major impact in your health.
Soaps, Lotions, and Smelly Stuff
Then, imagine what you’re absorbing from soaps, shampoos, lotions, and other products that contain harmful chemicals. Oddly, many personal care products contain ingredients that negatively affect your body and disrupt the pathways to rid itself of toxins. This is something that many people don’t consider, but in most cases of poor health, there is a high level of toxicity. It’s occurring from not only what is ingested, but what is put on the skin. Cleaning up the personal care items we use in my house has made a tremendous impact on everyone’s health. I go into more detail about what I use, and how you can make changes to your routine here.
7. Focus on a Better Home Environment
Your Home is Your Charging Pad
There’s Legos all over the floor with cat hair, Star Wars everything, and a pile of “baby stuff” eating up my entryway and laundry room. In the midst of all of that, I can still make our home a charging pad. Yes, your home is where you should feel at peace. If it’s been a while since you’ve put time and effort into decluttering, making repairs, cleaning, or doing whatever you want to do to make your home more of a place you want to be, then start now. Your home environment affects your health. Seriously. Consider plants and diffusing essential oils for air quality and aromatherapy. If you or your family members are struggling with allergies or breathing issues, have someone come and test your house for mold.
Decluttering and Making Your Own Space
Take one room a week for several weeks and clean them out. Make a pile for things you definitely want to keep, a pile for 1 year of storage to see if you really need it, and one pile to donate stuff. Doing these few things can drastically change your home environment. Additionally, every woman should have a little corner of her own to take a bath or do something relaxing for herself. If you can have a couple corners of your own, then good for you. Any little thing helps, and can make a major impact on your health and wellbeing. Go here to see more about creating a healthier space, and the things I do to achieve that.
8. Evaluate Relationships
Protect Yourself from Toxic Relationships
We have relationships that feel like the fountain of youth, and then others that feel like we age ten years every time we have to interact with that person. I’ve talked to clients, friends, family, and people from different walks of life who all have one thing in common: having to deal with people who are difficult on a regular basis. Maybe it’s a parent, a sibling, or someone you work with. We all have those people that make life more stressful than we’d like. Something I did when I committed to getting better was making a conscious effort to put my time and energy into the relationships that are nurturing. The ones that caused me stress no matter what I did had to be eliminated or modified. If it’s a family member, I always come from a place of love, but I protect myself too. Boundaries are important.
You Are Not Responsible for Others’ Happiness
When you continuously give of yourself and receive nothing but grief in return, then it’s time to move on. Click To TweetAdditionally, it’s not your job to create happiness for others. There are many people silently suffering from pressure that is placed upon them by “loved ones” to provide happiness and fill voids for them. This is not only unhealthy, but it’s wrong on many levels. Do not let yourself get into a position to be drained, and if you are already there, you have to start taking the necessary steps to change the dynamics.
Love and Marriage
Lastly, having children and experiencing various types of life changes can put a lot of strain and stress on a marriage/relationship. Make it a point to remind yourself and your partner of why you chose each other, and why you wanted to spend your lives together. Date nights don’t have to be fancy. What about just making sure to give each other a half hour each night before you go to sleep? If that’s not realistic, then what about three nights? If you co-sleep, then find a sitter or family member to give you breaks so that you can just talk, hang out, and have your quality time alone. It doesn’t have to be vacations, weekends away, or having fancy dinners. It’s simple conversations, looking each other in the eyes, and truly connecting.
9. Recommit to Spirituality
It’s a shame that it takes a crisis to come back to your faith, but when things are going well, we take it for granted. It’s only human that we tend to slack on our commitment to practicing our faith. Did you know that the healthiest places in the world have people who regularly practice their faith? If you think about it in the most simple terms, when you know that someone has your back, how much does that increase positivity in your life? Don’t you feel like you can do anything because you feel that support? Experiencing poor health humbled me in many ways, and made me realize that I can’t do anything alone. Giving myself time to pray, reflect, and focus on the blessings has provided a sturdy foundation to keep moving forward. This leads to number 10.
10. Practice Gratitude and Positivity to Heal Hypothyroidism
The Struggle to Stay Positive
Our entire being is interwoven, and what we experience mentally or emotionally will manifest in physical ways. As simple of a concept as “stay positive” is, it’s not always easy. Take a busy mom, two screaming kids at Target, and huge list of things that need done, and the buzzkill ensues. I have personally always had a bad habit of getting into a negative funk when I really shouldn’t. This is due to the fact that I’ve always been hard on myself, and think that everything has to be perfect. Well, that’s had to change, and that’s a whole other post. Having said that, something that’s helped me stay on the up and up, even when my house smells like poop, is practicing gratitude.
A Simple Way to Practice Gratitude
One exercise that everyone can do each day is take a notebook and write down one thing that you’re grateful for each day. This could happen in the morning, or it could happen before bed. I personally like doing this before bed because if I’ve had a rough day, I’ll write down anything good, and I’m like, “Ok…today could have been much worse.” Then I’m reset, ready for sleep, and ready for a new day. If you’re too tired to write, then say it out loud to yourself or tell your partner. Maybe your partner is the one blessing that helped you that day. Well, then you’re getting in that communication time and expressing gratitude. Win-win! Maybe your partner was the source of your bad day. Well then, it’s time for a talk. Clear the air and clear your mind before bed. Your future self will thank you.
The Outcome Lies in Our Lifestyle Choices
In conclusion, it’s not the genes we have, but how we will let them be expressed. We are genetically pre-dispositioned to have one thing or another. How we live our lives determines how these things will present themselves. Cancer, heart disease, thyroid disorders, and every health issue tends to run in families. I’ll always have to be aware of supporting my thyroid. It’s something that I need to be aware of, and something that I need to base my lifestyle decisions on.
With consistency, pointed action, and faith, you can heal.Click To Tweet It’s not going to happen overnight, but it will happen!In Conclusion
Please contact me or schedule a free consult if you have questions, and feel free to comment below with any thoughts or opinions. Remember that this is an account of my journey, as well as the clients I’ve helped. I am not claiming to be able to cure people, or saying that you should do everything I did. However, I feel it’s imperative to share what I’ve done and experienced, as it may help others. Healing happens. When you believe that and work toward it with consistent actions, the doors to your best life will open.
From my heart,
Lindsay
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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