Each episode is between 1 & 2 hours long & interviews around 130 of those treating thyroid disease, many who themselves have had thyroid issues. Plus interviews many patients.
Registration is free. read the description on the page to see what is covered in each episode.
I can’t post them here as they are not available for public access.
The book Hashimoto’s Protocol hits bookstores on March 28th. In it, you’ll find protocols specific for Hashimoto’s that will help you feel better quickly and learn how to recover your health once and for all.
Dr. Izabella Wentz also has a website with additional resources, including a blog and a list of recommended supplements.
Lastly, you can connect with Dr. Izabella Wentz through the community on Facebook.
Each episode is between 1 & 2 hours long & interviews around 130 of those treating thyroid disease, many who themselves have had thyroid issues. Plus interviews many patients.
Registration is free. read the description on the page to see what is covered in each episode.
I can’t post them here as they are not available for public access.
The book Hashimoto’s Protocol hits bookstores on March 28th. In it, you’ll find protocols specific for Hashimoto’s that will help you feel better quickly and learn how to recover your health once and for all.
Dr. Izabella Wentz also has a website with additional resources, including a blog and a list of recommended supplements.
Lastly, you can connect with Dr. Izabella Wentz through the community on Facebook.
Phytotherapy refers to the use of plants for their healing abilities. Adaptogens are a unique class of healing plants: They help balance, restore and protect the body. As naturopath Edward Wallace explains, an adaptogen doesn’t have a specific action: It helps you respond to any influence or stressor, normalizing your physiological functions.
Adaptogenic herbs can recharge your adrenal glands, helping you to respond to stress. Adaptogens include ashwaganda, astragalus, ginseng, licorice root, holy basil, some mushrooms and rhodiola.
Top 7 Adaptogen Herbs
1. Ginseng
Benefit-rich ginseng is the most well-known adaptogen, and Asian ginseng (Panax ginseng) is considered the most potent. According to Wallace, research has validated Asian ginseng’s use for improving mental performance and your ability to withstand stress. This red ginseng also has antioxidant effects, antidepressant effects, and can help naturally lower blood pressure and blood sugar levels.
There are a number of adaptogens referred to as ginsengs that aren’t technically ginsengs, but keep in mind that they have similar composition or effects.
2. Holy basil
Also called tulsi, holy basil is known in India as the “elixir of anti-aging.” Preliminary studies suggest that holy basil benefits include helping you fight fatigue and stress; boost your immune system; and regulate blood sugar, blood pressure and hormone levels.
3. Ashwaganda
Ashwaganda is often referred to as Indian ginseng. Often used in Ayurvedic medicine, ashwaganda regulates the immune system and eases anxiety. Ashwaganda has been used in Eastern medicine for over 2,500 years and has immuno-modulating effects that boost your immune system and aid the body in lowering cortisol levels.
4. Astragalusroot
Used in Chinese medicine, astragalus boosts immunity and buffers the effects of stress. It increases the amount of anti-stress compounds our bodies use to repair and prevent stress-related damage. It may also reduce the ability of stress hormones like cortisol to bind to receptors.
5. Licorice root
Licorice rootcan increase energy and endurance, boost the immune system, and protect the thymus from being damaged by cortisol, but its use requires professional supervision because of how it may affect blood pressure.
6. Rhodiola
Rhodiola (rhodiola rosea), or golden root, is a potent adaptogen that has been the focus of much research. Rhodiola provides a buffer to stress-related mental and physical fatigue. According to Whiticomb, Rhodiola was used by Russian cosmonauts, athletes and military personnel, and years of study have begun to uncover the very mechanisms by which it acts as an adaptogen.
Rhodiola rosea contains a phytochemical known as salisdroside. This component helps relieve anxiety and combat aging. Rhodiola suppresses the production of cortisol and increases levels of stress-resistant proteins.
Studies have found that it restores normal patterns of eating and sleeping after stress; lowers mental and physical fatigue; and protects against oxidative stress, heat stress, radiation and exposure to toxic chemicals. Rhodiola also protects the heart and liver, increases use of oxygen, improves memory, and may even extend longevity. Also, new research proves it’s effective as a weight loss agent. (4, 5, 6, 7)
7. Cordycep mushrooms
Cordyceps, reishi, shiitake and maitake mushrooms are funguses with antioxidant properties. That means nutrition-rich mushrooms have all the benefits of antioxidant foods. They may not be adaptogens in the classic sense, but each has adaptogenic, anti-tumor and immune-enhancing properties.
Eating well, getting proper rest, staying active, writing down what you’re grateful for and maintaining social connection all help protect you from chronic stress, which can kill your quality of life. Adding adaptogens to your routine can make you even more resilient to the damaging effects of high cortisol levels.
High cortisol levels and chronic stress can affect every physiological and psychological system.
Adaptogens balance and restore the body.
You can increase your capacity to deal with stress and improve your mental and physical performance with the use of adaptogens.
The number One cause of massive inflammation , toxicity and decreased immune response is Acidity.
Body acidity is caused by poor diet, toxins, heavy metals, electromagnetic pollution, dental infections and negative emotions.
You have to be alkaline for your body to heal.
Your body pH has to be between 6.4 – 7.0
Over 7.0 is bad because your body is leeching minerals (calcium, magnesium and others) out of the blood, and as soon as you correct the problem the pH will drop to 4.5 – 5.0
Check body pH by testing first morning urine after 5 am for a period of at least 2 weeks.
It has to be the first morning urine pH after 5 a.m. because you are checking the body’s metabolism.
There are doctors that check salivary pH which is not as accurate as the urine pH because the salivary pH has not metabolized through the body.
Just about EVERY thyroid patient will probably be acidic!
When you’re acidic, your body leaches minerals out of your bones to buffer your blood!
These minerals, calcium, magnesium and trace minerals are VERY IMPORTANT to the thyroid patient because cells of your body need to accept the thyroid hormone, T3, and they cannot accept T3 without an ample supply of minerals.
There are so many medical doctors chasing symptoms by prescribing T4 and T3 medications instead of getting to the CAUSE by addressing the patient’s acidity and low minerals which suppresses T4 and T3.
Many doctors, including some “thyroid experts,” miss this fact completely!
T4 conversion to T3 is dependent on the mineral zinc and low levels of selenium will cause inactivity of T3.
Should one take handfuls of zinc and selenium? NO! You should get it from the food that you eat!
Beef, lamb, veal, crab, shrimp, scallops, oysters, turkey, pumpkin, yogurt, peanuts, sesame and squash seeds all contain high levels of zinc.
Tuna, cod, halibut, sardines, shrimp, salmon, beef, turkey, and lamb are all high in selenium.
Instead of taking handfuls of the medications T3 and T4, why not let good food be a part of our healing process?
When you are acidic, you are at greater risk for heavy metal toxicity which in turn causes a downward spiral of free radicals!
Being acidic creates a welcoming environment for viruses and bacteria to flourish! You may have noticed that you are more susceptible to more colds and flu, this is one of the reasons WHY.
How does one become more alkaline?
Change your diet!
STOP eating junk! NOW!
There is no such thing as “junk food,” there is food and there is junk.
Eat more :
organic vegetables,
lean grass-‐fed, organic meat,
wild fish and game and
a limited amount of organic fruits.
Preferably, eat only stone fruits or fruits with a pit in it like a peach or plum because they are lower on the glycemic index.
Berries (raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and blueberries) are also low on the glycemic index.
Eat more organic vegetables and drink fresh-‐squeezed, organic vegetable juice!
Drink good, high-‐quality water! Avoid tap water as it is full of chemicals.
Leaky gut syndrome is a rapidly growing condition that millions of people have and don’t even know it. It might seem leaky gut syndrome only affects the digestive system, but it can lead to many other health conditions.
The cause of food allergies, low energy, joint pain, thyroid disease, autoimmune conditions and slow metabolism could be leaky gut symptoms progression.
The lining of your digestive tract is like a mesh with extremely small holes in it that only allow specific substances to pass through. Your gut lining works as a barrier keeping out bigger particles that can damage your system.
With leaky gut (referred to as increased intestinal permeability), the “mesh” in your digestive tract gets damaged, which causes even bigger holes to develop, so things that normally can’t pass through, are now be able to.
Some of the things that are then allowed to pass through include proteins like gluten, bad bacteria and undigested foods particles. Toxic waste can also leak from the inside of your intestinal wall into your bloodstream causing an immune reaction.
These “leaks” lead to inflammation throughout your system and can cause symptoms, such as:
One warning sign that you may have leaky gut can be multiple food sensitivities.
Partially digested protein and fat can seep through your intestinal lining, making their way into your bloodstream and causing an allergic response.
This allergic response may not show as a rash all over your body, but it can lead to one of the symptoms above. If left un-repaired, it can lead to more severe health issues like inflammatory bowel disease, IBS, arthritis, eczema, psoriasis, depression, anxiety, migraine headaches, muscle pain and chronic fatigue.
Leaky gut syndrome may be a major cause of autoimmune diseases, including Type 1 Diabetes and thyroid autoimmunity (Hashimotos & Graves).
Another problem with leaky gut is that it can cause poor absorption of vital minerals and nutrients including zinc, iron and vitamin B12, key minerals required for proper thyroid function.
Leaky gut can also affect the brain. Mood swing in a child with autism can be caused by intestinal permeability. Gluten-free and casein-free diets have proven effective for many children with autism because these proteins can leak through the gut and then recirculate and act on the brain similarly to an opioid drug.
Leaky gut syndrome has also been linked to other psychological disorders such as anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder. So, often, if you can heal the gut, you can heal the brain.
HCL
Enzymes or papaya
Glutamine
Collagen powder
Probiotics
Foods
Bone broth
fermented foods
vegetables and fruits – lots of colour
protein variety
avoid
gluten
sugar
stress
The human gut contains 10 times more bacteria than all the human cells in the entire body, with over 1,000 known diverse bacterial species. In fact, you could say that we’re more bacterial than we are human.
We’ve only recently begun to understand the extent of the gut flora’s role in human health and disease. Among other things, the gut flora promotes normal gastrointestinal function, provides protection from infection, regulates metabolism, and comprises more than 75 percent of our immune system.
Dysregulated gut flora has been linked to diseases ranging from autism and depression to autoimmune conditions like Hashimoto’s, inflammatory bowel disease, and type 1 diabetes.
Unfortunately, several features of the modern lifestyle directly contribute to unhealthy
gut flora:
• Antibiotics and other medications like birth control and NSAIDs
• Diets high in refined carbohydrates, sugar and processed foods
• Diets low in fermentable fibres
• Dietary toxins like wheat and industrial seed oils that cause leaky gut
• Chronic stress
• Chronic infections
Antibiotics are particularly harmful to the gut flora. Recent studies have shown that antibiotic use causes a profound and rapid loss of diversity and a shift in the composition of the gut flora. This diversity is not recovered after antibiotic use without intervention.
We also know that infants that aren’t breast-fed and are born to mothers with bad gut flora are more likely to develop unhealthy gut bacteria, and that these early differences in gut flora may predict overweight, diabetes, eczema/psoriasis, depression and other health problems in the future.
When the intestinal barrier becomes permeable (i.e. leaky gut syndrome), large protein molecules escape into the bloodstream. Since these proteins don’t belong outside of the gut, the body mounts an immune response and attacks them. Studies show that these attacks play a role in the development of autoimmune diseases like Hashimoto’s and type 1 diabetes, among others.
It has been repeatedly shown in several well-designed studies that the integrity of the intestinal barrier is a major factor in autoimmune disease.
The theory holds that the intestinal barrier in large part determines whether we tolerate or react to toxic substances we ingest from the environment. The breach of the intestinal barrier (which is only possible with a leaky gut) by food toxins like gluten and chemicals like arsenic or BPA causes an immune response which affects not only the gut itself, but also other organs and tissues. These include the skeletal system, the pancreas, the kidney, the liver, and the brain.
This is a crucial point to understand: you don’t have to have gut symptoms to have a leaky gut. Leaky gut can manifest as skin problems like eczema or psoriasis, heart failure, autoimmune conditions affecting the thyroid (Hashimoto’s) or joints (rheumatoid arthritis), mental illness, autism spectrum disorder, depression, and more.
Researchers have identified a protein called zonulin that increases intestinal permeability in humans and other animals. This led to a search of the medical literature for illnesses characterized by increased intestinal permeability (leaky gut). Imagine their surprise when the researchers found that many, if not most, autoimmune diseases—including celiac disease, type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease—are characterized by abnormally high levels of zonulin and a leaky gut. In fact, researchers have found that they can induce type 1 diabetes almost immediately in animals by exposing them to zonulin. They develop a leaky gut and begin producing antibodies to islet cells, which are responsible for making insulin.
One of the main reasons to avoid wheat and other gluten-containing grains is that they contain a protein called gliadin, which has been shown to increase zonulin production and thus directly contribute to leaky gut in susceptible people.
What else can cause leaky gut, the same things listed above that destroy our gut flora: poor diet, medications (antibiotics, NSAIDs, steroids, antacids, etc.), infections, stress, hormone imbalances, and neurological conditions (brain trauma, stroke and neurodegeneration).
The most obvious first step in maintaining a healthy gut is to avoid all of the things listed above that destroy gut flora and damage the intestinal barrier. But of course that’s not always possible, especially in the case of chronic stress and infections. Nor did we have any control over whether we were breast-fed or whether our mothers had healthy guts when they gave birth to us.
If you’ve been exposed to some of these factors, there are still steps you can take to restore your gut flora:
• Avoid foods and chemicals that irritate the gut
• Eat plenty of fermentable fibers (starches like sweet potato, yam, yucca, etc.)
• Eat fermented foods like kefir, yogurt, sauerkraut, kim chi, etc.
• Consider taking a probiotic and/or a prebiotic supplement
• Treat any intestinal pathogens (such as parasites) that may be present
The Elimination Diet
Dr. Izabella Wentz with Tom Malterre on the Elimination Diet
The Elimination Diet
Dr. Izabella Wentz with Tom Malterre on the Elimination Diet
45 min
The most common triggers in Hashimoto’s are nutrient deficiencies, food sensitivities, intestinal permeability (leaky gut), stress, an impaired ability to get rid of toxins and in some cases, infections. Optimizing your health starts with food. Figuring out which foods nourish you, and which ones cause you harm is the single most important thing you can learn in your health journey.
I’ve found that recognizing and eliminating reactive foods can be a life-changer for most people with Hashimoto’s.
Reactive foods trigger an inflammatory response in the GI tract, leading to malabsorption of nutrients (gluten sensitivity in particular has been implicated in causing a Selenium deficiency, a well known risk factor for Hashimoto’s), and can also produce intestinal permeability whenever they are eaten.
Most people will see a dramatic reduction in gut symptoms, brain symptoms, skin breakouts and pain by eliminating the foods they are sensitive to. Some will also see a significant reduction in thyroid antibodies! An additional subset of people, will actually be able to get their Hashimoto’s into complete remission just by getting off the foods they react to, normalizing their thyroid antibodies, and some even normalizing their thyroid function!
eliminate for 28 days or more gluten, dairy, yeast, corn, soy