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Sunday, 17 April 2011

Hypothyroidism Diet - Is It A Scam ?

The Whole Truth !

I’ve been hearing a lot about thyroid disorders recently and how they’re so prevalent. I didn’t know much about the thyroid and what it does so I decided to read up on it. I used to have a roommate that took thyroid medication and she told me that if she didn’t take it she would die. That’s about all I knew. While looking into thyroid disorders, specifically hypothyroidism, I came across this ebook and decided to purchase it and see what it said.

First we have to have a clear understanding of what the thyroid is, where it is and what it does. The thyroid is a butterfly shaped gland that sits at the base of the throat. It wraps around the larynx and trachea.


It takes iodine from food and converts that iodine to hormones. These hormones are called thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3). T4 and T3 are then released into the bloodstream to control the body’s metabolism. The metabolism of every cell in the body is controlled by T4 and T3. When there isn’t enough of these hormones produced it’s causes the metabolism to slow and you have a hypothyriod condition. If too much is produced you have a hyperthyroid condition. Hypothyroidism is more common than hyperthyroidism and it’s what I’m focusing on.

The pituitary gland, a small peanut sized gland at the base of the brain, controls the thyroid. The pituitary monitors the amount of T4 and T3 in the bloodstream. When there isn’t enough it releases a hormone called thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). This hormone tells the thyroid to increase the production of T4 and T3. When the amount of thyroid hormones in the system starts to become high it cuts back on the amount of TSH it produces. These two glands work in partnership with each other and both must be working properly to have good thyroid hormone levels in our bloodstreams.


The E-Book!

I bought this ebook quite a while ago and just got around to reading it recently. I enjoyed it very much. It’s informative and easy to read. The writer Louise O’Connor is an Australian naturopath.
In the book, she gives a much more thorough overview of the thyroid and hypothyroidism than I have. Unlike most medical things that I read it’s very easy to read. Once the thyroid is thoroughly explained she explains her diet system to help balance thyroid hormone production. The basics are common sense things that I discuss on this blog regularly, like staying away from processed foods. She also identifies foods that are good and bad for the thyroid. Meal plans are laid out in the book to take all the guess work out of eating–if you like meal plans that’s great, personally I hate meal plans.
Overall I think the book is quite good and I’d recommend it to people with hypothyroidism. 







5 comments:

  1. Thanks Amy, this sounds like it might work for me and my weight loss :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. .....Nice.....

    A lot of information needs to be taken into account when trying to do this diet. It's good to see that you took the time and explained it.

    ReplyDelete