Have more energy and easier fat loss….

Today’s Post:  Wednesday, 5-13-2015

There are many ways to have more energy and many ways to easier fat loss.

But many people have the reverse – low energy and hard to lose fat.

Some of those people also have low thyroid.  Women past menopause or anyone who has eaten foods containing MSG for many years often has low thyroid.

Marc Hyman, MD also says that reaction to gluten can cause low thyroid; but stopping gluten and even better stopping grains will often reverse this.

If you have low energy or daytime sleepiness and are fatter than you’d like, you might have other problems such as sleep apnea. 

But a common cause is having low thyroid without realizing it.

According to Dr Marc Hyman, many people who test as low normal on the main tests used for thyroid levels on more revealing tests show to have thyroid levels low enough to cause low energy and hard to lose fat.:

"Most doctors do not do the right thyroid tests, and I strongly encourage you to demand your rights as a patient and ask for them. What are they?

It’s the TSH, or thyroid-stimulating hormone test, and the free T3 and free T4 tests.

It’s very important to get the free levels of both the free T4 and free T3 hormones.

Next, you should also always check your TPO (thyroid peroxidase) and anti-thyroglobulin antibodies. These are an indication of an autoimmune reaction against your thyroid.

Also, check for celiac or gluten antibodies or anti-gliadin antibodies, because these also can indicate a gluten problem that can trigger thyroid problems.

You also might need to get heavy metal testing, because high levels of mercury and lead can trigger thyroid issues, too. "

Low thyroid and what to do about it.:

1.  Do the full set of thyroid tests that Dr Hyman recommends to see if your thyroid is low now.  

Some low thyroid low enough to sap your energy or help you get or stay fat show up on the other tests he uses that do not show on the one most used.

2.  Some people who overdo fasting or who eat very low carbs all 7 days a week but trigger the famine response which lowers your energy and makes you a bit depressed and grouchy AND do this in part by suppressing thyroid function.

To avoid low thyroid and energy from this cause, eat health OK carbs and avoid fasting or super-low carbs at least 3 days a week but don't overdo them or use much sugar or allow more than one high fructose fruit per day on those days.  

Sweet potatoes, some fruit, squashes, quinoa, and occasional small servings of dark chocolate are some examples of health OK carbs.  Rice and breads are NOT!

It also helps avoid this to eat generous amounts of health OK proteins 7 days a week.

3.  Avoid harming your thyroid glands:

a) Avoid MSG totally to the point if it might be in the food, take a pass. (Foods and spice blends and condiments that have “spices” on their labels usually have MSG!)

For foods  like bacon or emergency fast food meals on trips that almost always contain MSG keep such meals to only few times a year at most.

b) Avoid unvarying high intensity cardio that lasts more than a few minutes per session.  

Such exercise we now have found out is harmful to your thyroid glands and heart.  

And, if you must do that kind of sustained higher effort cardio, be sure to vary your pace to give your heart and other systems partial rest breaks all the way through.

c) Minimize dental Xrays to the maximum extent you can and be sure the lead apron they give you protects your neck as well as the rest of you.

d) Avoid using or eating canola oil:  "Consumption of" usually GMO canola oil "has been linked to muscular disorders and fatty degeneration of the heart, kidneys, adrenals and thyroid gland. 

To avoid [canola oil], check labels closely - even in so-called healthy products - because it's practically everywhere.”

Add your own oil to foods instead and usually use extra virgin olive oil. 

And NEVER use oils like canola or soy or corn that come from grains that are mostly GMO and far too high in omega 6 oils.

4.  Do every part of the low inflammation life style and be sure your HSCRP reading is below .05. 

High inflammation causes heart disease and helps cause cancer and also tends to depress thyroid function.

5.  Eat some whole eggs from pastured chickens or liver from pastured chickens or grass fed lambs or calves and eat some wild caught fish. 

Apparently B complex vitamins and bioavailable iron and complete protein support thyroid function -- eating some liver, lamb or beef from animals fed only grass, hay, and organic non GMO sprouts on occasion is also OK.

6.  If you use salt, use sea salt or Hain iodized sea salt. And eat seaweed or take spirulina.  And take extra iodine if your thyroid is low AND take a multi that has 150 mcg per day of iodine.

7.  Take 1,000 mg as two 500 mg caps of tyrosine first thing each morning.

8. Use spinach instead of kale or Swiss chard or collard greens or arugula as your main greens while your thyroid is low.  (Cruciferous vegetables can lower thyroid but are desirable enough for their anti-cancer effects just minimize them a bit until you get your thyroid function up.)

And eat 1 to 3 cruciferous vegetable servings instead of 4 to 6 servings a day while your thyroid is low.  Eat more green pepper and green string beans and tomatoes and avocados instead.

9.  If you do the first 8 things and want a way to boost your thyroid before trying a drug, the herb forskolin increases thyroid and energy and fat loss.  But this only works with supplements that have been extracted well enough to be sure to contain enough forskolin.  Nature’s Way sells a standardized forskolin that does this. 

Taking forskolin also lowers blood pressure a bit which is great for people who want to have lower blood pressure. 

[But if you don’t exercise and/or have low blood pressure forskolin might not be a good idea for you. 

Forskolin can also cause bleeding problems in people prone to them and for sure in people taking anti-clotting or blood thinning drugs.]

10.  If your thyroid is low enough you have symptoms, ask your doctor to try you on the more natural Armour thyroid first. Doing that plus this list of things should work well.  And, if your thyroid is quite low or you get poor results or problems, find and work with a doctor skilled in using and adjusting doses of the Armour thyroid.

Do everything you can to avoid other thyroid drugs because the reports of people who have taken them have NOT been good; and this set of things plus the Armour gives you enormous leverage so you almost certainly will not need them.