Thyroid Treatment Success Secret #13: The evils of GLUTEN! Gluten is one of the biggest culprits in causing an autoimmune thyroid that I see in my office. Therefore, it is EXTREMELY important to be tested properly for gluten sensitivity. Gluten is the protein in wheat, barley, rye and oats. The reason that so many people across the country are gluten-sensitive is that we’ve been eating genetically-engineered wheat since the late 1940’s. Our bodies were not made to eat genetically-engineered wheat. Our bodies were not made to eat chemicals and that’s exactly what we are consuming! In order for you to be healthy, one of the best things that you can do is to avoid gluten. If you are sensitive to gluten, it will cause your immune system to attack your body, whether it’s your thyroid, your joints, your pancreas, whatever. Remember we talked about an active antigen a while back, and an active antigen can be something that causes your immune system to run amuck or attack. Your T-cells are attacking your body and the cause for your T-cell attack can be a parasite, fungi, yeast, mold, virus, bacteria, and it can also be gluten. It could also be dairy, yeast, soy and/or egg. This is not a guessing game, you need to be tested and the tests should include a DNA swab, where you’re taking a swab of your left cheek and a swab of your right cheek. Usually, gluten testing with a medical office for gluten sensitivity is not done with a DNA component--you really don’t know if you’re gluten-sensitive or not. There has yet to be an autoimmune Hashimoto’s thyroid patient walk in my office that is not gluten-sensitive, and they could very well be sensitive to dairy, egg, soy and yeast too! Thyroid Treatment Success Secret #14: Vitamin D You always seem hear in the news that there’s some new vitamin to consider or new deficiency to consider, but when it comes to Hashimoto’s thyroiditis or autoimmune thyroid – it’s very important that patients are taking Vitamin D to help their immune system. Modern diets are lacking in Vitamin D rich foods. What are Vitamin D rich foods? Liver (To be honest with you, I can’t stand liver), organ meats, lard, many forms of seafood, butter and egg yolks (remember what I said about eating eggs for breakfast and how important it is in your blood glucose level?). Sunlight is another important factor and source of Vitamin D. BUT, you should NEVER take Vitamin D without having your Vitamin D levels tested, specifically, 25 OHD and 125 OHD. Most M.D.s will only test 25 OHD but it is very important to have both levels tested. This way, you are eliminating the guess work. You could be low in Vitamin D or on the low side of normal; either finding would constitute a different recommended dosage. Why is Vitamin D so important? Vitamin D deficiency is associated with many, many autoimmune conditions including Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Frankly, autoimmune rates have been skyrocketing in the past 20 years, which correlates with decreased levels of Vitamin D in the general population. Adequate Vitamin D levels help to keep the immune system in balance so it doesn’t swing out of control into an autoimmune disease. When it comes to Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, the problems with Vitamin D deficiency are made worse by genetics. There are studies that show that more than 90 percent of the people with an autoimmune thyroid or Hashimoto’s have a genetic defect affecting their ability to process Vitamin D. Therefore many people, especially these people, need higher amounts of Vitamin D to maintain health, even if their blood tests show sufficient Vitamin D. In many cases, patients will come in to my office and their Vitamin D levels will be on the low side of normal and their MD has told them, “You’re fine, there’s nothing wrong with you,” when actually if you’re on the low side of normal you need to be supplementing with Vitamin D. I recommend that all my patients with any thyroid condition or any autoimmune condition take extra Vitamin D. Don’t suffer another minute! Call our office 404-477-1797. Tele-Health is availabl
Posted on: Sat, 31 May 2014 21:00:00 +0000
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