Very interesting info re thyroids

[sonnetjie]

If you have problems with your thyroid the following link might be of interest.

http://books.google.com

Scroll down to page 88 -90 is really interesting. They have also made some interesting comments re vegetarianism 130 -131

I’m buying the book The H factor solution by James Bradky and Patrick Holford myself.

[Nes]

Thanks Sonnetjie

I have suffered with underactive thyroid for a few years now. Of course I would get the one where you out on weight. Oh well at least i now have a genuine scapegoat!!! hee hee Love the, he keeps blaming the thyroid even though I know it's the chocolate... I did not know about the B vitamins and folate though, may be worth a try too... Now I've started the pilates and I'm determined to diet till it works !!!

[Nes]

PS Have you read, "the Hidden epidemic" By Mariette Chippindall? She is a SA woman who went fro being depressed and overweight to being a Mrs SA fianist in 2005. She also explains a lot of technical stuff. Quite a lot to take in first time. Will need to read it again I think.

[Alida]

I have personal experience of gluten suppressing my thyroid, resulting in extreme tiredness, borderline depression and weight gain. Two weeks after I've scaled down on bread and pasta drastically, my mood were normal, I started loosing weight and felt great ! Now, a year later, the moment I eat pasta or regular bread or anything containing gluten, I have all those terrible symptoms all over again: sluggishness, irritability and extreme exhaustion. That put me on a year long trip of research on eating habits and it's effect on your mood and health - it's staggering to see what effect your food, or should I say 'food' can have on you ! I've gone through a short spurt of fruitarianism, to almost vegetarianism, but ended up at plain eating organic and (for me) avoiding gluten as much as possible. I feel perfect, except when I eat something that does not accord with my body. It complicates my cooking a bit, but we're finding our feet in the kitchen again. It's actually quite great to know that I don't have to suffer from congested nose, exhaustion and irritability. There are wonderful and not too expensive alternatives, all quite natural.

Edited to add: I've also suffered from most embarrassing acne my whole teen, twenties and first few thirties years of my life. Within the two weeks of eliminating gluten from my diet, my skin completely cleared up ! For the first time of my life I'm not hidden behind unsightly pimples and blackheads over my whole face, shoulders and upper back. I really feel liberated just because of this small change in my diet.

Happy eating !

Edited September 30, 2009 by Alida

[sonnetjie]

Alida You might find the following document really interesting James Brady discusses recent research that has proved how gluten can affect your thyroid function. The doc very informative

bralygluten.doc

[Serendipity]

I have suffered with underactive thyroid for a few years now. Of course I would get the one where you out on weight. Oh well at least i now have a genuine scapegoat!!! hee hee

Loved your post -i am in the boat :-)

[Alida]

Alida You might find the following document really interesting James Brady discusses recent research that has proved how gluten can affect your thyroid function. The doc very informative

Thank you sonnetjie, will have a look !!

[Alida]

Sonnetjie, dit was 'n absoluut briljante artikel, baie, baie dankie. Ek is besig met 'n 'Natural Health' kursus en hierdie is 'n goeie verwysingsbron.

[Pippa]

Sonnetjie,

I am a big fan of your posts re health! Keep them coming!

Pippa! X

[Mara]

Sheesh, I hate it when I can tick all the boxes, except for one! Will definitely have to look into this and stretch my pinkie!!!

[Nes]

Sheesh, I hate it when I can tick all the boxes, except for one! Will definitely have to look into this and stretch my pinkie!!!

Dear Mara

I don't even have all the symptoms but if you are feeling tired and picking up weight its worth getting tested. Just a simple blood test and you wont believe the difference the meds make. I also had very dry skin and my hair fell out in clumps but it still took me over a year to check it out. Don't leave it.

Best wishes Nes

[kangaroo]

For those in Melbourne and Sydney, have a look at Irresistible Gluten Free Food Show/Expo

It's on this weekend (3&4 Oct 09) in Melbourne (at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre - on Southbank in CBD). Here's direct link to: Melbourne Gluten Free Expo

On in Sydney on 14&15 Nov 09. It was on earlier this year in Brisbane too.

Enjoy!

Edited October 3, 2009 by kangaroo

[justD]

I've just returned from Woolworths (long walk) and stocked up on my first set of gluten-free food and soy milk. It's going to be a HUGE adjustment, but it sounds like it may just be worth it. As I read on another site, the benefits far outweigh the effort of trying it out for 2 weeks.

Will let you know how it goes.

Thanks for this topic.

Dirk

[sonnetjie]

Dirk all the best with trying a gluten free diet. It is really important that you 100% gluten free if you want to achieve the benefit of a gluten free diet. If you only partly gluten free you will be wasting your time.

One of the big problems people have that follow a gluten free diet or those that need to omit certain food groups due to allergy is that they forget to replace any shortfalls in their nutrition.

Another big problem is often the cross contamination issue. Best example is when for example a friend prepares food for a person and is not aware of how important it is not to use utensils that have been used for any other food group. Let’s say a person is allergic to gluten. The person that prepares the food cuts gluten - containging bread on the cutting board and then without washing the board or the knife cuts gluten free bread on the board. By doing this a person can cause an allergic reaction in a person that can only eat gluten free bread, as the surface has been contaminated with gluten. The moment the person ingests the gluten particles that touch the gluten free bread, the person will have a reaction as the bread is no longer gluten free. This accounts for people putting a gluten-containing cracker in a gluten free dip. The moment the person uses a gluten-containing cracker in gluten free dip, that dip is contaminated and the gluten free individual should not be eating the products as it will make them sick.

Edited November 7, 2009 by sonnetjie

[justD]

Thanks Sonnetjie,

I just get tired of mispronouncing the word and people laughing at my "glutten" free diet Hierdie ingelsman taal maak mos nie sin nie!!

I read something about the cross contamination and, being a lazy bachelor, I decided to keep things pretty simple for these 3 weeks while I give it a try. Limiting my food intake to:

Kangaroo mince with curry

Salmon with curry in white sauce (corn flour = gluten free)

muesli & flax meal

Rice

Potatoes

sweet potatoes

carrots

frozen veggies

lots of fruit

Only spices I'm using is curry and salt.

Salmon curry in white sauce IS as strange as it sounds, but I pour (spread, as I make it pretty thick) it over the veggies for a bit of flavour.

I've lost 2kgs since Monday and this is NOT the start of my weight loss diet. It's normal to lose 2kgs in a week at the beginning of a diet, but I had already lost 5 1/2 kgs before Monday (since 1st of August). And I've been eating a lot of the above foods, so never felt hungry once. Probably because I up'd my cycle training this week as well.

If I decide to go on with this past the 3 week trial then I'll worry about replacing shortfalls and cross contamination. I think I'm fairly safe sticking to the above list, all prepared in my own kitchen.

As you say, I have realised that the big adjustment will be in eating at a friend's house or eating out. On Tuesday I had a CT scan and a stress test on my heart with an hour to kill, around lunch time, between the two appointments. I realised that I can't just run into a garage and buy a sausage roll or a pie as a quick snack.

In fact, next year I want to cycle from Perth to Sydney and I wonder if that will be possible on a gluten free diet? Well, I'll cross that bridge later.

[sianvz]

Hi All

This is a very old post so I hope someone can help me with a question.

I am trying to find out if my hypothyroidism is going to cause my medicals to be referred? Does anyone have personal experience with this?

I am so sure that my thyroid was overactive as a teenager, but now I am 26 years old and only weigh 55kg, so hypothyroidism is not exactly a common thing at my age, but I'm very healthy otherwise and actually don't have any of the symptoms and discovered it by accident when I had problems with restless leg syndrome and my Dr was trying to test what could be aggravating it. I am on a fairly high dose (0.125 mg), but it is completely under control now a year in to starting medication. Besides having to remember to take my pills every morning, I am completely unaffected by it. I have not even seen a specialist about it, just my GP.

So my question is, how serious do they consider hypothyroidism to be? My medicine is obviously considered chronic, but it costs me about R50 a month and to be honest I haven't noticed any change in the way I feel since being on the medication because I didn't have any symptoms to start with, so it is purely an internal thing and doesn't affect my life really. I would hate to have my visa application delayed due to referred medicals over something so insignificant.

[Kanniewagnie]

Sianvz,

The only medical conditions that may cause your Visa to be denied, is if it is contagious and not curable, like Hiv, hepatitis, TB, etc. also if you have a condition that will put strain on the 'lesser available' Oz medical treatment facilities, like certain types of cancers, and also if your medication are so expensive, that the Ozzies think you will be a burden on them if you cannot afford it. I really don't think you have to stress about it.

[sianvz]

Thanks for that info! I guess I am more concerned that with the current major backlog with medicals that are referred, that my medicals will be referred and delay our whole process even though the outcome of the referral will be fine. I have seen a lot of people posting about their medicals being referred for as long as 3 months! My agent says that it's a temporary backlog and should go back to the normal 1-2 weeks soon hopefully. Holding thumbs that it does by the time we apply for our visa!