Transcription
Hey guys, Dr. Child's here. Today, we're going to be talking about what I believe are the four most effective diets at helping your body treat and manage Hashimoto's thyroiditis. So, if you are a patient with Hashimoto who's trying to put your Hashimoto into remission, this is the video for you.
And just so you know, I have talked about these things and these topics and these diets in previous videos, but some of my opinions have changed. So, I want to provide this video with some updated information. Now, before we get into the four diets that we're going to be talking about, first, I want to just give you some general information that I think will be helpful.
Now, the first thing you should know is that all the diets we're about to talk about have one big thing in common, and that is they all contain whole foods and they contain very minimal, if any, processed foods. And this is really something important that everything, every, no matter what type of diet you do, you should be using this as a framework for all the, for all the foods that you put inside your body.
Okay, number two, I want you to know that there is no one-size-fits-all diet when it comes to Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Tons of patients out there are always searching for what's the best food, what's the best diet, what's this, what's that. It doesn't work that way. Diet is an individualized thing, which means that trial and error will be required to figure out what works best for you. This is why a lot of patients get confused and they'll listen to videos like this and they'll go to other providers' videos and they'll say, "Well, these things, these two things conflict." It's not that they conflict, it's just that it's different for each person.
Okay, number three, I want you to also know that changing your diet is very beneficial, but it should always be done in concert with other treatments and therapies. That means exercising regularly, managing your stress, getting enough sleep, taking supplements, and so on. When you combine all these things together, that's when you'll get the best results that you're looking for.
And number four, I want you to think about, no matter what you do with your diet, I want you to think of it as a lifestyle change, not as just a temporary diet that you're going to be doing for 30 or 60 days and then going back to whatever you're doing previously. If you do that, you're not going to get the results that you're looking for.
Okay, so with that in mind, let's talk about the four, the four diets. Now, the first one I have, and this is probably one of my favorites, that's why I'm talking about it first, and that is the gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free diet. Now, what's interesting is that when thyroid patients who have Hashimoto's remove these three food groups, they see a huge benefit just across the board in their overall health, but also in their thyroid health, and also in their antibodies or immune function as well.
And the reason for that is actually not that complicated. So, I'll go over each one in detail. So, first of all, gluten is known to cause a lot of problems. There is a connection between those patients who have Hashimoto's thyroiditis and the risk of developing developing celiac disease, which is another autoimmune disease. Because when you have one autoimmune disease, you're much more likely to develop another one.
Now, beyond that, though, in fact, when you actually look at the numbers, the percentage between the two is not actually that high. However, there is another connection between patients who have Hashimoto's and gluten in the form of non-celiac gluten sensitivity or NCGS. Now, what I will say also about that condition is it's much more frequent and much more common than most people realize. So, even if you don't have celiac disease, there's still a strong case to be made for going gluten-free if you have Hashimoto, period.
Okay, so that's the connection between gluten and Hashimoto. Then we have dairy. Now, dairy also, because of its lactose and because of its casein, we know that just removing this from the diet is enough to improve thyroid function and immune function in certain patients with Hashimoto's. In fact, they've done studies on this. So, they've taken patients who have, who have been on dairy, they remove the dairy, and then they look at their thyroid lab tests and they compare and they see what happens. And when they do that, they see an increase in thyroid function based off of the lab tests. So, we know that there's something inside dairy that's causing problems for patients with Hashimoto's. And by the way, those problems can extend to other hormone systems like estrogen and menstrual problems and so on.
So, dairy and gluten are for sure things that you want to at least consider removing temporarily, just to see how your body reacts to those for two to three months or so. But I would recommend in many cases going off of them long-term.
Now, soy is a little bit different, right? I think there is an argument to be made that soy can be beneficial in some cases, especially if you're using organic sources. Now, my overall opinion is that for most thyroid patients, it's better just to avoid soy completely. So, that is generally what I recommend. However, if you're using organic, fermented soy-based products, those are the, the net benefits are probably there. So, it probably is okay to use that type of soy.
Now, the only problem with the gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free diet is that unless you have some experience and unless you're willing to put in time and energy to learn what contains gluten and dairy and soy, it can be a little bit difficult. You don't have as much guidance using this diet as you do as some of the other ones that we're going to be talking about. So, that is one potential, potential con there.
So, number two, we have the Whole30 diet. Now, I really like the Whole30 diet, but it is not perfect. Okay, so let me tell you what I like, and then we'll talk about what I don't like. So, the pros is that it actually is pretty easy to follow, and that's because it's very structured and rigid. They tell you exactly what to eat and exactly what to avoid. And as long as you do this for 30 days, you will see improvement. In fact, I've done this on patients who don't have Hashimoto's but just have, um, other problems in their, in their health overall, and they almost always see improvements, and pretty dramatic improvements, by the way, just within 30 days. So, I do like Whole30 for that reason. Another benefit is that you have a really strong community because there's lots of people who are sharing free recipes and telling other people about their results. So, there's a great community involved in those people who use Whole30.
Now, the problem with Whole30, I think, is that it can be overly restrictive. So, whenever I'm thinking about a diet, especially for thyroid patients, I want them to reduce or eliminate the things that they have to, but not more than they need to, right? Because you'll see what I'm talking about as we get to these other diets here, but there are plenty of overly restrictive diets. If you wanted to go crazy, you could just have a diet made of mono-food, which would just be, or mono-foods would just be one food that you eat all the time. So, yes, if you did something like the potato diet, which is a real thing, by the way, you're removing so many foods that you're going to see improvement, no matter what, right? But the problem is, that's not a great quality of life to just eat potatoes all the time.
So, what I want to do, and what I'm thinking about this with patients, is I want to reduce the foods that I know are definitely causing a problem, but allow them to eat all the other foods which they're enjoying, so they can live life and they can do this long-term. So, I do think that's one potential problem with Whole30. Now, they do have some solution because they allow you to add foods in later. Um, and I also really like Whole30 because it teaches you the fundamentals of cooking. And it's really important. I've said this before, but if you want to be healthy long-term, you must learn how to cook. You have to spend time and energy figuring out how to make your own food and making that food taste good. Because if it comes down to it and you're not a good cook and you're not good at making food taste good, then it's going to be really tempting to just order something out because of the hyper, um, salt content and sugar content in those foods, it will be very palatable. So, it, it's, it's really easy to go down that route if you're not a good cook. So, spend some time and energy figuring out how to cook, um, because it will pay dividends in the future.
So, number three, we have the carnivore diet. Now, this is kind of a little bit of a newer diet. It's, it's kind of gained popularity and steam over the past, let's say, several years here. And I actually have recommended it to, to several patients, and they've done very well, right? So, I've recommended it to, to people that I've been helping, and they have done well.
Now, there are some problems with carnivore that I want to talk about here. So, why is it so effective? Probably because, like I said before, it reduces so many foods that it's a force elimination diet, in a sense, right? You're removing so many different things on the body that when you remove them all, your body's going to heal because you have removed the offending agents, for sure.
Now, the problem is, you probably have overly restricted, like I mentioned, that can occur, um, in Whole30 in some cases. Now, so what I've been doing, and this is kind of the way I get around that, um, is that I'm only recommending carnivore temporarily, usually for like two to three months or so. And if you're using it in that way, I think you can obtain all the benefits without having problems long-term.
Now, the one other issue to think about if you're doing carnivore or even keto or any low-carb type diet is that reducing your carbohydrates excessively can lower total T3 and total T3 levels. So, you always have to be aware of that if you're a patient with Hashimoto's, because you don't want to damage your thyroid with in the process of trying to heal your gut or fix other problems inside of your body. So, if you choose to go carnivore, I wouldn't not recommend using it long-term, and I would recommend keeping an eye on your T3 levels as you do so.
Then, number four, we have the Autoimmune Paleo diet, or the AIP diet, the autoimmune protocol. There's a lot of different names for it. Now, again, kind of like the carnivore diet that I mentioned previously, it is pretty restrictive, right? But I will say that it definitely works, right? Probably for the same reasons that the carnivore diet does. If you eliminate most foods, then it's, yeah, for sure, you're going to feel better. But the problem is, we need to be doing this long-term. So, I do think the AIP diet is overly restrictive, um, but again, I have recommended it for patients and I have seen success in using it.
Now, if you're going to use the AIP diet, I think you've kind of have two options here. Number one is you use it as I recommended with carnivore, which is you use it in bouts of, let's say, 30 to 60 days, and then go from the AIP diet to just a more general whole food diet, right? So, you kind of go back and forth between the two. And you can go on AIP if you have a flare-up or, um, if you've been exposed to something, or you're just trying to like optimize your body for a short period of time. It's either that, or you need to stay on it long-term. So, you either need to love it enough that you can just stay on it indefinitely. The reason is, there are a lot of people that as they do the AIP, and the longer they do the AIP, when they start introducing foods back into their diet, they'll start to, they'll start to have allergies to certain foods that they didn't have previously. So, this sort of tolerance or oral tolerance can occur, and is one of the reasons that I don't like the AIP diet. But I will also say, and be truthful with you guys, it does work. So, if you're somebody who has multiple autoimmune diseases, nothing else is working, then maybe AIP is worth a shot in that situation.
So, no matter what happens, these are the four diets that I, that I think are probably the best. But no matter what happens, make sure you follow the ground rules I said in the beginning, and try and, you know, experiment with your own body to figure out what works best for you. Because I promise you, there will be people who do well on keto, and there'll be people who do well on carnivore, people who do well on Whole30, and then other people who do well on just removing gluten or dairy or whatever it is. And you're going to have to figure out what works best for you, not what worked best for your friend or your neighbor, right? It's all about trial and error. It's all about trying to figure out what you need to do, and it's all about figuring out how to do something that you can sustain long-term. And as you do this, as you combine therapies on top of each other, supplements, lifestyle changes, etc., that's when you'll start to see the good results that you're looking for.
So, that's all I have for you guys today. If you have any questions, leave them below in the comment section. If you haven't already, make sure that you download my free thyroid PDF resources. I have tons of information all designed to help thyroid patients like you feel better. So, if you like this sort of information, you'll love that. So, that's all I have, and otherwise, I'll see you guys in the next one.