I have a client and in her first coaching session she said that she thinks she has a thyroid issue. As an Integrative Health Coach my role is not to diagnose, treat or try to cure any medical health conditions but what I do know is that a client’s intuitions is often right.
McCall McPherson is the founder of Modern Thyroid Clinic and TEDx Speaker and shares that women especially new mothers tend to make excuses for why they are feeling exhausted because of the new reality of being a mum.
They might be overweight, constantly exhausted, experiencing brain fog, depressed and have a low sex drive and blame it on the kids but in fact, if could be to do with their hormones and particularly their thyroid.
Statistics show 1 million Australians have an undiagnosed thyroid disorder and that ten times more women than men worldwide will be diagnosed with some form of thyroid disorder.
Thyroid health is so important because when it’s not functioning properly, it is the beginning of hormone dysfunction and significant hormone dysregulation.
What Causes Thyroid Disorders?
According to the Australian Thyroid Foundation, the many causes of thyroid disorders include:
- Iodine Deficiency
- Autoimmune Disease
- Viral and bacterial inflammation causing thyroiditis (subacute thyroiditis)
- Familial Disorders
- Nodules which have formed on the Thyroid Gland
- Benign and Malignant (cancer) tumours on the Thyroid Gland
So if you feel that your declining health could be something to do with your thyroid, then the first step is to get a full round of tests.
You can visit your local GP or I would recommend looking at finding an Integrative Functional GP.
The Australian Thyroid Foundation recommend diagnosis using biochemical testing include TSH, T4, T3 and Thyroid Antibodies.
McPherson shared that sometimes misdiagnosis can happen even with an Endocrinologist because of inadequate lab tests and ranges of what is considered “normal” can vary between labs.
So if results come in negative and you feel that there is something wrong with your thyroid, then it doesn’t hurt to get a second opinion.
It’s important to get tested because the long term effects of having a dysfunctional thyroid can lead to diabetes and elevated cholesterol.
What’s the difference between Hypothyroidism (under active Thyroid) and Hashimoto’s Disease?
Although both have something to do with the thyroid, they are very different.
Hypothyroidism is a dysfunction of the thyroid in which everything in the body slows down and dries up.
While Hashimoto’s Disease in an auto-immune condition which can lead to hypothyroidism but it’s when the body is mounting an immune response and attacks the thyroid cells.
What you can do now
There are some immediate dietary and lifestyle changes you can do to help with supporting the thyroid and balancing your hormones:
- Remove the top #2 inflammatory foods for 3 months which is dairy and gluten
- Increase detoxifying and alkalising foods such as your dark, leafy greens for fibres, marine greens and garlic
- Eat quality fats because they are the foundation for hormone production
- Use herbs and essentials oils to balancing hormones such as wild yam, chaste tree, roman chamomile, ylang ylang, lavender and geranium – I personally use and have seen amazing results with my clients using the Balancing Cream
- Take some really good quality multi-supplements and colloidal minerals
- Incorporate a mindfulness practice to help reduce stress
In addition, when buying food try to get organically grown food. If this is a stretch to your budget, see if you can buy locally sourced from the farmer’s markets.
Sometimes it costs a lot of money for farmers to get certified organic so it’s worth starting a conversation with farmers and you might find some they use very little pesticides on their produce anyways.
EWG’s Clean Fifteen
Even still, that can be an effort especially if you’re already time-poor, so using the Environmental Working Group Clean Fifteen is the 2020’s Shoppers Guide to Pesticides in Produce is a really useful if your shopping at Coles and Woolies.
These foods you can safely buy with peace of mind as they will contain the least amount of pesticides:
- Avocados
- Sweet Corn
- Pineapple
- Onions
- Papaya
- Sweet Peas Frozen
- Eggplant
- Asparagus
- Cauliflower
- Cantaloupe
- Broccoli
- Mushrooms
- Cabbage
- Honeydew Melon
- Kiwi
Check out EWG’s Dirty Thirty where you can at least try to get these organic wherever possible.
Live Clean
Lastly, consider switching your bathroom, cleaning and skincare products over to safer natural products.
Modere is a Live Clean Company and does an extensive range of clean label products for the whole home that our family has been using for almost a decade. Use my discount promo code 7022017 at AU www.modere.com.au NZ www.modere.co.nz USA www.modere.com EU www.modere.eu
For more support, you can download my free 7 day hormones cleanse. Stay tuned on my Instagram @merlyhartnettcoaching as I will be launching an additional free resource on how 5 Simple Strategies to use Mindfulness to Conquer Chronic Stress.
