How I balanced my hormones through lifestyle and diet

How to heal your thyroid and reverse autoimmunity

A holistic approach inspired by my own experience

This is a topic that I have been learning about for almost four years now. This is the story of me healing my body from the inside out through diet and lifestyle changes. This experience taught me how important asking why is. First, I’m not a medical doctor; this is my personal experience. This is how I healed my thyroid by reversing the autoimmune reaction in my body. Everyone is different, and the key is to listen to your body and do what seems good for you.

Everything started when I was a fourth-year engineering student. I was experiencing weird symptoms like difficulty falling asleep, chronic tiredness, and a bit of weight loss and stomach issues… I thought it was aging😁. What else could it all be? But slightly, everything intensified to a point where I was feeling like a boring background track in my own life. No energy or motivation to do anything.

I don’t know how I managed to complete all my exams. But when I went back to my parent’s house and guess what? I decided to eat healthily and take control of my health since I believed four years of my hostel food and water was the cause of my tiredness.

BUT!

I felt exponentially worse once I tried to eat healthy by replacing rice with whole wheat Rotis. Finally, I did a blood test, and my thyroid levels were not balanced, I went to a doctor, but he also had no idea why this was happening.

Luckily I have a very curious brain, and I keep asking questions about everything. I started reading articles, books, podcasts, journals and research papers to understand what was going on with my body. With the correct diet and habits, my body just recovered itself. But when I look around, I see so many people suffering from some kind of autoimmune issue without realizing what is going on with their bodies.

My personal story

In my case, my trigger was gluten and dairy. There are so many reasons for food intolerance. Keep in mind that intolerance is not a full-blown allergy. It took me a while to figure that out.

I was born in a middle-class family in a hill station in India. Beautiful climate, beautiful place, fresh water and produce, even fresh milk from grass-fed cows. But since childhood, I would react to so many things. I often got sick and got pumped with several rounds of antibiotics. My gut health was not the best. But neither my parents nor my doctor connected it to what I was eating…

I’m from Kerala in South India. Historically we eat brown rice, lots of veggies, chicken, beef, pork, dairy, and tubers like tapioca, yam, and taro with good fats like cold pressed coconut oil. Eventually, occasional treats from bakeries and health drinks became common, especially among kids. People stopped cultivating vegetables at home since everything is imported from the nearby state. Commercial agriculture of spices paved the way for using pesticides and chemical fertilizers everywhere, especially where I was born. Now we know our bodies are not strong enough to adapt to rapid changes like this. All of this could be the reason for the epidemic of chronic diseases we are seeing.

Since I was eating comparatively healthy home-cooked meals with occasional treats from the bakery, my symptoms never went beyond the normal limit. Eventually, at 17, I had to move to a hostel to do engineering and that’s when my body started to react. The biggest change was my diet.

Wheat was never part of my usual diet, but since I switched to flatbreads instead of dosas for breakfast, I saw an immense reduction in my energy levels. But for years, I couldn’t connect the dots.

My healing journey

Once I started to learn about how the thyroid works, I realized that my doctor never even did all the tests on me. I had to go to a lab and order a test for myself and my antibody levels were positive. That means your immune system is attacking your thyroid, aka you have an autoimmune condition. For some reason, irrespective of the immense amount of research and data available on this topic, most doctors are reluctant to go beyond the fixed protocols that were standardized ages ago (at least in my experience).

I started learning and changed my diet. It was so hard for so many reasons.

Emotional attachments to various food items.
People around me had different beliefs about what was healthy and not healthy.
Most of us lack basic nutrition knowledge and usually don’t connect the dots.

I could see a big difference in my overall energy level once I removed gluten and dairy from my diet. I learned many things along the way until I healed my body from within through diet and lifestyle changes.

In this article, I will try to fill the gaps in our foundational knowledge around the chronic disease epidemic that is going on.

What does the data show?

Data shows that 1 in 8 women will be affected by a thyroid condition at some point in their lives. The risk for women is about ten times higher than for men… That’s not the scary part. Almost 60% of thyroid problems go undiagnosed.

What is the relation between autoimmunity and thyroid

The thyroid and it’s working

The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland around your larynx. It produces T4, which then converts to the active form T3. The thyroid controls each and every function in your body. TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) is something that is usually tested for diagnosing thyroid disorders. TSH is produced by the pituitary gland. The level of TSH depends on the T3 level in the blood. So if there is a lower T3 level in the blood, TSH rises. More TSH signals the thyroid to produce more T4. This goes in a loop.

The main function of the thyroid gland is to control the rate of your metabolism. Metabolism is the process by which your body converts what you eat and drink into energy.

One thing to note is that usually, it takes many years for thyroid problems to show up on tests since our body balances it very well for a while.

Hypothyroidism

When your thyroid is underactive, it is called hypothyroidism. That means your thyroid gland is not producing enough thyroid hormone, or your liver is not converting T4 to the active T3. The autoimmune hyperthyroidism is called Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. This condition causes your metabolism to slow down, which results in symptoms like,

Unexplained weight gain
Intolerance to cold
Dry skin
Irregular menstrual cycle
Hair fall
Depression or mood swings
Constipation
Not feeling hungry
Always feeling tired

Hyperthyroidism

When your thyroid is overactive, it is called hyperthyroidism. That means your thyroid is producing more T4 than the body needs. It could be due to nodules or inflammation of the gland from an autoimmune attack. The autoimmune hyperthyroidism is called Grave’s disease. Graves usually turn into Hashimoto’s in most cases once the thyroid can’t produce any more hormones. Hyperthyroidism causes your metabolism to be faster. This might result in symptoms like,

Unexpected weight loss
Anxiety
Increased heart rate
Difficulty in falling asleep
Intolerance to heat
Frequent bowel movements
Always feeling hungry
Irregular menstrual cycles

What is an autoimmunity

Autoimmunity occurs when your body’s immune system attacks its own cells. The reasons could be many, which we will discuss below. Molecular mimicry is a theory in which foreign proteins enter your body through the gut. When the body attacks them, our organs get in the middle because of the structural similarity of the molecules.

There are more than 80 autoimmune diseases, including Type 1 diabetes, Lupus, Multiple sclerosis, Chrons, Vitiligo, Eczema, etc. If you already have an autoimmune disorder for yourself or in your close family, the chances of developing another one are high.

What could be causing all this chaos?

The thyroid is one of the most sensitive organs in our body. According to Dr. Mark Hyman, it is the yellow canary in the coal mines. Whenever something goes wrong, the thyroid gland will be the quickest to react. So many things can throw off your thyroid levels.

Genetics

If someone in your family has thyroid disease. You have a good chance of developing a thyroid disease or any other autoimmune disorder, especially if you are a woman. Even though genetics is one big part, epigenetics plays an immense role in preventing and managing any autoimmune disorders. In women, hormones change based on our cycle. So any imbalance kept unchecked can start a cascade of health issues.

Food Intolerances

We all know that people can react to food. We have all seen someone with lactose intolerance, peanut allergy, or prawn allergy. These are immediate reactions that can even trigger an anaphylactic shock that leads to death. But there are so many people who have delayed reactions to many foods which may not show any immediate symptoms and go undiagnosed for years, mostly decades.

Some of the very common food groups that cause problems in most people are,

Gluten (A protein contained in wheat, barley, and rye)
Milk (Not only lactose intolerance but the reaction to a protein called casein)
Soy (Especially because most of the soy is GMO)
Peanuts
Eggs

For people with autoimmune thyroid issues, food with gluten and dairy are the most problematic. Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and Graves disease are the most common thyroid issues, and studies show that 95% of them are triggered by gluten which is a protein found in wheat.

Why is wheat so problematic for some people

In most cultures, wheat is considered a healthier food. It is in health drinks, breakfast cereals, sauces and a lot of things. Wheat does have a lower glycemic index than rice which makes it a good choice for glucose balance. But gluten and the thyroid gland have a weird relationship.

The Gluten version of lactose intolerance is called celiac disease. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder that’s triggered when you eat gluten. When someone with celiac disease eats gluten, the body overreacts and attacks the small intestines which leads to malabsorption of nutrients from food. This can also lead to loss of bone density, miscarriage, infertility or even neurological diseases or certain cancers.

Gluten intolerance is not necessarily as strong as celiac disease but still can cause problems in your health.

It was a Dutch pediatrician, Willem Karel Dicke, who first realized that wheat might be linked to celiac disease. He noticed that in the last few years of World War II when bread was unavailable in the Netherlands, the mortality rate from celiac disease dropped to zero.

There are some interesting stories about the history of celiac disease and its diagnosis. One of them is about banana babies. These babies with severe vomiting and diarrhea were fed just bananas for weeks and they got healed. But unfortunately, they couldn’t pinpoint what the problem was and once they were reintroduced to gluten, they got worse and most of them died.

Another thing is the roundup that is used in commercial wheat cultivation. Some people could be reacting to the glyphosate and not the wheat itself.

Dr. Alessio Fasano has discovered that gluten can trigger leaky gut by increasing zonulin production. Zonulin can increase gut permeability which causes gluten and other toxins to leak into the bloodstream. Gluten proteins look so much like our thyroid proteins and the thyroid gets caught in the war between our immune system and gluten protein. Fasino also says if the thyroid is not so damaged, you can sometimes reverse Hashimoto’s by removing gluten from the diet.

Gluten is only one possible cause of autoimmune thyroid disease. But it is the most common cause.

So gluten is something that has to be avoided if you have antibodies against your thyroid. These antibodies can be detected even before developing Hashimotos or Graves. If you detect them early, you might have a fair chance of preventing thyroid issues by following a gluten-free diet.

When it comes to dairy, a lot of people react to casein (a protein found in milk) and a large amount of the population has lactose intolerance. Also, dairy has a lot of growth hormones meant for the calf. In a nutshell, dairy is not the best thing to include in your diet if you have a weak immune system.

Toxins and heavy metals

There are many toxins that can enter and accumulate in our body to cause autoimmunity. It could be anything from,

Mercury from the fish we eat daily
Fluoride from our drinking water
Teflon in non stick pans
Aluminum from cookware
BPA from plastic
Mold in our home
Personal care products
Preservatives in our food
Pesticides entering our system, etc.

It is quite impossible to avoid them since we live in the modern world with a million things to do daily. But being a little conscious can at least reduce our toxic overload. A few habits you can build are,

Get good quality cookware like nickel-free stainless steel pans. They are expensive, but they will last for a long time.
Don’t use teflon cookware once they are scratched.
Don’t store cooked food in aluminum or Teflon cookware after cooking.
Use glass or at least BPA-free plastic for storing food in the fridge.
Read the ingredients before buying and if there are many things in the ingredient list you don’t understand, it’s probably not worth buying.
But good quality oils like cold-pressed coconut oil, avocado oil or extra virgin olive oil instead of refined oils like sunflower, canola, vegetable oil, etc.
Reduce the toxic overload by staying away from produce in the dirty dozen list (check the EWG website for the list)
Choose good quality personal care products.
Use a water and air filter.
Limit the use of big fish like tuna and go for small fish, sardines, mackerel, anchovies, sustainable farm-raised fish, etc.

Spending a little bit on good food will definitely reward you in the long term.

Nutritional deficiencies

Contrarary to the common belief Iodine is not only the most common vitamin deficiency that can lead to thyroid issues. Iodine is important but when it comes to autoimmune thyroid diseases other vitamins like,

Vitamin D
Zinc
Selenium
Iron, etc.

also, play a major role. A lot of us are deficient in vitamin D and the only good source of vitamin D is sunlight which not the best source, unfortunately. So taking a good quality supplement would be ideal. Test your vitamin D levels before taking supplements. Zinc is in a lot of nuts and seeds and meat. Selenium is in seafood, brazil nuts, etc. Brazil nuts are super high in selenium. Taking three brazil nuts daily will fulfill your selenium need.

Eating a balanced diet rich in good fat and colorful veggies and good quality protein is the best way to get all the nutrients.

Microbiome Imbalance

Our microbiome plays an important role in how we turn out, irrespective of our genetics. These are trillions of bacteria that live inside us, controlling our bodies. They are way more important than we thought. These guys affect our behavior and our brain chemistry. If you have an imbalanced gut microbiome, it can wreck your overall health. You can support your microbiome by,

Including probiotic foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, yogurt (if you can tolerate dairy), etc. Everyday.
Eating a diet diverse in whole foods with prebiotic fiber.
Reducing the sugar intake as much as you can.
Take a good-quality probiotic supplement.

Hidden Infections

Hidden infections are something that can trigger an autoimmune reaction. Some of them are

Epstein Barr (Mono)
Lyme disease
Viruses

You can ask your doctor to test you for any of these.

Lack of physical activity

Exercise is amazing. It reduces inflammation, gives you a steady flow of feel-good chemicals, and helps with weight management. But if your thyroid is weak, better not to push your body too much. Studies show that consistency is important when it comes to exercise.

Stress & Sleep

These are big epigenetic factors in developing thyroid disorders, sometimes more than a diet. Sleep is a big topic on its own. A recent study shows that even a single night of bad sleep can make you pre-diabetic. Our bodies heal when we are sleeping. So continuous sleepless nights can definitely wreck your health.

Recently I stumbled on to Huberman Lab podcast. He is a neurobiologist and he has some detailed podcast episodes on the neuroscience of sleep. In a nutshell, balancing our circadian rhythm is very important.

I have a few articles about sleep on this blog if you want to read more.

Stress is another factor. The high-stress work environment can lead to autoimmunity and many other health problems. You can manage stress by,

Practicing meditation and breath work
Organize and plan things efficiently
Learn to say no when necessary
Exercise can help to reduce stress
Build a healthy community and relationships

Current situation

According to Dr. Mark Hyman, the current way of managing autoimmune diseases is like mopping the floor to get rid of the leak instead of fixing the tap. Most doctors wait until your TSH levels to mess up before starting any treatment. But the thing is that if you catch it early when your body has antibodies, there is a good chance of reversing it by identifying the root cause.

What can we do about this?

Tests

If you have any symptoms or your family has a history of thyroid disorders or other autoimmune disorders, do routine tests. Along with TSH, T4 and T3, test for TPO and antiglobulin antibodies.

You can also take a food intolerance test that might show if you are reacting to any food groups.

Supplements

As we saw before in nutritional deficiencies, Vitamin D and selenium can be helpful. Also, omega-3 can offset the oxidative stress caused by our environment. Herbal supplements like curcumin also help.

Elimination diet

An elimination diet is used to figure out any food intolerances. Food intolerance tests could always have false positives. So an elimination diet is the most effective way to figure out what you are reacting to.

Basically, you have to eliminate most of the common allergens like dairy, gluten, egg, soy, nuts, legumes, etc. Auto Immune Protocol is a good diet to follow if you are on elimination. It is very restrictive, so eating out may not be possible.

After a month or so you reintroduce food groups one by one every week. For example, grains on week 1 and legumes on week 2 and record how you feel. Our body shows us signs all the time. If you listen to your body, your energy level, gut health, mood, pain, etc. you will get a good idea about what you are reacting to. Keeping a food journal might be very helpful since most food intolerances are delayed reactions and you can easily track your foods using a journal.

Lifestyle changes

After healing your gut and reducing the antibody levels it’s better to build a balanced diet and lifestyle so that you can enjoy life to the fullest.

Why should we care?

It all depends on who you are, the kind of life you wanna live and what you want to do with that life. Understanding our body and how it reacts to our environment is a fundamental part of human existence.

Basic nutrition should be taught at a school level because good health is the foundation of basically everything else. How we take care of our body translates to our mood, brain power, energy and so many more things.

We live in a very advanced world. As a species, we advanced so quickly and our bodies aren’t caught up yet. Ideally, we need a personalized approach to medicine since everybody is different. But until then, research, knowledge and listening to the body is the way to go.

The takeaway

It’s a long blog post. I ‘m writing this because I came across a lot of people among my friends and family suffering from all kinds of symptoms and do not really know what is going on. Unfortunately, a lot of them think it’s normal or there is nothing they can’t do. Some people are in denial so they don’t want to confront the problem.

There is no point in stressing over it. But when I’m faced with a problem, I go ahead and analyze the problem and I just see if there is anything we can do. If there is nothing, then there is no point in worrying. But in most cases, there will be something.

Also, always ask why and follow your curiosities.

I will link some of the resources that helped me learn a lot about my body.

Resources

Books

10-Day Detox Diet

Podcasts

Articles

healthy life style Thyroid diet

Agnes Augustine