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The Daily Brain Fog Thyroid Roller Coaster Ride

Feeling wired, tired and moody?

All day long, do you constantly think about getting peaceful and restful sleep?

And despite your sheer exhaustion…at the end of the day, you just cannot sleep…

Are your so called “healthy” food choices destroying your fat loss hormones?

How to stop hormonal damage as a result of “low carb dieting”, which suppresses thyroid and leptin levels significantly…

Reset fat-burning hormones which keep your metabolism and body healthy…

Increase leptin sensitivity to help support thyroid converting T4 to T3 more efficiently.

We’ll dive into why it’s not your fault…it’s got to do with food choices and hormones.

Please allow me to explain…

First, let me ask you a question, does any of this sound familiar to you…

  • anxiety
  • panic attacks
  • depression
  • mood swings

Ever feel like you’re on a daily roller coaster ride?

Thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland in your neck, weighing only about 1 ½ ounces.

The ‘wings’ of thyroid are called lobes and they wrap around the windpipe.

And while it may be tiny when it comes to size, many health experts consider thyroid to be a master gland when it comes to controlling numerous body functions…

From the beating of heart to function of sex organs.

Your thyroid exerts its powerful hormonal influence on many different and critical body tasks throughout your body.

Most women are hormonal imbalanced and don’t even know it…

thyroid-problems

Sadly too many women are misdiagnosed and over prescribed…

Did you know your hormones should ideally all work together to create an environment of balance and harmony?

An imbalance of one hormone affects them all…

For women with a biochemical imbalance, it’s very common to feel like you’re on a mood roller coaster.

Endocrine system involves glands that control all hormones and neurotransmitters.

Hormones and neurotransmitters are chemicals which control mental and emotional states…

These chemicals help the brain to balance emotions.

What if you have a problem with one gland?

For example, our thyroid…does all the other glands play into it as well?

Our endocrine system functions like a biomechanical vehicle.

All the parts have to be working at just the right time for us to feel good and be biochemically functional.

When looking at low thyroid levels…

Thyroid-out-of-balance

This involves adrenals, pituitary, hypothalamus, pancreas and ovaries as well.

What if you have symptoms of hypothyroidism or hypoadrenalism (hypo means low), mood swings can be an everyday problem…

Many women feel this way and it’s very common for them to go to a western medical doctor and give symptoms of mood swings, anxiety or depression…

Leaving with a antianxiety or antidepressant prescription.

The truth is, depression is not a drug deficiency.

The cause is the common problem of your poorly functioning inflamed glands in the game of emotional stability…

And if not working at the right speed, can give you symptoms that include riding on mental roller coasters.

Most people know the thyroid regulates metabolism, but did you know it is also part of your immune system, nervous system and also helps the functioning of your brain?

Most people think our brains tell our bodies what to do…

The truth is hormones are released into our blood…

They travel to the brain, the level of hormones tells our brain what our body must do next.

Hormone imbalances are hard on us because once symptoms start, they set in motion an exhausting, self-perpetuating cycle which can be very difficult to stop.

This is a downward spiral for most women…

Women suffering with low thyroid and/or low adrenals are usually feeling very stressed and overwhelmed, and they are usually irritable and moody.

The stress creates more feelings of being overwhelmed, which creates more stress on the adrenal glands, which in turn creates more fatigue…

And the cycle continues into a snowballing multi-level problem.

What is low thyroid and adrenal fatigue and why is it happening?

Thyroid function is weakened by stress, pollution, bad eating habits…

And a history of yo-yo dieting.

If our bodies are functionally perfect, our adrenal glands would be able to deliver a perfect balance of stress hormones cortisol, adrenaline and DHEA.

That way is helps us cope with the day-to-day stresses and demands of life…

They also have plenty of sleep time to recover, rejuvenate and replenish themselves in order to come to our aid when called upon.

In a perfect world the thyroid would be the “master switch: to tell each cell if it needs to be consuming more oxygen and nutrients…

Thereby stepping up or slowing down its rate of metabolism.

Unfortunately, none of us can create the ideal situation for the perfect hormone system, especially women whose lives are generally more responsive, wearing and demanding.

We must meet deadlines, jobs, finances with families to care for…some even have hormonal teens to look after and some even aging parents or grandparents.

All of which can place an enormous stress and strain on our lives and our adrenal glands.

Our adrenal glands can become so overwhelmed and exhausted they’re unable to meet the body’s demand for adrenaline, cortisol, and DHEA.

Instead of being in adaption phase where we are able to adapt to everything, we are in a low phase where we cannot adapt at all.

We’re also micronutrient and mineral deficient…

And if stress wasn’t enough, the food that’s our fuel to repair is missing micronutrients.

None of us eat right, even if we did, the food we eat is deficient in the nutrients we need.

It is like filling-up your car on low octane gas and expecting it to perform at it highest level.

Sometimes, even when your thyroid is working normal and you’re supporting with good supplements you can still have mood swings because your cortisol is low or high.

thyroid gland

Take a moment to feel your thyroid, remember the last time you swerved your car to avoid hitting a stray dog or another vehicle whose driver was to busy texting and in your lane.

How did you feel?

Were you shaking?

Tense?

Out of breath?

Was your mind racing?

All of the physical reactions during that moment were the result of the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol…

Known as “flight or fight,” when our bodies are under physical stress due to hormone imbalances, stress, lack of sleep or lack of nutrients.

These two stress hormones can be out of balance as well, they can be too high or too low.

As they rise and fall, surges of either one or both of them, can cause feelings of anxiety, heart palpitations, and panic attacks.

They can even cause you to bolt awake out of a deep sleep in the dead of night.

They cause you to feel wired and tired at the same time.

Balancing stress hormones, tips and strategies to help you out right now:

Minimize your exposure to environmental toxins, such as pesticides, fertilizers, and even household cleaning products and antibacterials.

These can act as hormone disruptors, which may interfere with thyroid function.

Avoid heavy metals like mercury, found in tuna, amalgam dental fillings, certain vaccines, and even some over-the-counter products like contact lens fluid.

Mercury can also adversely affect your thyroid.

Limit your stress level as much as possible. Chronic stress interferes significantly with thyroid function.

Interestingly, in an interview several years ago on Good Morning America, talk show diva and producer Oprah Winfrey blamed her own thyroid concerns on excessive stress level.

Stop eating soy, except in fermented forms such as miso or tempeh.

Despite marketing efforts by “Big Soy” (certain multinational food corporations), soy is NOT a health food.

Unfermented soy is high in chemicals called isoflavones, which may contribute to abnormal function of your thyroid gland and other health concerns.

Make sleep a high priority.

A thyroid imbalance may cause or contribute to sleep difficulties.

While there is no “magic number” when it comes to the amount of sleep you need, most adults need 7-9 hours per night according to the National Sleep Foundation.

Support your thyroid with optimal levels of thyroid-loving nutrients like vitamins A, D, E, riboflavin, niacin, and minerals such as zinc, selenium, and manganese.

Plus, any effective approach to correcting sub-optimal thyroid function must also provide support for the adrenal glands.

Your adrenals, which sit on top of kidneys, may become fatigued when overstimulation of these important glands (from physical or emotional stress) leaves them unable to supply your body with an adequate amount of their hormones…

thyroid lab report

T3 is often discussed in regards to weight loss and it’s for good reason…

T3 thyroid hormone naturally speeds up your metabolism.

If you are finding it hard to lose weight it is a good idea to discuss testing your free T3 (FT3) with your health practitioner.

T3 and weight loss

T3 is the most active thyroid hormone and adequate T3 activity not only helps with weight loss, it can also reduce many of the other symptoms of an underactive thyroid.

In fact low T3 can have far-reaching effects in the body.

Reduced T3 activity is often associated with a slow heart rate, lower than normal body temperature, thyroid hair loss and fatigue.

T3 blood test result…

What is considered a good number?

The standard reference range for free T3 is 4.0-8.0 pmol/L.

This provides a very good clue that you ideally want to see your free T3 test result above 4.5 pmol/L.

A main reason you may have anxiety, depression, panic attacks, mood swings and low thyroid function, is a lack of nutrients that are vital for normal function of thyroid hormones.

Nutrient deficiencies put a ton of stress on our bodies, especially the thyroid and adrenals.

Here are supplements to speak to your doctor about:

1 – Suggest you get a whole food multivitamin

Make sure you get your selenium and B12 levels tested in case you need to supplement with extra in addition to your multivitamin.

2 – It is also important to take Omega-3.

3 – May be good to take magnesium at night before bed (this helps with insomnia).

4. Ashwagandha is a great adaptogenic herb, meaning it helps the body to adapt.

It is a great herb for supporting adrenals and thyroid and really helps in times of stress.

How stress affects your thyroid…

Most diets are deficient in all these nutrients, even when you think you eat well, you are most likely still deficient according to many clinical studies and researched studies.

The thyroid makes free radicals (cell damaging toxins) even when it functions normally, once thyroid is slower and working much harder, it continues makes more free radicals…

This causes more inflammation in the body.

Free radicals are only neutralized by antioxidants.

Once your antioxidant reserves are depleted your thyroid function slows down.

Unfortunately, most diets are lacking in nutrients and antioxidants.

You should be eating foods with antioxidants in them every day such as grapes, berries, nuts, dark green veggies, and sweet potatoes (this is also good for anti-aging).

Supplements mentioned above enhance the formation of thyroid hormone and protect thyroid gland as well as liver so they can more efficiently produce and activate hormones.

These supplements may help make it easier for your body to increase T3, and help the transport of thyroid hormone into cell tissues to turn on your metabolism.

These supplements are great to support healthy mood levels.

In addition support healthy weight management, other biochemical balance and cholesterol too, all important to anyone that is struggling with mood swings and thyroid functions.

What if you have been under a tremendous amount of mental or physical stress you might find thyroid and adrenal glandular supplements taken short term are helpful to recovery…

However, do consider talking with your doctor first before just trying a glandular.

Sleep and exercise are lifestyle factors which are important to rebalance your mood and hormones.

It is difficult to sleep without enough exercise.

Suggest 8-10 hours of solid, uninterrupted sleep in a complete dark room without TV or music on.

It is important if you do get up in the middle of the night that you don’t turn a light on as this gives your brain signals that the night is over.

Suggest some form of exercise that you love, just because it’s great for you and will help with stress too.

A good walk everyday is good for everyone; yoga, Pilates and dance are great too.

How to Boost Your Metabolism in 2 Weeks or Less

Do You Think High-Fiber Foods Slow Your Metabolism?

Want your fat-burning metabolism to be fast and effective? After all, a fast metabolism working for you 24/7 is automatically burning calories day and night…

That means achieving and maintaining your ideal body becomes almost effortless.

Unfortunately, your metabolism is more likely slow and sluggish causing your belly to expand, while making it almost impossible for you to lose weight…yet alone keep it off.

The good news:

In just a moment I’m going to show you exactly how you can overcome your sluggish metabolism with real science.

Including our #1 research-backed metabolism-boosting trick for a flat belly…

Now before I reveal the secret, you need to understand 3 pitfalls directly responsible for the painfully slow speed of your run-down metabolism.

#1: It’s got to do with something you may have done a lot of…

And if this sounds familiar it is because of “crash diets” where calories are severely restricted in a futile attempt to lose weight quickly.

And “chronic dieting” where calories are restricted for extended periods of time.

Yes, crash dieting and chronic dieting can and does wreak havoc on your metabolic rate.

Demonstrated in numerous studies published by prestigious research journal Metabolism

For example:

In a study conducted at Rockefeller University by world-renowned obesity researcher Dr. Rudolph Leibel…

The metabolisms of individuals who had lost weight via long-term chronic dieting and/or various “crash dieting” techniques were compared to individuals who typically maintained a normal weight.

As expected, the metabolisms of those in the “dieter” group were 25% lower than those who had not gained or lost significant weight in the past.

The dieter group had accrued so much damage to their metabolisms over the years their now battered metabolic rates were slower than those of normal-weight individuals two-thirds their size.

Other studies show significantly decreased levels of important metabolic, fat-burning hormones with crash dieting, such as the Metabolism study performed by Dr. Campbell at the University of Vienna.

Study showed thyroid levels dropped by a massive 38% after just 2 weeks of consuming a very low calorie diet.

And yet another Metabolism study conducted by Dr. Gloria Dubuc and the nutrition research team at the University of California – Davis…

Showed a 50% reduction in body’s #1 fat-burning hormone just seven short days of following a severely reduced calorie diet.

The second major cause of dramatically slowed metabolic rates is the relatively inactive lifestyle that most of us live today.

Unlike our hunter and gatherer ancestors, we spend majority of day sitting or lying down.

Sitting on the way to work, while at work, drive home, at dinner table, on couch relaxing, and then laying down to sleep at night.

Of course, drastically reduced levels of activity comes significantly slower metabolisms.

The third major pitfall of declining metabolic rates is the overconsumption of whole grains, even foods praised as being high in fiber such as:

  • 100% Whole Wheat Bread
  • Whole Grain Pasta
  • Bran flakes
  • Wheat-based “Fiber” Cereals
  • Whole Wheat Tortillas
  • Wraps

Despite having more fiber than their “white” counterparts, these 4 high-fiber foods destroy your blood sugar and give rapid rise to fat-storing hormone insulin.

In fact, just 2 slices of whole wheat bread raise blood sugar far higher than a can of sugar-sweetened soda or even a sugary candy bar. Why?

Simply because today’s wheat is genetically modified by the food industry, mutated, and exposed to industrial toxins and radiation to force unnatural higher yields.

And at the expense of your health…

These harmful wheat products, although praised by food manufacturers as healthy for their fiber and “whole grain” content, are a major cause of the raging obesity epidemic.

This is seen across the board in western society today…

And because these foods are so rapidly digested, you get virtually no metabolic benefit during digestion, resulting in less than optimal metabolic rates.

And you’re already seeing ever expanding bellies worldwide…

What if there is a simple, practical and fast solution to boost your fat-burning metabolism, both during day and even while you sleep?

One solution which has shown in peer-reviewed research to result in nearly 4 times faster women’s weight loss?

What if you could take advantage of this scientifically-backed, simple solution in less time than it takes for you to brush your teeth each day?

Would you be interested?

You see, this simple “solution” involves a synergistic combination of several brand new fat-fighting, metabolism-igniting, natural ingredients researchers have discovered.

This is able to directly target fat cells and dramatically boost body fat metabolism, producing significant, measurable fat-burning results in as little as 2 weeks.

Let me quickly tell you about each.

The ingredient is a patent-pending combination of two exotic plant extracts; Sphaeranthus Indicus and Garcina Mangostana

This is supported by undeniable fat-burning research, incredibly unique and potent blend based on human trials.

Each study conducted via highly metabolic complex was set up based on gold standard of research (randomized, double-blind, and placebo controlled)

This means neither researchers or study participants knew which subjects received actual ingredients or the placebo (a simple sugar pill), so there could be no bias.

Let’s take a look at what happened:

In the first peer-reviewed clinical trial, conducted by Dr. Judith Stern and the nutrition research team at the University of California Davis…

Published in highly respected peer-reviewed journal Obesity, 60 subjects were randomly assigned to consume either 400mg twice daily or a placebo for a period of 8 weeks.6

All participants consumed a rather standard 2,000 calorie diet, and were instructed to walk a moderate 30 minutes per day.

Within the first 2 weeks, group a had experienced 3.3 times greater weight loss compared to placebo group, while shedding nearly 2 inches off their waist…all within 2 weeks.

By the end of the 8 week trial, group a had 3.79 times greater weight loss over placebo group, and an unprecedented 4.66 inches lost around waistline.

Group a shed weight around belly and hips (where it matters most) as demonstrated by a 2.2 times greater reduction in waist and hip size over placebo group.

Would you say that is extraordinary effective?

Dr. Stern and team at UC Davis performed another identical study with 40 additional participants to further validate incredible results seen in first clinical trial.

The outcome?

Nearly identical results to first study with even slightly greater weight loss seen at the end of the 2nd 8-week trial.7

The results of this study solidified the prestigious Platinum Standard of research, when two or more “gold standard” studies are successfully executed with same study protocol.

Both delivering statistically significant and similar findings.

To see such profound results in not one, but two peer-reviewed published studies of identical design spanning a total of 100 participants is exceptionally rare.

boost metabolism

Does this substantiate the unparalleled effectiveness and potency of metabolism boosting foods:

  • Blueberries
  • Almonds
  • Whey Protein
  • Salmon
  • Psyllium Husk
  • Spinach
  • Turkey

Antioxidant seems to be the new buzzword, but what about nature’s miracle foods and metabolism boosting foods?

Metabolism

Underactive Thyroid?

Could Your Weight Gain be Caused by an Underactive  Thyroid?

Jody - Weight Loss Coach

Weight Loss Coach

An underactive thyroid is a common problem among women who suffer from chronic weight gain and have difficulty burning off the unwanted pounds.

And the condition, known medically as hypothyroidism, can have a variety of different symptoms.

Some typical symptoms experienced by women with an underactive thyroid include:

  • Chronic fatigue
  • Constipation
  • Thinning hair
  • dry skin,
  • sore and aching  muscles
  • Difficulty maintaining concentration
  • Depression
  • Fertility issues
  • Brittle nails
  • Reduced heart rate…

The most common symptom of all, however is weight gain.

Since the thyroid gland is responsible for hormones that regulate the metabolism, an underactive thyroid can lead directly to a slow metabolism, prompting your body to store energy from food as body fat.

A slow metabolism, meanwhile, can make it almost impossible to burn off the added weight through diet and exercise.

Trying to overcome a chronically sluggish metabolism through diet and exercise alone is almost guaranteed to be a losing battle…

Unfortunately, many women who suffer from hypothyroidism are unaware of their condition and mistkenly assume that their weight gain comes from some other source.

Women experience continual frustration when their good-faith efforts at dieting produce little or nothing in the way of results…

Do you feel discouraged or convinced that your weight gain is “genetic.”

Fortunately, there are a number of good options for restoring thyroid function once an underactive thyroid has been diagnosed by a thyroid test.

If you believe you may have an underactive thyroid gland, your first step is to speak with your physician to arrange a thyroid test and go over options for thyroid treatment.

These may include supplemental hormones, which must be taken indefinitely in order to avoid deficiencies.

However, hormone replacement does come with some risks, including the risk of developing an overactive thyroid, whch can result in symptoms like elevated heart rate.

For women concerned about the side effects or cost of hormone therapy, restoring the normal healthy function of your thyroid may also be possible through a combination of a good diet and supplements.

Any decision you reach should be made in close consultation with your doctor, since the thyroid is not something you’d want to tackle on your own unless you happen to have a degree in endocrinology.

Once your thyroid hormones are back to normal, (normal thyroid) whether through hormone replacement or other means, your metabolism will correct itself, and you’ll fiind it much easier to lose weight.

Perhaps you’ll also enjoy significantly more energy, which can help you stick to a new exercise routine.

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