A recent study published in the the Journal of Interdisciplinary Toxicology (Vol. 6(4): 159–184. by Anthony Samsel and Stephanie Seneff looks at the health impact on glyphosates, the main ingredient in Monsanto’s marquee product Roundup.
This is a popular herbicide used for many purposes including domination of the world’s seed supply.
Here what they found.
This stuff is everywhere and it is used by farmers on wheat crops 2-3 days before harvesting to dry everything out and make it easier to harvest.
Why let it dry in the sun when you can spray it with toxic chemicals?
This is now also used on all grain crops, rice, seeds, dried beans and peas, sugar cane, sweet potatoes, and sugar beets.
It is also used on genetically modified crops like corn and soy, extensively.
Well, it turns out that glyphosate is a known endocrine disruptor, not good news for all us thyroid hormone fans and it has a lot of other really bad effects on our bodies.
Samsel & Seneff have carefully researched the known (published) effects of glyphosate along with the known (published) pathologies associated with celiac disease, gluten intolerance and irritable bowel syndrome.
They have identified chemical and biological pathways where glyphosate can be the cause.
These are: disruption of the gut bacteria; breakdown in the junctions of the intestinal wall; depletion of vital minerals, vitamins and nutrients; and impairment of cytochrome enzymes that aid the liver in detoxifying environmental toxins, thus multiplying the negative effect of other environmental toxins to which we are exposed in increasing amounts.
Translation: Glyphosate may lead to leaky gut, which allows glyphosate soaked gluten to get into your blood stream and your brain, where it does major damage.
This begs the question, is the problem gluten or Roundup?
The answer for you and me?
It doesn’t matter, because they are now one in the same. Go 100% gluten free people.
It’s just not worth the damage it causes.
http://sustainablepulse.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Glyphosate_II_Samsel-Seneff.pdf
Hashimoments are affirmations and positive thoughts for people with Hashimoto’s. I started to write them because after reading research on the role of stress and emotions on the immune system, I realized how important what you think about and how you feel can be for your health.
I think one of the most challenging things about having Hashimoto’s is having to accept that there is no end point in dealing with this disease.
We can make tremendous progress in getting it under control or, hopefully, in remission. However, keeping it there requires daily commitment, discipline and vigilance.
And when you slip up, you pay.
And (forgive my language) sometimes the payment puts you on your ass and you are reminded, painfully, of what you can not do.
The point I’m trying to make is that this is a journey and while you make stops along the way, like any trip, you’ll never arrive at that place with no consequences.
Everything You Do Has Consequences
This is true of regular life, but it is especially true with Hashimoto’s.
What you do has special importance because of the challenges your body already faces.
What you eat, what you think, how much stress you have, what you drink, you name it, it all matters.
So, we’re faced with how we experience this.
It’s All About the Way You Look at It
Is it a crushing defeat or an incredible blessing?
This is the very definition of living in the moment.
This is what many saints and mystics strive for. Something to keep them present. What they often add is the element of detachment. That is their goal, to be present in every moment but to not be attached to that moment.
Be conscious of the decisions you make. Live in the now. Make those decisions count.
Because whether you like it or not, they will anyway.
Converted to formaldehyde
Diet soda and other products that contain sugar substitutes can have a harmful effect on the thyroid.
The issue here, in my opinion, is the conversion of artificial sweeteners, like aspartame, into formaldehyde. Like many environmental toxins, this causes inflammation and an immune response.
A case report presented at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) 22nd Annual Scientific and Clinical Congress. Issac Sachmechi, M.D., F.A.C.E., F.A.C.P., of New Hyde Park, New York, treated a patient diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis that resolved completely with the elimination of artificial sweeteners including Sweet’N Low, Equal, SPLENDA®, and diet sodas.
“An overabundance of sugar-substituted beverages could pose a serious health risk if you are a thyroid patient,” says Dr. Sachmechi. “While the issue is being studied more in-depth, thyroid patients should manage their intake of sugar substitutes while consulting their endocrinologist,” he adds.
Formaldehyde, widely known as an embalming fluid, is a by product of the breakdown of aspartame in the liver and may be associated with immune system disorders.
Your Body Can’t Clear These Toxins Normally
It is important to understand how the body clears environmental toxins, pollutants, and chemicals. In our bodies this happens primarily in the liver.
However, although the liver has hundreds of enzymes to clear many compounds, it still does not have enough to clear everything out of your body. And, unfortunately, many of the most common and most toxic environmental compounds can not be cleared by the liver.
What Happens When the Liver Doesn’t Clear These Toxins, Pollutants and Chemicals?
They become lodged in the body and activate inflammation and disrupt the immune system. This can lead to chronic pain and inflammation, cancer growth and autoimmunity.
Recent research has led us to discover several important ways that your body deals with exposure to these toxins.
Toxic Chemicals Affect the Body in the Following Ways
1. They deplete glutathione.
2. They initiate inflammation, cancer and auto-immune disease through a signaling system in your DNA called NF-Kappa B.
3. They clog your liver and make the liver work harder at clearing toxins and they make liver detoxification not work as well.
4. They cause leaky gut syndrome.
5. They lead to loss of chemical tolerance and multiple food allergies and sensitivities to chemicals, smells and things that never used to bother you (which some researchers think may be the beginning of auto-immune disease).
The unintended consequences of better living through chemistry, people.
Frappuccino with low thyroid function
Did you know that low thyroid function is often caused by some other condition first, and often adrenal gland stress and blood sugar problems are the culprits?
Translation? High sugar, high caffeine beverages (coffee drinks, energy drinks, etc.). These stimulate the adrenal stress response and cause serious blood sugar imbalances.
* Affect communication between the brain and glands that produce hormones. The hypothalamus and pituitary gland are the directors of hormone production and chronic adrenal stress can mess up communication with the thyroid.
* Increase thyroid binding activity, keeping thyroid hormones from getting absorbed by the cells of the body.
* Interfere with the conversion of T4 to active forms of T3 that the body can use.
* Affect detoxification pathways that clear out unnecessary thyroid hormone, when these get stuck in the body you can develop thyroid hormone resistance making cells lose their sensitivity to thyroid hormones.
* Weaken the immune barriers of the gut, lungs, and brain and weaken the immune system, in general. When this happens, you can have more immune flare ups and this can trigger your Hashimoto’s and make it worse.
Cause cortisol to be released to try to restore blood sugar balance (see the connection between the adrenals and blood sugar?)
* Cortisol directly inhibits the enzyme (5’-deiodinase) which converts inactive T4 into active T3. This can lead to low T3 levels.
* In addition, elevated cortisol will cause thyroid hormone receptor insensitivity meaning that even if T3 levels are high enough, they may not be able to bind normally to receptor sites. And when this happens it doesn’t get into the cells.
* Cortisol will also increase the production of reverse T3 (rT3) which is inactive. (It’s kind of like the anti-hormone.)
* rT3 can cause an increase in the production of substances known as thyronamines that can cause hypothyroid symptoms (like, low basal body temperature,fatigue, depression, etc.) along with insulin resistance symptoms of increased blood sugar.
* Cortisol can also lower the levels of protein that binds to thyroid hormone so it can circulate in a stable structure.
* And finally, elevated cortisol will slow TSH production by messing with hypothalamic-pituitary feedback leading to lower TSH production.
So put down that frozen frappuccino hypothyroid drink and your thyroid will thank you!