http://youtu.be/ZEJzjJGLWjE
Hey, people! Here’s a post I originally wrote for Hypothyroidmom as a guest post. I decided to make a video of it, as well for all you video fans.
As I’m sure you know, one of the most common concerns for people with Hashimoto’s and hypothyroidism is maintaining proper body weight.
For people with Hashimoto’s (the most common cause of hypothyroidism) this comes in 2 varieties. They gain weight and can’t lose it or they have trouble keeping it on.
In this post we will examine the many reasons why a lot of people with hypothyroidism have difficulty losing weight.
One of the obvious things that people think about with hypothyroidism and weight gain is the fact that the thyroid has an impact on the body’s metabolic rate.
What is metabolism, anyway? In technical terms, its the amount of oxygen used by the body over a particular amount of time. When this measurement is made at rest, it is called the basal metabolic rate or BMR.
Testing BMR was, once upon a time, used to assess a patient’s thyroid status. Those with lower BMRs were found to have underactive thyroids and those with overactive thyroids were found to have high BMRs.
Later studies showed that low thyroid hormone levels were linked to low BMRs. Then, most physicians decided to scrap testing BMR in favor of simply testing thyroid hormone levels because it is easier and it was found that the thyroid was not the only thing to influence metabolism.
High or low BMRs are associated with changes in energy balance. Energy balance comes down to the difference between how many calories one eats and how many calories one’s body burns.
Things that create a high BMR, like amphetamines for example, often cause a negative energy balance which results in weight loss. (This is one reason why you tend not to see many overweight speed freaks.)
Based on this, many people originally assumed that changes in thyroid hormone levels which can lead to changes in BMR should lead to the same changes and the same weight losses (Minus the lost teeth and paranoia).
Well, as with most things related to the body, it turns out that its more complicated than that. Other hormones, proteins and neurotransmitters have also been found to be part of the mix and these all also have influence on energy, food intake and body weight.
Some of them that are worth taking a look at and dealing with are leptin, insulin, neuropeptide Y, serotonin and inflammatory proteins like interleukin 6 (IL-6).
Physiologically, evolution takes quite a long time (relative to our sweet, short lives). And our ancestors evolved in a calorie poor environment where fat was pretty hard to come by.
As a hunter gatherer on the open plains of Africa, our forefathers (and foremothers) had to expend a lot of energy to get food and there wasn’t a whole lot of fat around.
Most prey was pretty lean and grass fed and there weren’t too many fast food joints (The fossil record has yet to reveal a single Mickey D’s).
As a result, our bodies developed a natural tendency to store whatever fat was available. And that fat got programmed with some pretty ingenious innate intelligence.
One of those ingenious adaptations from the clever mind of fat is the hormone leptin.
Leptin is a hormone that is made in your fat cells and it is involved in maintaining body weight. Interestingly enough, it also has influence on the thyroid.
Leptin acts as an important control system that communicates to other organs about the state of your fat balance and whether to eat more or stay in low-metabolism survival state. (Where, oh where, have all the wildebeest gone?)
When you have more fat cells, you get higher leptin levels.
The high leptin lets your hypothalamus (a kind of master endocrine gland in your brain) know that you don’t need to eat as much, so metabolism slows (and this signals you to make more Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH), and this raises TSH) and the TSH tells your thyroid to make more thyroid hormone.
This is what happens when everything is working properly. But with Hashimoto’s and hypothyroidism, lots of things are often not working properly and many people develop leptin resistance.
You may have heard of insulin resistance (if you haven’t, read about it here). Well, leptin resistance is similar and often co-exists. In fact, both are consequences of obesity.
With insulin resistance your body’s insulin receptors get fatigued because they have to deal with so much sugar. (They just give up and say “Uncle”). A lot of people in the US, today, has some degree of this.
With hypothyroidism, people often become overweight and use less energy. The increased amounts of fat and the lower energy use can result in leptin resistance and you wind up with a vicious cycle where leptin stops doing its job.
Its stops telling you when to eat and it stops signaling your thyroid.
Of course, many people’s natural inclination when they gain weight is to go on a diet to try and lose it. Often these people will keep dieting and fail and then diet again and get all stressed out about it because its not working.
And guess what? Chronic dieting and/or major stress are common causes of leptin resistance.
As a result, leptin no longer signals your hypothalamus and your metabolism slows down.
Leptin resistance makes the hypothalamus believe that you are in starvation mode, and you make more fat, and slow down thyroid hormone production.
So, TSH goes down, you don’t convert as much T3 from T4, and your reverse T3 goes up. And, in what can only be described as unfair and cruel, your appetite actually increases, you can also become insulin resistant, and fat breakdown (lipolysis) slows down.
So a vicious cycle is created in which more fat accumulates, you’re hungrier and your thyroid is slower.
Over time, you gain weight, especially around the mid-section, and it becomes more difficult to lose the weight and accumulated fat.
With Hashimoto’s (and hypothyroidism) one of the most serious problems is inflammation. In fact, a destructive inflammatory process is really what is at the root of all autoimmune diseases (of which Hashimoto’s is one.)
Leptin controls and influences the immune system, too. It is chemically very similar in structure to IL-6, which is an inflammatory cytokine (immune protein) that studies have shown to be significantly elevated in women with Hashimoto’s.
One of the places where can find high concentrations of IL-6 is in the fat that accumulates around the abdomen. This adipose tissue is highly inflammatory and can, itself, lead to the progression and more aggressive proliferation of many diseases.
Low vitamin D has also been associated with both insulin and leptin resistance. And vitamin D is an important anti-inflammatory that is often low in people with hypothyroidism.
Your perception of hunger is intimately linked to your brain chemistry. Normally, when things are working properly, your hypothalamus gets signals that you need energy and a brain neurotransmitter called neuropeptide Y (NPY- not to be confused with NYPD) is released.
It makes you you want to eat more carbohydrates (think overwhelming urge to finish that can of Pringles). That surge is what makes you feel cravings and hunger.
Once your body has had enough carbohydrates, the brain releases serotonin which is your brain’s way of saying, “Put down the bag and step away from the counter.”
Studies have shown that NPY is an important go between of leptin in the central nervous system and the hypothalamus. And that giving people NPY suppressed circulating levels of thyroid hormone (T(3) and T(4)) and resulted in an inappropriately normal or low TSH.
So, high levels of NPY can actually lead to functional hypothyroidism. And leptin’s job is to suppress NPY. So once again, we have the makings of another vicious cycle.
This also may be yet another reason why TSH testing can be unreliable in circumstances involving leptin and insulin resistance and weight gain due to hypothyroidism. (A set of circumstances that is ridiculously common.)
Another neurotransmitter that is impacted by hypothyroidism is serotonin. As we saw above, one of the many roles of serotonin is to tell you to stop eating those crazy carbohydrates.
Thyroid hormone and serotonin have an intimate relationship and many studies have shown that thyroid hormones impact virtually all neurotransmitters in the brain.
So, with hypothyroidism you also may have less serotonin production and all the accompanying emotional and physiological problems related to that, like depression and minimized signaling that tells you to stop eating.
The cravings don’t go away, they intensify with weight gain and hypothyroidism. And this is all accompanied by emotional discomfort that makes you want to reach for that high carb comfort food.
Naturally, we can’t leave you there. Let’s talk about what to do about all of this.
In a simple sense the root of all of this can be summed up with one word: inflammation. Being overweight is a problem of inflammation. So is Hashimoto’s, the most common cause of hypothyroidism.
So the most important thing to do is to reduce inflammation. And if you do that you can start to unwind many of these hormonal and neurotransmitter disruptions that are leading you down the road to feeling really crappy a lot of the time.
One place to start is with some version of the Paleo diet. There are many versions, with my patients I use a version that is tailored for people with autoimmune disease.
This is also called the elimination diet and is very restrictive. But it is also very effective. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
If you want to unwind all of these vicious cycles and to reset leptin and insulin you can’t mess around and use half measures. When things get bad, half measures do not result in half results. They result in disappointment or worse, no results.
This diet involves the elimination of virtually everything that is inflammatory in your diet and it removes almost all of the carbohydrates that lead to most of the problems we have described, too.
This allows your body to convert from a sugar burning leptin and insulin resistant machine to a happy fat burning ecosystem. It also reduces systemic inflammation.
This is absolutely essential, but often, the diet is not enough. As we have seen here, many systems are involved (and this is just the tip of the iceberg).
Over time, these various systems start to break down because of the influence of thyroid hormone on virtually every aspect of our physiology -link. The impact of hypothyroidism is felt everywhere.
This can cause problems in all the other systems of your body including your adrenals, your liver, your heart, your pancreas, your brain, your blood and much more.
Other things to add to the mix are natural anti-inflammatories like Vitamin D, turmeric, glutathione and lots of fruits and vegetables high in anti-oxidants.
Also, it should be noted that the Paleo diet recommended here is not the all meat all the time variety.
It is a diet that consists of meat, and lots of vegetables, healthy fats like coconut oil, olive oil and fat from grass fed, organic animals and a healthy amount of fruit (featuring low glycemic varieties).
In addition, it is super important to eliminate from your diet other foods that are inflammatory like gluten, dairy products, soy, artificial sweeteners and processed foods.
The other important ingredient is exercise. If you have Hashimoto’s or hypothyroidism this can be a real challenge because many people don’t have the energy to do anything.
But it’s really important that you do and that you do it consistently and at a relatively high intensity. For some people you may only be able to do high intensity for a few minutes a few times a week. Here’s a post I did on this that discusses how to exercise with Hashimoto’s.
But gradually, as your lose the weight and the inflammation you will have more efficient energy reserves and distribution and you will turn this oppressive trend of downward spirals on its head and create a positive upward momentum towards weight loss and healing.
It can be done. It takes commitment and it takes perseverance. But, the results are well worth the effort.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20205113 – IL-6 and Hashimoto’s
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21528812 – low vitamin D and insulin resistance
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11356711 -NPY inhibits HPT axis
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21914774 – leptin resistance and neuropeptide y
http://www.nature.com/mp/journal/v7/n2/full/4000963a.html – thyroid hormone and serotonin
http://thyroid.about.com/cs/dietweightloss/a/losingweight.htm
http://www.jackkruse.com/chapter-one-on-leptin/ – good discussion on leptin
http://endo.endojournals.org/content/138/10/4485.short – leptin and thyroid hormone
http://www.eje-online.org/content/149/4/257.full.pdf -leptin and thyroid dysfunction
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18840640 -obesity in children and thyroid dysfucntion
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18852923 – relationship between TSH and BMI
With Hashimoto’s: How Much Is Too Much?
People often ask me about exercise. What’s the best kind of exercise for Hashimoto’s?
There are 2 types and both can be beneficial. But the real key is not to overdo it. If you do too much you defeat the purpose of exercise and you wind up doing more harm than good.
The first type is simple and slow.
Walking, slow jogging, slow cycling or other exercises like yoga, tai chi or qigong that involve endurance can support your adrenals. This type of exercise can decrease cortisol, help with blood flow and circulation and normalize blood pressure.
Something like this should be part of your routine a few times a week.
The second type involves high intensity for short duration. This should also be part of the mix.
According to research, the optimal exercise level to achieve all the health benefits described above is high intensity: when doing this you will:
* Break a sweat after 3-5 minutes
* Breathe deeply and rapidly
* Only talk in short phrases while you are doing this.
You want to go hard enough to achieve 70% or greater of your maximum heart rate. This can be calculated by this simple equation: 220 – your age in years = your maximum heart rate.
There is a fine line between the right amount of exercise which can really improve health and too much which can actually cause more health problems.
The key point is this: The more intense the exercise, the greater the potential for health benefits that include everything mentioned above, but also the greater risk of doing too much and this results in the loss of all those benefits.
This is especially true if you suffer from an autoimmune disease like Hashimoto’s because you may not be able to exercise like a normal person and you may reach the threshold of maximum benefit sooner than people who do not have this condition.
So the best thing to do is to start slow and gradually build. And the objective is not to “feel the burn” or “pain is gain”. You are in enough pain. The object is to feel better, feel energized and feel the beneficial effects of exercise. If you are wiped out after your workout, you’ve gone too far.
Start small and only increase when you feel like what you are doing is physically not demanding enough. A high intensity workout can be beneficial if you doing as little as 5 minutes per day. Err on the side of too little, if you’re not sure.
Here’s a longer blog post that really goes into detail and provides a great 7 minute high intensity work out. Check it out and try it!
There is no question that exercise is a very important part of any healthy lifestyle. This is especially true if you have an autoimmune disease. However, when you exercise with Hashimoto’s you must be careful to do it properly or you can wind up doing more harm than good.
In this post we examine new research on exercise and look at the best type of exercise program for people with Hashimoto’s.
Exercise has many health benefits and many of these are hugely important if you suffer from Hashimoto’s. In my last post, I mentioned a lecture I attended that was taught by Dr. Datis Kharrazian, here is some additional information I learned and how I think it applies to Hashimoto’s people. According to Dr. Kharrazian, the benefits of exercise include:
* Growth Hormone Release
* Opioid Response
* Nitric Oxide Synthase (eNOS) Responses
* Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Release
* Insuline Receptor Sensitivity
* Immune Enhancement
Growth hormone stimulates cell reproduction and regeneration, and growth in our bodies. It also has a number of positive effects on our nervous, endocrine, and immune systems
A lot of growth hormone’s effects are felt in the liver where it can improve the burning of body fat, improve blood glucose levels and increase protein synthesis.
It also has important effects on the nervous system where it can improve synapses in the brain. It also improves heart function, immune function and decreases recovery time.
In addition, it has been found to increase calcium absorption and improve bone density.
Studies have shown that growth hormone release is increased with increased exercise intensity. (So walking on a treadmill and watching t.v. probably won’t result in much being released.)
Hypothyroidism can cause increases in body fat and alter lipid metabolism, and can lead to poorer absorption of calcium and protein. So these effects can be very beneficial for Hashimoto’s patients.
Exercise has been found to release the body’s natural opioids called endorphins and enkephalins. This is commonly known as the “runner’s high” or that blissful feeling that you get after certain kinds of exercise and sports.
Endorphins have many positive effects including pain relief, stress reduction, and improving our moods. Exercise can also result in the release of more dopamine and serotonin both of which are responsible for happiness and satisfaction with life and relationships.
Studies have shown that moderately high to high intensity exercise stimulates the release of these natural proteins. It also seems to depend on the individual with some people needing to do more than others.
Hypothyroidism can lead to declines in dopamine and serotonin and to feelings of depression and overwhelm. Some of the most widely prescribed drugs for Hashimoto’s people are anti-depressants, so exercise can have huge benefits for these people, as well.
Nitric Oxide Synthases (NOS) are enzymes that can do both good and bad things in the body. Increased eNOS (endothethelial NOS) increases blood flow which can get more blood to the brain, can improve heart health and can get more nutrients and oxygen to our bodies’ cells. This results in tissue repair and more energy.
Increased nNOS (neuronal NOS) causes more muscle contraction and brain focus which results in improved performance in various activities.
On the other hand, increased iNOS (inducible NOS) can result in a host of bad things like: surges in destructive immune cells called cytokines, damage to mitochondria and inflammation. Too much of this can lead to injury, muscle wasting and breakdown and pain.
(Arginine is an important nutrient for iNOS and should be avoided before exercise.)
NOS plays a key role in cardiovascular, immune and brain function. All things that can be compromised in Hashimoto’s people.
It seems that the right amount of exercise is key for getting the right amounts of the right kinds of NOS. Too little and you won’t get the benefits, too much and you get the damaging consequences mentioned above. One again, the key is high intensity, but not for too long.
BDNF helps with nerve growth and differentiation in the brian. It is very important in building new nerve pathways and preserving and keeping healthy old ones. So it is critically important in maintaining a healthy brain and in slowing the destruction of nerves in the brain that can lead to dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Exercise increases levels of BDNF and also improves brain function. Once again (are you seeing a trend emerging?), the amount released is dependent on the intensity of the exercise.
Brain fog and neuro-degeneration are very common complaints from people with Hashimoto’s. This is caused by numerous things, but the underlying mechanism is inflammation caused by immune cells and the destruction of brain cells.
Problems with insulin resistance are very common in today’s society and are a driving force in the initiation of Hashimoto’s. It can also prevent people from getting any better once they have developed the disease.
Insulin normally helps sugar get into cells, when people become insulin resistant because they are exposed to too much sugar, the cells of the body start blocking insulin because they can’t deal with so much sugar.
This person feels like she needs to nap after every meal, and may actually fall asleep after eating a carbohydrate rich meal. This person will also have belly fat and will complain of insomnia.
Insulin resistance can drag down thyroid function and contributes to diabetes, heart disease, sleep apnea, hormone problems, obesity and certain types of cancer.
Aerobic and strength-training exercises improve insulin sensitivity by increasing the number of protein molecules called glucose transporters (GLUT), which allow your cells to better respond to insulin.
Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune disease. The immune system has short circuited and attacks the thyroid as if it were a foreign invader.
Exercise can be very beneficial for improving immune function. The right kind of exercise can be helpful in healing the gut and in improving gastrointestinal immunity. Since 70% of the immune system lives in the gut, this can be very beneficial.
But, excessive exercise can actually cause major problems with immune function. And if you have Hashimoto’s it is very important not to overtrain or you can wipe out all of the benefits and actually make many things worse.
It is clear that exercise can be very beneficial for Hashimoto’s patients, but what is the right kind and the right amount?
According to research, the optimal exercise level to achieve all the health benefits described above is high intensity: when doing this you will:
* Break a sweat after 3-5 minutes
* Breathe deeply and rapidly
* Only talk in short phrases while you are doing this.
You want to go hard enough to achieve 70% or greater of your maximum heart rate. This can be calculated by this simple equation: 220 – your age in years = your maximum heart rate.
There is a fine line between the right amount of exercise which can really improve health and too much which can actually cause more health problems.
The key point is this: The more intense the exercise, the greater the potential for health benefits that include everything mentioned above, but also the greater risk of doing too much and this results in the loss of all those benefits.
This is especially true if you suffer from an autoimmune disease like Hashimoto’s because you may not be able to exercise like a normal person and you may reach the threshold of maximum benefit sooner than people who do not have this condition.
Dr. Kharrazian also noted that there are a number of things that can make exercise not work for you. If you have any of these conditions, you must be very careful not to overdo it when working out.
These conditions include:
* Pre-existing high or low cortisol levels
* Pre-existing systemic inflammation
* Pre-existing immune weakness
* Pre-existing intestinal permeability
* Pre-existing hormone imbalance
* Pre-existing nutrient deficiencies
* Pre-existing obesity
People who suffer from Hashimoto’s often have a majority of conditions from that list, which means they are very vulnerable to getting worse as the result of exercise.
There are a number of signs and symptoms that can help you identify if you are working out too much.
Performance Signs and Symptoms
If you have a hard time recovering from workouts, can’t complete your workouts, notice your performance is declining or that you have more injuries then you may be doing too much.
Psychological Signs and Symptoms
If you are exercising frequently and you notice a loss of motivation and enthusiasm, a loss of competitive drive, depression, irritability or aggression for minor reasons then you may be doing too much.
Physical Signs and Symptoms
If you are exercising regularly and you notice that you have a weakened immune system, a loss of libido, loss of menstrual cycle, decreased muscle strength or unexplained increases or decreases in weight then you may be over doing it.
The Best Workout: Maximum Results With Minimal Energy Expenditure
An article in the May-June issue of the American College of Sports Medicine’s Health & Fitness Journal offers an example of an optimal 7 minute workout that can be used as a starting point for Hashimoto’s patients and can be utilized to achieve all the health benefits without causing any of the negative effects of overtraining.
I really like this workout because it can help you achieve all the health benefits we have discussed in a very short time, it works on your entire body and it can be modified so that you can do more or less.
This entire workout can be done at home, in a hotel room or anywhere that has an open room and a chair. You don’t need to purchase any equipment and you can do it by yourself without having to hire a personal trainer or therapist.
The entire workout is 7 minutes and you can repeat the circuit up to 3 times. It consists of 12 different exercises each done at high intensity for 30 seconds.
For people with Hashimoto’s, I recommend starting with one cycle and seeing how you feel. For some, even a 7 minute workout will prove to be too much. If that is the case, cut the 30 second intervals in half.
If you are able to do all 12 exercises as suggested for 30 seconds then do one interval for one to 2 weeks (a minimum of 4 times per week). Repeat the entire sequence after 2 weeks and then add a third repetition after an additional 2 weeks. If pressed for time, you can simply do 1 round of 7 minutes.
The optimal time to get most benefit is within 10 minutes after you wake up, before you have had breakfast. This is the perfect time to exercise because you can take advantage of your body’s natural cortisol surge and exercising before breakfast will also help you burn fat more efficiently and help reduce insulin resistance.
For my patients and myself, I recommend taking a drink that provides electrolytes (not Gatorade – which is loaded with sugar). Here’s a recipe for a simple Electrolyte Lemonade:
Electrolyte Lemonade:
3 organic lemons, peeled, but leave white pith intact
3 tablespoons coconut oil, olive oil or flax oil
1 organic pear, cored
1 tablespoon Celtic sea salt or Himalayan Salt
6 cups filtered water
Blend everything well in a Vitamixer, makes 1 pitcher
Drink 1 glass before your workout.
It is also recommended to support nitric oxide synthase production. The following nutrients and co-factors can do this: ATP, N-Acetyl L-Carnitine, Huperzine A, Alpha-GPC, Vinpocetine and Xanithol Nicotinate. This will help boost eNOS and nNos.
After the workout take something that will reduce inflammation and support the immune system like turmeric and/or resveratrol and another glass of electrolyte lemonade.
Hashimoto’s is a complicated condition that can impact all the major systems of the body. In order to treat it effectively, you really need to adopt a lifestyle that supports you with the right kind of diet, exercise and supplement regimen to get you feeling your best and to slow or stop the destructive progress of the autoimmune disease.
Would like help in designing the right kind of diet, exercise and supplement regimen from someone who has worked with over 2,000 people with Hashimoto’s?
I offer a free 30 minute Hashimoto’s Healing Strategy Session. In it you can share where you are, where you want to be and I can give you some recommendations that will help right away.
Book your session now: https://hashimotoshealing.as.me/strategy
The Neuroendocrine Immunology of Exercise, Dr. Datis Kharrazian, 2013
Opioids and Exercise. An Update. Sports Med. 1989 Feb;7(2):109-124
Life Food Recipe Book, Annie Padden Jubb and David Jubb, North Atlantic Books, 2003, page 186, Electrolyte Lemonade
Hashimoto’s is the most common autoimmune disease in the United States. And one of the most common complaints for people with Hashimoto’s and hypothyroidism is that they have difficulty with weight loss.
This is even true for people who are taking thyroid replacement hormone (especially T4), exercising and eating well. It seems that no matter what they do they just can not get the weight off.
There are many reasons for this and in this post I will explore 4 secrets to weight loss that new research has revealed.
The old model of your metabolism and hormone levels, alone, being the reasons for success or failure of your weight problems is proving to be outdated.
In the old model, the primary reasons for difficulty with weight loss are: eating too much, or eating too much food laced with sugar, fat and salt ( this is a still a real problem for many). In addition, a lack of exercise and hormone related problems like not enough thyroid hormone or excess cortisol.
While these are very real issues and should be considered in any weight related treatment, they have been shown to not be the answer for many women (and men ) with Hashimoto’s struggling with their weight.
I recently attended a seminar taught by Dr. Datis Kharrazian, one of the world’s leading experts on the treatment of thyroid issues with functional medicine, called The Neuroendocrine Immunology of Exercise and he taught us about this new research that has discovered an entirely new model of causes for stubborn weight gain.
This model involves causes of weight problems that are related to the immune system. And this makes sense for people with Hashimoto’s because it is an autoimmune disease and a thyroid disorder.
If blood tests show that your TSH and T4 levels are “normal”, you are eating well and exercising and you still can’t lose weight, then this may be exactly what is going on with you.
According to Dr. Kharrazian, in the immune system model, there are 4 main reasons for stubborn weight gain.
They are:
* The mix of bacteria in your gut
* Intestinal permeability (also known as leaky gut)
* Low grade inflammation
* Immune reactive dietary proteins
Let’s explore each one of these in more detail.
An important thing to understand is that your body is an ecosystem, or really, a lot of interconnected ecosystems. And the digestive tract is one of the most complex and dynamic of them all.
Each one of us has their own unique mix of bacteria and other organisms that live in our guts. This mix is determined by our genetic profile, our diets, what medications we have taken and our environment.
There are an estimated 100 trillion different cells and over 1,000 different species of bacteria. 90% of these species belong to 2 families: Firmicutes and Bacteriodetes.
New research has shown that the balance of these 2 bacterial species matters for whether or not you are able to lose weight.
In obese and overweight people, there is more Firmicutes than Bacteriodetes. The balance between these 2 species of bacteria generates certain signals to specific genes in the intestines that produce more fat cells.
It is also interesting to note that, according to the research, Lactobacillus bacteria (the most common species sold in over the counter probiotics) actually increases body weight. Both dairy and non-dairy sources.
What that means is that while probiotics may be beneficial for the ecosystem of your gut they are not that helpful in helping you shed the pounds.
Firmicutes really like junk food. To feed them and gain weight, eat like your average American. To starve them and lose weight, read on.
The more important question is: how do you increase the Bacteriodetes? It seems these little critters really like plants. And the best way to increase their number is to increase the amount of plant based foods and fiber in your diet.
Especially oligosaccharides (found in Jerulsalem artichokes, and onions, leeks, garlic asparagus and jicama, etc.) and monosaccharides (found in pears, grapes, peaches, apples, pineapples, apricots, bananas, yams, carrots, onions, and sweet potatoes). And other plant based fibers that come from green leafy vegetables, green tea, etc.
These get fermented in the colon by the good guys and help you to become a mean, lean weight loss machine! But, just so you know, this is not something you can change in 5 minutes or 5 days. It may take a few months to alter this environment.
While it is true that people with Hashimoto’s often suffer from intestinal permeability or leaky gut syndrome, new research shows that this can also lead to fat around the organs.
In leaky gut, the intestines lose their ability to keep tiny particles of all sorts of stuff out of the bloodstream. It turns out that there may be a connection between a fatty liver and the breakdown of the gut barrier system.
In addition, zonulin, a protein that is used by the intestines to bind tight junctions, leaks into the blood stream when people have a breakdown of this barrier. It is also increased with obesity associated insulin resistance.
Finally, the toxins that are produced by bacteria known as lipopolysaccharides have also been linked to obesity and the onset of diabetes.
Bottom line: If you want a smaller gut, you need to heal your leaky gut.
Autoimmune disease is a disease that is closely linked to inflammation. So is type 2 diabetes, so is eating a lousy diet and eating too much sugar, salt and fat.
What research is now showing us, is that obesity is also an inflammatory condition. It is becoming less clear which came first. One thing we now know is that adipose tissue (fat tissue) produces inflammation in the body all by itself.
So you have the creation of this destructive cycle of abnormal gut bacteria and leaky gut leading to a process (insulin and leptin resistance) which makes glucose not able to enter cells. When glucose can’t enter cells it gets converted into fat in the liver (triglycerides). These fat cells start the whole process all over again.
Leptin is one of the main hormones involved in hunger, metabolism and the control of how energy from carbs and fats get stored and used. It comes from the Greek word ‘leptos’ meaning thin.
The amount of leptin produced directly correlates with weight loss or weight gain. (Women have significantly higher circulating leptin than men).
Leptin resistance is very similar to insulin resistance. With insulin resistance, long term elevated levels of insulin make your muscle and fat cells more resistance to the action of insulin.
Chronic elevated levels of leptin end up making you eat way too much. And abnormal gut bacteria and leaky gut feed this process as well (pun intended ;)).
This whole process creates more fat tissue which causes more inflammation, and on and on it goes, snow balling and making it harder and harder to lose weight.
So you can see, while this is kind of complicated, it is hugely important to do everything you can to reduce inflammation that is the root cause of everything that we have just examined.
Certain proteins can also add gasoline to the flames of inflammation.
Everything that is living in our world is made of proteins. With autoimmune disease the immune system confuses our own proteins with that of an invader like a virus or a food we are allergic to.
There are some proteins in our diet that can cause an immune response that can also lead to inflammation and add more insult to injury.
These proteins are found in gluten, dairy and soy and in some other foods called cross reactors. You can learn more about them in this post.
These need to be eliminated from the diet if you want to lose weight because this will begin to unwind the vicious cycle of inflammation at the root of the immune system’s influence on weight gain.
Bye bye inflammation, bye bye weight.
Have you had trouble losing the pounds even though your lab test numbers look “normal”?
Do you eat well and exercise, but still can’t lose the pounds?
Do you experience the common symptoms of inflammation like brain fog (inflammation of the brain), joint pain (inflammation of the joints), thyroid nodules (inflammation of the thyroid) and weight gain (body wide inflammation).
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The Neuroendocrine Immunology of Exercise, Dr. Datis Kharrazian, 2013
Diabetes. 2007 Jul; 56(7): 1762-1772. Metabolic endotoxemia initiates obesity and insulin resistaence.