Health related overweight

[kennynevelyn]

I am new here. At the moment I am struggling with my weight. I suffer from Addison’s Disease. I am on steroids and will be for life. Alongside this I am having tests, CT scan due to my breathlessness. In March I had pneumonia in both lungs and since then have had several chest infections.

Meanwhile I am very overweight which has piled on since taking steroids. Can anyone give me ideas?

I may need help with discipline as I now have developed a sweet tooth.

[Loraine121]

Hi kennynevelyn , I have been on steroids for years for my asthma and I am on a Maintenance daily dose and it increases if I get a chest infection so I know how you feel I have put on loads of weight but I'm trying orlistat from the doctor and fallowing the slimming world eating plan it's hard as I to have a sweet tooth and big appetite but you can eat a lot on slimming world but the right things , it worth a try , good luck.

[kennynevelyn in reply to Loraine121]

Hi Loraine, thanks for your reply. I too have been on steroids for years for Asthma.

Addison’s is adrenal insufficiency i.e. my body does not make enough cortisol on its own and steroids have to be taken for life. I have tried SlimmingWorld and Scottish slimmers but without success. I hope that when I can lower the steroids and a diagnosis is found things will better.Meanwhile I keep trying to lose weight .

😂

[BadHare]

If your sweet tooth causes sugar cravings, try taking chelated magnesium at bedtime. It's best absorbed on an empty stomach, taken with water. As someone with a very sweet tooth, I eat fruit

when I have a sugar craving. There's just as much sugar as something bad, but I know I'm getting vitamin C, folate & fibre, rather than indigestion & spots.

I make a point of eating clean food at

home & only having less healthy foods when I'm out, I'm usually sorry after I eat something that's not good for me! I have fresh fruit & snack jars on my kitchen table that contain easy to grab foods. One contains walnuts, brazils & almonds, the other chia & linseeds. I eat 75-100g of these each day for protein, healthy oils, & minerals. Sometimes I treat myself to medjool dates which are sweet, but have low GI & good nutritional value. I end my eating day with a piece of dark chocolate (>70% cocoa solids). If I know I'll be out for more than a few hours, I carry a bottle of water, an apple or orange, & a tub of nuts & seeds & some chocolate, so there's no need to buy rubbish if I'm peckish.

I'm a fan of probiotics for improving gut health, digestion, & general wellbeing. Most days I drink half to one litre of kefir, which is nutritious & very easy to make. I find sticking to a high fat/low starch diet beneficial for me.

A lot of people feel better for removing all gluten from their diet, but be aware this is a lifelong change & not a quick fix as it takes 3 months for the effects of gluten to completely leave the body. Avoiding processed food is important, especially artificial sweeteners as they are toxic.

As with anyone's health, but especially those with hormone issues, it's essential to have a high level of nutrients in the body. The hormone system is "closed" which means any excess or insufficiency of one hormone will have a knock on effect on the other hormone glands' function. As your weight is an issue, it may be an idea to ask your endocrinologist or GP to test your thyroid hormones to see if your adrenal insufficiency or medication excess is affecting this. Testing T4 & TSH are not sufficient on their own. Free T4 & Free T3 need to be tested, too. Nutrients we need to have at at the highest end of the scale are iron & ferritin, vitamin D, B12, folate & Bs in general. If you get a copy of the test results, post them with the reference scale on the Thyroid UK forum. The admins & good people on there are very knowledgeable & helpful.

[kennynevelyn in reply to BadHare]

Thank you for your reply BadHare. It was interesting the information about nutrients and I intend to put this to good use. I had a thyroid test this past week. I have not had result. I had no idea aboutFree T 4 & Free T3 so I will follow this up.

Re ideas to deal with sweet tooth I do follow much of this but I’ll study the rest and incorporate into my diet.

Any information on high fat/low starch. Most advice re diet recommend low fat?

Kind regards

Evelyn

[BadHare in reply to kennynevelyn]

You're welcome, Evelyn!

GP sometimes get iffy about forther testing as they don'y know enough about thyroid health & the consequences. Take a look at the symptoms list & show your GP if you have a lot of these: thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

When you get your results, ask for a copy & post it, including the ranges which will be in brackets, on the Thyroid UK forum. My secondary hypothyroidism was missed for 40 years, weight issues were the least of the problems!

A lot of people find they loose weight swapping to a high fat low carb diet. I've known since my teens that starchy foods make me pile on weight, though I seem to be ok eating fruit. I limit rice & potatoes to small portions, & try to keep away from gluten as much as possble. If I eat bread, I buy sourdough that's broken the gluten down & enhances rather thant prevents iron absorption, which is an issue for me as I have little dietary iron. I eat a lot of nuts & seeds for good fat & protein. I need at least 40g of protein a day or I feel hungry & want to eat starch. My supper is usually kefir with 25g of chia & linseeds soaked for an hour, & 75g nuts so that's more than half my protein needs & os very filling. The oils are anti-inflammatory & help my arthritis as well as the my body.

chriskresser.com/7-things-e... This doctor has lots of excellent dietary & general health advice.

What's been sold to us as healthy has been found not to be so with regard to artificial sweeteners & processed vegetable fats. Margarines are chemically processed, so much that they're virtually plastic. Organic grass fed butter provides health benefits and the type of saturated fat that our brains need to function. It also tastes better. Some people loose weight initially with low fat diets, but it's not sustainable, or the slimming clubs wouldn't keep making money.

Mel