In todays Daily Telegraph

Binge (Properly)

The word “binge” tends to conjure up negative connotations – images of people seeking solace in a biscuit tin, or eating obscene amounts of ribs after a particularly heavy workout. But science shows that when binging is done right, it can actually be an incredibly useful nutritional tool to have in your dietary arsenal.

Research published in the American Journal of Physiology sought to analyse the effect calorie restriction has on our thyroid hormones such as T4 and T3. These play a key role in the management of our metabolism. Perhaps surprisingly, they discovered that “during caloric restriction, transport of T4 and T3 into tissues is diminished”. The conclusion basically suggested that eating like a squirrel on a diet will leave you’re hormonally handicapped to burn fat. Bad news for dieters.

However, swinging to the other end of the spectrum appears to offer positive effects. Research published in nutritional journal Effectors of Thermogenesis states that, “serum thyroid levels are increased by over nutrition.” So, a huge, tactical homemade burger or a well-timed mountain of cheesecake can in fact serve to regulate your fat burning hormones and get your metabolism firing correctly. Of course, timing is key here: it's not something you'd want to do regularly, and exercise should never be far away.

Yummy, I would love (gluten and dairy free) cheesecake - is there such a thing??

4 Replies

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  • I always said that dieting has made me fat! The last dietician I was sent to by GP told me that everytime we deny ourselves food in strict diets out metabolism lowers by 15% and is unlikely to regain itself very easily. I have been dieting on and off since I was 18 (now 55) and I am now classed as morbidly obese (I hate that label it sounds evil). I have put on at least a stone a year in the last 8 years or more and it doesnt matter how hard I exercise or how little I eat I still dont lose weight. Not even when I am sick. My last TSH was 5.37 and my GPrefuses to acknowledge the problem may be my thyroid. As usual Im told if i lose weight I will feel better! Joolz.x

  • No you won't. Well, not much, anyway. It's great to be able to fit into smaller clothes and not feel complexed about what you wear, but it has no real effect on your other hypo symptoms. When are these doctors going to learn???

    Your TSH is way too high, but I don't suppose your idiodoc will treat you until it hits 10! If your TSH is too high, then your T3 is way too low, and that's why you're putting on weight and not able to lose it. And, in fact, not just dieting makes it worse, but so does exercising, because it uses up all your T3 and you can't easily make more. Therefore you become more hypo and put on more weight.

    The reason dieting and exercising won't help you are because the weight gain is not likely to be fat. It's more than likely water, held in place by a nasty supstance called mucin.

    Also, if you are dieting and exercising at the same time, you will have another problem, and that is calorie deficiency. The exercising uses up all your limited calories and therefore there is none left for conversion, so you become more hypo and put on more weight!

    But all this is far too complicated to be absorbed by the tiny minds of doctors! They know nothing about weigh-gain, weight-lose, nutrition or anything connected. The worst thing you could do is take nutritional advice from a doctor!

    The best way to lose weight and reset your metabolism is to get your T3 optimised. Other than that...

    Hugs, Grey

  • Thank you so much for your advise. I knew TSH was too high from reading this site but you know what these "medically trained" people are like they just dont want to know. After all we are just patients what would we know! All they seem to offer me is gastric band surgery. Probably because they are on commision. I have been on supplements of D3 and B12 for about 2 months now as my previous GP told me that my D3 @ 43 was just right and I know from this site that this is not right so I went and got D3 supplements along with Jarrows B12. I have also started probiotics, magnesium, calcium and Zinc and have been looking into getting Nutrithroid from Amazon to try to get my T3 up. Thanks again. Gentle hugs Joolz.x

  • :)

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