I'm trying to sort my diet out to help with auto immune and don't know where to start! I'm recently vegan and most of my diet was made up with things in that have gluten in. From what I understand I shouldn't eat gluten, soya, dairy or sugar, is that right? I'm quite a fussy eater and it feels like they'll be nothing left to choose from as I don't eat meat or fish.
I was wondering, what are the most important foods I should cut out? Is there anyone else who is vegan too? How do you cope?!
Thank you!
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Hattie87
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Gluten-free might help you feel better - especially if you have Hashi's - or it might not. But worth trying to find out.
Sugar, not in excess, obviously, but perhaps stick to non-refined sugar.
Not everyone needs to give up dairy. Depends how it affects you.
I know there are some who would have you give up just about everything - including most vegetables! But that's neither helpful nor realistic. Apart from soy, just eat what suits you, and if it doesn't, cut it out. The whole thyroid journey is made of trial and error.
If you're cutting out meats, fish and dairy then I would have thought you need to make sure you get enough healthy fats in your diet. Olive oil, avocado oil and coconut oil are good I believe but research it and find out. Eat as wide a range of vegetables as possible. If you have a good market near you, you might find international foods like plantain, okra and sweet potato to add to your veg basket. Split red lentils are a great addition for soups, stews, curries. Buckwheat noodles sound like they have gluten but they don't and make a good quick meal if you add a vegetable soup base and top with greens. I'm not vegan, by the way and I do use a small amount of gluten free soy sauce as it's fermented and I don't find it causes me problems.
I lost a lot of weight on the diet, my health really improved. Inflammation markers went right down and energy went up. I also credit turmeric with lowering inflammation.
Most civilisations have survived on a starch based diet. Look at the slimmest cultures, and their diet is based around starches- especially rice.
There are loads of people on his programme who've recovered from serious illness, diabetes, obesity using the way of eating. It's just really simple. Look around on his website at all the success stories. drmcdougall.com/health/educ...
Not sure if I'm allowed to post links about doctors, but this is a woman who had Lupus and Hashimotos who was helped by the Dr McDougall diet.
My Father in law reversed his diabetes with this way of eating, it's crazy more people (including Drs that happily hand out pills) don't know about it!
Amazing! It's really heartening to read stories of people who've recovered using the McDougall diet, and it's so simple.
I did the elimination diet and found my triggers. So I eat quite a simple diet, but I feel so much healthier I don't miss the junk (I was a junk food vegan).
I'm guessing you've heard of Dr Gregor but if not then I really recommend his books and youtube (I must admit I do have a weird 'boffin' crush on him!).
I'm going to have to just bite the bullet and go all out with an elimination diet and then focus on whole foods again, I've definitely been getting a bit too into the more processed side of vegan food recently and I don't think it's helping, my blood results were getting better and better then all of sudden worse again, the only thing that's different is my diet as I got a bit slack once I started to feel better! Thanks for your links
Yeah, I know Dr Greger- I got his book from the library. He's awesome!
I do love some vegan junk food, but I just feel healthiest eating simple whole food diet. I don't care if people think it's extreme, I personally feel this is how we are supposed to eat. So many people have been helped/ cured by this way of eating. Plus it feels good to take control of your health.
Totally agree and personally I think it's more extreme to take manufactured drugs by the handful just because it's easier than giving up sausages! My Partner has slightly high cholesterol (part genetic) and when discussing with the Dr that we'd recently gone predominantly plant based the Dr still told us that it was fine to eat chicken and he could write a prescription for statins...it's crackers!
Just 6 months of plant based eating later and his cholesterol and triglycerides had dropped by 25%, he wasn't even particularly strict and defo had some vegan junk in there!
If you are a fussy eater I 'd start with trying to adapt recipes you already like, go to your local supermarket and look at their gluten free shelves ( even Lidl have their own brand range) and look what you could swop to gluten free from your current diet eg flours, pasta, porridge oats/ breakfast cereals etc. Keep a ready cut gluten free loaf in the freezer for just your use , as is very expensive if rest of the family starts eating it too! There are 100s of gluten free sites / recipes online . Experiment/try some different ingredients like coconut flour ( even sugar), or rice- based products. I had heard, as Nanaedake suggests, that proper traditional soy sauce that is fermented is acceptable but you'll have to check available brands in UK.
Humans are omnivores. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with lots of vegetables, amino acids and healthy saturated fats are essential to health. They support your structure, support detoxification, and are essential for brain health.
A starch based diet is a recipe for diabetes and obesity.
My mom was a vegan for 5 years and it completely destroyed her health. I used to be vegetarian, but learned the hard way that we were meant to eat animal protein. Wild fish and organic meat and eggs are healthy for you.
'A starch based diet is a recipe for diabetes and obesity' is just scientifically untrue.
It is true that sugars affect people that have diabetes but if you cut out all meat and dairy products you reverse the diabetes and can eat as much starch as you like. Sugar, simple or otherwise, does not cause diabetes.
Check out Dr Neal Barnard for a straight forward explanation and eating plan - he has changed my family's life
Also, consider Dr Gregor's 'How not to die' book for why meat and fish are terrible for your health - it's referenced with thousands of properly researched scientific research papers.
Saying a 'vegan/vegetarian diet' is unhealthy is meaningless - a donut only diet could be classed as a vegan diet, it's all about what you're eating.
It is no fantasy, it is undeniably proven medical science. Yes, sugar spikes insulin, that is a natural response that is supposed to happen but that is not what causes diabetes. It's your body's inability to deal with insulin properly that causes problems and that is NOT CAUSED BY SUGAR or carbs in any form, it is caused by a reaction in the pancreas and the level of fat in the blood.
So, in summary, yes, if you're body is not responding to insulin properly then keep a low sugar diet but personally I would rather deal with the root cause, which I have done, which my Father in law and thousands of others have done that means they can come off diabetes medication and continue to eat all the carbs they want providing they do what's best for their pancreas.
The medical research on this very clear and very available. Thank you for your suggestion but I prefer to read properly researched and properly considered medical findings as I'm a researcher by profession and can tell the difference.
Do what you like, but don't give people bad advice that can promote diabetes, obesity, and cancer. Sugar and "all the carbs you like" will get you there.
Thomas Seyfried's "Cancer as a Metabolic Disease", the book "Tripping Over the Truth," and Taubes' "Good Calories, Bad Calories" are well-researched and thought provoking.
You can't be familiar with the research or you would understand that your points are factually incorrect - I am not promoting diabetes, obesity or cancer, quite the reverse actually. Once again, the books you are stating aren't proper evidence based science. Carbs and sugars exacerbate diabetes if you have it but they do not cause it.
I'd rather go to the source rather than reply on cherry picked information that people use to sell books. I read scientific journals for a living. It's not fantasy, it is proven bio chemistry. Eat a whole food plant based diet and you will be the healthiest you can be and that includes carbs. If humans weren't supposed to eat carbs then our brains wouldn't require glucose as fuel, it's a pretty obvious finding even for those without advanced degrees.
And, not everyone can use carbs. As Fluge and Mella published in their recent paper, certain patients have a pyruvate dehydrogenase block and burn aminos and not carbs for fuel.
The Taubes book shares scientific research with fat being uses for fuel.
And, the body can convert protein or fats to glucose for the brain to use.
The carbohydrates people should be eating are non-starchy, nutrient dense, high fiber vegetables. Terry Wahls' TED talk called "Minding Your Mitochondria" is a powerful story of the power of eating vegetables. She is an MD who has done extensive followup research on diet and health and has found value in healthy fats, wild fish, and organic meat, as well as the large amount of vegetables she recommends.
Whole food, plant based carbs, including starchy vegetables, do not cause diabetes, obesity or cancer. There is no benefit in eating fish or meat if you are getting a full range of nutrients from a whole food, plant based diet - there are however, great risks to developing diabetes, obesity and cancer.
Thanks, I've seen this before - I think it was debunked by someone / an organisation, I'll try to find the link and repost. But just by looking at the first couple of points they're a simplified interpretation though e.g. looking at the risk of kidney stones the author of this article states that meat eaters actually do better than vegetarians, but actually 'vegetarians' includes those that eat animal protein (which is the issue) so you need to split out that cohort. It all depends on what the vegetarians eat - if someone's eating eggs and cheese every meal, every day then their risk for kidney stones is potentially higher than a 'meat eater' who eats 2 thin slices of chicken breast (<50g is the data point in that study, which is basically half a sausage and isn't realistic in itself) and nothing else but plant food. This article makes it sound as eating a small amount of meat is beneficial for kidney stone risk, which is a misinterpretation in itself. Nutritionfacts.org pride themselves on not cherry picking so it's a strange angle to take but I'm a big advocate for checking the research for yourself. If it wasn't for the ethical side of things, mine and my partner's personal experience of the quantifiable health benefits (cholesterol, triglycerides, insulin etc.) and my father in law's reversal of diabetes in less than 6 weeks then I would be far more sceptical, it is almost unbelievable and has changed my family's life.
I’m trying to question all the diets as there is so much information around that I don’t know who to believe. I’m just thinking that as a species we wouldn’t have survived if we didn’t eat meat. My husband is on autoimmune diet where the only source of protein is meat so he eats it every day. I must say I’m worried about it but seeing how much the diet is already helped him, I can only think that it is beneficial. He only eats organic, grass-fed meat.
It's a nightmare isn't it, trying to work out what's best! I used to believe that you needed meat for protein, fish for omegas, dairy for calcium and that too much fruit gave you diabetes but now I know the complete opposite is true (now I've done proper research). I'm trying a basic elimination diet next week to see if I can work out any triggers that are making my Hashis / general energy levels worse - I currently still eat gluten, soy and nightshades etc. - it's such a minefield!
Most whole food has adequate protein in it if you're getting enough calories - you could literally get enough protein from carrots if you ate daily recommended calories worth. Almost no one in the western world is protein deficient, where as most people are fibre deficient so it's not something I worry about, though I eat a well balanced diet. Is your husband having to cut out all legumes, grains and complex carbs? It must be a tough diet to do long term!
I think the whole meat for evolution argument is a bit sketchy and I don't think there's a clear answer yet - I've seen as many arguments for as against and I've not had time to look at it in depth and i'm not sure it really matter. I think there's clear data of how bad animal protein is for us now in the modern day regardless of how it's produced and I personally don't believe there's any credible data that shows we need to eat it and lots to show why we shouldn't but if you're husband is feeling well then it sounds like it's at least a short term solution for him. You seem well informed but I'm definitely of the Campbell, Greger, Esseltyn, Barnard, McDougall etc. camps, they just make sense to me and have had very real results for my family and friends in multiple health areas but the human body is so complex, everyone is different and there's so many lifestyle variables, it's all a bit of trial and error I think!
My husband cannot eat any grains or legumes. He isn’t feeling great on them anyway. I hope that when his Graves goes to remission he could ease off the meat a bit and start eating eggs. He is dairy and yeast intolerant as well.. He is very underweight as well and it is extremely hard for him to put weight on. At least we eat real, unprocessed food so I can’t be all bad.
Hi Hattie. I think everyone is different but they do recommend cutting out soy I think about 50% of people with thyroid problems have issues with soy.m. I did a 30 day diet where I had no dairy, soy or gluten or nightshade. Had to really plan in advance!! Then after than you properly challenge your body with gluten 3 times a day for a couple of days and assess the impact, same then with soy and nightshades. I had loads of veg and lentils and risotto etc. Scoured recipe books and came up with a few things. Now I too am dairy free but eat eggs. I avoid obvious gluten and soy and buy gluten free but haven’t gone so strict to check everything I have.
How did you find you reacted to nightshades - I think I would struggle with that more than soy or gluten and would really be upset if I couldn't eat them anymore...though obviously, I would if I needed to!
I was fine with them. Really missed them as they give flavour to stuff! I didn’t struggle giving up gluten too much as there are so many gluten free options. And I did miss soy and have found I didn’t react to it but have now reduced it anyway. I know what you mean, I wondered what on earth I would do or eat. And the first week was tough. I was a bit dairy eater. But it was a really good thing to do and forced me to making different things and to get inventive x
Thank you - you've given me the encouragement to really push for trying the elimination diet. I don't eat meat or dairy anymore but that has meant more processed soy and gluten, I'm not opposed to whole soy generally and think it's actually a positive thing to consume but I also know people have said it's negative if you have a thyroid condition and I'm so desperate to get my hormones on track I'm willing to try anything!
I've read this post with much interest as I'm in a similar situation.
I have been a strict vegetarian for over forty years. Two of my sons became vegan in January - after reading how chicks and cattle are treated here. I would really like to follow suit. I was diagnosed hypo twenty years ago. I've just been diagnosed with IBS and told to follow the fodmap diet. My gp told me that gluten isn't banned on fodmap. He's right - it's just all foods containing gluten! I don't know where to start!
I've had problems with my tummy after eating certain foods - usually 5 to 6 hours after eating. I tried some gluten free crumpets for lunch and within 30 minutes my tummy was the worst it has ever been. I don't seem to react consistently with any food - some breads really upset my tummy and some have no affect on me for example. Some white wines really make me uncomfortable for hours, others I'm fine. So I'm not convinced my problems are with gluten.
I've done a lot of research. I was completely stumped when I read recently that it can take up to 72 hours after eating something for it to react badly. In some ways that does explain my problems because I assumed it was what I'd eaten a few hours ago was causing my trouble when it might be what I've eaten three days ago.
How can anyone ever know what is causing a problem when it can be anything eaten in the last three days? Keeping a food diary is not much help as I would only know what I've eaten and not what has caused a problem.
My gp has told me to make no changes to my diet until I have seen a dietitian. He referred me a couple of weeks ago. He can't tell me how long the wait is. I feel I should be doing something now.
The really big problem is, how does any one ever manage to enjoy eating out or having a social life? It's been hard enough over the years, particularly in the beginning to be vegetarian.
Hey there. See my post above. I think the only way to know is to do an elimination diet which takes a month (first week is tough) then after the month you add in a food type and bombard for 3 days. Do elimination for a few days then test the next thing. I found it quite tough but it was the best thing I ever did. Since I did it and eliminated some foods I am off all acid medication and no longer suffering symptomise of ibs unless I cheat
I know, it's so hard. Especially going out to eat, it's basically salad or chips! I didn't know that about the 72 hours, it makes me wonder how I'll ever be able to track the results :/ Could you maybe see a private dietitian in the meantime?
I've just spent very nearly £2000 on seeing a urologist, gastroenterologist and having a bladder inspection done privately. I was feeling really sick all of the time, had lots of tummy pains and was constantly peeing. I was also getting bladder infections fairly frequently. My gp referred me to a urologist. I had to go on a waiting list to go on an appointment waiting list. It would take about 18 weeks to see someone once I was allocated an appointment.
I decided to pay. I saw the urologist and gastroenterologist fairly quickly but then had to wait almost 4 weeks for the procedure. I can honestly say it's the best £2,000 I have ever spent.
The bladder inspection showed that I had severe inflammation of the lining of the bladder and a small stone stuck in the inflammation causing further pain. I have been suffering for over 25 years. I have twice had a bladder capacity test on the NHS, ten years apart. I was told both times that I have an exceptionally small bladder and must learn to live with the problem. The private test showed conclusively that I have a normal size bladder and that the inflammation is and has been causing my problems for 25 years. I was told that constantly peeing causes inflammation and that inflammation causes constant peeing!! The inflammation never clears up on it's own. I'm now on tablets for at least three months and possibly for life but the inflammation will eventually go. The urologist was shocked that I had never had any treatment from the NHS.
At the moment there are no funds for seeing anyone else privately. The dietitian will have to wait.
It feels like going private is the only way to get to the bottom of a problem at the moment, as the NHS just seem to want to paste over things which is a shame. Glad you've got it sorted though, I might look into this myself!
why don't you try the elimination diet? There's a good book by tom maltere.(i think) 🙂 im vegan too and cutting things out and adding them back in again makes u really aware of how your body is reacting. One diet isn't going ti suit everyone so you should eat what is right for you. I have had allergy testing done also recommended by Dr izabella wentz x
Hi Hattie87 there is a group on FB, search for 'Vegans with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis' - you may not have Hashis but they're following various vegan diets with different protocols so people will be able to help and sympathise. There are a few loose cannons who prescribe to 'woowoo' stuff (like the medical medium, who communes with spirits to treat thyroid disease...) but the rest of them are generally harmless
I am vegan and don't eat anything with soya or gluten in it. Every fruit and vegetable is OK and there are hundreds, Also quinoa, buckwheat and rice are gluten-free - some people are sensitive to rice. Nutritional yeast is useful and contains quite a lot of protein. Also all nuts and seeds, beans and peas and other legumes. No highly processed grains or flours of any kind. You'll need to supplement B12 and possibly iron (but test first).
If you are not committed to being vegan, I'd suggest a ketogenic diet.
I was vegan for 6yrs and then had to decide whether to think of my own health first or yhe health and welfare of other animals.
The truth is, (and I'm sorry if this upsets you), despite any evidence put forward, I don't believe veganism.is for everyone, for health reasons alone.
Veganism exacerbated my condition. Pyschologically (and food is as much psychological as the guilt placed on you to 'go vegan') you feel like you're the fittest person on the planet initially. I gound for me, that didn't last.
My mineral and vitamin consumption and levels hit the floor, the absorption of certain minerals and vitamins made health very difficult to achieve.
I'm not sure if its a dna thing and some people are just predisposed to having great vegan bodies, but my own experience and that of my daughters, has been far from successful.
We ate all the foods and alternatives we we're advised to eat, linseed, extra B12 (and other B's), we even took supplements but it was impossible. We are now both so poorly and trying hard to save money to get tests done to work out which vitamins need improving and how much of our condition is down to vitamin and mineral dificiency and how much is actually thyroid and adrenal fatigue.
Please be careful and take care of your body. Your a human animal too. X
Have a look at “Autoimmune solution” book by Amy Myers. The autoimmune protocol is very strict but completely doable. My husband has been following it for 3 months now. To accompany him I follow Paleo diet and I absolutely love it. It has definitely helped with his gut problems but it is too early too say if it had any affect on his antibodies (he had got Graves’ disease).
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