Exclusion diets

[Danielj1]

Not posted for what seems a long while, I have been working on exclusion diets.

What a revelation - so far gluten, alcohol (especially real ale) and coffee (well caffeine variety) are really to be excluded if I possibly can. Also, too much dairy does not seem helpful - perhaps not as much as the others.

I have found that I need to resist to have a significant impact.

I can only encourage others who have yet to find the final solution from T4 alone, to consider this approach.

I have posted previously here how much I had liked filter coffee and felt it had been good for my thyroid - I have had to change my views, very reluctantly!

[SlowDragon Ambassador]

Well beer is full of gluten

You can get gluten free Old Speckled Hen in Tesco

Lots of different Gluten free beers online

[Danielj1 in reply to SlowDragon]

Thanks, i have started cider drinking for the first time in about 25 years.

I still find the alcohol takes a while to process and the after effects cancel out the pleasure.

I will certainly try the ale you suggest.

It may simply be my age.

[Lois49]

I agree an exclusion diet has saved my life ( having multiple autoimmune diseases). Where chemo and steroids didn’t work this did.

I was gluten free for years but found I had to be grain, dairy, soy, sugar and chemical free. 4 stone down and off the couch. I think anybody who wants their life back should try it for 3 weeks.

[Danielj1 in reply to Lois49]

Was coffee important and alcohol - I have only just cottoned onto these two

[thyr01d]

Thanks for the post. What about instant coffee? I love it and can give up almost everything else - vegan (ie no eggs, dairy produce, fish meat etc), no sugar or sweetened goods, no tea, no alcohol and I was gluten and soy free for about 2 years but didn't notice any improvement so now I have gluten and soy. Without coffee I am cold and hungry so I'd like to know if you have found instant is okay?

[Danielj1 in reply to thyr01d]

I have only ever really drunk filter coffee, we have a jar of instant at our home and apart from when guests arrive, I think it is virtually never touched.

I suspect my supplements are having a really important effect too, most recently I changed:

Magnesium oil to 500 mg buffered magnesium citrate

Added 2000 taurine per day - I am a little bit surprised that this seems to get no mention on these threads (happy that I might have missed some!), but if I was only allowed 5 supplements for the rest of the my life I would take in addition to these two every day: black cumin seed oil and selenium ACE.

[Danielj1]

This is starting to get interesting - my "best ever" basal temperature has never got above 36.1 on waking or 36.4 during the day. Today it was 36.4 on waking and 37.1 twice during the day so not a fluke.

When I read back in detail on how wretchedly damaging regular alcohol (even small amounts) to T4/T3 conversion, I wonder why I did not twig earlier to drop alcohol entirely. Ditto, rather than seeing all the super things over coffee that encouraged me to keep drinking plenty of it, I now see all the reasons why it is hopeless and the very last thing I need.

It is now coming up to 2 years since formally diagnosed and I feel I am just about getting to the start line in mounting a more effective rear guard action against hashis.

[thyr01d]

Oh dear, dear, dear, can I even contemplate life without coffee??? You are inspiring though so if I can screw up the courage I might have a go ... after Christmas ... in the New year ....

[Danielj1 in reply to thyr01d]

holtorfmed.com/the-impact-o...

I will be saying no for the first time at a team works party in my life ...

I live now on pints of fresh decaf filtered each day and am not missing out on the “real stuff”...

[thyr01d]

Good for you - in fact VERY GOOD FOR YOU!

I am now on the horns of a dilemma, torn between telling you something you may not wish to know, and, saying nothing though it could be harmful. Do you know decaf is bad for blood pressure, it seems to cause high b/p. But, maybe you can gradually, easily decrease to a level that is fine?

What you say about your health improvement is really interesting since caffeine is something we're not supposed to have within an hour of thyroid meds and I've always wondered about that hour - presumably it varies according to speed of metabolism. Maybe some of us should leave longer or, be like you and have none.

[Danielj1 in reply to thyr01d]

On 2 successive days I decided to ignore the advice here and took strong coffee with thyroxine - I will not describe the result - so if it was this bad at that point in the day I lost confidence of using it at any time of the day.

The improvement in sleep etc had been a huge positive surprise - so so many benefits ....

[Cooper27]

Be aware that a lot of gluten free beers are made with gluten containing ingredients, and an additive is later added to break the gluten chains down. Many who are gluten sensitive also react to gluten free beers, so you should be careful when you try them. You do get some made with gluten free grains though

[Danielj1 in reply to Cooper27]

Very helpful and thank you

[Danielj1]

Today I hopped on the treadmill and ran 10 miles in under 90 minutes with no stress and very relaxed and easy breathing. I simply had loads of energy and could have gone on further.

Adrenaline exists in reserve to support hard exercise and post runners high afterwards - sheer magic.

I have also moved onto a Lower carb diet and this also is helping.

I am also having doubts about some other “sacred cows” from websites I followed eg high carb and fructose is good.

A warning for anyone following a similar approach - i have become much more sensitive to caffeine than ever before and on the couple of times I had Diet Coke suffered consequences in reduced sleep so these are off the list too.