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Diet with Hashimoto Disease
by chatty530, Jun 23, 2008 08:04PM
Please I would like some advise on how to control my weight. I have Hashimoto Disease a thyroid disorder. I seemed to grow regularly taking it off is something else. At 54 it isn't getting easier ..*smile*..
Four days a week my husband and I do the basic Pilate stretching exercise for 40 minutes. We also just started walking around the reservoir 4 times a week about a 2 to 2.5 walk. When not able to walk around the reservoir I walk on my walker for 20 minutes a good pace.
Food wise, we really eat healthy. Morning we have oatmeal with raisin and cinnamon with milk we do not add sugar or honey. We share a apple and a bannana and we have a tad of cottage cheese on a half tomatoe. Lunch we usually have a sandwich mostly peanut butter n jelly sometimes tuna etc. At night we mostly have a nice fresh salad and our meat dish. Meat us usually baked in the oven on racks or bar-b-que. I rarely go for seconds, we eat off the small dinner plates I think some call them salad plates anyway they are not the saucer size. I've been thinking maybe I should start eating off a saucer.
I drink lots of water.
Soda Pops, chips, cookies, candies, pie or cake as a whole I do not keep in the house on a regular basis.
At night I usually get a sweet tooth ..sigh.. I usually have a half a apple and some dates.
Any advice on how to keep my weight down?
Four days a week my husband and I do the basic Pilate stretching exercise for 40 minutes. We also just started walking around the reservoir 4 times a week about a 2 to 2.5 walk. When not able to walk around the reservoir I walk on my walker for 20 minutes a good pace.
Food wise, we really eat healthy. Morning we have oatmeal with raisin and cinnamon with milk we do not add sugar or honey. We share a apple and a bannana and we have a tad of cottage cheese on a half tomatoe. Lunch we usually have a sandwich mostly peanut butter n jelly sometimes tuna etc. At night we mostly have a nice fresh salad and our meat dish. Meat us usually baked in the oven on racks or bar-b-que. I rarely go for seconds, we eat off the small dinner plates I think some call them salad plates anyway they are not the saucer size. I've been thinking maybe I should start eating off a saucer.
I drink lots of water.
Soda Pops, chips, cookies, candies, pie or cake as a whole I do not keep in the house on a regular basis.
At night I usually get a sweet tooth ..sigh.. I usually have a half a apple and some dates.
Any advice on how to keep my weight down?
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Not everyone on Med Help is a native English speaker, and some people who are native English speakers are simply rushed, or perhaps have a disability, or something else.
My husband is from Argentina, and though he has a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering and has been in this country for many years, he still makes some grammatical errors and typos that he doesn't always have time to correct when he's writing something hastily.
I make errors, too. It would be better to focus on the body of the post, rather than calling attention to mistakes.
Instead of so much fruit, shoot for 1-2 servings of fruit a day, and 3-4 servings of vegetables a day. Minimum you should be getting is 5 servings total a day of fruits and veggies. Fruits are naturally higher in calories and sugar than vegetables. There is nothing wrong with eating fruit, but it all adds up. Dried fruits such as dates are deceptively high in caloric value.
Are you drinking skim milk and eating fat free cottage cheese? That's one place to start cutting down on some fat and calories. I couldn't stand the taste of skim milk and fat free cheeses at first, and had to gradually add them in. Remember...shoot for 3 servings a day. My snacks are usually when I get my dairy servings in, in the form of nonfat yogurt or fat free cottage cheese, mostly. It really does help to get your dairy in.
I don't see much in the way of healthy whole grains in your daily diet, except for the oatmeal you mentioned. Brown rice, polenta, quinoa, barley, bulgur...they are all wonderfully healthy and full of fiber. They give you energy that isn't quickly turned into fat by your body. Plus they help fill you up. You should try to include one healthy grain serving at each meal.
Lunches could be served on whole grain bread (not sure if you are doing this or not). I often get a rotisserie chicken and use it for quick sandwiches or salads at lunchtime, instead of the fattier peanut butter sandwich.
Pilates may not be enough exercise for you. You might try lifting some light weights, and work your way up to some heavier ones.
That's all I can think of right now. Welcome to the community, and I'm sorry you were not greeted more appropriately, for your first post.
Peek
( I am trying to make that person aware that her spelling was simply awful. It took my attention away from her actual problem. Are we such a sensitive culture that everyone is afraid to be honest with someone and try to help them in anyway possible? If you read the rest of the letter to her I complimented her on her diet and exercise efforts.
People do make judgements of people that are illiterate and have trouble with the English language. Maybe that is why we are considered rude Americans, because we tend to be honest!)
End of quote:
I wanted to stay out of this conversation, guess that is not possible. Thank you Peekawho for your nice comments.
johannah705, Thank you for bringing to my attention how awful my grammar and spelling is? You have made your point very noticeable. Oh by the way, in your quote above the word judgements is spelled wrong it should be judgments. We all make mistakes.
Your right I do have grammar and spelling issues. I spell the way I hear the word, my pronunciation is horrible. My whole family has this problem been carried down from generation to generation since the 1800's that I know of. English being one of the hardest languages to master, well, I tend to get those to, too all turn around not to say those a, an. As for spelling goodness gracious today the same word can be spell in so many different ways, lets see what can I come up with, oh! LOVE, LUV . Just the other day a young lady said to me "oh thats bad!" I thought she meant bad it turn out she meant good! I wasn't in the groovy thing, should I go on? My point is because I do not meet your grammar or spelling approval does not make me ILLITERATE nor does it make me dumb or stupid. Like all Americans we want to be honest. Speak softly goes a long way, speak harshly causes wars.
Better yet, why don't you get acquainted with the person first before making such harsh honest judgments of others. As the saying goes, never judge a book by it's cover!
Joanna, Since you are interested in "helping" people by not being sensitive that you can't point out the truth, I would rather be acquainted with a poor speller than a rude, thoughtless person. I also loved how Chatty pointed out your mistake in spelling. And you thought you were so perfect.
From what I can see, most doctors have a rather "bad attitude" about weight gain and hypothryoidism. When I tried to discuss it with mine recently, he simply looked at me and said "you need to MOVE more"; in spite of the fact that my job is very physical and I walk between 3-5 miles/day, plus work out for at least 30 min most days. Like I have a lot of time left over to MOVE more!!!! lol And before that, his thing was "well, you're getting older and it's not uncommon to gain weight as you age" (that was before the thyroid diagnosis).
My point here is that I wouldn't expect a whole lot of help from doctors unless you've found "Dr McDreamy", in which case, I'd like to know where you are so I can see him too (LOL). Most doctors seem to think that once they write that script for the thryoid med, you are all better and if you aren't all better, then YOU aren't doing something right. In other words, they've done their job, the rest is your responsibility.
I've been afraid to take any OTC thyroid helpers for fear that it might interfere with my prescription thyroid med. I strongly advise caution there.
One thing I'm reading a lot of is that your weight issue will improve when your thyroid levels are optimized. I'm counting on that to be the case. Since my levels are still not balanced, I'm doing what I can to keep from gaining a lot more and trusting that my friends in the thyroid community are steering me in the right direction and I've no doubt they are.
In the meantime, I am very careful about what I eat and get plenty of exercise - the holidays and an additional week of company have wreaked havoc with my diet and exercise, but I'm getting back on track now. I don't stop trying to lose weight - I'm just not so frustrated with it as I was.
I eat plenty of fruits and veggies (complex carbs), lean protein, fiber (complex carb), low fat dairy, etc. Protein and fiber fill you up faster and take longer for the body to break down, so keep you feeling fuller longer. Do a search for food high in complex carbs to come up with list - there are bound to be some you like. Stay away from refined sugar, flour, rice etc as much as possible. Salt is another huge offender as it will cause you to retain a lot of fluid, which is just as bad. In addition, watch the diet sodas - artificial sweetners can actually "trick" you into gaining more weight. I mostly use stevia for my sweetner.
Good luck and hang in there - we can all do it.
I didn't know why I was feeling so lousy, short memory span, muddy, forgetful, withdrawn, and I became a recluse because I felt ugly and fat. I do like my job and the people I work with, work was the only place I was able to function.
Once I cut out completely all the foods I was not supposed to eat, I notice a big difference on how I felt and acted.
I am back to feeling myself!
I didn't know why I was feeling so lousy, short memory span, muddy, forgetful, withdrawn, and I became a recluse because I felt ugly and fat. I do like my job and the people I work with, work was the only place I was able to function.
Once I cut out completely all the foods I was not supposed to eat, I notice a big difference on how I felt and acted.
I am back to feeling myself!
I didn't know why I was feeling so lousy, short memory span, muddy, forgetful, withdrawn, and I became a recluse because I felt ugly and fat. I do like my job and the people I work with, work was the only place I was able to function.
Once I cut out completely all the foods I was not supposed to eat, I notice a big difference on how I felt and acted.
I am back to feeling myself!
Update: At the end of Jan, I had my first appt with an endo. Armed with all my lab work and test results, along every bit of info I had about how I feel, etc, I got him to change my med, adding cytomel (T3) to my regimen, and I'm doing much better. I did lose a few pounds within a few days of the med change; however, because I have not kept up with my exercise as much as I should, I've not lost any more. I'm trying to get back into it again now.
Along with the med change, I have more energy than I've had in years, my brain fog has pretty much lifted, my skin is reacting normally and my hair is getting healthier again. I can even sleep most of the night again. I'm due for new blood work at the end of this week, so we'll see how that comes back.
I hope you continue to feel well on your own new regimen. That just goes to show that what works for one person won't necessarily work for another.
to track your eating habits you can go to www.livestrong.com it is free and a great resouce.
Hope this helps. Believe it or not Hashimoto is the most misdiagnosed thyroid disease and MOST medical doctors (even your endocrenoligist may not know how to properly deal with this disease.) there answer is just higher doses of meds. This is completely ineffective if you are still consuming table salt, and any form of wheat or corn.
I do have Hashimoto's and I talked to my doctor about going on a gluten free diet. His answer was: "It won't hurt anything, but there's no reason to do it, if you don't have to". I know a lot of people have gone gluten free and that's pretty much their choice, except for those that do have allergies to those foods.
I, personally, do not have a problem with them. I *DO* have my Free T3 tested every time my thyroid levels are checked -- I'm also on a T3 med... Over the past few months, my thyroid levels have gotten steady and I feel better and more energetic than I did for years........
In addition, I disagree with your statement that "Believe it or not Hashimoto is the most misdiagnosed thyroid disease and MOST medical doctors (even your endocrenoligist may not know how to properly deal with this disease.) there answer is just higher doses of meds" --- Hashimoto's is the most common cause of hypothyroidism.........it can be difficult to treat, but it's not so impossible as you make it sound.
I also do not believe that you can control your thyroid levels with just diet. If your thyroid no longer produces hormones, you are going to have to replace the hormones with med, because you can't get them from ANY food.
I'd like to recommend that you go check out the thyroid forum here on MedHelp -- there's a ton of great information and a lot of very knowledgeable people.
Good luck...............
---Hashimoto friend.
I do not believe in any way that this is an "across the board" requirement for all people who have hypothyroidism/Hashimoto's. As I stated in my post above, I have Hashimoto's and I do NOT have a problem with grain products.
Nor do I believe that it's necessary to completely eliminate ANY food category, including chocolate. You need the nutrients found in all types of foods and eliminating any one category will insure that you do not get the nutrients you body requires unless you are supplementing.
If you eliminate foods for now, you may have trouble reintroducing them at a later time, plus once you stop the particular eating habits you are implementing now, you will most likely gain back any or most of the weight you have lost. You need to incorporate eating habits that you can maintain for a life time, not those that you will only adhere to long enough to lose weight -- you will have gained nothing in the end, except more weight.............
At this particular point in time, I feel better physically than I have for years.......if it weren't for the heart issues that have recently popped up.