Episode 105: How Cholesterol, Hypothyroid, Digestive Health and Detoxification are linked & What Diet & Lifestyle Have To Do With It.

Today's episode is based on a Listener email. Sonia wrote: 

"Hi Jessica! I’ve been following you for a while, and i’ve basically listened to every single one of your podcasts and I absolutely love everything that you are sharing. I currently find myself in a confused and upsetting situation. I’ve been eating organic my entire life in Romania and UK, but with no discipline whatsoever, i’d eat cake with a salad and i thought i was doing fine just cause it was all organic and homemade. I did this until i was 17, which is when i took a blood test and saw that my total cholesterol was 240; this is when I decided I need to take better care of my diet. My cholesterol did not drop ever since, but this is probably because all my family has high cholesterol and also because I’m generally a stressed person. I tried all sorts of diets until last year when i became keto. I’ve been keto ever since, with some casual carb cycling. I even introduced meat into my diet because I really wanted to see the best results possible, and I’ve basically been a pescatarian my entire life since I always hated the taste of meat (not anymore, I found some that I like now). I also started drinking bone broth after I listened to one of your podcasts. I used to do intermittent fasting for like 24 hrs daily (sometimes even longer); but I stopped for 2 months now since I read that it can really mess with female hormones and even digestion, so I got scared. I work out daily, I’ve been doing this since I was 12. In terms of supplements, I used to take probiotics (>20 billion cultures) and digestive enzymes everyday for the past 2 years, but my doctor said that is way too much and I should stop, which i did about 2 months ago. I felt great when I started this lifestyle, but after a while my digestion system started feeling worse and worse. I now get bloating and gas all the time and have unbearable abdominal pain, so I was basically diagnosed with IBS and the doctors put me on a low fodmap diet, (I still eat fats and most of the things I used to eat on keto, I just avoid some veggies and fruits now more than I did before so this step was no biggie for me). My total cholesterol is now 300; out of which the LDL is 200 and HDL 100. My VLDL is 9 mg/dl, triglycerides are 47 mg/dl with T3 0.67 and T4 7.19. My GH was rather low but i’m not sure if they did the tests correctly 1.48 ng/ml. All markers (I tested way more things from my blood) seem in place (according to the hospital’s guidelines) apart from cholesterol and my digestion which is getting under control with fodmap diet, as in it’s not getting worse, but i still don’t feel like my digestion is normal. My digestion is really slow - i went to do an abdominal ultrasound and what i saw was that even though i stopped eating 6 hours before the ultrasound my food did not even pass through my stomach during this time. I’ve also gained 10 pounds in the last year, which I cannot seem to get rid off. No matter if I do caloric deficit (I usually eat 2000 kcal, so I would go for 1600 kcal), fast for days, drink plenty of water or no water at all, before or after sauna, I even did a series of hyrdocolon therapy for cleansing and still nothing seems to move the scale AT ALL. So frustrating. I observed that if i stop eating salt I’m not as puffy, but still no change on the scale. Other symptoms i’ve had to deal with include major hair loss and thinning, generally high blood pressure (many times i measure sitting down and i’m at 90-100 beats per minute when i stressed about sth and i can easily pass 200 when running). I’ve been battling depression in summer, but i feel better now. I’ve been doing nothing this whole year apart from sitting at home and reading about this and watching videos and podcasts and gathering information from as many books and sources as i can just to try to fix myself, but I seem to get nowhere and I don’t know what to do anymore. I went from eating every meal at restaurants, to cooking everything at home for almost every meal. I virtually spend all my money on doctors appointments and blood tests and supplements and organic grass fed not farmed food, and all I wish for is to get well (thing which I would have never ever thought I would end up wishing at only 23 yrs old). I know you always talk about digestion being the key starter point, and I feel like throughout my journey I’ve somehow ruined/unbalanced it, and I was wondering if you have any advice for me. Sorry for the lengthy message, and thanks so much if you read the whole thing. I am a really big fan!"

Additional info on Cholesterol: https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/cholesterol-basics

https://cholesterolcode.com/are-you-a-lean-mass-hyper-responder/

Previous Keto Lifestyle episodes diving deeper into cholesterol:

Episode# 79, Episode# 74, Episode# 59, Episode# 31 & Episode# 5.

Hypothyroidism signs and symptoms may include:

• Fatigue
• Increased sensitivity to cold
• Constipation
• Dry skin
• Weight gain
• Puffy face
• Hoarseness
• Muscle weakness
• Elevated blood cholesterol level
• Muscle aches, tenderness and stiffness
• Pain, stiffness or swelling in your joints
• Heavier than normal or irregular menstrual periods
• Thinning hair
• Slowed heart rate
• Depression
• Impaired memory
• Enlarged thyroid gland (goiter)

Ways to help improve thyroid function could include: 

1. Improve digestion starting with HCL supplementation - work with a qualified professional to help step you through the proper way to do this using supplements

2. Improve fat assimilation using supplementation - bile and other digestive enzymes

3. Infrared Sauna use

4. Castor Oil Pack usage - I love this one: Queen of the Thrones

5. Coffee Enemas

6. Drinking Bone Broth Daily - at least 1-2 mugs per day to help repair the gut lining

7. Focus on sleep - get 7-9hrs of good quality sleep every single night

8. Movement - 20 minutes of walking every day

9. Avoid inflammatory foods as much as possible: corn, soy, gluten(wheat), dairy and sugar

10. Reduce your carb intake and up your healthy fat intake (as long as you are also working on being able to digest those fats!)

Thank you for listening! 

Last chance to sign up for the 2nd Annual Keto at the Cabin event taking place March 7, 2020: SIGN UP TODAY!

If you are interested in working with me to help work on your diet and lifestyle concerns please visit my website here for more ways you can do that: www.JessicaTye.com