How To Kick Your Thyroid’s Ass: Dont Be Grainwashed
Here’s your warning: the things I’m about to unveil to you may just come across as completely unhealthy, unrealistic, and just plain bizarre. And generally, that’s what I aim for because it gets us thinking about things in a fresh way. We can’t keep using the same mainstream common-knowledge to get healthy because it so rarely works to heal (remember, healing is our goal). In order to be radically well, we have to take radically new approaches to wellness, even if they go against conventional thought. And as always, use a discerning eye to determine what, if anything, could potentially work for your unique situation.
We’ve already discussed gluten and what a bitch it can be to thyroids and immune systems. Now let’s get really counterculture and take that idea one step further. If you’ve implemented any of my health/food suggestions up until now, then chances are you’ve eliminated gluten in processed foods and gluten-containing grains from your diet (remember, those include wheat, rye, barley, some oats due to cross-contamination, spelt, triticale, and kamut). And that’s great!, Fantastic, really. You feel much better right?, However, for many people with sensitive immune systems and disease, eliminating gluten alone isn’t enough. For these people, eliminating most or all grains from their diet is essential.
Now, I know, I know — you’re probably all like, but Liz, the FDA has this huge pyramid, that they’ve been promoting for years as gospel which shows us what foods are appropriate to eat and there’s this block which says we need 6-11 servings of whole grains everyday in order to be healthy!, And anyway, everywhere I eat or shop, I see the virtues of grains extolled in print and in advertising., To which I say, yes, I know; you’re absolutely correct. But between you, me, and the LCD computer screen, how often can you honestly say that you put your total faith in our government?, Shouldn’t we be even more observant about its policies when it comes to our bodies?, Just because grains are promoted as a wonder food does not actually make them necessary for life or requirements in a healthy diet. Please let me explain; let’s look at the science.
If we take a look at our ancestors — peoples with similar digestion and body systems (way way back in time in the Paleolithic period, before the first Agricultural Revolution of the Neolithic era) — we see that these people were hunter-gatherers. That means, of course, they ate animal protein and seafood, plants/vegetables, fruits and nuts. No grains, never. Grains require community settlement and cultivation — something in which those early peoples didn’t partake. Later, people began planting and sowing grains for food. Disease consequentially followed: reductions in stature, bone abnormalities, increase in tooth decay and enamel defects, a rise in many infectious illnesses, iron deficiencies, and shorter life spans. Then, in the late 1800s during the Industrial Revolution, people began refining grains and sugar (cane sugar is technically considered a grain because it is a member of the large Gramineae grass family), and we saw a rise in degenerative diseases. And today, we’re living a Fast Food Revolution and have combined refined grains and sugars with bad fats, chemicals and synthetic “foods” whose byproduct is obesity and Type 2 diabetes. Coincidence?, The cynic in me says hell-to-the-no.
But why exactly is everyone so crazy for grains?, Well, grains are of course an amazing source of fiber, protein, and B vitamins among other things, but we can get these necessary-for-good-health vitamins, minerals, and compounds from sources other than grains. This is an idea worth looking into especially because, conversely, grains also contain some evil properties that we never hear about that can actually negate all their virtuosity: specifically, antinutrients.
Antinutrients are just what they sound like — when eaten with other foods (fruits or vegetables, or other things with nutritive value), they can actually block or reduce the absorption of those nutrients (including iron, vitamin D, vitamin B-6, zinc, calcium)!, So if you’re eating brown rice (the supposedly really healthy kind of grain that has not been refined) with some steamed carrots and peas, or even a nice green salad, chances are you’re not even absorbing many of the nutrients in those veg due to the rice’s antinutrient (which is prominent in whole grains due to the fact that the structure is intact). Crazy right? As people with chronic illnesses, don’t we need all the nutrients we can get?
One specific kind of antinutrient that can be harmful is phytate. , Research shows that humans have not adjusted or evolved to tolerate high levels of phytate in the grains we consume and this has manifest as iron deficiencies (chronic fatigue, dizziness, headaches, and pale skin), calcium deficiencies (skeletal problems, as well as anxiety, muscular tension and cramping), and zinc deficiencies (frequent colds, wounds that heal too slowly, little appetite, altered sense of taste and smell, skin problems, and delayed sexual maturation). It is thought this is why native peoples began processing grains: soaking, fermenting, germinating, scalding, and malting.
Other antinutrients are lectins which are glycoproteins that have inflammatory properties similar to gluten that causes allergic responses in many people, including destruction of the intestine and/or villi (remember we spoke last week about villi destruction and the malabsorption of our thyroid hormone/medication) and gut permeability in which toxins leach into the bloodstream. This is a similar autoimmune response experienced with a gluten sensitivity, where the body cannot distinguish between itself and the “invading pathogen” or food as the perceived enemy. , So while going on a gluten-free diet may make some of your symptoms subside, you may also need to eliminate lectin for optimal health, according to your genetics and environment. This is also a really important point for those of us with autoimmune thyroid disease because autoimmune diseases by nature are inflammatory diseases. So, if we continue to introduce inflammatory foods into our diet (such as grains that contain lectin), we could be making the inflammation going on inside of us even worse. (I will go into lectin and all its hidden sources and potential problems in further detail later).
A few other things to consider:
- Thyroid disease and diabetes are closely related — they’re both diseases of the endocrine system. Eating things that are high on the Glycemic Index can make blood glucose irregular and perhaps even eventually cause insulin resistance. Grains are high on the Glycemic Index.
- Grains are starches. Remember the yeast stuff?, Well, starches convert to sugar when metabolized, and sugar feeds yeast, and systemic yeast proliferation causes major symptoms and pains (including malabsorption of thyroid medication).
- Some, though not all, grains have goitrogenic properties. (I will go into goitrogenic foods in greater detail later). , Goiter affects nearly 200 million people worldwide, but most commonly in Africa. It is commonly accepted that an iodine deficiency may be one of the causes of such thyroid enlargement, but in many places where goiter occurs there is a sufficient iodine supply. Millet is one grain that is widely consumed in many African countries and is known for its interference with the thyroid hormone.
- Grains can have opiodic properties, in which they create a high or euphoric feeling in many people, leading us to crave them more.
- Hidden sources of grains you may be inadvertently consuming: corn and corn products such as high-fructose corn syrup, soda, sugar, dextrin, maltodextrin, lecithin, citric acid, caramel coloring, animal products such as meat, dairy, and eggs (most animals have been fed grains).
So at this point, you might be all psychosomatic and feeling completely overloaded with information (I know food science-y stuff sometimes has a funny way of doing that to me), and thinking that you have no damn clue what exactly you should be eating because most of the Standard American Diet is comprised of grains and their derivatives. But look, my intent is simply to present you with all the information. What comes next is your own discernment — weighing this information against your own knowledge of your body and health situation. The best way to determine if grains are actually troubling your system is to do an elimination diet for three or so weeks and see how your body responds. , Then, re-introduce the food and see what happens. , As someone who’s lived grain-free myself, here’s what you should know: any change in lifestyle is tough at first. Initially you do feel hungry because you’re so used to the dense/heavy feeling of satiety that grains provide, and also the neurological euphoria they set off in many people. However, being grain free allowed my blood sugar to remain stable throughout the day so that I wasn’t all shaky and famished by mealtime. I didn’t have the middle of the day sleepiness or headaches or brain fog. And when I did reintroduce grains into my diet, my body freaked out and gave me major gastrointestinal issues for days (not fun). But, as always, there’s so much more to this story and below are resources to jumpstart your own grain-free research.
Until Next Week,
Love Always,
Liz
Resources:
- Going Against The Grain book
- Going Against The Grain, website
- Living Gluten-Free For Dummies book
- The Paleolithic Diet and Its Modern Implications from Dr. Mercola
- Reduce Grains and Sugar To Lose Weight and Improve Health from Dr. Mercola
- The Inflammation Syndrome book
- Realigning Our 21st Century Diet and Lifestyle With Our Hunter-gatherer Genetic Identity
What Should I Eat?:
Blogroll:
Have a question, comment, story, love letter, or rant/rave to send me?: Liz@DearThyroid.com,
Tags: How To Kick Your Thyroid's Ass, thyroid nutrition, treating thyroid disease nutritionally, treatments for diseases of the thyroid
Follow Dear Thyroid on Twitter/@DearThyroid | See our Facebook Page | Become a Fan on Facebook | Join our Facebook Group
You Can Create a Dear Thyroid Profile and share with friends!
Reader Feedback
17 Responses to “How To Kick Your Thyroid’s Ass: Dont Be Grainwashed”
Leave a Reply
Comments are moderated in an effort to control spam. If you have a previously approved Comment, this one should go right through. Thanks for your patience!
Wow. I am in awe of this information, Liz. It makes so much sense to me. It also feels like eating a grain and gluten free diet would be an impossible dream for me. Mainly because of my lifestyle – some of which I can change (planning ahead, shopping appropriately) and some things I can’t as easily change (cooking family dinners that meet my husband’s needs) and some things I can’t change at all (like working to incorporate this change with the demands of my wonderful, sweet 4 year-old son and FT job).
However, I greatly appreciate all of the resources you have provided. I started to eliminate goitrogenic foods as much as possible about a month ago. And while I still have the occassional broccoli and spinach, I’m not eating them every day. I’m going to try the same approach with these ideas. See what I can change little by little.
Thanks for all of your hard work with this. You’ve provided all of the information I need in one place and I look forward to the next column!
Maybe it is because I believe in the Bible and Historians like Josephus but grain was part of early man. Just not what we know it to be today…it was thrashed and made into flatbread (no leaven/yeast).
Vegetables, Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grain, Goat Cheese, Olive Oils were the normal diet before the flood, then meat was introduced because there was nothing when they came out to start over.
I believe through history we have had our immune systems worn down to be a fragment of what it was originally, hence intolerance of many adulterated foods throughout generations.
Just the fact that bottle feeding became popular changed immune systems for the worse.
I guess if people don’t believe in ancient history and the bible you can throw tomatoes now.
On a lighter note, coming from Portugal and a long history of our family of over 3,000 members back it is clear I was raised nothing like my ancestors even. I had great, great grandmothers aunts having children in their 50s and washing clothes on the riverbanks till 70s and 80s. Even in the last couple of generations autoimmune health has declined rapidly (air,water,pesticides,plastics?). Even what our mothers ate(smoked,drank)affected our immune systems.
It is complex to be sure.
This idea is truly overwhelming to me! I must confess to living a grainaholic lifestyle. I guess I could be the poster girl for grainwashing, but I will conisder what you have researched and think about making small changes to see what happens. Your argument is very convincing.
Liz, you are so right on. I eliminated grains.. the bloat disappeared, the brain fog dissipated and despite the creaks of the joints.. (not the smokin’ kind)… better stable energy level compared to when I eat gluten.
I do indulge at times and when I do.. I pay for it big time.
i am moving back to denver in 20 days. i will start a( other) new life, have a new apartment, have to find all new doctors to treat my thyroid issues, and, i’ll be going gluten free.
you realise, of course, this means when i go to england for my annual holiday, i will no longer be able to have my favourite meal in the world… toad in the hole.
i’m pretty sure the trade off is worth it, but, know…i’ll shed a few tears over the loss of that great dish.
A friend sent me here and I am so glad she did! I went grain and sugar free nearly 3 years ago and lost 150 lbs. People rarely ever listen to me and site the food pyramid
*eye roll*
I’m living proof
[...] Grains and your Thyroid [...]
I came here from a link in Marissa’s post and wow! My son last year was given a food pyramid poster by his doctor so that he “knows” how to eat healthy… we were all taught the same in school and never thought about questioning if it was wrong. Thank you for sharing all these information and I will definitely read more about it. I’m all for changing my family’s diet.
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by lejeal: @dawnacrawford yeah definitely. i’d refer you to this article on antinutrients: http://bit.ly/73xTDP let me know what you think…
hola girl.
thanks so much for your kind kind words. i appreciate it so much.
what you’ve said here is definitely the point i was trying to get across: this may not be 100% realistic for your lifestyle or for your body. however, i want to make sure to at least give you the information so that you can make your own informed decision. if this isn’t feasible for you or doesn’t make sense for you, that’s fine because at least you’re armed with the information.
everything you’ve done or are already doing is so worth it and you should feel so accomplished and proud of yourself! seriously — give yourself the credit you deserve!!
Meg,
i definitely get what you’re saying here and get where you’re coming from. maybe it seems like believing the idea that many people cannot tolerate grains goes against your religious beliefs and i can understand that. however, the wonderful thing about relying on the _science_ to explain why many people may not tolerate grains means that we can all still hold our personal religious/spiritual/philosophical view on the world and at the same time believe a nutritional idea like this.
what i mean is that, science doesn’t rely on any personal belief system to be accurate; the two don’t have to conflict. if it makes more sense to you to just go by the science instead of the evolutionary timeline i presented about the First Agricultural Revolution, i would encourage you to look into the antinutrient science that causes true inflammatory responses in people and blocks the absorption of nutrients. antinutrients and their evil properties still hold true no matter how you believe people developed over the centuries or how long you believe people have inhabited the earth. and also, remember that there was much sickness as illustrated in the Bible and other historical documents from that time, so disease has been persistent right alongside grain consumption; those days were not so idyllic.
and in terms of what you’ve said about our immune systems — you couldn’t be more correct! i definitely agree with you that our systems are so weakened today by our lifestyle habits and all of the toxins we’re exposed to.
thank you so much for your comment and for your readership! we appreciate it greatly!
ladies and gentlemen…
our second biggest fan, Kate.
thank you Kate for your readership and good for you for taking the time to consider how grains may be affecting your health. 
lizschau,
Thank you for the scientific reference. I believe very much in Science as it actually coincides with Biblical History.
The greatest scientific reason I agree we can not eat the way we like without some sort of issue is ‘imperfection’. Scientist have discovered that we technically could live forever (as was the original plan). We renew every cell and are made new in a matter of a few years, our bodies heal our wounds, we eliminate toxins and have no desire to die.
All that points to according to Scientist that humans were meant to live forever….around 30 it stops and humans start to age rapidly.
Biblically it is written that when imperfection entered mankind growing old and death would happen…and the ideal age is likely around 30. People lived hundreds of years back closer to perfection before the degeneration set in.
Like a cake pan dented every cake would have the flaw of imperfection from then on.
We are as humans are struggling with imperfect bodies as well as immune systems made worse by some ignorance through time but also by corporate greed. Our bodies are not only imperfect but broken down by a host of elements (air, water, foods).
To be sure there are those people that totally can not tolerate Grains just as those that can not eat Meats without damage (#1 problem cancer).
Is there a link to blood types and type food tolerance? Possibly.
My daughter works at the Heart Institute where its open heart surgery 24/7 and 8 out of 10 patients are type A and meat eaters. Coincidence? Who knows.
To be sure each person has to learn their body and gather all the information available to make choices.
Since the 70s back when I was reading Gaylord Hauser and Adele Davis as they tried to break through corporate medicine (and getting booed) a quest for all facets of health and wellness naturally has been a big part of an interesting long journey that continues.
Having treated illness naturally through the years to be sure it is sites like this that can bring information and help to people trying to achieve wellness. Thank you very much for your contribution!
quin,
good for you!! that is so great to hear! Denver should have some amazing GF resources, no? trust me when i say that you should feel like a completely new person!!
and hey, there’s a whole hell of alot of gluten-free bread out there, so maybe you don’t have to give up your toad in the hole.
Lexi,
There are a few considerations that can influence how much you have to pay for any indulgences that may come up.
Factors affecting consumption of grains and the inability to digest/process normally can be caused by various reasons.
Bloating, Aches all over, Joint Pain, Fatigue, Foggy Brain even Temperament can all be involved by the following:
Ones Yeast Level in the body, the amount of Parasites (since every human has them not only in the eyelashes) living in the intestines, organs as well as muscle tissue, Pancreatic Enzyme levels, Hydrochloric Acid or lack of in the stomach (age plays a factor in this as well) a clean or graveled Gallbladder and clear or sluggish Liver along with Lymphatic Flow.
Every human needs to cleanse at least yearly from yeast, parasites and bacteria that build up in the body. Many Doctors now agree with Hulda Clarke on parasites, bacteria and viruses living in the body causing ill health. One of the symptoms of which can be poor digestion of grains or simple sugars resulting in bloating, constipation and or diarrhea, coated tongue (abundance of yeast) etc.
I have seen people change their bodies around just doing a simple Parasite Cleanse (using black walnut hull, wormwood etc.). Even a Gallbladder Liver Cleanse gets toxins and grit out the liver so it can function at a higher level.
Just a couple of thoughts, all the best to you.
Meg,
have you had a chance to read the “How To Kick Your Thyroid’s Ass” about yeasts? the first installment was all about yeast and bacterial overgrowth in the body and how it can cause a variety of symptoms. here’s the link: http://dearthyroid.wordpress.com/2009/05/24/how-to-kick-your-thyroids-ass-this-is-not-necessarily-about-vaginas/
i’d love to hear what you think!
Marisa,
wow, thanks so much for your kind comment! the reason you had such great success is because, if nothing else (if we were to ignore all the other research i provided here), the bottom line is that sugar and grains raise blood sugar and that causes weight storage. that’s it. how is your overall health? you must feel great. i’d bet on it.
the thing is that if we were to examine the daily diet of a typical American, it would be so damn loaded with grains and most people have no clue. so when they don’t support you it’s either because they don’t realize how prevalent grains are in all processed/pre-made foods/goods, or it could also be that grains have addicting properties. no one wants to be separated from the comfort food they grew up with. but, for one SCARY example of how pervasive grains are… genetically-modified corn (in various forms, like powder, starch, etc) is added to spices and salt so that they don’t cake. ummmm, WHAT??? so, i’m ingesting corn (a grain) every time i sprinkle a spice on my food??
good for you for not taking the food pyramid at its word. there is so much more to food and human history than it would lead us to believe.
thanks for the linkback too!