How your approach to diet and nutrition impacts thyroid disease

At Thyroid Wellness Center, we stress a natural, nutritional approach to treating symptoms related to low thyroid function.  One of the first questions I ask patients when they come in for their first consultation is this: “What are your three favorite foods?”  If a patient responds by saying “burgers from a fast food joint, pizza and pasta,” the next question I ask is “Would you be willing to give those up if I find they’re causing your thyroid to get worse?”  Are you willing to make the changes that are necessary to get healthy?  Because it’s all about your food and about your diet, and you play such a huge role in your own thyroid wellness.  If a potential patient the answer is “Yes,” then we’re going to be able to do to find out what foods are really causing antibody formation and attacking the thyroid.  But once we do the necessary testing, the patient really has all the responsibility in making the changes that will help them get better.  I tell the people I see that there’s only one doctor in the room, and it’s not me!  It’s up to the individual with the symptoms to take control of their diets, and regulate the foods that are causing their thyroid conditions, in order to improve their lifestyle.  Until a patient does that, they’re not going to be able to get the victories in this battle against the things that are impacting their thyroid wellness.  Nutrition plays an essential role in thyroid health, and it’s really about you wanting to do it, and it’s such an individualized process.  You can’t get all the answers by picking up a book at a library or a bookstore.  This is all about you, your DNA, what you inherited from your mother and father – good or bad, with or without autoimmune challenges.  The probability of you reading a book that’s going to give you all the answers you need is probably very minimal.  You need to write your own book with your own individualized program, and when you do write that book, it’s yours for life!