17 Things You Must Do After Getting Diagnosed with Hashimotos

Author annalaurabPosted on August 8, 2020August 8, 2020Categories ThyroidTags ,   Leave a comment on 17 Things You Must Do After Getting Diagnosed with Hashimotos

Have you recently been diagnosed with Hashimotos? I was diagnosed with it in January 2018 after at least 5 years of being sick and having thyroid issues but not being able to figure out exactly what was wrong. Two and half years later, I’ve learned a lot about what I think people should do after getting diagnosed with Hasimotos in order to improve your chances of going into remission. So keep reading for my list of 17 things you must do after getting diagnosed with Hashimotos.

  1. Make a plan to get on the right thyroid medication for your needs. This will probably require blood draws and labs every 2-3 months for the first year or so and adjustments to how much thyroid medication you take.

2. Discuss with your doctor what other supplements you should be taking. Common ones include iodine, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12 and Turmeric.

3. Determine if you need to get a thyroid ultrasound done to check for nodules.

4. Start living gluten free if you aren’t already. Gluten can make thyroid problems worse.

5. Start an elimination diet or consider additional food sensitivities testing. Food sensitivities are common with people with Hashimoto’s and thyroid issues.

6. Research all you can about the condition and ways to heal from it. Check out my recommended reading list here.

7. Consider trying either the paleo diet or the AIP diet.

8. Add bone broth to your diet.

9. Start taking probiotics and eating probiotic foods.

10. Start using essential oils to support your thyroid.

11. Stop drinking soda if you haven’t given it up already.

12. Work on giving up sugar as much as you can. (This does not include fruit.)

13. Work on supporting your adrenal glands. Adrenal fatigue and thyroid problems are often related.

14. Take time for self care and maybe even a few days of work if needed.

15. Consider incorporating chiropractic and acupuncture into your regular health care routine if you aren’t already.

16. Read stories of others who have hashimotos and how they have healed from it and learned to thrive despite it.

17. Breathe. Cry if you need to.

Zach Effron’s Down to Earth: What I Learned

Author annalaurabPosted on August 3, 2020August 3, 2020Categories HealthcareTags   Leave a comment on Zach Effron’s Down to Earth: What I Learned

Have you watched the new documentary: Zach Effron’s Down to Earth? If not, I highly recommend it. I think anyone who is interested in natural health and in learning about how to improve wellness by returning to the earth and other holistic ways of healing needs to watch it. The docu-series consists of 8 parts each one is between 40 minutes to 60 minutes. In this series Zach Effron joins Darin Olien author of:

SuperLife: The 5 Forces That Will Make You Healthy, Fit, and Eternally Awesome

For a journey around the world where they explore life in a few different countries that have higher rates of good health and a higher percentage of centenarians to learn how and why people around the world have better health and a higher quality of life than we do in the United States. 

Here are a few of the things I learned:

Our healthcare system in the United States is not really health care. I already knew this but this docu-series confirmed this. Instead we focus on sick care which isn’t the same thing as actually focusing on real health.

Gardening and eating our food from the earth should be our number one food source. Recently gardening has become more popular due to the pandemic and people staying home more and focusing more on health. However, in many countries especially in South America but also in Asia and in other island countries gardening is the number one food source not merely a way to save money by growing a few fruits and vegetables to supplement what we buy at the store. Eating what grows naturally by the season is also emphasized a lot more. 

Removing minerals from our water isn’t a good thing. There is an entire episode all about water with a focus on how France does their water and it was very eye opening. 

Our health habits and the food we eat is often passed on to us by our parents and grand-parents. Learning how to eat from the earth and how to make food from scratch is something we need to learn and pass on to our posterity. 

There are things we can do to improve our health and increase the number of years we live, however, you won’t learn these things from doctors or other medical professionals. Not because they don’t sometimes know how to help us, but rather because the real secrets of health aren’t taught in medical school. Instead it is helpful to learn about nutrition, herbs, gardening, and blue zones. (Blue zones are areas in the world where people live a lot longer and where diseases like cancer are virtually unheard of).

We can learn a lot from other countries about health and how to improve it and how to rely less on modern medicine.

Our emotional health and spirituality (no I don’t only mean religion) can have just as big an impact on our physical health as the food we eat. 

Have you watched this docu-series- Down to Earth? If so, what did you learn from it? I’d love to have you share with me in the comments. 

Thyroid Healing Guide: How to Heal Your Thyroid

Author annalaurabPosted on August 1, 2020August 1, 2020Categories ThyroidTags   Leave a comment on Thyroid Healing Guide: How to Heal Your Thyroid

Do you need help with thyroid healing? Do you even realize it is possible to heal your thyroid? Despite what most traditional doctors will tell you, you can heal your thyroid in most cases. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t need to also take thyroid medication. However, it does mean that you can avoid additional medications and thyroid removal if you act fast enough and are determined to obtain thyroid healing.

Thyroid Healing Diet

The first step in thyroid healing is to work on your diet. To start with you want to avoid gluten since gluten can in many cases attack the thyroid. That said, if you think there is even a chance you may also have celiac disease you should get tested for this first , since you must be eating gluten to do this.

However, it is important to realize that while gluten is the number one food to avoid, it is usually not enough for most people. Most people also need to avoid or at least limit dairy consumption as well as most grains. Sometimes it can be helpful to avoid nuts and other legumes too. Read this post about Keys to a good thyroid diet.

Thyroid Healing Recipes

There are lots of options when it comes to finding recipes to help with improving your thyroid health. One of the best things you can possibly eat is bone broth. In addition to that you want to explore recipes from various cookbooks especially those on paleo or AIP- autoimmune paleo. The main thing to think about when coming up with recipes that are good for your thyroid is to focus your meals on high quality, organic when possible meats, vegetables and fruits. You may be able to also have eggs and some seeds or nuts. However, some people find it helpful to find recipes that don’t have any of these either for at least the first three months.

One of the best cookbooks for autoimmune paleo is

While I personally don’t stick to the AIP diet 100% of the time. I do avoid grains 90% of the time and dairy and I currently am only eating seeds and no nuts.

Thyroid Healing Foods

In addition to finding good recipes, you also want to make sure that you fill your diet with as many thyroid healing foods as possible. I like to focus on lots of organic green vegetables such as peas in pea pods, cabbage, beets and beet greens, spinach, kale, green beans, broccoli etc as well as olive oil and coconut oil. Avocados, chia seeds, flax seeds, cassava, chicken, turkey, salmon, apples and berries are also really good.

Thyroid Healing Books

There are lots of books that you may find helpful as well. Here is a list of my favorite thyroid healing books. The challenge with many of these books though is that they often contain diet recommendations and protocols that conflict with each other. This is one reason why it is important to listen to your body and to find a good functional medicine doctor who can help you and run the right labs. If you live in the Salt Lake area, I have a good one I can recommend, or you can research online and find one. You may even have to visit a few before you find the right fit for you. That said, I have found many of the books on the thyroid to be helping in getting some good ideas and recipes, as well as suggestions to try.

Thyroid Healing Protocols

There are endless protocols in addition to diet you can try. I’ve written a few blog posts about some of the ones I have tried. In addition I recommend working with a good chiropractor and acupuncturist to help you.

The benefits of infrared sauna for thyroid.

50 Shades of Thyroid Healing.

Got any additional ideas to share? Post them in the comments below.

Guide to Increasing Your Energy Levels: How to Have More Energy

Author annalaurabPosted on July 25, 2020July 25, 2020Categories EnergyTags   Leave a comment on Guide to Increasing Your Energy Levels: How to Have More Energy

Are you wondering how to have more energy each and every day? If so, then this guide to increasing energy levels: How to Have More Energy is for you.

How to Increase Energy Levels

So exactly do you increase your energy levels?

The main ways that work the best are: getting high quality sleep, taking quality energy boosting supplements and foods, avoiding sugar, and exercising- moving your body.

Here is a post I wrote about more ways to increase your energy levels.

Increase Energy Supplements

I never ever recommend energy drinks because most if not all of them are really bad for your health. However, there are a variety of supplements you can take to increase your energy.

Energy Boosting Foods

Another things that can either increase your energy or decrease it is the food you eat. Many people don’t realize this but it’s true. So what are energy boosting foods? Learn about them in this post.

Foods that Decrease Energy

Just like there are foods that can increase your energy, there are foods that can decrease your energy.

Some of the most common foods include:

Sugar or anything with sugar in it. (This gives you a temporary energy boost but it doesn’t last and over time will decrease your energy.)

Processed Foods

White Bread

Soda and carbonated drinks

Cheese and dairy products (This is one of the worst for me personally)

Essential Oils to help increase energy levels

Have you ever considered using essential oils to help boost your energy? This isn’t something a lot of people think of, nor is it something I thought of for quite some time until I tried it and it works amazingly well for me.

Learn how to use essential oils to boost your energy

Reasons why you are tired and need more energy

There can be a variety of reasons why you are tired and need more energy. Some common ones include: not getting enough sleep, thyroid problems, adrenal fatigue and poor diet. Learn about some more reasons here.

5 Delicious Summer Squash Recipes

Author annalaurabPosted on July 21, 2020July 21, 2020Categories Cooking/RecipesTags   Leave a comment on 5 Delicious Summer Squash Recipes

Do you have an over abundance of summer squash laying around either from your garden or from others who have given it to you? I know I sure do. I love eating summer squash, however, sometimes trying to find different summer squash recipes that allow me to enjoy it without getting sick of it, can be difficult. That said, I’ve found five really delicious summer squash recipes that allow you to use it up and still have a variety and delicious healthy recipes.

  1. Stuffed Zucchini- There are endless options here. Recently my sister and I had a very large zucchini (so large it was almost the size of our 11 month old niece), that we were trying to use up. We made a mixture of cooked chicken, white rice, canned black beans, sliced onion and green pepper and a mix of spices and put it into the zucchini and baked it. It was really yummy. You could also use quinoa, or do tomatoes and chicken just to give you a few other ideas.
  2. Zucchini Bread- There are endless variations. Since I’m gluten free I have to use gluten free flour for this summer squash recipe. Last week I made some using quinoa flour and while it turned out fine, it was more like a bread as it wasn’t sweet at all. If you can I’d recommend using something like Bob’s Red Mill gluten free flour, or almond flour or brown rice flour would work well. Next time I plan to try a mix rather than straight quinoa flour.
  3. Zucchini Soup- There are lots of variations on this but the basic idea is that you cook the zucchini and blend it with butter or olive oil and coconut or almond milk and spices.
  4. Zucchini Stir Fry- You can make different various of this to create several different summer squash recipes but my favorite is this: saute onion, zucchini, mushrooms and chicken in olive oil, then serve with some brown rice or red potatoes.
  5. Zoodles- This is where you use a zoodle machine to make noodles out of zucchini. You can then use them to make spaghetti, or any other recipe you like where you would normally use other noodles.