Hashimoto's Thyreoditis and raw food, especially raw seaweed

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to ask if there is somebody else around who has been diagnosed with Hashimoto's or Orb's Thyreoditis and therefore should not eat Jod-products.

I have noticed that I can eat them more easily since I have gone raw. I still get pain in my thyroid pretty hefty but it's gone after a day. I just began to eat raw, so it might even be a detoxing symptom ;).

I also noticed that I finally can loose weight... and that I'm not so tired anymore...

but I'm just beginning the journey.

Has anybody else made it through with Hashimoto's? Everybody else who has that disease already considered me crazy and unresponsible because I didn't want to give up my veganism. Of course I can't beginn to tell them I'm raw now...

Greetings and thanks for sharing,

Eva

Comments

  • malchusmommalchusmom Raw Newbie

    Hi Eva,well i have hypothyroidism and not sure yet but i know most likely i have hashimoto disease too.I also had a goiter(is an enlarge thyroid gland)with 2 nodules on it,but after starting treatment medication wich I HATE!!!!!! the goiter went down. I also became vegan,but i notice this. There is some vegetables(CALL GOITROGENS) that can make out thyroid gland enlarge. If you don't have an enlarge gland i don't think you will have a problem with it.But if you do,be careful eating some of this vegetables. I try one by one and notice that with the ones my thyroid got enlarge were red cabagge,spinach and kale. These 3 i can not eat and i hate it,but i notice what happens after i eat. Here is an article.

    Living with this condition and changing your eating habits do amazing things to you. It helps a lot to feel better in all aspects. I got very depress after my diagnose of hypothyroid,but changing my diet totally gave me a diffrent point of view.

    This is a long Journey,but just take one day at a time and try to do your best for you and your health.

    Here is the article. Hugs!!!!!

    Ohhh,one thing before i forget,SOY is not good AT ALL for your thyroid,it makes it slower,and it makes your thyroiditis worst,believe me.

    GOITROGENS are naturally-occurring substances that can interfere with function of the thyroid gland. If the thyroid gland is having difficulty making thyroid hormone, it may enlarge (referred to as a goiter) as a way of trying to compensate for inadequate hormone production.

    The two categories of foods that have been associated with problematic thyroid hormone production is soybean-related foods and cruciferous vegetables. There are a few other foods as well that do not fit these categories such as millet, strawberries, and peaches that also contain goitrogens.

    While some people report severe hypothyroid symptoms when eating such foods. Some have no problems at all or only experience symptoms when eating specific kinds. As a rule of thumb I personally do not eliminate foods unless I have problems with them. Such foods offer a variety of healthful benefits. Keeping moderation and variety in mind is really the key.

    It is thought that the enzymes required for production of goitrogens in the plant are destroyed by cooking. This offers the hypothyroid patient yet another avenue of being able to eat these foods more safely without disturbing the delicate hormonal balance. On the flip side some of these foods can be helpful in treating the hyperthyroid patient.

    Below is a list of foods that inhibit thyroid hormone production.

    Bamboo shoots, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, kale, cauliflower, horseradish, lima beans, maize, mustard greens, rutabaga, sweet potatoes, turnips, kohlrabi, and the oilseeds rapeseed and canola.

    Millet, cassava, strawberries, apricots, cherries, peaches, pears, almonds, peanuts, walnuts, radishes, soybean and soy products, tofu and spinach.

  • malchusmommalchusmom Raw Newbie

    Ohh eva,about the seaweed, i buy Kelp,but just eat a lit piece a day or every other day. To little or too much IODINE can hurt our thyroid. You need to find a balance,i notice at first i used to eat a hole seaweed and nex day i can feel my goiter enlarge,didn't like it at all!! so you have to be careful with the amount you eat or put on your food.

  • Hi Malchusmom,

    thanks a lot for your advice.. I should try kelp only that I remember having looked for it some years ago and not found it here in Germany.

    You say that we should take care for the amount of Iodine we consume, I generally agree with you - but here in Germany doctor's advice you not to eat Iodine at all anymore if you are diagnosed with atrophic (so I don't have a large thyroid, but a tiney one, only 6 ml of volume left) Hashimoto... I love Sushi though.. so I have it once a while - and before I got the typical thyroid "infection" afterwards, but today I only had it very briefly.. but my Hashimoto isn't really sooo bad, so I might hopefully loose it on the way - I'm still taking the pills though, because without them I'd be lost... contrary to an old topic I found for me they really do work - it's another prescription though than they give in North America generally, it seems.

    I'm just really not sure about the Iodine consume.. I love vegan - now raw vegan sushi rolls... and just wondered if somebody specifically with Hashimoto's had tried to uppen the Iodine consume again.. or if maybe they don't even advise a total stop of iodine intake in the U.S. (note: always for Hashimoto, not "normal" hypothyreodism.. I was diagnosed with de Quverain before...)

    Thanks about the rest of the info.. it's really useful.. I'm generally addicted to all of those foods you describe.. but I have noticed some thyroid pain after strawberries.. I'll pay more attention. I don't had a problem with soya food before, but here in germany they say as long as you keep your intake constant, there's no problem.. I wonder what will happen now, that I cut it out... well.. I'll just wait and check.

    Thanks also for the natural medicine advice.. I think I'll try that in the summer maybe.. but as I have the atropic form (the most common one here in Germany) it might not be much use.. I just hate it when everybody tells you something else and it's so confusing.

    Oh and about the Hashimoto's Diagnosis: Did you get your TPO and TRAKs checked? And did they do a sonography of your thyroid? Usually they should be able to tell you then.. because at least here in Germany being a Hashi is completely different from just having hypothyreodism.. the treatment, the dietary advice... and well, for me it was a lot easier when I finally got that right.. I'm still hoping that it will disapear but I could live with it also.. it doesn't bother me too much anymore, now that I'm fine with my Euthyrox every morning...

    But thanks...

    Eva

  • Oh and about kelp.. I looked it up again and I remember it from Chile, where I lived 10 years ago as a teenager.. I loved it then and you really can't get it here in Germany.. all the seeweed you can buy is from Asia stores or natural food suppliers.. but they only sell the Asian variant also.. I also wonder if you could make Sushi from kelp.. ;)

  • malchusmommalchusmom Raw Newbie

    i'm glad some of the info can help. I'm impress,the way you described the hashimoto treated over there.I have not been test my TPO yet,but i will soon.Yes,i did have a ultrasound of my gland at first.For what i know,hashi won't go way,if someone have it,it will the rest of their life,but i'm soo sure and i beleive that with the right diet someone is able to have a almost perfect health and not suffer from it. Also here they say that when someone have an autoimmune disease eventually in life will end up with others.Another thing,lots of people don't know that besides some things been hereditary, the immune system get week and mess up by a trauma in the nervous system like a stress shock,a loss of a love one or something that impact so hard emotionally and some damage are done to the DNA.( what happend to me was Post Partum Depression after having my girl a yr ago,it was baddd,Thank God is gone).

    I don't know, the human body is soo complex and complicated,but we just have to try to do our best with it and take care of it.

    I think you might be able to make sushi with kelp =-)

  • Hi Malchusmom!

    Thanks for the rest of the information - that's also very much interesting to me. Me, too - I have no hereditary case of autoimmune diseases, but me, too, I have a history of traumata - I'm fine now, psychologically, very much so, but my body doesn't seem to have gone through with it.

    Hashimoto actually is my 3rd autoimmune disease and my 5th endocrinological problem... well, 5 are really bad and somehow clear, I even had more diagnosis. But I don't care very much and actually by going vegan (or getting better on the traumatic side) I even made one go away: Morbus Addison which is considered to even less go away then Hashimoto and I don't have it anymore. That's kind of a medicinal sensation here in Germany and nobody could ever explain it to me, but it just simply went away. My adrenal glands are a bit small (Addison is roughly the same than atrophic Hashimoto only for the adrenal glands) but my Cortisol is just fine and well.. my Aldosterone is currently overproducing way too much.

    I also read here that quite some people dealt with their Diabetis Typ I by going raw - that's an autoimmune disease, too. So there is hope for us... And even if not, I suppose if you take the lightest and at least not-animal based pills to substitute your hormones, I think that's not too bad at all for a life. I'm usually only tired when I get up, then I take my Euthyrox and 30 minutes afterwards I'm shiningly alive. I consider it more like substituting Vitamine B12 instead of medication. (I have to take supression medication for other hormones and that's just awful).

    Oh - and about the TPO - get them tested, but please note, that not all Hashimotos do have TPOs, only around 80% in Germany. Some have TRAKs, and some no anticorps at all. (I have slight TRAKs but for all of my autoimmune diseases I don't have anticorps.. that happens quite sometimes). More important is the structure of your thyroid seen on ultrasound. I'm not sure about the hypertrophic form, but for the atrophic form it has to be a lot darker than usual and more irregular. Also size matters.

    After all I think especially by being raw one can lead a wonderful life with any autoimmune disease. The only thing that isn't suited is fasting, except juice fasting, but I have even been to the sauna again, have gone trekking in the Himalayas, have eaten Sushi - and now I'm loosing weight. That's only some things that you are not supposed to be doing when being a Hashi here in Germany.

    So there's hope..

    and maybe I should do another search for kelp in the Latin American supermarkets.. ;) but I can't imagine sushi with it, I only remember it as part of a oven dish in Chile ;)

    Thanks for the advice though.

    Eva

  • hello,

    i know that this topic is a bit older, but i hope that someone will answer me. my mother has Hashimoto's Thyreoditis (its an underfunction though), and she is experiencing severe health problems at the moment. she had the disease for about 30 years already, but now its gets ever worse. she is on a very strong medicine that gives here strong side effects, e.g. harsh tiredness, a very high pulse, heart ache...etc. She was off the meds for a while and she immidiately felt better, even though her thyreoditis wasnt effected in a positive way, but her tiredness disappeared, she had more energy and felt better psychologically as well. now she is back on the medication and she feels aweful.

    from what I read in this topic I have seen that you guys managed this disease by starting a raw food diet. I myself am a moderate raw foodist and I want to give my mom the chance to heal herself! I have read all your tips on what and what not to eat, but from your experience, do you have a sort of strict diet plan (e.g. for every week) that can be applied for other persons. I dont wanna kill my mom thats why I need some guidance when choosing her diet planning together with her. you mentioned certain fruits that should be avoided, also soya milk, amongst other things.

    please help me, my mom is getting worse every day, and I really want to help her. I know raw food can cure her, I just do not know the right structure of food to recommend her.

    thanks for answers

    max

  • missemymissemy Raw Newbie

    Max,

    so sorry for your Mom. If you need expert help, it would be a good idea to get with a naturopathic Dr. And read. there are books written on it. And it depends what she is open to. My parents both didn't want anything to do with alternative, even changing their eating habits. They had cancer too. But I accept their right to make their own choices. oh, and I am preaching to the chior here, but for your Mom, mo naked products. They used to put iodine in the breads people eat . well, in the 60's they decided we were getting too much (And in Japan they get 10x the amound and have little thyroid issues) and put bromelien (sp?) in the breads to keep things from sticking, well, bromlein KILLS the thyroid. as does the chlorine we put in our pools, and all chlorine. So, those things are really important to stay away from.

    And personally, I am thankful you brought up this site. In 10 years of chronic fatigue I have discovered I have many virus' (hep c, mono etc) but kept tossing off the nodule on my thyroid. well, I just had my first appt with a naturopathic, and he said it's a goiter !!!! That brings light to it, so have been reading up on Hash already. He couldn't get blood yesterday, (I have really small veins) so will go to a lab before the next appt next week. So maybe he can do a test for it. But I am so stoked to get a better diagnosis. He didn't have any of his thyroid meds (it's food for the thyroid, sorry, not a fan of anybody else's hormone in my body) but he is having it sent to my house, so am excited to try it.

    What is weird, I have been raw for 5 weeks? and this week have been craving seafood, and sushi with crab. kind of wierd, I get my body more balanced and it has seemed to gravitate towards the iodine.

    and yes, I don't like the cabbage family, but love strawberries and spinach. I feel better after I eat both, so it's case by case. but what about kim chee? maybe not huh? would fermenting it kill the GOITROGENS ? little own fermented Soukraut.

    emily

  • Hi,

    I have been diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, and have been taking a "natural" thyroid medication called Armour thyroid. It has helped a bit, but I am still really tired/depressed/cold all of the time. I have been working on my raw food intake, I don't know percentage wise but since I started eating more and more raw food I feel much better. My acupuncutist who diagnosed me got really mad when I told her I was going to use raw food to help my thyroid, because I guess raw veggies and fruits are "damp" and "cold" according to ayurveda, and have a negative effect on the thyroid. But I take a couple of tablespoons of coconut oil daily, and a tablespoon or two of maca powder, both of which are supposed to support thyriod function. And I eat a ton of fruit and spinach and kale, which make me feel really good ( I know the kale is cruciferous, but I think it's important for other body functions so I eat a ton of it anyway. I try to eat plenty of sea vegetables but they're kind of gross to me so it's hard. I was taking sea veggie capsules for a while, which are easier for me since I don't like the taste of seaweed too much. I think everybody is different and raw food is the way to go, but it's important to listen to the body and eat what makes you feel good. I've got a long way to go :)

    Good luck!!

    Emily

  • ps- When I was diagnosed, my TSH was above 75, which is ridicuolously high (which means that my thyroid was NOT functioning at all). Now it's in the normal range, which is below 2.5. I don't know if it's from my medication or diet or combination of both. But that took about a year, and I definitely feel better.

  • missemymissemy Raw Newbie

    Funny,

    I am sitting her consuming a kale/spinach/apple/beet/carrot/strawberry juice with MACA. what are the odds?

    I know, I have heard that before too, about the raw being cold on your system. I just don't get it, but maybe one day I will. but if you feel better. But what was wierd, is my eyesight was really blurry when I was at my Drs. I had the sushi with crab (sorry if I offend) but man, after my eyesight was really clear !! maybe it was the spicy sauce, it killed something, but it was kind of weird. or maybe it was the nori. I know I think, other than the nori, which I love, the sea veggies are gross tasting. I bought it in flakes so I put it on like salt. And, being raised in San Diego, I love salt water, I just feel so good in it. we are going to santa monica for our anniversary next weekend, right on the beach. I read it is very healthy to go in the water. Is there a bath treatment to make the water salty? I guess you could put in sea salt. just an idea.

    sorry, I am going all over the place. just a lot to take in today for me...or blame it on the brain fog I get ;)

    Emily

  • malchusmommalchusmom Raw Newbie

    Is been a month(since my master cleanse) that i stop the medication). I am just trying to see if things get balance by itself or what. I have been supplementing with 4 drops a day of liquid iodine,vitamin E,vitamin C and having a balance diet, i do try to avoid goitrogens to not upset my thyroid gland. I am planning on going to a lab and getting my TSH levels to see how am i doing. Will keep u post it,but soo far i feel very good,no headaches like before(a yr ago my tsh was 13.7)last time was 0.38

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