This excites me no end. The other week week I got to chat to Andrea Beaman. Andrea is a US chef and health coach. She appeared on the first (and fifth) series of Top Chef. She’s the food expert on CBS News and she trained with INN, as did I. Just to put her in context. She knows food, OK.
But this is the thrilling bit: Andrea healed her thyroid disease with… food.
Yesireee. She refused to take medication and, after two years of careful, healthful eating, she was fixed. I remember reading about this a while back and getting so heartened. I’ve always believed this should be possible, despite being told by countless specialists that I’d been on medication for life (they also told me I was infertile, but goddamn if I didn’t turn that around).
I had to chat. So we did. I figured you’d like to hear what we shared…(and let me just say, there’s no need to tell me that I um and ah a lot. I know. It was early and I hadn’t slept.)
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The concept is friggen fabulous. It fits with everything I believe in. I haven’t got there yet. I’m trying. I lapse. My stress still puts spanners in works for my progress. As do my hormonal fluctuations. But stories like Andrea’s inspire me. As you might know, I believe my thyroid disease is a symptom of the way I lived for a long time. I damaged my body with my previous lifestyle habits. Ergo, I believe, I can fix it with better ones. This is why I do what I do (bang on about sprouts and bone broth and quitting sugar).
The key bits I took from my chat – and that I believe work, too – are flagged below:
* you need to experiment with different eating styles. Andrea played with macrobiotic eating and it worked for her for a while. Me, I’m finding a grains-free approach better.
* cholesterol-rich foods are needed for thyroid health. Eggs! Eggs! Fat! Eggs!
* protein and fat-rich foods are also key (I’ve gone on about this here).
* get rid of chemicals and ALL endocrine disruptors. Again, check out my thinking here and here. The thyroid relies on the endocrine system. ANYTHING reported as an endocrine disruptor has to be eliminated. The average person can probably handle them in smalls amounts. But AI types – nope.
* bone broth is the bomb. See my recipe here.
* Iodine-rich foods are great, so are fish stocks and seaweed and sea salt
* Avoid soy. Correct!
* Cruciferous veggies like kale, broccoli, cabbage, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower etc…only eat them cooked due to the goitrogens.
* meditation! Yes! Andrea suggests it helps because it aligns the key glands that are out of whack in AI types – the pineal, the hypocampus, the thyroid, the pituitary.
* do easy exercise. But do it everyday. Hello! Exactly my thinking.
* at the end of the chat she recommended the book Real Food for Mother and Baby by Nina Planck, for AI types who might have fertility/hormone issues (as I do).
For more, check out her Nourishing Thyroid Health DVD. And Andrea’s blog.
And feel free to post some questions and comments below…I’ll invite Andrea to wade in and answer any you might have.
