Posts Tagged: Hypothyroidism

Thyroid Deficiency & Common Health Problems

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thyroid deficiency

By Matt Stone Danny Roddy, frequent guest author at 180D with articles like THIS, THIS, and THIS – turned me on to a great interview with Dr. Ray Peat from 1996.  It’s always really cool to see that Ray had put so many pieces of the puzzle together so long ago.  Although Ray is difficult to follow along with at times as he doesn’t speak laypersonese (prompted many times to do it in this interview by Gary Null but Sugar Ray don’t speak no jive), overall it is an excellent sermon on metabolism’s role in proper function.  Most medical doctors unfortunately are very unaware of thyroid deficiency and common health problems that ensue when the body’s cells aren’t producing energy at normal levels.  Peat gives some background on when and how… Read more »

Hot Water vs. Cold Water Thermogenesis

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cold water thermogenesis weight loss

There is a growing trend in health circles about cold-water thermogenesis.  Cold water thermogenesis, or the idea behind it, is to submerge yourself in very cold water for a prolonged period – let’s say 20-30 minutes.  The objective is to encourage your body to produce more heat in response to this cold stimulation via increased thyroid output.  It’s theorized to be an effective weight loss tool, or at least Tim Ferriss says so, therefore it must be true, and be useful for other things too.  Jack Kruse has proposed using it for all kinds of medical purposes, such as recovery from surgery and other miscellaneous things.  It could be yet another, non-invasive tool to have in the toolbox for use against disease. On one hand, it’s logical.  I have spent a lot of time in cold… Read more »

The Peat Whisperer Whispers Paleo

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By: Danny Roddy; author of The Peat Whisperer Matt Stone and I have a lot in common: we both hate that sleepy-eyed bozo from Coldplay, we both had a crush on Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes from TLC, and we both agree that not since Wiene’s ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’ has there been a film as important as Bay’s ‘Transformers II: Revenge of The Fallen.’ In addition to the above, we were both convinced early on that the metabolic rate (as defined by body temperature and pulse) was a compelling factor in health. Well, Matt was convinced before I was, and Dude probably saved my life by introducing me to the potato, but I digress. I credit Matt for turning me onto the relationship between the metabolic rate, the thyroid… Read more »

How To Increase Your Metabolism And Weight Loss With Hypothyroidism

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By Rob Archangel, 180DegreeHealth.com staff writer Anyone you know have a thyroid condition like Hasimoto’s thyroiditis? Matt’s got a new post over at Outsmart Disease answering some questions about enhancing the metabolism and losing weight for folks with those conditions. As many of you know, though, functional hypothyroidism (or “Type 2 Hypothyroidism,” in the language of endocrinologist Mark Starr) is widely common, and even those without specific thyroid-related diagnoses can see benefit from raising their metabolism and enhancing their thyroid function. As he mentions in the interview, his recommendations and goals tend to be similar since the benefits of having a robust metabolism apply to all, and can be both therapeutic and preventative. So mosey on down to Marina’s site there, and check out Matt’s interview here.

10 Inconveniences of a High Metabolism

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By Matt Stone Having a high metabolism doesn’t come without consequences.  Here are some of the common inconveniences one may notice with a significant rise in metabolic rate… 1)      Menstruation Life was good with a low metabolism.  No time of the month.  But then you raise that metabolism and uh oh, not again.  Freakin’ progesterone production goes up, LH and FSH regulate properly, and the next thing you know you’re bleeding, and once again dealing with the embarrassment and expense of buying “feminine products” and having to ask your boyfriend every time you get out of the car if there are any spots showing through your pants.  Sucks. 2)      Sweat Life was good with a low metabolism.  You could go get in a workout and not even have to change… Read more »

Thyroid Rehab- The Diet And Lifestyle Approach

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By Rob Archangel, 180DegreeHealth.com staff writer Hey buckaroos- just wanted to give all a heads up that Matt’s got a guest article over at Outsmart Disease, a site hosted by Marina Gutner, PhD and geared toward those with thyroid issues like Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Matt’s post is entitled ‘Thyroid Rehab- The Diet and Lifestyle Approach,’ and offers a nice summary of the role of stress hormones and inflammation in suppressing the metabolism and thyroid, and some general guidelines to suppressing that stress response and enhancing the metabolism. Go check it out!

Low Metabolism and Dry Skin

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By Matt Stone A friend of mine was feeling a little bummed last night.  Some underweight, hypothyroid guy she had been dating was acting all crazy on her – loving her one minute, then wanting to break up the next.  He loved to cuddle, but didn’t like kissing.  And all he wanted to do, she said, was binge on junk food.  And so, to help console her, I went through all my notes from Ancel Keys’s The Biology of Human Starvation to show her that these were well-understood characteristics of poorly nourished hpometabolic males.  I sent her stuff about his balls being small, for example, and she was like, “yeah, his balls are really small.” “The majority of investigators have agreed that the testes are reduced in size in semi-starvation, the… Read more »

Causes Of Hypothyroidism & Hypothyroid Diet Treatment

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Most overweight people, when seeing all the “easy ways to lose weight fast – watch the fat just melt off and stay fit forever!” feel like their failures in dieting are due to a bum thyroid gland.  Well, sort of. The thyroid gland is the primary conductor of the metabolic rate.  The metabolic rate is best described as being the amount of calories your body uses for basic function.  The bulk of the calories that you have available are used to fuel the organs and muscles.  They are active tissues that do work and require energy to do their jobs. So you’re hypothyroid. You have a slow metabolism. Shouldn’t you just be eating a low-calorie hypothyroid diet of lettuce leaves and alfalfa sprouts? I don’t think so. If you eat… Read more »

Reactive Hypoglycemia

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In the last post on Anorexia, I promised to discuss what I believe to be a very common problem for any long-term dieter – particularly one that has taken their metabolism down to the extremes seen among underweight anorexics. This is what is deemed “reactive hypoglycemia.” The telltale sign of reactive hypoglycemia, without using a glucose meter, is tremendous hunger and shakiness within an hour or two of eating a meal. A glucose meter provides more hard evidence of the condition, and typically shows a high fasting blood sugar level that plummets after ingesting food. The basics of reactive hypoglycemia, which are experienced most commonly by people who have lost a lot of weight and have entered into a functional state of starvation (whether going from 400 to 250 pounds… Read more »

The Diet Merry-Go-Round Twirls in Norway Too

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Here’s another top-notch story from Scandinavia, home of the famous twice-daily slab of margarine on white bread.  My comments throughout are in RED.  When I grew up I was the skinny one, and my little sister, who ate exactly the same food as me, and had the same rules at home as me, was the chubby one. We have a fairly similar body type, but she kept gaining weight, whereas I couldn’t gain weight, no matter how much I tried. She was always hungry and seemed to never get full. I was hungry fairly often, but even a very small meal would be enough, and then I just couldn’t eat more. Aha! Appetite, metabolism, and energy-partitioning are controlled by hormones and heredity! I was also fairly anxious and depressed from an early age…. Read more »

Importance of the Basal Metabolism

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Here’s a follow-up podcast on the topic of the week – the basal body temperature and its importance in preventing everything from bacterial infection to degenerative diseases, healing wounds, improving the health and strength of hair, skin, and nails, improving white blood cell counts, lowering cholesterol, lowering triglycerides, burning fat more efficiently, and more. 

Checking Basal Body Temperature

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In the last post on the decline in body temperature, we talked about the significance of having a warm basal body temperature. What is considered the ideal range and what is the official technique for assurance that your temperature reading is accurate? Broda Barnes is still the Godfather of what is still considered the optimal range for the axillary (armpit) temperature, as he routinely used the basal temperature to diagnose hypothyroidism. The armpit temp. runs up to a half degree F below the oral temp, and up to a full degree F of the ear temperature. The rectal temp. is probably very accurate as well, but can lead to perverse thoughts :) Barnes considered the ideal range to be between 97.8 and 98.2 degrees F first thing upon waking in the… Read more »

Body Temperature in Decline

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There is really no question that average human body temperature is in decline. Even the New York Times recently wrote an article on the subject, being, as clueless as ever, about the real significance of such a thing. For well over a year now, there has been much focus on the basal body temperature at 180DegreeHealth. This came, in part, as a result of reading all of the books of Broda Barnes, Stephen Langer’s book on hypothyroidism, and perhaps my favorite book on the far-reaching impact of having a low body temperature – Type 2 Hypothyroidism: The Epidemic, by Mark Starr. I find much of my beliefs about the all-encompassing importance of the body temperature to be reinforced by the current book I’m reading – Ancel Keys 2-volume piece on… Read more »

Still Rethinking Hypothyroidism

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Last week’s podcast introduced a new concept – the concept of leptin resistance being the predominant hormonal cause of having a low body temperature. This of course, is not the only cause. Having low levels of leptin like that of an anorexic will certainly manifest in the form of low body temperature just as high leptin levels in someone with low leptin sensitivity will. If your thyroid gland truly doesn’t work like it should, or the TSH signals coming from the pituitary aren’t functioning well, then you’re likely to have a low body temperature as well. This probably has absolutely nothing to do with leptin. But having hypothyroid symptoms, or having a low body temperature – the gauge used to diagnose hypothyroidism by Mark Starr, Stephan Langer, and Broda Barnes,… Read more »

Rethinking Hypothyroidism Podcast

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There will be a follow-up post to the ideas presented in the podcast here, but this is an interesting concept to bring up, especially when there is a huge movement out there of treating a low body temperature with medication (Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome) or desiccated thyroid hormones.  As we’re seeing at 180degreehealth, many people are having no problem bringing up basal temperatures whatsoever, and that the thyroid health of someone with a low body temperature often has nothing to do with their hypometabolic state.  Nothing at all! 

Is a Low-Carb Diet Counterproductive?

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I was asked to shed some light this morning on why I think low-carb diets are counterproductive for healing the metabolism.   Thought I would share an elaborated version of my response… Several things make me very leery of going low-carb, or at least make me feel that it is counterproductive: 1) Several authors, such as Diana Schwarzbein and Barry Sears talk about cortisol being raised on a low-carb diet as if it were common biochemistry knowledge. Knowing what I know about cortisol, a low-carb diet seems very undesirable. Diana Schwarzbein repeats the mantra that “going too low in carbohydrates raises cortisol and adrenaline” time and time again throughout her work. Keep in mind she observed this by tracking her patients’ hormone levels as a practicing endocrinologist. Barry Sears emphatically states: “…the longer… Read more »

Response to NY Times Article: What is Your Temperature? Rethinking 98.6

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Recently, an article with typical stupifying conclusions that only the New York Times could fumble to such a degree, was commented on by one Matt Stone.  No dickweeds, it is not okay that body temperatures are falling across the nation, that they typically fall as we age, and that it is “normal” to be low.  If I’ve learned anything about being an American citizen, the last thing you want to be is “normal” when it comes to diagnostic tests.  Anyway, here’s my response to the article: Ladies and gentlemen, what you’re talking about here is the epidemic of modern man. There is scarcely a single health problem that cannot be traced to a hypometabolic state. Just because body temperatures are low, and they typically fall with age, doesn’t mean that… Read more »

Nutrient Bombardment

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I’ve had a little bit of a thing going lately with eating the most nutritious food that I can get my hands on.  This was one of the first attitudes that I ever developed while attempting to improve my health through diet long, long ago.  Only problem was that back then I was primarily a vegetarian.  I was missing out on some very important nutrients that put a nutritious diet to good use.  For three days last week I kept close track of everything that I ate just so I could share my numbers with you guys.  I plugged all my data into some very expensive software that I purchased a couple of years ago (ESHA).  As you will be able to see in a minute when you go to check out… Read more »

Final Episode Follow-up

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Here are some comments that I received from last post from someone who contributed a “Low-Carb War Story.” Hi Matt,Thanks so much for commenting on my Carb War Story. It was the first one in the last series that you commented on. I have to say, your comments were not only helpful but hilarious. I especially love the one about my protein goal. As of right now things are starting to balance out. I was seriously bumming about all the weight I was gaining, but my ever so logical boyfriend reminded me of the big picture. I so appreciate you men folk for just this. You help us women folk put things into much needed perspective at times when the emotions get a little too out of control. Anyway, I… Read more »

Gerry Rigging

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Sorry folks. I’ve been a busy little boy trying to get my next eBook together before the end of the month. Here’s a short little post – a reply of mine to www.diseaseproof.com. Although I know better, I’ve tried hard to open up intelligent conversations and remind the site moderator, “Gerry,” that there are gaping holes in some his logic and conclusions. Gerry is an arm of Dr. Joel Fuhrman, a guy that I mostly agree with as he recommends a nutritious, whole-foods diet, completely devoid of processed foods, as the means of achieving good health, preventing and reversing a wide spectrum of diseases. Our only major points of contention is whether or not animal products and saturated fat can be part of a nutritious whole foods diet. He says… Read more »