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It’s (Past) Time for a Dietary Body Reset
My Hashimoto’s auto-immune disease has me seeing red
I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease in 2010.
I had never heard of it before. But I was lucky: I had an informed doctor who tested me properly and educated me as to what this meant. I started taking thyroid medication and, within weeks, began to feel better.
I was a yogi at the time, and a vegetarian. I ate healthy, organic foods. But—I had my vices—my chocolate, my chai tea lattes, my wine, my…sugar. So, I tried to cut down on a lot of those inflammatory foods, with some, but not a lot, of success.
Next, I implemented an Ayurvedic diet. I studied this science and, for several years, worked as an Ayurvedic practitioner. According to this model, Hashimoto’s, as an inflammatory disease, was a disease of Pitta, or excess fire. Thus, I needed to eat foods that were cooling, soothing, and anti-inflammatory. I did this for a while, but didn’t see any major improvements. Then again, I wouldn’t say I was 100% committed to it. I always had my exceptions, my treats, my cheats.
Then, I tried a gluten-free diet, as there is consensus that people with Hashimoto’s should be off gluten. Entirely. For life. No exceptions. Yeah, I was never that strict about it. Probably, that’s why I never really saw much improvement here, either.
After COVID, much of all of this went away. I began to eat what I craved, not worrying so much about diet. I still choose organic, whole foods, but I allowed more take-out, more gluten, more dairy, more meat.
I didn’t really think it would make all that much difference. I thought my body could recover. I thought I would be the exception.
Here I am, 14 years later. Things are worsening in my body. The fire—and the associated inflammation—is higher than ever. My Hashimoto’s, now hand-in-hand with perimenopause (a whole other thing), is wreaking havoc on my immune system. I can feel fire in my joints, my muscles, my bones. I can tell by the additional pounds that I’m carrying around, too. Don’t get me started on the hot flashes and night sweats. The last set of labs I had done in early January confirmed what I should’ve known: my body is in a state of crisis.
