When I went for my 6 week check up after having AJ, I had a few questions for my midwife. One of my questions was… How can I sucessfully lose some of this weight without hurting my milk supply. My midwife looked at me a bit confused and asked why I was trying to lose weight since I barely gained any during pregnancy. I then informed her that since giving birth I had gained just over 20lbs.
This puzzled my midwife a bit since I was (and still am) exclusively breastfeeding. She suggested that I have some blood drawn to check my thyroid. Sure enough, what she expected was true… my thyroid was running pretty low. She told me that she would prefer that I be seen by an endocrinologist to have more tests ran and to manage my thyroid. So off to the internet I went.
After much searching, I found an Endocrinologist who not only deals with medication for management but also advises the help of proper diet and exercise. I went to her and 23 blood tests later, she diagnosed me with Hashimotos Disease.
So here I am… One month and 11 days since my last post. I have been reading and researching, eliminating foods from my diet and talking to others who have Hashimotos. I am choosing not to take the standard approach to dealing with Hashi’s and will explain in the posts to come. But I wanted to let you all know that things will be changing a bit here… rather than be a blog committed to nutrition, food and wellness, I am going to be narrowing in a bit here and focusing on getting the word out about Hashimotos and how to approach not just managing but curing this disease.
Before I go, I just wanted to take a minute and explain what Hashimotos is…
Hashimotos Disease is an autoimmune disease in which the body attacks the thyroid. This results in the long run by the thyroid actually shutting down and the thyroid needing to be removed. Since your thyroid controls and influences so many of the hormones in your body, this can be a very dangerous thing.
People with Hashimotos generally suffer with infertility, obesity, hands and feet as well as arms and legs that ache on a regular basis, severe hair loss temperature sensitivity, brain function, irregular heart beat, depression and unfortunately the diagnosis of many other autoimmune diseases.
The medication that is available for Hashimotos Disease does not cure the individual but rather just attempts to manage the symptoms. However, more and more individuals are curing their thyroid disease with diet and exercise. I have set out to be one of those people.
It is estimated that 8% of the American population suffers from Hashimotos, however 90% do not even know it. And getting a doctor to test for it can be very, very difficult. In other words, I am hoping that at least for a season, this blog of mine can be devoted (2 out of every 3 posts) to Hashimotos.
If you don’t have Hashimotos Disease, you can still read all about life here… most of the recipes that I will be posting will be something called “AIP Approved”, but can most definitely be consumed by people without Hashis. Considering that you most likely know someone with Hashimotos Disease, it might be a good idea for you to stick around so you can help out a friend when the opportunity arises.
Wednesday I will be back with an update on A.J. as he is turning 3months old tomorrow!!! I know, C-R-A-Z-Y… anyways, have a wonderful evening and get ready for some delicious recipes coming your way right after I dump quite a few adorable pictures of my kiddo on this blog.
THE KITCHEN REVOLUTION 