In this episode of the The Thermo Diet Podcast Jayton Miller sits down and gives a complete overview of all things thyroid related. Why does the thyroid stop working? What does the thyroid do? How do you heal you thyroid? Find out all this and more in this episode of The Thermo Diet Podcast! Check it out and let us know what you think!
Facebook Group and Fanpage -
Thermo Diet Community Group ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/16721... ) - Thermo Diet Fan Page ( https://www.facebook.com/thermodiet/ ) Youtube
Channels: - Christopher Walker ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTA1... ) - UMZU Health ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2IE... )
Instagram: -
@_christopherwalker ( https://www.instagram.com/_christophe... ) - @researchcowboy ( https://www.instagram.com/researchcow... )
Full Transcript
Jayton Miller:
Welcome back to The Thermo Diet Podcast. I'm your host, Jayton Miller. And today we are going to talk about thyroid.
Jayton Miller:
So what is the thyroid gland? First of all, it's a butterfly-shaped gland that lies under the Adam's apple on the neck, and it produces the hormones, T4 and T3. So T4 is a tyrosine molecule with four iodine molecules attached to it, and then T3 has three iodine molecules attached to it. And whenever it gets to the liver or the peripheral tissues, it's acted upon by the deiodinase enzyme, which cleaves off one of the iodine molecules from the T4 molecule and converts it into T3, which is the more active thyroid molecule. And it's actually, I think it's around 10 to 20 times more active than the T4 molecule.
Jayton Miller:
And so the thyroid is actually the key regulator of the metabolic processes inside the human body. So without enough thyroid hormone being produced and without enough thyroid hormone being converted into T3 to be active, the metabolic processes inside of the human body can't happen properly. So we don't have enough energy production in the system, and therefore we can't have order and structure take place within cells. And so it's very important to have optimal thyroid health in order to have a high functioning metabolism.
Jayton Miller:
And so why does the thyroid stop working? The first thing is, first of all, you can be hypothyroid, or you can be hyperthyroid. Hypothyroid is an underperforming thyroid and a hyperthyroid is an overactive thyroid. So you're producing too much thyroid hormone and it's actually causing a little different stuff to happen inside of the body. But the most common one is hypothyroid. So it's usually underactive. The things that contribute to this first of all, is stress. So different kinds of chemical stress from the chemicals that we're exposed to, to hormonal stress. So if we have an abundance of different kinds of estrogens in the system, cortisol, adrenaline, serotonin, things like that.
Jayton Miller:
Dietary stress is a huge one that people don't pay attention to. That can have a major impact on your thyroid. So, especially because of the amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids that we get in our current diet in today's society is just way, way too much and they can actually directly inhibit thyroid function. If you can do one thing in your diet, avoid polyunsaturated fatty acids, as much as you can.
Jayton Miller:
Then we have psychological stress. So psychological stress can actually manifest itself physically through different hormonal responses. So it can raise cortisol and adrenaline and keep us in a stress state.
Jayton Miller:
Then we have physical stress. So are we over exerting ourselves? Do we have some kind of chronic physical stressor that's just driving us down to the ground? Things like that. So those are usually the biggest stressors.
Jayton Miller:
And then you can also have a lack of conversion from T4 to T3, as I mentioned earlier. Some of the highest leverage factors that you can do in order to optimize the conversion of T4 into T3 is regulating your blood sugar and optimizing your liver health. So optimizing the amount of glycogen that you have stored within the liver so the liver has enough fuel to properly convert T4 into T3. And then consistently fueling your body throughout the day, pretty frequently. So sustaining blood sugars throughout the day is going to allow for the body to basically have enough fuel that it needs in order to optimize the amount of thyroid hormone production, as well as the amount of thyroid hormone conversion.
Jayton Miller:
And then you also want to make sure that whenever you get different kinds of blood tests and things like this, that you don't necessarily want to get a T3 test because they can actually be measuring what's known as reverse T3, which is basically, it's an odd molecule that blocks the pathway and doesn't allow for proper energy production to take place because it can't really be used. And so you want to make sure that you're converting T4 into regular T3, not rT3, otherwise known as a reverse T3.
Jayton Miller:
So if you get a blood panel done and they say that your T3 levels are adequate, it's usually because they're measuring the amount of rT3. And a lot of people still tend to experience the hypothyroid-like symptoms whenever their T3 and T4 levels are optimal. And so you can have plenty of T4, but if it's not being converted properly, or if it's being converted into rT3, then you're going to have a lot of problems later on down the line. So you want to make sure that you sustain your blood sugar and optimize your liver health as much as possible so you can have as much T4 being converted into T3 and have as much active thyroid hormone in the system as possible.
Jayton Miller:
How do you know whenever your thyroid is not working right? So some of the symptoms include generally feeling cold and having cold extremities. One of the ways that you can tell is like, if you press on your fingers and it doesn't return to a pink color, or if your extremities are constantly white, that means that you're probably really stressed and you're not having enough blood flow to the extremities. And so you don't have enough energy production happening and you usually have some thyroid issues going on.
Jayton Miller:
You can also experience different kinds of hot flashes. This is more common with women who have high estrogen levels, but men can experience too, especially whenever they have high estrogen levels.
Jayton Miller:
Constipation or the runs. So you can either be on one end or the other. Usually whenever you're in a hyperthyroid state, you tend to experience constipation, but people do tend to have diarrhea excessively. So every once in a while, it might not be as high and that might just be a change of the food that you're eating and things like that, but you do want to make sure that if it's something that is happening consistently, that you take a deep dive into your gut health, as well as your thyroid health.
Jayton Miller:
Food not digesting is another big one too. So whenever you're in a hyperthyroid type state, you don't produce as much stomach acid as necessary in order to properly break down the food inside the stomach. And so you're not able to digest the food quickly, which means that food's going to be sitting in your stomach for three, four, five, six hours after eating. And so that's usually a sign that your thyroid is not optimized.
Jayton Miller:
Being fatigued a lot, or being very weak on a consistent basis and not having a good amount of energy levels can also be another sign.
Jayton Miller:
Brain fog is a big one. So you're not getting enough energy production to the brain that's allowing for your brain to work optimally. And so, because of that, you're going to experience brain fog, maybe less ability to remember things. So your memory is not going to be as optimal as it could be an things like that. Lack of focus and similar things.
Jayton Miller:
Infertility is a big one that people don't actually realize is connected to the thyroid. So whether you are male or female, if you are infertile, the first thing that I would suggest that you do is get your thyroid levels checked. So many people go to these different kinds of fertility clinics and work from a very reductive state whenever they're not looking at the entire body. And the thyroid can have a massive impact on your ability to be fertile. So if you're struggling with that, make sure to get your thyroid checked.
Jayton Miller:
Low testosterone is also a secondary effect of being hypothyroid. So if you're not having enough energy production, if you're not having enough thyroid hormone production that is allowing for proper energy production within the Leydig cells in the testes to take place, they're not going to be producing testosterone optimally. So I'd make sure that if you do have low testosterone to get your thyroid checked as well, because that could be an underlying issue that is resulting in low testosterone.
Jayton Miller:
One that kind of goes into infertility is low libido. So if your libido is kind of low and you notice that you don't have as much of that drive, you might want to focus on your thyroid health.
Jayton Miller:
Slow wound healing is another good sign. So you're not getting optimal energy production to that specific area of the body in order to allow for healing to take place. And so typically, you see wounds tend to heal around two to three weeks. If it's taking longer than that, then that's usually a sign of hypothyroidism.
Jayton Miller:
Hair falling out is another huge issue that a lot of people face both with hypo and hyperthyroidism. So I'd make sure that if your hair is falling out, you probably need to get your thyroid functioning properly.
Jayton Miller:
Excessively dry skin. I noticed that whenever I personally was in a very hypothyroid-like state, the skin, especially around my fingers and my knuckles would just get really thick and scaly almost. It was kind of weird. And so if you tend to struggle with that, I would focus on your thyroid health.
Jayton Miller:
Inability to lose weight or build muscle is something else that I would look into. If you just, for some reason, cannot shed off any fat, or if you can't build muscle whatsoever, get your thyroid levels looked at and see what you can do as far as nutritional and lifestyle perspectives, especially within The Thermo Diet and the thyroid course that we have too. So make sure to get into those courses and figure out what you can do.
Jayton Miller:
Low waking body temperature. So anything under 98.6 is a little bit less than optimal. I would say if you're around 98 to 97.6, you're probably okay, because your body temperature will rise as the day goes on, but try and get your waking body temperature up to around 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 37 degrees centigrade.
Jayton Miller:
A low heart rate is also another sign of a hypothyroid-like state. What's funny is a lot of doctors and a lot of health experts are taught that if you have a low heart rate, it means that you're in shape. That's actually not the case. If you have a low heart rate it's because you do not have efficient energy production within the system to allow for the heart to be beating at the rate at which it's supposed to be properly. And so anywhere from 75 to 85 beats per minute is usually the optimal range. I noticed that whenever I was in my lowest state of health, I had about a 46 beat per minute heart rate. So make sure that if you have something around that, that could be a sign of hypothyroidism.
Jayton Miller:
Food sitting in the stomach for hours on end, that kind of goes back to the digestive issues that we were talking about earlier.
Jayton Miller:
High cholesterol is a sign that you're not probably converting cholesterol into the steroid hormones because you probably do not have enough active thyroid hormone being converted in order to properly utilize the mitochondrial system that converts cholesterol into pregnenolone, and then the downstream steroid hormones. So if you have high cholesterol, get your thyroid checked.
Jayton Miller:
Inflammatory issues is also another one. So you don't have the ability to properly compensate for the inflammation that you're experiencing, because you don't have enough energy production to be able to compensate for that. So make sure that if you have chronic inflammatory issues that you get your thyroid looked at and start focusing on that area.
Jayton Miller:
So whenever it does come to a blood test and you do get your thyroid checked, they're usually going to check TSH and T4. And so the classic idea is that if TSH is high and T4 is low, then that's usually a sign of hypothyroidism. However, some people do come back with regular TSH and regular T4, and they still experience all of these symptoms. And that usually means that you're having trouble converting T4 into T3 via the liver. And so you may need to make sure to optimize your blood sugar, again, keep your blood sugar sustained throughout the entirety of the day, balance out your macro nutrients and use the factors that we're going to talk about here in just a minute, in order to optimize the conversion of T4 into T3.
Jayton Miller:
TSH is something that you do want to have rather low. I can't remember the exact measurements that they have on there, but I do remember that the number, as far as the American numbers for it should be around 0.4, so extremely low, and it's actually on the low end or lower than the scores and ranges that they have on the current tests. So get that TSH down as much as possible, because it is an inflammatory hormone. So make sure to look at that.
Jayton Miller:
So what are the highest leveraged factors that you can do to improve your thyroid? First of all, eat and be Thermo. So make sure that you're having plenty of carbohydrates, make sure that you get in plenty of high quality proteins, make sure that you avoid PUFAs at all cost, avoid estrogenic foods. These are going to be the highest leverage factors that you can do in order to optimize your thyroid and your overall health. Make sure that you're getting enough electrolytes and that they are balanced. So make sure that you have plenty of magnesium. You do not want a magnesium deficiency.
Jayton Miller:
Make sure that you get plenty of salt into the diet. Adequately salt your food. Make sure that you get in enough potassium through the different kinds of foods and fruits that you're eating. And then make sure that you get enough calcium. So the calcium to phosphorous ratio is very important to pay attention to whenever you're looking to optimize the energy production within the body. And so making sure that you get plenty of these into the diet and making sure that they're balanced is going to be extremely important for optimizing the metabolic processes inside of the body.
Jayton Miller:
Sleep more. So you need to make sure that if you are in a stress state and you are looking to optimize your thyroid health, you need to sleep as much as you can. I would say anywhere from eight to 10 hours at minimum is how much you need to get, if not more. So on the weekends, if you can sleep even more, get 12, 14 hours, if you can. That will help tremendously. Sleeping is one of the most, if not the most regenerative process that the body can take advantage of. And so make sure that you sleep more.
Jayton Miller:
Walk more and exercise less, especially whenever it comes to endurance training, depending on the state of health that you're in right now. Resistance training can be too stressful for you. So just walk more, get outside, get some sunshine, enjoy nature, and just get some steps in. The steps in walking is actually related to all kinds of health from moving around lymph in the lymphatic system to optimizing digestion, to helping with blood flow, to helping decrease stress hormones. So walk more and exercise less.
Jayton Miller:
Get more sunlight. So making sure that you have optimal vitamin D production inside of the body is very important. And sunlight also helps reduce the amount of serotonin that we have in the system and is going to help with mood, your sense of wellbeing, and it also helps with thyroid health.
Jayton Miller:
Get your gut right. So making sure that you're eating the carrot salad, as Ray Pete mentions. Eating that on a daily basis consistently is going to help clean out the digestive tract and kind of pull out a lot of those different toxic materials and hormones that we have inside of the digestive tract. And then supplement with activated charcoal one to two times a week. This is going to lower the amount of endotoxin-producing bacteria inside of the gut to decrease the amount of stress that your body is experiencing.
Jayton Miller:
And so getting your gut right, eating the carrot salad, doing the activated charcoal one to two times a week is going to make a big difference. Eating frequently throughout the day with balanced carb to protein ratio. So you want anywhere from a two to one to a three to one ratio of carbohydrates to protein with every meal that you're going to eat. And I would say at first you're probably going to start to want to eat around every two hours. After a while, your liver will kind of be taught how to store more glycogen and you'll be able to go a longer amount of time without eating. But at first, whenever you're undergoing optimizing the thyroid, I would eat frequently throughout the day.
Jayton Miller:
Utilize red light therapy for the thyroid. This is extremely important. Red light has actually been shown to increase microcirculation, increasing nutrient delivery to the tissues, optimizing energy production and decreasing inflammation. Red light has also been shown to be so effective for recovery that they've actually thought whether or not to ban it as a performance enhancing drug for professional athletes. So I'd look into using red light therapy on the thyroid.
Jayton Miller:
Filter your water. This is going to be huge. The chemicals that we have in our water from chlorine, to fluoride, to bromide, they actually displace iodine from the thyroid and we need iodine in order to properly produce thyroid hormones as part of the thyroid hormone molecule. And so make sure that you filter your water and get rid of those chemicals so you're not messing with your thyroid.
Jayton Miller:
Wear more clothes. This is one that not many people have probably heard, but if you're constantly cold, being cold is a stressor. So put more clothes on and stay warm as much as you can. And it's going to help you heal a little bit faster because you're not going to be... It's going to kind of pull you out of that stress state a little bit easier because you're not freezing to death all the time.
Jayton Miller:
And then as far as the psychological part, I would try and meditate in some form or fashion on a daily basis. This is going to have a tremendous impact, not only on the health of your body, but on the health of your mind as well, and kind of keep you grounded consistently.
Jayton Miller:
So yeah, those are probably my highest leverage factors that I could give over what the thyroid is and what to do about optimizing your thyroid. I hope this helped you all. If you haven't already make sure to subscribe, hit the like button and I will talk to you all next time. Have a good one.
Jayton Miller:
Thanks for listening to the podcast. If you haven't already make sure to hit the like button, subscribe and leave a comment down below if you want us to cover a different topic.
