Hypothyroidism

Update Feb 2014: I am officially off my Synthroid and going to try a second time to cure my hypothyroidism naturally.

I actually sat down and researched natural cures for hypothyroidism this time. I started a Facebook community page dedicated to testimonials called Curing Hypothyroidism Naturally. Please like and share your testimonial if you have cured your hypothyroidism naturally. There are other popular hypothyroidism Facebook community pages, but they are full of posted questions and little answers. I want my page to be a community of people with answers that others can come, take notes, and heal themselves and share their stories.

I have taken Synthroid (a high dose of 125 mcg / .125 mg) daily for 5 years. No more. I ordered nascent iodine from the Natural News store. Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, has been publishing results of heavy metal toxicity in health food and supplements and I recommend you checkout those studies (the links are posted at the end of this blog). 

Mike Adams (thank you Jesus for that man!) helps inform people on the cleanest sources of iodine and seaweed supplements along with other nutrition pills and powders by doing lab testing for heavy metals in products. Seaweed supplements (such as wakame and kelp) naturally contain iodine and are great supplements for those who are iodine deficient, but some products are tainted with arsenic and lead and other nasties. So research the cleanest supplements before purchasing anything. Links to Mike Adams' research findings are listed at the bottom of this blog.

Secondly, I researched iodine. This study was more eye-opining than any nutrition knowledge I've undertaken to date. Go to youtube and watch some experts speak about the benefits of iodine and the dangers of iodine deficiency, and you too will quickly be willing to spend less than $40 on a 3 year supply of nascent iodine like I did. Or you can get a 10 year supply from the natural news store for around $100. 

Stock up people. Iodine naturally protects the thyroid from free radicals, neutralizes fluoride and other nasty heavy metals like bromine and mercury in the body, and protects the thyroid from environmental radiation. Babies born to pregnant moms who supplemented with atomic iodine have an IQ average of 30-40 points higher than the birth parents. And the list goes on and on.

So here is what I purchased: I used two online stores: iherb.com and store.naturalnews.com

1. From iherb.com I bought two enzyme supplements: L-Arginine and L-Tyrosine. They were very inexpensive but help with thyroid function. I also bought hemp fiber and a thyroid support pill.  (use coupon code WCB515 to save $10 on your first purchase at iherb.com). I also ordered hemp oil just for fun. It seemed like it would be good for me overall.

2. From the Natural News store I purchased a bottle of nascent iodine,chlorella tabs, and Enerfood. 

The nascent iodine is in a dropper bottle and I'll take 2 drops a day in water (there is about a quarter milligram of atomic iodine per drop, so that makes for a half milligram daily in 2 drops). The dropper bottle has almost a thousand servings (2,000 drops) so this will last me 3 years and it cost me $35. Iodine is essential for everyone, not just people with hypothyroidism, though hypothyroidism is most commonly associated with iodine deficiency so it's a must for people like me.

Professionals tend to disagree about how much iodine is safe to take, but the vast majority (if not all), agree the best form of supplemental iodine is the atomic form called "nascent iodine." Some doctors recommend upwards of 50 mg atomic iodine per day but this is just too much. Trust me. I've done my research. Stick to a half milligram to up to 4 milligrams per day. I started with the recommended 2 drop serving (equaling 1/2 mg) and didn't feel any energy boost which was something most people who take iodine enjoy about it. I upped it to 4 drops (1 mg) and felt a little something. So I'm guessing my 3 year supply will end up only lasting 2 years. I may increase my drops to 2 mg (6 drops) and the bottle will last a year. Still, at $35 for a one year supply of a vital, life-changing nutrient is worth every penny to me.

You can test for iodine deficiency by using a cotton ball to rub USP tincture iodine on a soft fleshy part of your body like inner thigh or upper arm or lower belly, wait a couple hours, and if it disappeared into your skin, you are deficient! Never orally consume this kind of iodine, as it is not pure and contains poisonous toxins if ingested!

Those with Hashimoto's Disease may be more sensitive to iodine supplementation but do your own research. There are lots of great YouTube videos out there. Infowars host Alex Jones interviewed a very highly esteemed nutritional expert named Dr. Edward F. Group just a couple years ago and they talk about fluoride poisoning, environmental radiation, and the need for iodine supplementation is this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=409V46eXGHs

Feel free to like my FaceBook page "Curing Hypothyroidism Naturally" if you have a success story to share. As of this posting update, I have just created the page and have yet to see the first testimonial of someone curing their hypothyroidism naturally. So maybe you can be the first to start this mini-revolution! Like the page and share your story! I'd love to hear it and get a successful natural thyroid health community rolling!

Below is my original blog posted when I first attempted to cure my hypothyroidism with a 30 day juice fast. I didn't realize at the time that it takes upwards of 12 months to cure the disease, and that I needed more sea vegetables and iodine. 

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(Posted in 2012:)
Four years ago I had good health insurance for the first time in my life, and I found a female doctor and scheduled a visit. She did a routine check-up and gyno exam, and she felt my throat and was concerned. She ordered all kinds of blood work, and when the results came in, she diagnosed me as hypothyroid. She put me on a thyroid prescription called Levothyroxine. A couple months later she ran blood work and my levels were still showing an underactive thyroid. She increased my dosage. We ran blood work again. Still not much of an improvement. She then switched me to the brand name Synthroid and ran bloodwork again.  A little improvement but no cigar. She upped me to a pretty fairly high dosage, .125 mg (or 125 mcg) and that did the trick. My blood work came back normal.  I took the pill daily for three years.

But 5 months ago I stopped taking my Synthroid pill. I thought I could heal my thyroid through healthy eating (and positive thinking, or denial, I don't know), but it turns out I failed. I had my thyroid blood levels checked this week after being off my Synthroid pill for the past almost 6 months, and my Free T4 and TSH levels were way off.

Blood test results 6 months after I stopped taking Synthroid: 

T4 Levels

My Free T4 level was way low, at 0.23 (normal is 0.8-1.9). Being this low, I was classified as having a condition called myxedema, which leads to heart failure, seizures, and coma. Since I've regularly had dizzy de ja vou-like fainting spells since I was 14, I thought maybe my undiagnosed fainting condition might be related to my low thyroid function. But this blog is not about my fainting spells. I'm just throwing that out there for kicks.

The U.S. regularly tests newborns for free T4 levels, since in infants, low levels can cause mental retardation. Left untreated, it can also stunt growth and delay sexual development. But none of these things happened to me. I am not retarded, (though my first grade teacher thought something was wrong with me), and I have grown just fine and didn't have any problem with sexual development. I got my period before all the other girls in my class. I was in sixth grade, only eleven years old. So there. Maybe I developed the thyroid problem later in adolescence.

That's when I started to have seizures. In my early teens, I started fainting. My parents took me to various doctors. All the doctors ruled out epilepsy, which my father has, ironically. But they never found my thyroid problem (which my mother and her sisters and their mother all have!). Grrrrr. Maybe I didn't have a thyroid problem in my teens. I don't remember what tests were done. But a doctor should have looked for it since it ran in my family, and since many women have thyroid problems and I had many of the symptoms of hypothyroid as I recall my adolescence years ridden with poor nutrition, constant fatique, disinterest in things, hair falling out, nails breaking, inability to lose weight even when starving myself, etc.

So I should thank the doctor who discovered my thyroid condition in 2009. Dr. Lisa Noyes-Duguay in Westerly, Rhode Island. You rock. All the rest of you doctors who scratched at your dandruff bumps while being paid a hundred dollars/hour to find out why I was seizuring and fainting all through high school, you all suck. I could write another "Embarrassing Moments" blog essay just on fainting episodes in high school alone. Once all your close peers have seen you foam at the mouth and moan like a lunatic, there's no going back to normal.

However, I've continued to have fainting spells a few times a year (and dizzy spells where I almost faint at least once per month), since being on Synthroid. So, getting my thyroid levels balanced didn't cure my mystery fainting illness.

TSH levels

For someone with hypothyroidism, the TSH levels should be higher than normal. And mine were. Normal TSH is 0.35-5.5. Mine was at 246.28. Yikes.

These blood tests for TS4 and TSH were done after I took Synthroid for a few years and then stopped taking it for 6 months. I thought I was healthier and didn't need the pill anymore, and it turned out I was wrong.

Back on the Synthroid pill I go. Maybe I need to do more research before trying this again.

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Summary (updated): Here is my plan in my second attempt to go off Synthroid and cure my hypothyroidism naturally.

1. Exercise and nutrition

Doing a 30 day juice fast, and becoming a vegetarian afterwards wasn't enough to cure my thyroid. I believe it is the iodine I needed, and am beginning a regimen of supplementing with the aforementioned nascent iodine, kelp, and enzymes.

2. Selenium and zinc

People with hypothyroidism will benefit from eating more foods rich in selenium and zinc, such as brazil nuts. Google the many foods rich in these nutrients. Never take a zinc supplement on an empty stomach. It's best to source your nutrients straight from clean foods when possible. Since I don't trust sea vegetables from the dirty Pacific Ocean, I will source seaweed nutrition from supplements where the seaweed was grown in an organic, contained environment (Clean Chlorella supplement does this).

3. Apples and pears

I've read that apples and pears eaten together help towards curing hypothyroidism.

4. What to avoid

I need to totally avoid canola oil (duh), table salt, non-organic tea, and bottom feeder fish such as krell and shellfish (though other fish is good for me). Also avoid non-organic bread that has the word "bromade" or "brominaded flour" in it.

5. Good oils and yogurt

I should try to consume at least a tsp of coconut oil and flax seed oil along with sulfur protein foods such as yogurt. I don't do the greek yogurt after I learning about Chobani being all GMO but use your own discretion when it comes to yogurt. I use organic non-greek yogurt. The greek is probably better but organic non-greek is more readily available at stores. I just get plain, whole yogurt as opposed to strawberry lowfat. You want the complete protein so get the real stuff and always go organic when it comes to dairy: whole milk, whole yogurt, whole cheese. Organic cheese is expensive, so give it up or pay up. I pay up and eat a little cheese. I love it.

Anything that says low-fat or sugar-free usually translates chemical shit storm. See the book, Skinny Bitch. If you have lactose intolerance (2 out of 3 US adults do), take a lactase digestive enzyme when consuming dairy. I don't have lactose intolerance. I gave up dairy for a year thinking it would make me healthier and when I went back to it, I felt better and had nicer, firmer poops.Yogurt also has good bacteria that lines our intestinal tract and helps break down everything else we eat that day. So try to eat yogurt in the morning. I put hemp seed and oatmeal in mine, and sometimes cinnamon and raisins if I'm having a sweet tooth.

6. Good fats

Again, I use organic whole yogurt, ghee (clarified butter), and organic whole milk, along with healthy oils as mentioned above. Fats are very important for people battling hypothyroidism. I'm beginning to wonder if trying low fat diets in high school is what led me to have a thyroid problem in the first place.

7. Fasting

Fasting is critical. There are all kinds of fasts meant to detoxify the body.  Do some research, ask around, and choose a fast that you feel you can do successfully. Maybe it will be just a 3 day fruit and vegetable fast. Maybe you will do a 48 hour water fast. Maybe a 10 day juice fast (using a juicer, not buying pasteurized juice). Maybe you will limit yourself for 30 days to organic tea, vegetables, and herbal supplements, foregoing all forms of sugar completely. Find a fast that works for you, and just get over yourself and do it. I blogged about my 30 day juice fast nearly 2 years ago and I invite you to check that out if you want to read about my reflections on that.

8. Heavy metal cleanse

Fasting will surely help remove heavy metals from the body. Heavy metals interfere with thyroid function so this is HUGE. But we can't be fasting all year long. I use Zeolite powder to daily remove heavy metals from my body slowly over time. Zeolite is a volcanic ash that is naturally magnetically ionized to attract heavy, harmful metals in our body and eliminate them through urine (and probably through poop and sweat too).

I'm also saving up to have my mercury fillings removed. If any holistic dentists are reading and feeling sorry for me, I will take a handout. I've wanted this desperately for the past year.

I do my best to avoid aluminum. I make my own deodorant and avoid aluminum cookware. I don't even use aluminum foil to wrap foods. Aluminum is also sprayed in the skies to fight global warming. This is horrible, because it ends up in the water (and air). Learn more here: http://erinboyea.blogspot.com/2014/01/why-aluminum-is-bad.html

The great thing about nascent iodine is it neutralizes heavy metals in the body, making them unable to hurt us. Woo hoo! So buy nascent iodine. Here's where I got mine: http://store.naturalnews.com/Health-Rangers-Original-Nascent-Iodine-1-fl-oz-30ml--2-Strength_p_406.html

To help eliminate aluminum, fluoride, chlorine, and other heavy metals from your home's water and air supply, buy a water filter for your bathroom shower and kitchen sink and use an air purifier and have lots of plants in your house to keep your air clean. Don't take long, hot showers because this will cause the fluoride in the water to vaporize and you will inhale it. Not good! I do hot/cold showers, where I make the water nice and hot for the first minute or two, then, taper it down and make it totally cold for a few seconds every five minutes. This also stimulates the lymphatic system which is needed for eliminating toxins out of the skin. Cold water also closes your skin pores which reduces the rate at which vaporized fluoride can be absorbed into the skin.

9. Liver cleanse

A liver cleanse is recommended because your liver washes your whole body's blood supply every 3 minutes (wow!). Washing toxic-laden blood can be taxing on your liver and make it work less efficiently. Clean the liver and you'll have cleaner blood. It's just that simple. There are a several methods to clean your liver. I chose a coffee enema to clean my liver that you can read about here: http://erinboyea.blogspot.com/2014/01/doing-coffee-enema-for-first-time.html

I don't recommend a coffee enema. It was downright awful. Instead, I take milk thistle daily. Milk thistle should be taken a few times a day on an empty stomach, so it's best to do a milk thistle regimen during a cleanse where you actually have an empty stomach 3 times a day. But for normal everyday life, I just take a pill in the morning and wait a few hours before eating.

I don't eat breakfast. And here's why you shouldn't either...

10. Give up breakfast

Give your body 16 hours between your last meal of one day and your first meal of the next day. This is the only way (apart from very rigorous exercise) that your body burns it's fat reserves. Our ancestors didn't eat 3 meals a day plus snacks. They often had 1-2 meals a day in between days of having no food at all. The way Americans typically eat, they are training their bodies to uses sugar (glycose) for energy, ignoring our fat reserves completely. When you go more than 12 hours of not eating, the body kicks into fat-burning mode. Try for 16 hours of non-eating a few times a week. Toxins stored in the fat along with heavy metals will naturally be cleaned out over time as you adapt this habit. And for most people, it beats having to do a 10 day juice fast or 3 day water fast every few months. It's not that hard to stop eating at 8pm one night and skip breakfast the next day and eat lunch at noon. Don't be a baby. Go get healthy.

11. Other helpful tips

I read that topical copper lotion is good for treating hypothyroidism A chlorophyll supplement is will help, too. Ask a holistic doctor or nutritionist about cleansing herbs and alternatives to current medications you are on. It's important to get off all prescription drugs ASAP. But you need professional nutrition advice concerning that, and I don't have all the answers when it comes to, let's say, heart disease medication. All these drugs do (and they are drugs, not natural supplements) is treat symptoms. Natural supplements treat causes. Good luck.

Here are some websites for more information:

GlobalHealingCenter.com

How To Cure Hypothyroidism Naturally

Iodine Supplementation

Sea Vegetables Lab Test and Heavy Metals Test Results: Popular Breakfast Cereals - Forensic Food Lab

Iodine Video Smart Iodine Babies

What the thyroid does

Kelp empowers the thyroid gland and encourages weight loss

Thyroid Support | Thyroid Supplements

Hashimotos Thyroiditis

Diagnosing Hashimoto's

Juice Fast Days 4-5

I'm at the end of my 5th day. The week has been easy compared to my 3-day and 10-day summer juice fasts. Today was hard, though.

Yesterday I juiced three apples and a lemon for breakfast and also ate a banana. Then for lunch I snacked on strawberries, clementines, and apple slices. For dinner I had my Boku powdered superfood mixed with water, and I ate a half avocado.

Today I juiced apples/cantaloupe/lemon/celery/carrot for breakfast, was full all day, snacked on a couple tiny slices of clementine, then made my glowing green smoothie (blended salad) for dinner. It didn't taste as bad as usual. I used coconut milk in place of water, and added some pineapple and a scoop of Boku, and my blender filled two separate wide plastic cups, which I drank slowly over the course of two hours. I'm super full now.

I received my thyroid results. My doctor left me a voicemail saying "Erin. You definitely need your thyroid. Call me." He was out of the office when I returned his call, but when I came home I had a piece of mail waiting for me. It was from the blood lab. I opened it to see what my Free T4 and TSH levels were, and I was shocked. Normal T4 levels range from 0.8-1.9. My levels were at 0.23. This means my thyroid (which controls metabolism and pretty much regulates the entire body), is operating four-eight times slower than a normal person's.

My TSH levels were even more shocking. Normal levels are 0.35-5.5, and mine were 246.28. I'll have to ask Doc to interpret that one for me.

I went to the natural food store after work today and asked the cashier about their thyroid enhancing supplements. He said that most of them contain iron, which supports thyroid function, but after I read the ingredients on various bottles, it seems that many also contain sea vegetable minerals, such as Kelp and Coral Calcium. Incidentally, I'm already taking Boku which contains sea vegetables, and I take a daily Coral Calcium vitamin. I've been juicing almost daily for three months now so I'm sure I get plenty of iron. So I'm not so sure a natural supplement is going to do much for me.

I don't mind taking the prescription Synthroid. I was taking it for 3-4 years, until I decided to stop taking it several months ago, just to see what would happen. Synthroid is cheap even without insurance (about $30/month), and has no negative side effects, and it speeds up my metabolism. All good things. Except I wondered if I could treat myself naturally without depending on modern medicine. I should read a book on thyroids, just to learn about the anatomy and biology aspect. Maybe I've been naive. I'll order a book on my Kindle tonight.

My mood/energy levels the past two days were like night and day. Yesterday my energy was very high. It was sunny and warm, I got off work early and visited friends in Providence and Coventry. I didn't go to bed until 1 a.m. Today I was tired and grumpy. It was raining all day, and even though I didn't have to go to work until 10, I felt exhausted. I played My-Little-Ponies with the three-year-old for just a half hour and was so overcome with fatigue afterwards that I just collapsed on the playroom floor and told her I needed to stretch for two minutes. I nearly fell asleep there. But she was persistent and very cute, whispering in my ear to "pwease" "pway" with her, so eventually I sat up and persuaded her to watch Winnie the Pooh and Doc McStuffins on Nick Jr. in her mom's bed, and I lay there with her, unable to move or sleep, just feeling physically wiped out.

I made macaroni and cheese for her at lunchtime and smelled a couple pieces and was sad not to eat them. But I can't play that head game. I've got 25 days left. Maybe around day 20 I can start to feel sorry for myself and acknowledge my hunger and cravings. But not now.

I find whenever I've lost weight on a diet in the past, I get emotional whenever I go under 130 lbs. This morning I was at 130.5. So tomorrow I will most likely be in the emotional 120's. It's like my protective fat layers are disappearing and though I should be happy, I just feel exposed and insecure. Skinnier does not equal happier. It's quite the contrary.

It's also sad that on a Friday night, I'm home in bed blogging at 7:30, and will likely go to sleep soon, because I can't really do anything social, and even if I wanted to hang out and avoid alcohol and food, I'm tired and moody. Wish I could go have some Green Curry, or even stir-fried veggies with rice. Something that's warm, homey, and numbing to this weather-inspired doom I've felt all day. Oh well. Life could be worse. I could have children to feed or a husband asking for sex. Thank God I don't have to deal with any of that.

Juice Fast Day 3

Today was great. I woke up early and did some trolling on Facebook, then went back to bed 'til noon.

I went to the East Side blood lab in Narragansett and had my Free T4 thyroid level blood test. It cost me $114.

I scheduled an appointment with my mechanic to get new front tires put on, which I'll do next Wednesday. Then I found an old Groupon in my glove box that I'd forgotten about, and it expires in December. It's for laser hair removal - any medium area on my body. After what I paid in NYC for laser hair removal, I remembered why I bought this Groupon in the first place. I bought it back in May, and it cost me $279 (for $1200 worth of services). It must have been like 90% off. Anyways, it was a steal and I called and made my first appointment for December 5th. I'll let you all know how it goes, though I can't post pics cause it's kind of a private area I'll be zapping.

I dropped off my Halloween costume to my tailor so she can put a heart on my cape. I'm dressing as the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. Some friends invited me to play a part in their tea party reenactment on Halloween. They do it for the kids. It should be fun.

Oh - juice fast. I had apple carrot lemon juice for breakfast. It was wonderful. And I didn't consume anything else all day. Then I went to a ninety-minute yoga class. I successfully stood on my hands with my head down, but couldn't lift my legs straight up. The instructor came over to help me do it and I said No.

I got home at 8:15 and had a half avocado and made a Boku drink, just mixing a scoop of the sea vegetable powder with water. I'm very full, and did not have to rely on the glowing green smoothie to fill me up. Just thinking about it makes me lose my appetite. Maybe that's how it works.

Juice Fast Day 2

Today was awesome. I got up at 5:30 a.m. and actually showered AND washed my hair. I was at work by 6:35 and immediately juiced three Golden Delicious apples from Port Henry, NY that were handpicked by my almost-ninety-year-old Great Uncle Norm. On my visit home last month, he gave me a bag of McIntosh and GD apples and told me to wait a few weeks for the GD's at the bottom of the bag to ripen. Well they're ripe now and wow. My juicer filled a wide plastic cup to the brim with the apples' heavy, froth-covered sweetness. It was the color of liquid gold, and I drank it quickly.

I didn't consume anything else until 1:30, at which point I ravenously snacked on whole raw fruit (pineapple, strawberries, and mango) throughout the afternoon. I also ate an orange and half an avocado. For dinner I had a glowing green smoothie. That was at 6:00. It's 8:30 now, and I'm still feeling very full and satisfied.

I'm incorporating some raw fruits and veggies into this juice fast for three reasons.

1. I need to consume a large variety of foods in order to prevent vitamin deficiencies. If I just had apple juice every morning and my glowing green smoothie every night, and some other fruit and vegetable juice concoction during the day, I'd still miss a few necessary vitamins and minerals. I need the potassium in bananas, so I'll probably eat a few bananas each week. They can't be juiced. However, I can freeze them and blend them with juice in a blender to make a banana smoothie, which I'll do occasionally too. But that involves a juicer and a blender and with a 30 day fast, I have to be realistic. I'll just eat a couple bananas each week, and some avocados, since they can't be juiced either. Other veggies don't yield much juice, like broccoli, cauliflower, and green beans, so I will snack on those things raw when they're available, and try to mix it up a little each day.  Maybe eat a carrot and celery stick here and there. I won't be eating any starchy vegetables like potatoes or squash because they can't be eaten raw, so those foods are out of the picture.  

2. I don't want to be rude if I get invited to a social event where everyone's eating. I'll politely snack on some raw fruit or veggies if available, or even bring my own tray of veggie sticks or a fruit platter to share. That way I can enjoy the ritual of eating food with others, while avoiding awkward conversations about why I always carry a cup of juice around in my hands.

3. My juicer is kind of wasteful. It doesn't yield as much juice as high end juicers do, and like all juicers, it eliminates peels and fibrous strands from my produce, and I feel like I throw so much away. The Jack LaLanne juicer doesn't juice leafy vegetables very well either. If I could invest in a nice Breville, and spend $500-$1000, I'd be more apt to juice things like Kale and other leafy vegetables. They just don't do well in the Jack LaLanne juicer.

As for my energy level today, I felt zen-like and peaceful. It was sunny and warm, almost seventy degrees, which is rare for mid-October.  I went on a drive with the three-year-old while her sisters were in school. While driving around and singing pop music together, with no particular destination in mind, I found a full service gas station charging $3.79/gallon, and I was on empty so I filled up and probably saved close to $3!

Moments later I found an email on my phone from the shipping company for my Boku Superfood powdered sea vegetable drink. The company said it was refunding my $47.50 for the Boku I ordered nearly three months ago because I'd sent a nasty email in September when my order was three weeks late. I love the stuff though, and will order again, but next time I'll use Amazon or any company besides the shipper in L.A. That distributor was just too unreliable and mistakenly sent me a shipping confirmation and put a hold on the money in my bank account long before they actually shipped it.

Later in our drive, I pulled over by the water and we watched a fisherman catch a very large fish and reel it in. It was exciting. Then on the way home, I dropped off a full bag of designer clothes to a very nice consignment shop in East Greenwich. (The three-year-old's mother gave me a huge box of designer clothes a couple weeks ago, things she said just won't fit her body after having three kids, and some of the clothes were too small for me, so she said I could consign them and split the money with her. Woo hoo!)

I have tomorrow off, and I'll be going to a blood lab to have some blood drawn for my thyroid. Luckily my doctor and the blood lab use a sliding scale for people who have no insurance, like me, so it will only cost a hundred bucks or so. I'm expecting the blood work to show that my levels are very low (since I went off my thyroid prescription about two months ago, a medication I'd been on for nearly five years). Once my low levels are confirmed, I'm going to try a natural thyroid supplement. Many are sold in my health food store. I'll do a little research before choosing which one to buy. And in a couple months I'll have my blood tested again. If my free T4 levels are normal, I'll be on to something. And I'll tell the world.

My hypothesis and hope is that a healthy diet combined with a natural thyroid supplement will raise my free T4 levels.  Then after Thanksgiving and Christmas, when I've returned to eating unhealthy things, I'll have my blood taken again to see if the supplement works even without a healthy diet. It will be interesting to see. I might experiment with a couple kinds of supplements too, and devote some blog time to that and attract readers with thyroid conditions.

That's all for today. I haven't gone crazy yet. Not even close.

Juice Fast Day 1

What a great day. Nothing remarkable happened, but I flowed through it without much stress.

I made an apple/carrot/celery juice this morning with a squeeze of lemon. It was refreshing. Then I ate a half avocado around lunch time. For dinner I had the glowing green smoothie (pretty nasty but very filling).

The glowing green smoothie is made in a blender. I recommend a KitchenAid for a $100 budget or a Vitamix for a $400 budget. The Vitamix has an attachment to help push food down into the blades, and some Vitamix blenders will warm your concoction so you have soup or sauce made and stored right on the spot. But the KitchenAid does a great job of blending to a smooth consistency. That's what I use. I don't have $400 to spend on a blender. Someday. Must marry a rich man.

Moving on, the glowing green smoothie was something I read about in Kimberly Snyder's The Beauty Detox Solution. I read this three hundred page book about the "glowing green smoothie" on my Kindle, but she wouldn't reveal the recipe until the end of the book, and since I was reading it on my Kindle, I couldn't easily flip through the pages like on an actual book, so I read every stinking page before getting to the recipe at the end. I felt I had to incorporate it into my lifestyle, after reading about all it's amazing benefits. It does so many things for you, yet is so simple to make. Here's the recipe:

A handful of fresh spinach
A half-bunch of parsley
3-4 Romaine lettuce hearts
1 Granny Smith green apple

Just blend together with some water to help it all mix. Then drink it. Try not to gag, it's pretty bad. I add pineapple which helps a little.

After drinking the glowing green smoothie and rinsing out my blender, I took the three girls I babysit out to dinner at a kid-friendly place called Rhody Joe's, where they have kids spin a wheel for prizes, and there's also some arcade games spread out around the 3 room venue. There's also a bar and lotto ticket machine and lots of televisions everywhere, so adults love it too. The place was getting packed for Monday Night Football, and we had a hard time finding a parking space. But there was no turning back. The girls were so excited about going, and I had to just roll with it, despite their off-the-wall energy. And I got through the evening like a true zen master.

The oldest girl kept leaving the table to change the songs on the juke box. The middle child disappeared to play basketball. The three year old disappeared under the table and out of her seat to an empty table's seat directly behind me, so I just forked helpings of brocolli and mac cheese to her by turning around and feeding her there. At one point though, she was sprawled out on her belly on the floor in the aisle where people were walking, and I realized she might get stepped on, so I said calmly but firmly "Watch out, someone will step on you," and she retreated to her seat at our table.

All the kids finished their kid dinners, veggies, and chocolate milks. The middle child ordered a second meal and finished that. Plus they split an appetizer of mozzarella sticks. They had super charged sugar highs as we left. We managed to squeeze in a game of air hockey and a couple more games of basketball before leaving. The three year old hit her head on an arcade game as we were literally heading out the door, and the tears came, and I just scooped her up and had the kids buckled and driven home before no time.

It's 10:30 now and I'm wide awake but should go to sleep, since I have to get up at 5:30 and work a 12 hour day tomorrow. I'm actually looking forward to it.

30 Day Juice Fast Preparation

I did a ten day juice fast August 1-10 this summer. It was intense. Cutting out favorite foods was like serious drug detox. I was an emotional whirlwind, and I committed a crime (destruction of property, vandalism) during one of my heated emotional food-free days. I'll blog about that at a later date, after lawsuits and retribution are all settled.

It will be neat to see what happens on a 30 day fast.

In preparing for this 30 day juice fast, I've had to get both inspired and disgusted. I watched two mind bending documentaries: Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, and Forks Over Knives, and read three books: A Beginner's Guide To Juicing, The Beauty Detox Solution, and Skinny Bitch.

Next, to calm my nerves at the thought of a 30 day juice fast, I ravenously indulged in all my favorite foods: Thai Green Curry, Buffalo chic pizza with blue cheese, Friendly's peanut butter swirl ice cream, an occasional margarita, and all kinds of snacks that fill the large pantry where I babysit for a living. Pancake and egg sandwich breakfasts (weekly), steak and potato dinners (twice last month), and despite my antipathy for cow's milk and it's cancer causing animal protein "casein", and my rants against parents who ignorantly feed it to their kids, I indulged in at least two bowls of cereal with organic skim cow's milk in the past forty-five days, and I'm beyond disgusted with myself for that alone.

(Note: Anyone who hasn't done a 3 day or 10 day juice fast should attempt to STOP intake of certain food addictions, like caffeine for example, before the fast. Otherwise he/she might kill someone. I had already long-ago weened myself off coffee, soda, and all sugary drinks, as well as most meat and dairy products).

Finally, I had to carefully choose a 30-day time period in which my unwillingness to eat would minimally inconvenience others.  So about a month ago, I decided to begin the fast on October 15 (OMG that's Monday!). Breathe. Bend. Okay.  And it will end November 13. I'll have an excuse to avoid Halloween candy, and be done in time to enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas meals with family.

This is also a good time of year for reverse-hibernation, since I plan on eating non-stop all winter. I don't need fat reserves in my gut, thighs, and love-handles beforehand. I also don't move much during winter. It's too dark, cold and depressing, and I have a thyroid problem. If you don't know what an under-active thyroid does to your body temperature, I'll pay you a visit to put my icy cold hands on your belly.

That's exactly what I do to the kids I babysit when they complain about me not playing outdoors with them on cold days. I just put my hands on their belly and tell them I'll freeze and die if I go outside. If they're young enough, I tell them I'm part human and part ice-queen. Then I prove it to them by asking if they want to feel my cold powers. In all seriousness, I crack my knuckles then place my bare hands under their shirt. They scream in disbelief and look at me with awe and wonder. If the child is foolish enough to whine to me about building a snowman or going sledding after I've revealed my condition to them, I remind them a second time, with icy handed bare belly tickles. They usually don't ask a third time.

On particularly frigid days, when my circulation is almost obsolete, my fingertips and toes turn perfectly white and colorless, despite my efforts at self-massage and endless bowls of hot water for soaking.  I squander children's favorite blankies as shawls and their parents' bedding as middle-eastern overgarments, and walk about the house as an unrecognizable beast. Sometimes I even roar. 

On a more serious note, I had a really healthy day yesterday, just to make sure I still had a trace of willpower in my bones, and I successfully stuck to raw fruits and veggies all day, along with a green superfood powdered drink mix called Boku, and by dinnertime I was so full, I just went to bed early without eating anything else. I woke up this morning to my skin looking radiant, and my hair looks healthier and longer. Just from that one day of pure healthy eating! Imagine what 30 will do! But today I have a 3-year-old's birthday party to attend, and there will be homemade lobster mac and cheese, as well as cake and ice cream, and I will indulge. Then on Sunday, I'll perhaps indulge in one last favorite meal (most likely Thai green currry), before Monday arrives and the true test begins.

Stay tuned. I'll keep you posted!

A Visit Home

I had the privilege of taking a couple days off work from my nanny job to go visit my family. I took a Friday and Monday off (both used for travel), and spent Saturday and Sunday enjoying time with family and of course, food.

I stopped at a big farmer's market Friday in East Greenwich, RI to pick up apples, peaches, squashes, carrots, and some local syrup and honey. I'd prepared a double batch of gluten-free pancakes the day before to bring home, toast, and enjoy. I had added banana and apple, chocolate chips, honey, and organic almond butter to the batter and ate a few on the road trip.

The weekend had the potential to be a wash out, since it rained for four days straight. I didn't get to take my dogs on walks like I'd hoped, though I did squeeze in a Saturday morning walk with them while the rain ceased for an hour. I didn't see the sun at all though, and the foliage was kind of sad looking under the wet, cloudy canvas. 

Once home, I cooked a spaghetti squash, and also a butter sauce with sour cream, parsley, onion, and mini orange tomatoes. Cutting the squash took longer than cooking it, if possible. My parents don't own a sharp knife. I went through over twenty large, dull knives before turning into a mad woman and stabbing the thing all over with a little paring knife and digging my fingers in to tear the flesh apart. I'm lucky I didn't lose a ligament. I think I know what my parents are getting for Christmas from me this year! 

My friend Fred came home with me. He made the 7-hour trip with me last year in August to celebrate my 30th birthday, so he'd already met my parents, grandparents, and some of my friends. This year I didn't expect him to be able to come, since he was in the hospital all summer. Miraculously, the doctors decided last-minute they would release him on Friday morning, just two hours before I was planning on driving home. So I wasted no time in picking him up.

Fred refused to fill his pain medication prescription, after being on some heroine-like hospital drug for two months. He wanted to save a few bucks and tough it out. Well he certainly did. He was tougher than any woodsmen field day competitor I'd ever seen, stifling his moans when we drove on a bumpy road or when standing up after sitting for a long leg of the drive. He even drove for the first half of the trip, and pulled the car over to check out the tires when he felt the car's alignment off. In the pouring rain, Fred pulled up to an air pump at a gas station and filled my front passenger tire, which was very low. He also pumped my gas, and checked out a rusty tie rod end and looked over the engine.

When I got home Friday night, having turned 31 two months ago, my mother had gifts waiting for me: A Celtic designed pendant on a sterling silver chain with matching ring, an herb garden grow kit, a book called Heaven is for Real, and a soft little stuffed moose that is bright pink.

On Saturday, Fred and I visited my best friend from high school, Amanda, and she gave me two little potted aloe plants. I kept one and gave the other to my maternal grandmother, who I joined for dinner shortly afterwards. I stopped at my favorite restaurant in the whole world, Eat-N-Meet, in Saranac Lake to pick up some dinner to bring to Grandma's. She had also made a frozen Chef Boyardee pizza but I just had a little taste. She said it was no good and she wouldn't buy it again, so I shared some of my Potato Gnocchi with butternut cream sauce, plantain dumplings, miso soup, Reuben sandwich, grilled veggie kabobs, squash, and sweet potato fries with her. It was a heavenly meal.

On Sunday Fred and I went to church and my dad delivered an awesome sermon, as always. I usually listen to his sermons online (the website is  http://tupperlakechristiancenter.org/join_us0.aspx if you care to listen,) but seeing him preach in person is much better. He's much more animated than he used to be, and still very funny. After church I commented that his chest looked smaller, and assumed it was due to a healthy weight-loss, but he grumbled and my mother whispered in my ear that he can't do pushups anymore since hurting his shoulder ligament over the summer. My dad spent most of the weekend walking around the house with a shoulder re-alignment body cast covering his entire upper chest and arms, with his slightly less than toned belly hanging out underneath.

My paternal grandparents were in church, too! It's so rare that I get to see them, since they live in Ohio. They were with an older lady, who I mistakenly introduced to Fred as my Great Grandma Boyea. Then my Grandma Boyea reminded me that Great Grandma had died a couple years ago, and this lady was my Great Aunt Patsy. I was gravely embarrassed, but pretended not to be.

On the drive back to Rhode Island Monday morning, Fred and I stopped into my Great Uncle Norm's house in Port Henry. He is my maternal grandmother's brother. He owned and ran the famous Port Henry Knotty Pine Restaurant for over 30 years and he's a great chef. He makes and freezes his own tomato sauce using home grown tomatoes and basil, along with other seasonings and a wonderful hickory apple-smoked sausage. We all had spaghetti  for lunch, followed by a homemade apple pie for dessert. He sent me home with a huge bag of apples he'd picked himself, and told me to wait for the golden delicious apples at the bottom of the bag to ripen a little more before eating. The top of the bag was all Macintosh apples, and I juiced three of them this morning. It was the best apple juice I've ever had!

Looking forward to my next trip home at Thanksgiving already. Good food. Good times.