“Bad digestion is the root of all evil” – Hippocrates 400BC
It seems a little extreme to call bad digestion the root of all evil, but Hippocrates was way ahead of his time!
Gut health really is the key to good health! Get your gut health in order and everything else will fall into place!
Digestive issues such as bloating, cramping, gas, constipation, diarrhoea, heartburn, reflux are so common these days.
But its not normal to experience these symptoms on a daily basis.
Its your body’s way of trying to warn you that something is not right.
Yet is so often gets dismissed as just one of those things and nothing to worry about!
If you don’t get it under control it can lead to a whole host of health issues!
Believe me I know the price of ignoring it and its not worth it!!
Which is why I’m collaborating with the lovely Marie Nordling-Stewart and Nikki Shields and hosting a Gut Health Retreat Day up at the beautiful Chalet Savoie Faire.
So that you can get rid of those digestive symptoms and start to feel great again!
Beautiful inside and out up at Chalet Savoie Faire and made that much extra special by Nikki’s attention to detail!
If you haven’t already paid a visit to Chalet Savoie Faire you’re really missing a trick.
Chalet Savoie Faire is situated in the most tranquil location.
What you can expect on the day
To get the day started you’ll be welcomed with a lovely cup of tea.
Marie will then guide you through a specifically tailored yoga sequence designed to improve your gut health.
Bailey’s yoga barn at Chalet Savoie Faire where Marie will guide you through yoga for gut health
You’ll have worked up an appetite by the end of the morning!
You won’t be disappointed with the delicious food that Nikki has prepared.
Nikki really has a flare for preparing the most beautiful, tasty food. Not to mention making you feel right at home!
Lunch won’t be rushed! You’ll have time to relax, savour the flavours and get to know your fellow retreat members.
Just a preview of some of the delicious and nutritious food you can expect at Chalet Savoie Faire
Post lunch we’ll relax in the comfy seats by the roaring log fire to discuss gut health.
I’ll be teaching you exactly what triggers those annoying and often painful digestive symptoms.
As well as how to fix them for good!
The cozy lounge where I’ll walk you through all you need to know to fix your gut issues.
There’ll be time set aside before the end of the day for questions about everything you’ve learnt.
We’ll finish the day off with meditation and breathing techniques.
You’ll leave feeling relaxed and ready to make those changes to get your gut health working for you again!
Ready to reserve your space on the Gut Health Retreat Day?
The Gut Health Retreat Day will take place on Sunday 21st November 2021
I hear this a lot! So many clients come to me with hypothyroidism, confused as to whether they have hashimoto’s or even what it is!
So what’s the difference between hypothyroidism and hashimoto’s?
Hypothyroidism is where your thyroid fails to produce sufficient thyroid hormones to supply the body’s needs. There are various causes of this:
congenital thyroid conditions
crucial nutrient deficiencies
toxin exposure
disorders of the hypothalamus or pituitary gland.
These however only account for a small percentage of cases.
Hashimoto’s is the leading cause of hypothyroidism! In fact upto 90% of hypothyroidism cases are actually caused by an autoimmune condition.
Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune condition. The immune system mistakenly produces antibodies against the thyroid gland. Resulting in it being attacked and eventually destroyed if the attack is not stopped.
In Hashimoto’s antibodies produced by the body’s own immune system attacking the thyroid gland.
The end result of this attack is a lack of thyroid hormone.
Yet many with hypothyroidism are never even tested for Hashimoto’s. Or if they are its years after their initial hypothyroid diagnosis.
Which is absolutely crazy considering that the autoimmune response can be stopped in its tracks with simple diet and lifestyle changes. Medication may even be avoided if its caught early enough.
So why aren’t doctors testing for it?
The simple answer is that it doesn’t change how they treat you so many don’t see the point.
Even if you are tested and diagnosed with Hashimoto’s the autoimmune component of the disease will not be treated just the hypothyroidism.
Instead they’ll wait for your thyroid to become so damaged that it can’t function effectively. Then a thyroid hormone replacement such as levothyroxine will be prescribed. This simply replaces the thyroid hormone your body can no longer produce.
My first TSH test was done way back in 2004. It was abnormal. It was repeated 6 weeks later and all looked fine. No further testing was done until 2012! Despite a laundry list full of symptoms and repeated trips to the doctors!!
TSH testing is not enough on its own!
Had I been tested for Hashimoto’s back in 2004 I would likely have caught it early enough to avoid medication all together!
And I certainly wouldn’t have lived for years on end feeling like death warmed up!!
Want to know which tests you need?
If you’ve been diagnosed with hypothyroidism and haven’t managed to get your symptoms under control despite medication. Then maybe its time you were tested for Hashimoto’s.
Thats why I’m putting together a free essential thyroid testing checklist. To help you get the testing you need. So that you don’t have to struggle like I did.
If you’d like to be put on the waiting list for my free Essential Thyroid Testing Checklist, then you can drop me an email at helen@helenmallburn.com
Recovery from Hashimoto’s is possible! You don’t have to live with the brain fog, weight gain, fatigue, hair loss, mood swings, etc.
Find out how I can help you live symptom free HERE!
You can also find me in my Facebook group – Hashimoto’s Nutrition and Health! Its full of like-minded women (and a few men). In the group I share my own experience, my expertise, tips, advice to get you started on your own road to recovery!
Weight loss when you have hashimoto’s can be a real nightmare!
There are so many faddy diets and weight loss plans out there! It can be hard to decide which diet to follow. Advice is often conflicting – “don’t eat fat, eat low carb, restrict your calories, exercise more, drink this wonder smoothie and watch the weight fall off”
Sound familiar?
Feel like you’ve tried them all and nothing works?
Thats because a lot of them aren’t healthy or sustainable. They’re simply not designed for hashimoto’s sufferers. And can actually lead to weight gain and make your symptoms even worse!
Lets debunk a few myths.
Burn more calories than you eat to lose weight:whilst the idea behind this sounds simple, in the long run it can actually lead to increased hunger and cravings, reduced metabolic activity and increased weight gain. Sure in the short term this will likely help you shed a few pounds. But its not sustainable. Eventually your willpower will no longer be enough to drown out those cravings and you will cave. The end result will be you’ll feel hungry, miserable and like a failure.
Want to know a little more about how calorie restriction can cause problems and why it doesn’t work long term then check out the link below.
Eat low fat foods to lose weight: fat is not the cause of weight gain, sugar is! Sugary and refined carbohydrate foods are turned to fat in our bodies when blood sugar levels become too high. And what do most manufacturers replace the fat with in low fat products? You guessed it: Sugar or Sweeteners. So those low fat products are really not helping.
You can eat what you want if you exercise hard enough: Wrong! You cannot out exercise a bad diet. And to make matters worse if you exercise excessively it can cause a huge stress on our body. This can actually lead to weight gain, especially with hashimoto’s.
A calorie is just a calorie: what we eat is far more than just fuel to supply energy. The nutrients we consume are essential for 100’s of different functions in our body and brain. If you don’t supply the body the nutrients it needs for these tasks then it simply can’t do its job effectively or in some cases at all! So if you’re eating foods that contain the calories but not the nutrients then you’re body is going to keep demanding more until it gets what it needs.
So now we’ve addressed the myths lets take a look at factors that affect weight loss when you have hashimoto’s:
Sub-optimal thyroid levels
Food sensitivities
Poor digestive health
Nutrient deficiencies
Sluggish liver
Hormone imbalances
Poor sleep
Lack of exercise/movement
Stress
Fortunately pretty much all of these can be addressed with some diet and lifestyle changes, with the exception of medication of course. But even this can be impacted massively by what you’re eating or not eating and what’s going on your life.
The changes I see in my clients when we address these areas are phenomenal. In just a matter of weeks I hear over and over again that their energy has sky rocketed, the brain fog has disappeared and the weight is finally shifting and it doesn’t even feel like they’re trying to lose weight! They’ve finally got that spark back and you can see it!
Take Gilly, this is what she had to say after just a few weeks of following the bespoke health plan I drew up for her:
“I haven’t felt this well in years!! My diet is great, I don’t feel like I’m being deprived of anything, I no longer have that ‘starving’ feeling, no indigestion or reflux at all, I’m sleeping better and weight has fallen off!! So its brilliant! I cannot thank you enough for taking that time to talk me through a program that definitely works for me!! This really has turned my future around and given me my life back!!”
And she’s not on her own! This is what Kate had to say:
“I’ve been working with Helen for the last 2 months and I’ve been following her suggestions for the past 6 weeks. Not only do I feel better mentally but I’ve lost an amazing 17lbs!! 17lbs in 6 weeks!!! Woohoo! I’ve still got a way to go but I’m confident I’ll be in my bikini this summer (if we are ever allowed back to a beach!!) Now, you should know that I didn’t sign up to lose weight. I signed up to help with my Hashimotos. My weight loss has been a massive bonus for me. I’ve struggled for years to lose weight due to my medication and a lack of knowledge about Hashimotos and Helen has helped me to understand. She is amazing and I’m very lucky to have found her!”
And it didn’t stop there, at our next appointment Kate had lost another 3lbs so that’s a whopping 20lbs in just 9 weeks!!
There was no crazy dieting involved, no fads or calorie restrictions and certainly no feeling miserable!!
Just a simple, healthy and sustainable roadmap to weight loss and healthy eating.
If you want to shift that hashimoto’s weight and keep it off then check out my weight loss roadmap.
It comes with a 60 minute pre-recorded masterclass on what’s stopping you from losing weight and how to fix it, plus a 14 day meal plan, recipe book and shopping list to get you started. All the hard works done, all you need to do is follow it step by step!
I’m sick of hashimoto’s hair loss! It’s just falling out by the handful! Sound familiar?
Check out my hashimoto’s hair loss tips below and find out more importantly what’s causing it.
It was something I once struggled with too. I’d wash my hair and feel like crying when my hair just came out in my hands, the plug hole would be blocked, as would my hairbrush. I used to have such thick, healthy hair, why was it now so thin and brittle?
This went on for years on and off, I was so tempted to cut it all off! But I knew if I did I’d need to style it and holding a hairdryer above my head caused too much pain, tying it up whilst wet was so much easier.
Its now back to what it used to be; healthy and thick, it actually shines again now and its longer than ever!
No more hashimoto’s hair loss! Thanks to following my own hashimoto’s hair loss tips, my hair is finally back to its former glory, long and healthy!
Let me tell you exactly how I got my hair back to full health, so you can too.
1. Get your thyroid levels checked, they need to be optimal for you!
2. If your on a T4 only medication and its not working for you speak to your doctor about adding in T3 or an NDT.
3. Get your iron levels checked, they need to be optimal, not just in range.
4. Get your vitamin B12 levels checked, again they need to be optimal not just scraping into range.
If you’ve done all this and still haven’t seen the results you want, don’t despair there is so much more to explore in regards to diet and lifestyle that can get your hair back to its former beauty! A couple of common areas I always explore in clients with hair loss are:
1. Low stomach acid levels – stomach acid is needed to help breakdown and absorb our nutrients. If we aren’t absorbing our nutrients our hair definitely won’t be getting what it needs to be at its best.
2. Sluggish liver function – this can be partly due to low stomach acid or eating foods you’re intolerant to, or just a poor diet. This will mean we can’t detox efficiently so toxins will build up, this requires extra nutrients will be needed to deal with this, robbing you of even more nutrients for things like hair growth as your body will always prioritise detox over hair growth.
3. Hormone imbalance – often caused by points 1 & 2. We need fat soluble vitamins to make hormones, if we’re struggling to absorb these then we can’t make sufficient hormones. Hormones also need to be detoxed by the liver once they’ve served their purpose, if its busy dealing with toxins it can’t do this effectively. This causes certain hormones to build up a dominance, which we don’t want and will certainly affect things such as hair growth.
So what can you do to improve stomach acid levels, liver function and hormone balance?
Tips to improve low stomach:
sit down to eat your meals (not at your desk, or on the go)
take your time
chew thoroughly (20 -30 times per mouthful)
limit distractions when eating
take 5 – 6 big deep belly breaths before each meal to lower stress levels, as stress shuts down digestion
drink water with a spoonful of apple cider vinegar 20 minutes before eating
Tips to improve liver function & balance hormones:
eat plenty of green vegetables
eat plenty of bright coloured berries
include plenty of beetroot and radishes in your diet
start each meal with a small salad using bitter greens such as rocket, radicchio, endive, etc.
drink plenty of fluids
drink herbal teas containing bitter herbs such as dandelion 20 minutes before meals
limit sugary foods, white refined carbohydrates and processed foods
manage your stress levels
get good sleep
Ditch the toxic hair and skincare products
I love the tropic skincare range, especially their hair conditioner!
If you want to know more about my hashimoto’s hair loss tips and what you can do to prevent it, get in touch below to arrange a free health discovery call to find out how my hashimoto’s healing programme can help you regain your beautiful mane once more.
