Surely a little gluten with Hashimoto’s can’t harm things?

Gluten & Hashimoto's
Can going gluten free help with Hashimoto’s?

Do you really need to be gluten free with Hashimoto’s?

I’m often asked if just a little gluten here and there is ok when you have Hashimoto’s.

I’m going to be straight up with you here, no sugar coating things!

No!

Even a tiny amount of gluten can tip the scales and it can last much longer than you anticipated.

Here’s what happens when gluten is eaten:

Gluten increases levels of something in your digestive tract called zonulin (1).

Zonulin when increased affects the tight junctions between the cells in you gut wall. The tight junctions act like gates keeping food and bacteria, etc in the gut and out of the rest of your system.

These tight junctions open more when zonulin increases (2). This increases intestinal permeability and allows food, bacteria, etc to pass into the blood stream.

Once in the blood stream your immune system treats them as foreign as they shouldn’t be there and tags them. They’re then taken to your liver to be processed and eliminated.

Increased levels of zonulin and intestinal permeability have been found in those with Hashimoto’s thryoiditis (2).

This process can result in the auto-immune response being triggered, in molecular mimicry and in chronic inflammation (2).

Gliadin contained within gluten is similar in structure to transglutaminase, this enzyme is abundant in the thyroid.

The immune system can attack transglutaminase as well as gliadin and cause continuing damage to the thyroid, a process known as molecular mimicry (3).

So what are the consequences?

The chronic inflammation, auto-immune response and the molecular mimicry take much longer to calm than it takes for symptoms to disappear.

So even after a little gluten, some may have no symptoms others may be severely ill for days.

However, whether you have symptoms or not this process is still going on in the background, driving the auto-immune attack on the thyroid and causing systemic inflammation.

So stopping gluten will stop the auto-immune attack?

For some the answer is that simple!

For others there are other factors at play too which need to be addressed. Either way removing gluten will be beneficial, even if you don’t feel it.

Other than removing gluten what other dietary interventions can help calm the auto-immune attack?

Gut dysbiosis can also trigger increased levels of zonulin (2).

So addressing gut health is critical. You need to look at what you are and what you aren’t eating!

Inflammatory foods that can lead to dysbiosis need to be eliminated, ie sugar, refined carbs (many of which contain gluten) and processed foods.

Processed foods themselves have also been shown to increase intestinal permeability increasing the auto-immune response (4).

Gluten free desserts can be just as delicious!

Sugar and sweeteners can both alter glucose homeostasis and change gut microbiota composition (5).

A continued dysregulation in blood sugar can increase inflammation due to continued raised cortisol levels. Inflammation is a major driver of autoimmune disease so needs to be controlled wherever possible.

Focus on real foods that your good gut bacteria love such as fibre, ie vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, beans, pulses, pseudo grains and naturally gluten free wholegrains.

Is there anything else other than diet that can help?

Absolutely!

Stress has a profound effect on digestion, especially if it becomes chronic.

Stress reduces blood supply to the digestive tract, limits the release of digestive enzymes, bile, stomach acid and other digestive secretions, resulting in poor absorption of nutrients (6).

But it also slows motility, leads to intestinal permeability, slows repair of the digestive tract and upsets the delicate balance of the microbiome as well as up-regulating the release of mast cells and inflammatory cytokines (7).

So stress can be a major driver in the auto-immune process if it is out of control or even low grade but constant!

Introducing stress management techniques can be hugely beneficial in getting control of your Hashimoto’s, yet it’s an area that is often overlooked in favour of dietary interventions alone!

Need a little help getting things back under control?

No problem, I’m happy to help.

You can drop me a message at helen@helenmallaburn.com

Want to find out a bit more about me, what I do and how I can help you recover your health with Hashimoto’s? Then head over to my website!

Or book a free 30 minute Hashimoto’s Health Discovery call Here!

References:

  1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7973118/
  2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6996528/
  3. https://juniperpublishers.com/jojph/pdf/JOJPH.MS.ID.555563.pdf
  4. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1568997215000245
  5. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29159583/
  6. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/13792211_Gut_Permeability_Intestinal_Morphology_and_Nutritional_Depletion
  7. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22314561/

Want to live symptom free with Hashimoto’s?

Living symptom free with Hashimoto’s is not a pipe dream it’s completely possible!

I lived for years with debilitating Hashimoto’s symptoms, feeling like I was dying a little more every single day.

My body felt like it was slowly shutting down! I kept taking the medication and still felt like shit!

Swinging wildly from hypo to hyper, from flare to flare!

I hated every moment of it, I no longer felt like me!

Let me guess…..

Every day is a constant battle with brain fog, fatigue, constant pain, digestive issues, hair loss, weight gain, poor mood and mental health issues. 

The list could go on and on! 

This was me too!

I struggled to get out of bed on my worst days! Taking a shower would wipe me out and leave me lying on my bed wondering what the hell happened to my energy, why it hurt so much just to wash my hair.

Every little task felt like a mountain to climb and often left me in tears. 

I knew I couldn’t go on like this. I wasn’t getting anywhere with my doctors other than being told to learn to live with it. 

After researching and studying nutritional sciences, therapeutics & health coaching, I made some minor and some very major changes to my diet and lifestyle.

I was amazed to finally start feeling like my old self again. 

Imagine if you too could wake up feeling energised, raring to go and with no pain or embarrassing digestive symptoms to slow you down.

Believe me its possible! I’ve done it and I see it time and time again with my 1:1 clients.

For the past 2 years I’ve been helping my 1:1 clients reclaim their health and get rid if their Hashimoto’s symptoms. So they can finally start to feel like themselves again!

But it’s limiting, I only have so much time and I can only help a select few in this way.

Which is why I have just launched The Hashimoto’s Remedy!

It’s an 8 week fully online and automated recovery programme.

I’ve created this programme because I see so many hashimoto’s sufferers just trying to survive each day. They’re often struggling with a long list of debilitating symptoms and thinking that they just need to learn to live with it. 

I want to help you recover your health, so you can start living again!

This program is for those who are committed to making the necessary changes, those who are serious about doing what it takes to get back to their old selves.

It’s not for those who want me to wave a magic wand and make their symptoms disappear without putting the work in themselves and without being willing to make the necessary changes.

The Hashimoto’s Remedy online programme can give you your life back! 

In The Hashimoto’s Remedy I use my proven H5 Halo method to help you navigate your recovery step by step. 

It’s the exact same framework I used and the same one I use with great success with my 1:1 clients. 

I’m now rolling out The Hashimoto’s Remedy 8 Week online & fully automated recovery programme so I can help more people, just like you, recover their health. 

HERE
 are the exact details of what The Hashimoto’s Remedy entails.

There are some amazing bonuses included with The Hashimoto’s Remedy!

When you sign up you receive access to:

– The Hashimoto’s Weight Loss Programme

– 2 x 60 minute Hot Seat calls

– Plus a huge discount as its the first time launching this programme!

The bonuses alone are worth more than the programme itself! That’s how much I want you to recover your health!

The bonuses combined with what you’ll learn in The Hashimoto’s Remedy will really individualise your recovery process, making it quicker and easier. 

If you’ve got any questions don’t hesitate to drop me a message and ask.


Helen

P.S. Still on the fence? Want to know if this is right for you before the doors close for enrolment at midnight (Paris, France (CET) Time) on Monday 14th February? I’ve freed up some slots in my diary for free 30 minute calls so you can get your questions answered.

So why not take advantage and book a call now!

Can you cure Hashimoto’s thyroiditis?

I often get asked if you can cure Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. The short answer is NO! There is no cure for Hashimoto’s or for other autoimmune diseases!

That doesn’t mean you have to resign yourself to living half a life though!!

Whist you can’t cure hashimoto’s yo can put it into remission and it can be done fairly quickly once you make the right changes.

That’s exactly what I’ve done.

I’ve gone from living in pain, with crippling fatigue and brain fog every single day for years on end to symptom free.

I finally feel like the old me again!

You can achieve that too!

Whats driving that autoimmune attack?

First we have to unpick what is driving your hashimoto’s and for every person that can be slightly different.

This is me 2 years after Hashimoto’s diagnosis. Swollen, puffy face, thinning hair, always freezing, swollen neck and thats just the symptoms you can see! I was severely depressed, struggled with massive fatigue and brain fog and my life revolved around bathroom visits!

It usually starts with a genetic predisposition.

Autoimmunity tends to run in families.

But its not always the same autoimmune disease. So your parents may have psoriasis or rheumatoid athritis but you have hashimoto’s or coeliac disease.

Just because you have that genetic predisposition doesn’t mean you’re definitely going to develop that disease.

That tends to rely on something triggering those genes to be switched on.

This can be anything from an infection such as Epstein Barr Virus, to a traumatic event or even to child birth.

And its rarely just one trigger, there are usually several!

We can’t change our genes or in most cases the things that triggered Hashimoto’s initially.

But what we can do is address the things that are keeping that autoimmune attack going.

How do you stop the autoimmune attack?

In order to stop the autoimmune attack we need to look at environmental factors.

This comes down to everything from diet to lifestyle factors such as stress, sleep and exercise to toxin exposure.

I hear what you’re saying! Can changing these factors really have such an impact and get rid of your symptoms?

I was sceptical too when I first heard this!

But believe me making some pretty small changes to what you eat alone can have a profound effect on how you feel.

Check out my blog on my attempt at the AIP protocol if you want to see the difference diet can make. Not that I’d now recommend this as a starting point for most people, its pretty restrictive. But done right it can be handy in some cases.

I wish the impact diet and lifestyle can have was common knowledge, something we learnt in school, that what you eat, do, think and surround yourself with can really affect your health in major ways.

Can you make these changes on your own?

Sure, but it can be tough and take a lot of trial and error!

I tried going it alone for so long, researching and reading, trying new things.

This is me now! No more swollen, puffy face, you can actually see my eyes! No more feeling exhausted or freezing cold! I actually feel normal again for the first time in years!

Trying to figure out what worked and what didn’t was frustrating to say the least.

Some things actually made me feel much worse as I hadn’t realised what works for one doesn’t always work for another.

It was like playing pin the tail on the donkey! Desperately fumbling around in the dark and hoping that this new thing would do the trick!

If you want quick results and to stop feeling like death warmed up every day then get some help from someone who knows what they’re doing!

Working with a Nutritional Therapist for the first time was probably one of the best things I ever did.

I was by no means fixed! But it was enough to push me to study nutrition myself when my Nutritional therapist retired.

Now I knew what could be done I wasn’t happy with just feeling a little better I wanted to feel like me again.

I wanted to enjoy my life again.

Once I figured out what pieces were missing in my diet and lifestyle the transformation to full health was rapid!

And I haven’t looked back since!!

Ready to make those changes and feel like the old you again?

I know how difficult living with hashimoto’s can be.

And I know making those initial changes can feel so daunting and it can be a struggle to know even where to start.

So I’ve decided to offer free 30 minute hashimoto’s help calls throughout January to help you kick start your recovery.

In just 3 weeks from changing my diet my constant digestive symptoms disappeared. No more bloating, cramping, pain, fluctuating diarrhoea and constipation or acid reflux. My insomnia disappeared too. Shortly after the brain fog started to lift along with my energy levels.

If you’d like to put a strategy in place so that you can start ditching those symptoms then claim your free session HERE!

Sessions are booking up fast so don’t hang around!

Know someone who really needs help with their hashimoto’s? Then spread the word! My mission is to help as many women struggling with hashimoto’s as possible get their health back!