drug is meant to control does not worsen. Combining vitanutrients with the personalized eating regimen this book describes has allowed me to reduce the intake of medications by virtually all my patients.
The Role of the Thyroid
Your thyroid gland ' s main purpose in life is to regulate the speed of your metabolism. So it is not difficult to understand that if it is underactive-the medical word is hypothyroid-your slowed metabolism makes you more resistant to weight loss. Among other things, your thyroid gland regulates your body temperature. In fact, sensitivity to cold is one of the first signs that you may have a sluggish thyroid. Like other hormones, thyroid production naturally diminishes slightly with age; in fact, easily twenty-five percent of adults suffer from low thyroid function. The swings of estrogen production in perimenopause or menopause can also throw thyroid function off.
To ascertain whether you have hypothyroidism, your doctor will do blood tests to evaluate your production of thyroid hormones T4( also known as thyroxine) and T3( your body converts T4 to T3), as well as another hormone called TSH( thyroid stimulating hormone), which is produced by your pituitary gland. I do tests on free T3, T4 and TSH levels. However, these clinical tests do not catch all cases. First think about whether you are experiencing any of the signs of an underactive thyroid-which include the aforementioned sensitivity to cold, as well as weight gain or inability to lose weight, hair loss, fatigue and lethargy, depression, dry skin, chronic constipation, poor nails, poor memory and elevated cholesterol levels. If so, there is a simple way-the Barnes technique of basal metabolism-to ascertain if you are hypothyroid. It doesn ' t even require a trip to your doctor.
Simply take your temperature orally four times a day( before each meal and before you go to bed) for four days. Average your temperature each day, and if it is consistently below 98 degrees Fahrenheit, you are likely to have hypothyroidism. If it is significantly lower, you almost definitely do, and you should bring this information to the attention of your physician.( Be prepared: Not all doctors take basal metabolism as seriously as they should.)
Occasionally, the reason for an underactive thyroid is the deficiency of the amino acid tyrosine and the mineral iodine, both of which help make T3. Zinc and selenium help produce the enzyme that converts T4 to T3. But nutritional deficiency is rarely the cause of hypothyroidism. There are other causes, one of which can be an autoimmune response.
The major reason for hypothyroidism that I ' d like to address is simply the body ' s own attempts to preserve the status quo while on a weight loss program.
I use the therapeutic trial to treat thyroid problems. I start patients with a very low dose of a prescription thyroid hormone replacement and build up gradually and very carefully. In most cases, when we reach the right dose, patients start to feel dramatically better, with a much better overall sense of well-being and increased energy and vitality. Best of all, they start to lose weight!
The solution is to take thyroid hormone-both T3 and T4 preferably-in a natural form( rather than the synthetic type). I prescribe the synthetic kind of thyroid hormone only in cases of an autoimmune disease, when your own immune system might destroy the natural kind.
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