********************************************************************** ** Quote From Kathleen ** As you keep your journal you can discover that there is a direct correlation between what you are eating and how you are feeling. ********************************************************************** ** Testimonial of the Week ** Browns are crucial to stabilizing and healing the blood sugar. We can get it down a little without them, but it will always stay volatile/hyper-reactive, and the biochemistry and addiction won't heal. If I am experiencing cravings, the first thing I look at in my journal is the quantity/quality of my browns. I know Kathleen has said they are the antidote to cravings, and of course I have to test everything to make sure it's true. LOL. It is! While I was working on Step 3, I went through a spell of feeling especially crappy, and had gotten the advice to up my browns. I was on a very tight budget, and was pretty much doing beans, brown rice and 1/2 cup cooked rolled oats...so not a lot of variety which I think actually helped a lot since they are all ones that work especially well for me. I went up to a cup, and over time as my timing got tighter, more consistent, I noticed that my blood sugar got more predictable. And there wasn't as much variation. As I moved my sugar to meals, I picked one source of sweet and stayed with that. Gradually, I watched my blood sugar get steadier. Even less variation..more consistency. And I was feeling better and better, and wanted more of that, so went up to 1 & 1/3 cup. Interestingly, after just a few days my blood sugar readings leveled and stayed about the same they had been. I was so thrilled, as my blood sugar felt regulated. Regulated! Not under my control, but contained...even, and steady. So I could really see the connection with consistency and steadiness..and wanted more of *that*! The volatility was healing! With more time of just keeping doing what I was doing, my numbers started coming down. It wasn't quick,.. it was gradual, and by then I wasn't feeling in as big of a hurry anyway, as my health was improving big time. I was feeling much better, and my body, health problems and diabetic symptoms were actually healing. I am smiling, recalling the story of the turtle and the hare. I took the hare's role my first 2 times through the Steps, while the turtle approach has definitely been the charm. Last night in chat Kathleen brought over what I had shared here about healing the volatility with consistency and patience, and said what if we replace the word brown with being quiet/still.. which was a wonderful discussion. What if we consistently practice being quiet in regular intervals throughout the day..how would that effect a general volatility? I can see where this could be stabilizing for me, and am giving it a try. I don't think anything but good can come of making more time to be quiet and relax. During the discussion in my mind I was substituting *calm* for *brown* which was easy - as they are very closely connected, for me. Now, while calm (rather than stress) can have a positive effect on the blood sugar, it still won't replace the healing of the browns.. so don't even think about it guys! LOL. Diane ********************************************************************** ** Radiant Ambassadors ** Do you read the First for Women magazine? Our very own Kat is going to be featured in it over the summer, talking about Radiant Recovery! She has already been interviewed along with Kathleen. Apparently, the magazine was blown away by the things they discovered about sugar sensitivity! I'll keep you posted! Selena Come join us if you are excited about spreading the news. ********************************************************************** ** Radiant Kitchen ** In our house, no one likes to think up menus! It's like we all can't remember what we like when it comes down to shopping for the next few days. Soooo... we just have lists that we keep on the fridge. One for protein we like, one for browns and one for greens. Then we choose one from protein, one from brown, one from green. For instance, our protein list includes: salmon with our favorite rub, chicken breasts ditto, ground beef patties or loaves , chicken in little bits stir-fried, steak, other fish breaded and fried in butter. Browns might be baby red potatoes fried in butter, wild rice, beans, quinoa, oats as savory. Greens are broccoli, asparagus, green beans, "stir fry mix" fresh from our local grocer, tomatoes, nappa cabbage, onions. Then we look ahead the next 4-5 days and say... Friday - plenty of time to cook - bake chicken breasts, broccoli, make-ahead quinoa-veg salad Saturday - out and about - reheated chicken, quinoa-veg salad, green beans Sunday - burgers on the grill, asparagus and spuds ditto Monday - school day - salmon from the freezer, stir-fry veg including canned beans Then if someone has the rare suggestion for something new to make, we try it and if we like it, it goes on the list. Apparently we are all kind of plain cooks because we're so often blank at menu time and really need the ideas on our "favorites" list. connie For more great program-friendly recipes, check out these great cookbooks in the store.
********************************************************************** ** Your Last Diet - More Than What You Think ** A number of people have asked me about when is the best time to join YLD. They wonder if they should wait until they have done the steps. And my answer is always, join YLD on step 0 because the support is so fabulous. Over time, I have seen that those who come to chats and take the YLD classes succeed far better on their weight loss progress than those who do not. We love having you. If you are not a YLD member, come and join us. Click here if you are ready to change your life or just have some plain ol' fun! ********************************************************************** ** Radiant Recovery® Store ** David manages the Radiant Recovery® Store. He is also Kathleen's oldest son.
Here is another comment from Jeannie. Yes to all that and Restore doesn't hurt my stomach, even when I am having a little digestive flare-up. It tastes creamy and light and dissolves beautifully. I sound like a commercial, but I am just one happy customer. I tried a LOT of protein powders. Some taste awful, some taste okay, some taste pretty good. This one is, hands down, my favorite. Jeannie Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better. ********************************************************************** ** Our Online Groups ** Hey guys, my name is Jim, and I'm the liaison for the Radiant Men group. I'd like to invite you to join the list. It's a great place to learn about the steps, and we focus on issues that are unique to doing the program as males. We also like to have some fun. Stop on by! For whatever reason, we have had a whole lot of new guys coming into the community this last month. If you would like a special place to learn program skills, how to work your PDA or Blackberry for the program, or want just the facts, LOL, come join us. **********************************************************************
** Another Look at Thyroid ** Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D. There are a few other issues that are important to factor into your plan. Sometimes your metabolism doesn't heat up because your thyroid levels are low or are imbalanced. Often many of us hope that our thyroid is low so all we have to do is take a pill and watch the weight drop off. I had a tubby, depressed dog with very low thyroid. The vet prescribed medication and six weeks later she was a different pooch. She lost eight pounds. Her coat was sleek and full and her energy was streaming. It is always important to check your thyroid if you have some of the symptoms. And a lot has changed in the last five years in looking at the meaning of thyroid tests. The more you understand what you are looking for, the better you can partner with your doctor in the diagnostic process. Another complex story I read a lot and soon discovered that the world of thyroid is confusing, complicated and contradictory. It is surely hard to make informed, clear decisions about your own thyroid health because so much of it is so hard to understand. This section will outline the basics for you. If you want a very in-depth and substantive discussion, read Arem's The Thyroid Solution. It is clear, well written and substantive. In this discussion, I simply want to introduce you to some of the issues. At the most basic level, the thyroid gland produces thyroid hormones that control many of the functions of the body. If it isn't working properly and your thyroid levels are low (called hypothyroidism), you can become depressed, gain weight, feel sensitive to cold, have dry skin and lose hair, to name just a few. There is a great deal of disagreement about whether these things are attributed to low thyroid. My approach is to simply work with the different voices to try to sort out what is right for you. I find that looking at a "pattern" of symptoms is helpful. If you discover that you have many of these symptoms and have not had your thyroid checked, it is an option to explore. Weight Gain and Depression The two symptoms that many of us are most concerned about are weight gain and depression. We can be doing "everything right" and not be losing weight or feeling bleak. When we are not doing anything, we assume that we just have to do it "right" and things will work. If we are working a diligent and committed program and we aren't losing weight and we still feel the darkness walking with us, then it's thyroid-diagnosis time. First of all, go through this list of the symptoms of low thyroid function and see if they fit your profile:
Many if us have had our thyroids tested only to be told that the lab values are "normal." This makes things even worse. Often the lab report is given with one more medical message of "If you would just.... (Insert whatever is the particular choice of your health care person.), you could lose the weight." The hopelessness of this position is something that many of us, including me, have gone through. How The Thyroid Works I am going to show you how the thyroid system works, where things can go wrong and how to work with your doctor to discover if thyroid function is a part of your problem. There are a number of actors, a number of costumes and a number of scripts in the thyroid story. It is very complex. Medline lists more than 85,000 citations on thyroid issues. Because of this, people generally choose a particular part of the story that is understandable to them. I am convinced that we need to understand the whole picture. It is important to see the interconnections. If you are trying to solve things by only working with one piece of the story, you will stay unbalanced. It is just like the sugar-sensitive story. If you only do blood sugar and not serotonin and not beta-endorphin, you won't get balanced. Thyroid is the same way. Now I surely don't have all the answers for you. Nor am I an expert on thyroid. But I can help you ask the right questions and I can show you how to see the pieces more easily. Here are the players: TRH - This is thyroid releasing hormone. It is made in the hypothalamus and has two primary jobs. It starts the process of making iodine and then after the thyroid gland does its thing, TRH tells the glad to squirt the release of the hormone into the blood. TSH - This is thyroid stimulating hormone. It monitors how much thyroid is circulating in the blood and then instructs the thyroid gland to make more or less depending on the levels. If your thyroid gland is producing too little, your level of TSH goes up. An elevated level of TSH would tell us that your thyroid "production" is low. TSH needs iodine, selenium and zinc to do its job. T4 and T3 are the two actual hormones made by the thyroid gland. Thyroid hormones are made when the body combines some molecules of iodine with some molecules of the amino acid tyrosine to make hormone. You have to have the iodine and the amino acid for it to work. If you live in an area where there is little iodine available, or if you have few foods that contain iodine, your thyroid will struggle to make the hormone. When it struggles for a long time, your thyroid gland gets bigger, a condition called a goiter. Your body converts T4 to T3 by the action of a specific enzyme. Usually your body will have thirty times more T4 than T3, but it is the T3 that acts most dramatically on the cellular level. If the enzyme doesn't work properly, your body won't be converting T4 properly. There has been some discussion that toxins in your life may interfere with the conversion process. Either T3 is not produced adequately or something called reverse T3 is made. And reverse T3 doesn't do the job at the cellular level. Your body needs adequate T3 at the cellular level. Certain cells, called mitochondria, burn oxygen for energy. If they don't burn properly, you don't have energy and you don't create the heat that burns fat. If T3 isn't getting to the mitochondria, you will be tired and fat. It is also interesting that the highest percentage of mitochondria are found in brown fat cells - the place in our fat responsible for turning up the thermostat when we are cold. Receptor Functioning Thyroid is a hormone that works by going and sitting in a receptor site. The action of hormones is very much like the action of the neurotransmitters you are so familiar with. When the thyroid sits in the receptor, its message is sent to the cells. There are a number of things that can interfere with the thyroid working at the receptor site. Some drugs interfere with the action (steroids, barbiturates, beta-blockers, and cholesterol-lowering drugs and birth-control pills). So your thyroid system might be working fine but the hormone can't get into the cell to do its job. Sometimes during menopause, estrogen levels spike up (the infamous power surge). Too much estrogen can block thyroid absorption. This is why many women's metabolism can slow down at menopause. There are also some foods that interfere with thyroid production. Cabbage, Brussels Sprouts, turnips and broccoli can do this. Now, this does NOT mean you should avoid these foods. But if you are eating HUGE amounts of them, you will want to be aware of this effect and a factor it in. Thyroiditis Finally, your body may decide it doesn't like its own thyroid and start eating it up. This is an autoimmune disorder called thyroiditis. If your body is eating its own thyroid, there won't be enough to do the job. Your tests will appear normal because everything is being produced properly. Unless you test for the markers of the thyroiditis called antibodies, you may think that your thyroid is "normal" and not understand why you feel so badly. Increasing your levels of omega 3 fatty acids can help with auto immune reactions. Let's go back over the variables that are operating in this story. As you read them, you will see how complex the system is. And, more difficult, is the fact that it is almost impossible to pinpoint exactly where a problem may lie. Does your system have what it needs to make thyroid hormones? [Tyrosine (coming from protein), Iodine, Zinc, Selenium and Vitamin A] Is the iodine and tyrosine being taken up properly to make the hormone? Does the TRH/TSH feedback loop work? Is it in balance? Are the TRH/TSH levels appropriate for your system? Is the thyroid gland producing what it is supposed to? Is the T4 converting to T3 properly? Is the thyroid binding properly? Is anything going on to interfere with the binding? Is the T3 working at the mitochondria level to demand increased oxygen consumption? Is the thyroid hormone available for use or are thyroid antibodies eating it? What To Do? If you feel that low thyroid or thyroid imbalance may be affecting you, start by asking your doctor to order a thyroid panel. Be sure to insist that the panel include the thyroid antibody test. Because the thyroid hormone regulates metabolism, your body temperature can be an indication of low levels of thyroid function. Get a basal thermometer at the drug store and measure your body temp every morning for a week. A basal thermometer is a special kind of thermometer that allows you to see more of the normal range of body temperature. It doesn't work for measuring fever since it is calibrated to measure from 96 to 99 degrees only. Shake it down the night before. Then put the thermometer under your arm for ten minutes before you get up in the morning (you can go back to sleep). The basal thermometer will show your temp much more clearly than a regular thermometer. Record what your temp is on a graph so you can see the fluctuations. If your basal resting temperature in under 97, it is possible that your thyroid is not working properly. When you ask your doctor to test your thyroid, she may only test the TSH levels. If they come back normal, your doctor may tell you that you do not have a thyroid problem. If your temperature is low, insist that more complete tests be done. As you attempt to sort this out, you may find yourself in an interesting position with your doctor. He may tell you that your T4 levels are normal and to stop worrying about it. Or on the other end of the scale, she may have you measure your basal temperature, find that it is low, and then prescribe thyroid supplementation without any further diagnostic tests. Either one of these is incomplete. Your job is to become more and more informed. Read The Thyroid Solution and learn the questions to ask. Get more information so you can understand the meaning of your tests and you can be in charge of your own healing. Here are the folks who are helping put the newsletter together:
Gretel, our webmaster, puts it all together. David runs the Radiant Recovery® Store. Selena provides the weekly Ambassadors column. The banner photograph is by Patti Holden. ©2009 Kathleen DesMaisons. All rights reserved. You are free to use or transmit this article to your ezine or website as long as you leave the content unaltered, use this attribution: "By Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D. of Radiant Recovery®", and notify kathleen@radiantrecovery.com of the location. Please visit the Radiant Recovery® website at http://www.radiantrecovery.com for additional resources on sugar sensitivity and healing addiction. You are getting the weekly newsletter from Radiant Recovery® in response to your signup. A copy of this newsletter may also be found posted on the web at http://www. radiantrecovery.com/weeklynewsletter.htm. |
