How Eating Sugar Effects the Thyroid

Susan keeps busy all the time. She is a mother of two, career woman and loves to volunteer at church on Sundays. However, each day is a struggle. She has a hard time waking up in the morning even when she gets 8 hours of good sleep. Her energy crashes at about 2-3pm when she reaches for a sugary snack as a pick-me-up or that cup of coffee with 3 packets of sugar. She knows if she does the coffee then chances are she will wake up at 3 am with worry and anxiety over something small but sometimes it's the only thing that works to get her through the day.

If this sounds like you know that you are not alone for there are many who are addicted to sugar, caffeine and/or carbohydrates riding high and low on blood sugar swings. Whether someone eats something sugary or carb-loaded, which will turn into sugar once digested, that sugar goes into the blood stream forcing the body to produce insulin, a specific hormone to manage it. The body produces a lot of insulin to take care of the high amount of sugar to get it out of the blood stream and into the cells for energy. It then produces it in excess and the blood sugar drops too low, sending signals to the brain to eat again. So it truly is a swing of sugar-spike and then sugar-crash and when that crash comes we then reach for the next sugary thing to make us temporary feel better and start the cycle again.

Dysglycemia, the condition of the body not being able to keep the blood sugar stable, effects the adrenal glands and their production of cortisol and if the cortisol levels are swinging for a long period of time then it will end in hypothyroidism or a low functioning thyroid. Dysglycemia weakens and inflames the digestive system and weakens the lungs and brain. It drives the adrenal glands to exhaustion, causing adrenal fatigue syndrome. It also sets the stage for other hormonal imbalances including PMS, polycystic ovary syndrome or a miserable transition into menopause. If the dysglycemia doesn't get managed, attempts at helping the thyroid are futile.

When the blood sugar goes to low, either in response after eating something sugary, reactive hypoglycemia or if their blood sugar is just chronically low, hypoglycemia symptoms include

cravings for sweets
irritability if meals are missed
dependency on coffee for energy
becoming lightheaded if meals are missed
eating to relive fatigue
feeling shaky, jittery
feeling agitated
become upset easily
poor memory, forgetfulness
blurred vision

Now when the blood sugar is too high for extended periods of time you have insulin resistance that turns into diabetes. Symptoms include

fatigue after meals
general fatigue
constant hunger
craving for sweets that is not relieved by eating them
must have sweets after meals
frequent urination
difficulty losing weight
aches and pains that move
Whether hypoglycemic or insulin resistant, you must make changes to your diet. When insulin resistant you can no longer eat what you please when you please; with hypoglycemia,m you cannot continue missing meals or snacking on something sugary or starchy. The worst thing a person can do for their blood sugar is overeat carbs and if you feel sleepy or crave sugar after a meal, you just ate too many carbs. Sticking to a diet to change your blood sugar is not easy due to the addictive nature of sugar and simple carbs. Know that the first three days is the hardest and if you can make it through that you'll make following a new healthy way of easting easier and more rewarding.

Here are some tips:
1. Eat a high quality protein breakfast. Which I know is not easy if you have dysglycemia for you may either be nauseous or not hungry at all. That is a side effect of your adrenal glands and the cup of coffee you are about to have is not going to help things.

2. Eat a small amount of protein or fat every 2-3 hours. This will keep the blood sugar from dipping down and prevent exacerbating your thyroid. Nuts, seeds, a boiled egg, meat or a low-carb protein shake are some examples.

3. Find your carbohydrate tolerance and stick to it. You can use an app to count carbohydrates for the day (try to be under 100 grams/day) but if you carb overload in one meal that will through the blood sugar off. Again, I will reiterate, if you feel sleepy or crave sugar after you eat, you just ate too many carbs.

4. Never eat sugary foods without some fiber, protein or fat. IF and when you do eat something sugary or starchy eat it will some high quality fiber, protein or fat to slow down the rate at which the glucose is absorbed into the blood stream. This helps prevent 'insulin shock'.

5. Avoid all fruit and carrot juice. They are very sugary, even though it is fruit sugar and without the fiber, the sugar goes straight into the blood stream, causing insulin shock.

6. Avoid caffeine with the exception of green tea which can actually help people with insulin resistance.

For more info on the blood sugar, adrenal, thyroid triad read Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms? When My Lab Tests Are Normal by Datis Kharrazian

The Truth About Weight Loss

When people come to my office to lose weight I must first explain to them that I am not a ‘quick fix’ doctor and that my patients are in it not to just lose weight but to create a healthier body. True health is about lifestyle changes. While my weight loss patients make adjustments in their lifestyle to follow the guidance I give them they go through 3 phases. The first phase is the transition to restore the metabolism. Once that is established then the body can start losing weight (step 2) and then the final step is to maintain optimal health.
The transition is a journey of healing. You can only be in your transition if you are improving your nutrition and lifestyle habits.
During the transition one’s hormones will change in response to the nutrition and lifestyle changes that are being made and this allows the body to heal. However, balanced hormones will not happen immediately—there are sequential steps of healing that everyone must take.
When a patient starts their transition process by improving their habits, their body will begin to rebalance its hormones. Their body will also rebuild at the cellular level with nutrients that were not available during previous poor habits. The more damaged the current metabolism, the longer it will take for this process to be completed.
When one has healed their metabolism, they are primed to lose fat weight, if needed. Once they have lost all their excess fat, they are through steps 1 and 2.

The Three Transition Stages
For most people, the transition (step 1) to a healthy metabolism consists of three main stages. Here is what you may expect as you journey through your transition to health. You begin at your initial starting point and then enter 1) a healing phase. Then you enter a 2) fat burning phase, if you need to burn fat before you finally reach a 3) healed state. Depending on your current metabolism, your body may skip the healing and/or fat-burning phases.
Let's look at each stage in more detail:
Healing phase
Fat-burning phase
Healed state
The Initial Starting Point
The initial starting point is your current metabolism type and age when you start improving your habits and begin entering your transition. Listed to the right are the four metabolism types an individual can have.
Insulin-sensitive with healthy adrenal glands
Insulin-sensitive with burned-out adrenal glands
Insulin-resistant with healthy adrenal glands
Insulin-resistant with burned-out adrenal glands



These metabolism types are not genetic but acquired. Everyone begins life insulin-sensitive with healthy adrenal glands. It is only after years of poor nutrition and lifestyle habits that you may become insulin-resistant or have burned-out adrenal glands—or have both conditions.
Your age and how long you have had your current metabolism affect the duration of your transition. The older you are and the longer your metabolism has been damaged, the longer it will take for you to complete your transition.

Insulin-sensitive
It is normal to be insulin-sensitive. You are insulin-sensitive if your body responds to all the actions of insulin, including the ability to make and store fats.
The following is what happens when you eat carbohydrates if you are insulin sensitive:
Sugar is taken up by your liver.
Excess sugar in your liver is turned into triglycerides and cholesterol.
Triglycerides and cholesterol are taken up by various cells of your body.
Sugar is also taken up by your cells.
When all the sugar and fats are in your cells, blood-sugar levels start to drop and insulin levels go back down.
You eat again and the whole process starts all over
Insulin-resistant
Eventually, from sustained high levels of insulin, you become completely insulin-resistant. All your cells are completely overfilled with fats and sugar, and they barely respond to the action of insulin. At this point you usually have high triglyceride blood levels. (High triglyceride levels are not indicators of insulin resistance only. Smoking, stress, birth control pills and drinking alcohol can raise triglyceride levels in your bloodstream also, but that does not necessarily mean that you are insulin-resistant. Do not diagnose yourself as insulin-resistant from your triglyceride blood test alone.)
When you are insulin-resistant, you have high fasting insulin levels, you usually carry your excess fat weight around your midsection and you have one or more of the following symptoms or diseases.
Abnormal cholesterol profiles: High triglyceride levels with low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels and high apolipoprotein B levels.
Hypertension: Sustained high blood pressure.
Type II diabetes: Sustained high levels of sugar in the bloodstream.
Coronary atheroscelrosis: Plaques in the heart arteries which may cause a heart attack when they rupture.
Cerebral atheroscelrosis: Plaques in the brain which may cause a stroke when they rupture.
Cancers: Abnormal cell growth. Breast, prostate and colon cancers are the most common cancers associated with high insulin levels.
Stein Leventhal Syndrome (SLS): SLS is a female clinical condition of infertility (anovulatory menstrual cycles), acne and/or facial hair.
There are three paths that lead to insulin resistance:
Years of high insulin levels due to poor nutrition and lifestyle habits.
Years of high adrenaline and/or cortisol levels due to poor nutrition and lifestyle habits.
Years of high insulin, adrenaline and cortisol levels due to poor nutrition and lifestyle habits.
If you recognize that you are on any of these paths, now is the time to change your habits!

Your Goal
Your goal is to stay or become insulin-sensitive and to have healthy adrenal glands or to heal them. Therefore, the goal metabolism to have is insulin sensitive with healthy adrenal glands and then and only then will the weight loss start happening! Know that there is hope and weight loss just has to be approached holistically with the ultimate goal is changing how your body responds to insulin. This way you lose weight AND keep it off!