This is Part 2 of a 3-part series on overcoming hypothyroidism:

This is the difference.

The difference between going round and round with doctors, medications, supplements, etc. and actually getting real results is…

Your Liver.

The frustrated hypothyroidism sufferer is completely focused on their thyroid as the problem.

They can’t take a step back and see that there’s more to it than that.

And to be honest, if that’s you, it’s not your fault.

They don’t teach this stuff in medical school.

Heck, most endocrinologists don’t even know this.

The crazy thing is that it’s not even complicated physiology.

It’s just flat out ignored.

If you can learn how to heal your liver, then your thyroid function will improve drastically.

So, if you want to learn how to heal your thyroid then here are three ways you can get started by first healing your liver…

1. Balance Your Blood Sugar to Stop the Stress

Here’s something that few people realize.

A healthy liver stores lots of sugar in the form of glycogen.

This glycogen is used as a fuel source for your body between meals or when your blood sugar drops.

However, when you become hypothyroid, you lose the ability to produce glycogen and therefore you quickly develop blood sugar issues.

The effect of the thyroid status on the activation of glycogen synthase in liver cells.
https://academic.oup.com/endo/article-abstract/122/6/2915/2531236
“We conclude that thyroid hormones control hepatic glycogen synthesis, at least partly by an effect on synthase phosphatase.”

And when you can’t balance your blood sugar the healthy way

Your body does so in a very unhealthy way, by overproducing stress hormones in order to keep you alive.

You see, when you can’t regulate your own blood sugar, these stress hormones take over by breaking down your healthy muscle tissue to convert into sugar to keep your brain functioning.

At the same time they suppress your thyroid function, by blocking your liver from converting thyroid hormone into the active T3 form.

Glucocorticoids decrease in conversion of thyroxine into 3, 5, 3’-tri-iodothyronine by isolated rat renal tubules.
http://www.clinsci.org/content/62/2/215
“In short-term (6h) experiments, cortisol and dexamethasone inhibited the conversion of T4 into T3 at concentrations of 2 X 10-4 mol/l and 2 X 10-5 mol/l respectively… In long-term (16 h) experiments, cortisol and dexamethasone inhibited T4 to T3 conversion by the tubules at concentrations of 1 X 10-12 mol/l and above.”

To make matters worse, they further suppress your thyroid function by increasing your production of Reverse T3, which further blocks your T3 from getting to your cells.

And if you can remember from the previous post “How We Overcome Hypothyroidism When All Else Fails”, if you can’t get thyroid hormone to your cells, you’ll always be hypothyroid.

All of this results in lower levels of T3, which further prevents your liver from storing glycogen and worsening your ability to balance your blood sugar.

Sounds like a big problem, right?

Sometimes, when you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.

And that’s exactly what we have to do with your balancing your blood sugar.

Since your liver can’t do it for you, you have to learn how to do it yourself.

The first half of the battle involves balancing your meals with the right balance of thyroid healthy proteins, carbohydrates, and fats.

In the 3 Food Triple-Thyroid-Boosting Daily Protocol, I show you one of the most important foods we use to help balance your blood sugar.

The Simple 3 Food Triple Thyroid-Boosting Daily Protocol

You can download this daily protocol here.

Then we have to determine your optimal meal frequency so that you eat often enough to prevent your blood sugar from dropping and your stress hormones from taking over.

We can easily determine all of this by measuring your temperature before and after you eat. You know you have a problem if…

  1. Your temperature drops from before to after your meal.
  2. Your temperature drops from the end of one meal to the beginning of your next meal.

Working with a wide array of clients, I’ve seen cases where clients had to increase their blood sugar every 15 to 20 minutes.

Others can go a couple of hours before their blood sugar plummets.

With this information, you can quickly determine the optimal diet fine-tuned just for you.

This is an easy and highly-effective process I use with all of my clients.

But we’re not done yet because glycogen plays another important role in keeping your thyroid healthy.

2. Detoxify Your Thyroid Suppressive Hormones

We do detoxification different.

And for good reason.

Most people think that detoxification is the key to better health.

And while that may be partly true, it’s really your ability to detoxify that really counts.

Forcing detoxification when your liver is unhealthy is like trying to put out a fire with gasoline.

It only puts more stress on your liver and body.

We covered the importance of glycogen and how when you become hypothyroid you lose the ability to produce it.

Well, it turns out that glycogen is more important to your thyroid than just for balancing your blood sugar.

Glycogen is also necessary for the production of glucuronic acid.

And glucuronic acid is necessary for the detoxification of thyroid suppressive hormones, like estrogen.

This is one reason why hypothyroidism sufferers can’t detoxify estrogen, which builds up in your tissue and further suppresses your thyroid function. Sorry men, this isn’t a problem for women alone.

Even hypothyroid men can become very estrogen dominant too. Estrogen affects thyroid function on multiple levels

  1. Directly blocks the thyroid gland from releasing thyroid hormone.
  2. Promotes the production of thyroid suppressive stress hormone (which we just discussed).
  3. Suppresses metabolism.

But few understand the effects that estrogen has on your immune system.

In fact, there’s a direct link between estrogen dominance and the autoimmune form of hypothyroidism called Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, as shown in this study.

2-Methoxyestradiol, an endogenous estrogen metabolite, induces thyroid cell apoptosis.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0303720700002495
“Prolonged exposure to 2-ME led to apoptosis and to increased release of the autoantigen thyroid peroxidase (TPO).”

Many of my clients also suffer from Hashimoto’s thyroiditis after long term estrogen dominance that has never been properly addressed.

When estrogen takes over, it becomes much more difficult to regulate your thyroid.

In part because of how it builds up and your liver can’t detoxify it.

But that doesn’t mean you’re a lost cause.

When you can’t detoxify estrogen properly, your body dumps it through your bile into your digestive tract in hope of excreting it.

Yet, as Dr. Raymond Peat points out, much of it can get re-absorbed.

So, he recommends the daily use of carrot as the carrot fiber has been shown to absorb estrogen in the digestive tract preventing it from being reabsorbed.

Do yourself a favor and use a carrot or two a day to help give your liver a fighting chance.

Unfortunately, too many hypothyroidism sufferers have become scared of using foods like carrots in their diet because of the new brewing fear of carbohydrates.

I talk more about this and how this myth is hurting your thyroid in this post about “Stop Eating Low-Carb (If You Care About Your Thyroid).”

But before we get into that, let’s finish up with other side of this important story.

3. Source Your Selenium

Above, we covered how thyroid related blood sugar issues inhibit the conversion of thyroid hormone by your liver.

Yet, that’s only one side of the story.

You also need to do your part to make sure your liver has everything it needs to promote the conversion of thyroid hormone.

One important and oftentimes overlook nutrient needed for this is selenium.

Selenium itself is necessary to support and activate the conversion of thyroid hormone in your liver.

Selenium deficiency, thyroid hormone metabolism, and thyroid hormone deiodinases.
https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article-abstract/57/2/236S/4715275
“selenium was recently shown to be an essential component of type I iodothyronine 5′-deiodinase in rats, which converts thyroxin to the more biologically active hormone 3,5,3′-triiodothyronine.”

Selenium deficiency is commonly found among hypothyroidism sufferers.

So, make sure you’re getting an adequate amount in your diet. Some of the best sources include…

  • Shrimp
  • Cod
  • Scallops
  • Mushrooms

Can You See The Recurring Theme?

Go ahead, and take another look at everything we’ve covered.

Yes, it all has to do with your healing your liver.

Yes, it all has to do with improving your thyroid health.

But, it all also has to do with making simple changes to your diet.

This goes to show you just how important diet is to your hypothyroidism.

And in the 3 Food Triple-Thyroid-Boosting Daily Protocol, we’ll show you exactly how you can start using your diet to fix some of the many underlying causes of your hypothyroidism.

This protocol is used by each and every one of our clients.

Get more information about the 3 Food Triple-Thyroid-Boosting Daily Protocol here.  

Sources:

1. M Collen, W Stalmans, The Effect of the Thyroid Status on the Activation of Glycogen Synthase in Liver Cells, Endocrinology, Volume 122, Issue 6, 1 June 1988, Pages 2915–2919, https://doi.org/10.1210/endo-122-6-2915

2. P Heyma, R G Larkins, Glucocorticoids Decrease the Conversion of Thyroxine into 3,5,3′-Tri-Iodothyronine by Isolated Rat Renal Tubules, Clinical Science Feb 01, 1982, 62 (2) Pages 215-220, https://doi.org/10.1042/cs0620215

3. S H Wang  et al., 2-Methoxyestradiol, an endogenous estrogen metabolite, induces thyroid cell apoptosis, Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, Volume 165, Issues 1–2, 25 July 2000, Pages 163-172, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0303-7207(00)00249-5

4. J R Arthur, F Nicol, G J Beckett, Selenium deficiency, thyroid hormone metabolism, and thyroid hormone deiodinases, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 57, Issue 2, February 1993, Pages 236S–239S, https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/57.2.236S