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Survey Says…..

January 5, 2018 by Marla 2 Comments

Just before Christmas I conducted a survey asking people with thyroid issues about their challenges and successes in managing their condition. Nearly 300 people responded and I was so blown away by the the answers. You shared your struggles, many of which broke my heart, and you shared your successes making my heart soar. I so appreciate your feedback and vulnerability.

I promised I would share the results of the survey with any respondent who requested. The link to the full report is posted below.

But before we go there I’d like to highlight a few of the responses I received.

Question 3: Your Biggest Challenges

Question 3 asked about the biggest challenges you face with thyroid illness. Two major themes emerged from this question. To quote one respondent, “Doctors who don’t understand and family members who dismiss your health problems as ‘not a big deal’ because you look fine.”

Wow. Can you just hear the pain in her voice? This sentiment was echoed over and over. As you can see in the full report, the number 1 thing patients tried that did not help was working with doctors.

Standard Medical Care

This is such a sad commentary on our healthcare system. I could go off on a major rant about that right now but will refrain. The good news is that Functional Medicine and Functional Nutrition are rapidly growing fields. There’s a good chance there’s a Functional practitioner near you. Even if there’s not a practitioner near you, many of us help clients over video conference or by phone so your location doesn’t matter. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that many Functional practitioners do not take insurance. Why? Because insurance does not allow providers time to truly get to the root of client complaints. Most insurance only pays for a 5-10 minute visit with the doctor. This is just barely enough time for the standard of care, “What’s your symptom? OK. Here’s your pill.” A true root-cause approach requires the practitioner to get a highly detailed health history and spend time educating the client on lifestyle modifications. This often takes 1-2 hours on an initial visit. Insurance simply won’t cover that.

My Family Just Doesn’t Get It

The other major theme from this question was lack of support from family and friends. This deserves a blog post all of it’s own which is forthcoming. For now, know that you ARE heard, even if it’s outside your family. Many people deal with “invisible” illness whether that be  autoimmune conditions, diabetes, chronic infections, vision or hearing problems, joint pain, limited mobility, and on the list goes. You are not alone.

A colleague recommended the site The Mighty as a source for support. I looked it over and there’s a lot of great stuff there. I hope you find it helpful.

Is this low thyroid?

Question 3 also brought up another really good point: knowing what symptoms are caused by thyroid and what symptoms are not.

Reversing chronic illness is a multi-layered process. But once we have an official diagnosis such as low thyroid we tend to see everything through our “thyroid” glasses. We forget there likely are several issues contributing to symptoms.

Take fatigue for example. By far it was the biggest complaint I heard in this survey. Yes, that is a biggie with low thyroid. But it’s also a major symptom of poor blood sugar regulation. I’m not talking about full diabetes, I’m talking about any blood sugar disorder such as hypoglycemia or insulin resistance. If thyroid numbers are improving but fatigue isn’t, looking at blood sugar might be a good idea since half those with thyroid issues also have poor blood sugar control.

Question 5: What did NOT work

Question 5 was about what things you’ve tried that have NOT worked. The results were pretty much the same as question 3. Doctors and the DIY approach didn’t work. Neither did simply taking supplements.

This wasn’t a surprise. The thyroid is SUCH a complicated critter! And rarely is it acting up alone. There are often many co-infections and other imbalances at work. It’s nearly impossible to unravel it all by yourself.  And simply throwing supplements at the problem is no different than throwing drugs at the problem. You’re just exchanging one pill for another. Seek out a trained practitioner who can look at you as a whole person and begin to peel away the layers of chronic illness.

I’d like to share one inspiring message left in the comments on this question:  

I feel everything I’ve done has led to minor improvements in my health.
If something didn’t work it got me closer to the thing that will

THAT is a healthy attitude toward healing! You go girl!

Question 7: Your OMG Best Result Ever

Oh how I wish I could share all these comments with you! Here’s where people truly shared their heart, their dreams, and their heartache. Unfortunately doing so would also reveal participants email addresses and I certainly don’t want to do that. So I’ll simply share a few responses here.

“Not be embarrassed when I can’t remember words”

“If I could feel better I would be able to play, smile with my kids more often”

“I’d be able to be spontaneous again, I wouldn’t need to plan how much sleep I need because I want to go to an event. I’d feel like me again….I miss me”

“Waking up excited for a new day, as opposed to clawing my way out of bed to face yet another day of pain and depression.”

“I’d be able to work a full day without relying on pain meds, I’d be able to lift my little grandchild without pain.”

“I wouldn’t be afraid of dying from the strong medications I must take.”

“I could be the mom I want to be”

 

wow.

just.

wow.

THIS is why I do this, people! THIS RIGHT HERE! I’ve been where these women are (and the one man who responded). I’ve experienced fatigue so debilitating I could barely make it through the day. I’ve experienced the grief of a lost life. I missed ME.

At my worst I’d drag myself out of bed at 5 am (the alarm started going off at 4 but it took me an hour to actually wake up) a full FOUR HOURS before I had to be at work. I’d sit in my recliner and suck down coffee for a couple hours until I felt strong enough to get in the shower.

The effort of raising my hands to wash my hair would leave me so utterly exhausted I’d quickly turn off the water, wrap up in a towel and lay dripping wet on the bathroom floor until I had enough strength to get up and finish getting ready for work. My day would not get any better…

This was NOT a life.

And I was like this for over 15 years.

And so this is why I started Reclaimed Health. Because I don’t want anyone else to have to exist this way. I want them to Reclaim the Health They Were Meant To Enjoy. It’s not just a slogan. It’s my driving force.

And it’s why I’m developing a new course to help people suffering with thyroid and Hashimoto’s issues. It’s still in the brainstorming phase but I’m expecting to have it ready to go by mid-February. If you’d like to know when enrollment opens, you can get on the waiting list here. As with my blood sugar class, Total Energy Upgrade, it will be offered online so you can attend from anywhere.

I hope you found this survey as enlightening as I did. If you’re dealing with fatigue, thyroid, autoimmune or any other chronic condition I hope you realize now that you are NOT alone.

I also want you to realize that THERE IS HOPE! You CAN get well. You just have to persist and keep at it. Take time to mourn your old life. That’s OK. But don’t stay in that state. Pick yourself up and keep going. Keep searching for a fix. Like the woman said earlier, “ If something didn’t work it got me closer to the thing that will.”  

PS: Here’s the link to the full survey results

 

Marla Evans, mnt fdnpHaving overcome her own health struggles using whole-food nutrition and healthy lifestyle changes, Marla Evans is passionate about helping others reclaim their health.

“I lost 15 years of my life to poor health. I don’t want you to do the same.”
~Marla Evans

 

Ready to take charge of your health? Schedule Your Free Consult

Filed Under: blog, health issues, Thyroid

How to Keep a Slip-Up from De-Railing Your Health Goals

November 29, 2017 by Marla 2 Comments

 

 

It happens to us all — you’ve been crushing your health goals and things are going great.  Until the holidays roll around and the endless array of goodies at the family Thanksgiving gathering derails you…or so you think.  We often feel shame afterward and it’s common to let these “slip-ups” demotivate us. The important piece of this puzzle is learning how not to let such a thing hinder you and how to find your motivation to jump back on track.

 

Here are a few of my favorite ways I do this in my own life…

 

Don’t use a slip-up as an excuse.  When you have a cupcake that you deemed forbidden to eat, an easy trap to fall into is turn it into a downward spiral.  You feel as if you’ve already “messed up” so what’s another cupcake, or three?  This mindset often continues with the rest of your day — you’ll just turn it into a cheat day, you say.  When you reason with yourself in this way you can easily let one treat turn into an entire day or weekend of less than healthy eating choices. Not only do you feel bad emotionally, but you feel bad physically too which can lead to even more poor choices. Don’t let one treat spoil your plans; bounce right back and choose to balance your decision with a very healthy lunch or an extra side of greens at dinner.  Enjoy the cupcake then move right along.

 

Observe and learn from your habits.  Instead of seeing your slip-up as a failure, find the lesson in it.  Often people tend to identify with the mistakes or successes they experience.  I invite you to look at the slip-up and search for the reasons behind it.

Not long after my husband and I got married I suddenly found myself with uncontrollable cravings for Braums chocolate almond ice cream every Saturday afternoon during the summers. I didn’t understand why I was suddenly so desperate for ice cream. I knew it was not healthy, but I just had to have it. It took several summers of this before I happened to remember that when I was a kid my father would take my sisters and me out for ice cream on hot Saturday afternoons during the summer. My father had been dead for nearly 20 years by this time. It dawned on me that it wasn’t ice cream that I was craving, I was actually missing my dad.

This was a bittersweet realization. But once I made the connection the intense cravings for ice cream quickly diminished.  I still crave ice cream every now and then, but I’m able to choose healthier frozen treats. And yes, I still think of my dad while enjoying them.

I encourage you to dig deep to find what triggered you to make the choices you did. This can lead to finding a way to prevent it from becoming a habit in the future.  Sometimes a fresh gelato on vacation is just a necessity!  But when habits creep in that derail your health plans on a regular basis, they are worth observing and learning from.

 

Seek out for support from others

Feeling supported and being motivated by others is a great way to breeze past your slip-ups and get back in the health game.  That’s exactly what I do as a Functional Nutrition Therapist, and I’d love to chat with you about how I can help you reach your health goals and not get derailed.

When you’ve used these tips and given yourself the pep-talk that you need, then you’re ready to move on from the slip-up and continue on your health journey. Small slips will no longer sabotage your motivation or send you into a tail spin.  Having the wisdom to see it for what it is, and not let it keep you from pursuing your goals, is the fuel that will keep you on track for many years to come.

Looking for support on your health journey? Book a  complimentary 20-minute phone consultation with me and let’s see how I can help you reach your health goals.

 

Filed Under: blog, Healthy Living

Overcoming Sugar Addiction

March 18, 2017 by Marla Leave a Comment

Many of us made – and already broke! –  New Year’s Resolutions.  Why do we struggle to keep resolutions about eating healthy, reducing our calorie intake, eating fewer sweets, drinking less soda?  The reason may lie less with our resolve and more with a lack of understanding.  We may have a sugar addiction.  Consider this:

  • The typical American consumes the equivalent of 22 sugar cubes every…24 hours!
  • Excess sugar increases appetite
  • Our gut may contribute to a sugar addiction
  • Sugar not only promotes diabetes, but also heart and liver disease and cancer
  • Scientists now compare sugar addictions with heroin and cocaine addictions

A Quick History of Sugar

There was a time when sugar was not plentiful.  Going back, way back, to the original homo sapiens who lived in the regions now known as Ethiopia and Tanzania, scientists have looked at the types of food that would have been readily available.  Those foods were fish, shellfish, land animals, and tubers.  Tubers at that time were not like the potatoes we have today.  They were more fibrous and far less starchy.

Notice fruit and vegetables are not mentioned on this menu. But according to Michel Montignac, in “The History of Man’s Eating Habits,” early civilizations did have access to a limited number of wild vegetables and fruits, all of which would have been on the low glycemic index.

Some additional history:

  • Cereals were widely grown by ancient Egyptian farmers and became a staple in the diets of all the people by the time of the Roman Empire.
  • Sugar was known around the world by the end of the Medieval period, but was very expensive and considered a fine spice.
  • Technological improvements and New World sources such as increased sugar beet farming turned sugar into a much cheaper bulk commodity.
  • In 1957 high fructose corn syrup was developed and by 1985 was used in many foods from baby food to Coca Cola. Is it a coincidence that obesity also began to rise in the 1980’s?

While I would not suggest that sugar is the single culprit in the obesity epidemic, it is certainly a factor.  We’ve come a long way from early Man barely eating any sugar! The World Health Organization suggests that our diet should contain no more than 6 teaspoons of sugar per day, while our current average intake of sugar is at least three times that much at around 22 teaspoons per day.

Sugar and The Gut – The Dysfunctional Couple

The human gastrointestinal tract or “gut” is responsible for digestion.  Digestion involves breaking food down into its most basic parts. It can then be absorbed through the wall of the gut into the bloodstream and transported around the body.

The gut contains both good and bad bacteria and yeast, but when the gut is healthy the good bacteria and yeast thrive while the “bad” organisms are kept in check.  Sugar unbalance the gut by feeding unhealthy yeast called candida.  While candida is always present in the gut, an overgrowth of candida disrupts the delicate balance of gut.  Candida overgrowth can take over the appetite and cause nutritional deficiencies to develop.

Both candida overgrowth and nutritional deficiencies can fuel a voracious appetite – particularly one that demands sugar.  In other words, eat more sugar, want more sugar, eat even more sugar, and the vicious cycle of a sugar addiction is born.  But that’s just the beginning of this dysfunctional relationship.

While the gut is primarily responsible for digestion it also constitutes about 70% of the body’s immune system.  Research shows that the consumption of too much sugar throws the body’s immune response system out of balance.

In a 1973 neutrophilic phagocytosis study out of Loma Linda University, researchers found (in laymen’s terms) that sugar depresses the body’s immune system (or the body’s ability to fight off illness) for several hours.   Picture the person at the office binging on birthday cake while being exposed to the nasty stomach virus which is making the rounds.  Sick leave is likely in that person’s future!

Links Between Sugar and Disease

We all know that diabetes, heart disease, and cancer are huge public health concerns.  The family that has not been visited by one of these devastating diseases is actually quite uncommon.  Is sugar the underlying cause in all of these diseases?  No, not directly, but indirectly – YES!

Let’s consider how we consume sugar, aside from sugary soda drinks.  In most cases those with a sugar addiction do not sit and eat sugar cubes to get their fix.  Instead, they eat food containing sugar, feeding their voracious appetite.  These foods may include simples cabs such as sweet cereals, processed breakfast and snack bars, cookies, ice cream, brownies, candy bars….the list goes on and on.

Each of these foods has another commonality besides sugar.  They are loaded with fat.  The obvious result is weight gain (many of us experienced that over the holidays, right?) but the less obvious result is the slow shift our bodies make from insulin sensitivity to insulin resistance.  This shift ultimately leads to Type 2 Diabetes.

This chart explains the process in simplistic terms.  When we take in food, digestion turns it into glucose which cells use for energy.  The pancreas secretes a hormone called insulin which helps sugar move out of the blood and into the body’s cells.

In the cells, the body can use sugar to make energy.  According to Dr. Kelly Traver, “All cells have insulin receptors. But for some reason, the fat cells remain sensitive to insulin, even when the muscle cells become more resistant. So, the sugar is preferentially let into the fat cells rather than the muscle cells. Once inside the fat cells, the sugar is not used for creating ATP; instead, it is just used to store fat. This is handy if starvation is right around the corner (as it often was for our prehistoric ancestors), but for most people today, this is an issue. The real zinger here is that fat cells secrete a chemical that encourages the muscles’ insulin receptors to become less sensitive. This means that the pancreas has to churn out more insulin (which the fat cells grab), the fat cells become even fatter and secrete more of their chemicals, and the vicious cycle continues.” As this cycle continues, and vital cells fail to receive much needed energy from glucose, the body becomes at risk for cardio vascular disease, liver disease and cancer as well, just to mention a few.

The Science of the Addiction

Animal studies tell us that sugar is more rewarding and addictive than cocaine.

Yes, more. It appears that this is because we are hardwired to seek out sugar.   After all, our cells have evolved to rely on sugar as their number one fuel source.

But eat too much sugar for too long, and you’ll find that
your brain rewires itself to look something like the brain of a heroin or cocaine addict.

This is because drug and food cues use the same circuitry within the brain.   Brain chemicals that are similar to the chemicals in heroin and marijuana (known as opioids and cannabinoids) make you “like” the taste of sweet.

A surge of dopamine makes you “want” the taste of sweet.  Scientists have backed up this research with brain PET scans of both obese people who ingest a large amount of sugar and cocaine addicts.  The brain scans are eerily similar.

Chris Kresser, M.S., L.Ac, writes in LET’S TAKE BACK YOUR HEALTH — Starting Now. “A recent body of evidence suggests that gut microbes might play a significant role in influencing cravings. Given that microbes co-evolved with us and constantly depend on the incoming dietary substrates that we provide for their own sustenance, it’s really no surprise that they are able to preferentially shape our eating preferences to improve their own chances of survival.  In other words, our gut potentially has great control over our eating habits, whether they be healthy habits or unhealthy habits.”

So What’s the Solution?

If you believe you may have a sugar problem, don’t panic! You’re not alone. There are simple steps you can take to free yourself from the addiction.

First, PLEASE don’t attempt to go cold turkey! You’ll only make yourself miserable. Instead, gradually back off the sweets and replace them with healthier options.

It’s always easier to add than to take away so before eliminating sugary foods I recommend adding healthy, low-sugar foods to your diet. Nutrient dense foods like green vegetables give your body the raw materials it needs in order to function well. They also begin to retrain your taste buds to accept low sugar foods.

Green smoothies as a meal replacement or snack are a convenient way to get more veggies in your diet. There are many recipes online, just be sure to avoid recipes that are dairy based (using milk or yogurt) or include high sugar fruits like bananas. Choose green smoothie recipes that use either water or a nut or seed milk as their base, have lots of leafy greens, and use low sugar fruits such as berries for a bit of sweetness (TIP: ¼ – ½ an avocado adds a nice creaminess similar to yogurt but without the inflammatory response).

My favorite green smoothie recipe includes:

  • 8-10 oz hemp milk (or just water)
  • 2 handfuls (or more!) of arugula (also called rocket)
  • 2 handfuls of blueberries (fresh or frozen)
  • a few fresh mint leaves (or a pinch of dried)
  • Cardemom and cinnamon to taste
    (BONUS! Cinnamon helps with blood sugar control!)
  • You can use a few drops of liquid stevia if you like a little more sweetness
  • Add a quality protein powder and you have a complete meal!

I have found that sour foods help eliminate sweet cravings. Try a Bubbies brand dill pickle (BONUS! The natural probiotics in this brand help your gut) or a tablespoon of raw apple cider vinegar in a little water. Taking 200mcg of chromium polynicotinate with meals helps reset insulin receptors and minimize cravings.

Ready to Kick the Sugar Habit?

I can help! Click here to get started on your healing journey.

 

 

 


Lenoir, M., Serre, F., Cantin, L., & Ahmed, S. H. (2007). Intense sweetness surpasses cocaine reward. PloS one, 2(8), e698.

Ahmed, S. H., Avena, N. M., Berridge, K. C., Gearhardt, A. N., & Guillem, K. (2013). Food addiction. In Neuroscience in the 21st Century (pp. 2833-2857). Springer New York.

DiLeone, R. J., Taylor, J. R., & Picciotto, M. R. (2012). The drive to eat: comparisons and distinctions between mechanisms of food reward and drug addiction. Nature neuroscience, 15(10), 1330-1335.

Tang, D. W., Fellows, L. K., Small, D. M., & Dagher, A. (2012). Food and drug cues activate similar brain regions: a meta-analysis of functional MRI studies. Physiology & behavior, 106(3), 317-324.

 

Filed Under: blog, Blood Sugar, Healthy Living

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