Follow Up

We went back to Dr. C yesterday to discuss the plan. His test results showed that this is most likely an immune system issue that is causing his thyroid to overproduce. The plan is basically to remain on the diet, along with the right supplements, which may need to be adjusted as we go along. When he last saw the endocrinologist, he wanted to remove Jason's thyroid via radioactive iodine, which for us, is the last possible option. He wanted to do this within the month, which is not enough time to see a change through his diet. The reason for this is because he just needs to come off the medication he is currently on, and there is no other medication for hyperthyroidism. Dr. C wants him to do his plan for 4-6 months. After 4 months he will (under the endocrinologist's care) come off the medication to see how his thyroid reacts. We will go from there. 4-6 months is a lot better than 2-3 weeks for me!

There is a 20 to 30 percent chance of remission from this. We are believing that he is in that 20 to 30 percent. We believe that he is healed and we are going to do everything we know to do. We know that God is our healer!

This has been one of the most stressful weeks we have had in a long time. Jason did not take the diet thing very well at first. He has never had to think about anything he eats in his entire life. He was pretty bummed. I was very excited about the diet because it was something we could do. So many people are sick and they don't really have any options in the natural. I was stoked that we could do something and that it would change our eating habits for the good. But when Jason is bummed, I am too, so that was stressing me, along with completely restocking our food supply and planning all new totally different meals and snacks like crazy. It has just been a lot. But it is getting easier, and Jason is totally fine with it now. I think he just needed a few days to process and realize that I COULD in fact make him good food that would FILL HIM UP and help him gain weight.

I won't bore you with all the reasons why he can't have certain foods, but they are legit. Just in case anyone is curious, this is what we were given last week (1st appointment):

                         Healthy Food Choices for Healthy Thyroid

FOOD GROUPS	ALLOW	AVOID
Meat/Fish/Poultry When possible Organic and free range  Baked, broiled or poached	Chicken, turkey, wild game, and cold water-caught in the wild fish:  salmon, halibut, mahi-mahi etc	Beef, pork, lamb Shell fish: shrimp, lobster. Meats with sodium nitrate: lunchmeats, bacon, cured, smoke or dried meat
Dairy	Plain yogurt, plain kefir, butter, eggs	All other dairy products: Milk, cheese, cottage cheese, flavored yogurt, flavored Kefir, ice cream
Vegetables  Fresh or frozen Raw or steamed	Vegetables, dried beans, lentils, legumes Limit sweet corn, soy products	Can vegetables, creamed vegetables, casseroles Do not eat these raw: broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, kale, turnips, mustard greens.
Fruit or fruit juice	All fruits 100% juice without sugar	Juice with sugar
Breads *Gluten free...	Buckwheat, brown rice, quinoa.  Limit: millet, millet-flax seed	Whole wheat and white flour products: bread, tortillas, pasta, crackers, etc
Nuts/Seeds	Raw (not roasted in oil): pecans, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds Limit: almonds, pine-nuts, peanuts, walnuts	Processed/dry roasted nuts
Fats/Oils	cold pressed olive oil, grape seed oil, flaxseed oil, organic butter	Margarine, shortening, processed and hydrogenated oils, mayonnaise, spreads
Sugar	Stevia, raw honey, 100% maple syrup, 100% blackstrap molasses, agave	All forms of sugar, artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, rice syrup, date sugar, evaporated cane juice
Spices/condiments/others	All spices, hummus, small amount of sea salt or veggie salt	Salty foods, junk food, mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, Processed foods
Drinks	64oz distilled or reversed osmosis water, caffeine free herbal tea	City water or bottled water containing chlorine or fluoride, coffee, tea, soda, fruit juice with sugar added

If you're still with me, here is the list we got today to be added to that one:

Low-Iodine Restrictions

• Iodized salt, sea salt (noniodized salt may be used)
• Dairy products (milk, cheese, cream, yogurt, ice cream, butter)
• Eggs (specifically egg yolks; egg whites may be used)
• Seafood (both fresh and salt-water fish; shellfish; seaweed; kelp)
• Foods that contain the additives carrageenan, agar-agar, algin, or alginates
• Cured and corned foods (ham, corned beef, sausage, luncheon meats, sauerkraut, pickles)
• Bread products that contain iodate dough conditioners (breads from small bakeries are sometimes safe; better to bake it yourself from scratch)
• Foods and medications that contain red food dyes (specifically, FD&C Red Dye #3; consult your physician about discontinuing or substituting for any red-colored medicines)
• Chocolate (because of the milk content; dark or pareve chocolate is fine)
• Molasses
• Soy products (soy sauce, soy milk, tofu, soy burgers, etc.

Additional Guidelines

• Avoid restaurant foods, since there's no reliable way to determine what's in your food.
• Use unsalted matzos (unleavened crackers made only of flour and water) or unsalted tortillas instead of bread.
• Noniodized salt may be used as desired
• Read ingredient lists of prepared or packaged foods carefully.
• Do not take multivitamins, since most contain iodine.
• Use olive oil as a condiment or in cooking instead of butter or margarine; nondairy or pareve margarine may also be used.
• Prepare low-iodine meals in advance and freeze them for easy use later.
• Food prepared from any fresh meats, fresh poultry, fresh or frozen vegetables, and fresh fruits should be fine for this diet, provided that you do not add any of the "to avoid" ingredients listed.  The diet is easiest when food is prepared from basic ingredients.

After being completely overwhelmed with all of this, I did my own research and discovered that A LOT of these are geared toward hypothyroidism, which is the opposite of what we're dealing with, so A LOT of these things are actually beneficial to him right now.  I know a lot of this is repetitive, but just so you know what I'm going through, here's what I found in a book by Dr. Colbert, who is a HIGHLY trusted source of mine (the short version):

Don't eat these with hypothyroidism (me)
Do eat these with hyperthyroidism (him):

• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Cabbage
• Brussels sprouts
• Sweet corn
• Millet
• Peanuts
• Almonds
• Walnuts
• Soybeans

Don't eat these with hyperthyroidism:

• Ocean fish
• Shellfish
• Dairy products
• Kelp and other forms of seaweed
• Onions
• Asparagus

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!