megabit
Member
In case anyone needs some encouragement today.
Starting out:
I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's in 2008 after literally sleeping for 3 days straight. There is not a lot of my thyroid remaining due to destruction by antibodies. (as confirmed by ultrasound and endocrinologist) But, as long as there is a piece of thyroid, it can produce thyroid hormone.
I take 90 grains of Armour Thyroid daily.
I take Vit B Complex regularly.
I am 61, and in menopause.
My temperature has been in the 96-97.4 range for as long as I can remember.
Resting pulse rate 60-70.
Blood pressure is always quite low. Like, 120/80 is the highest I think it's ever been?
Cholesterol went high for the first time in 2017 (after doing Paleo Autoimmune Diet) and has been 200-250 ever since.
My diet consisted of a lot of veggies, salads (with fat free dressing to which I'd add my own olive oil), chicken, oats, flaxseed and flaxseed oil, chia seeds, walnuts, almonds, black beans, the occasional burger, occasional egg and bacon, Thai Food (yum!), apples, berries, green smoothies, wheat germ oil for Vit E, tea and coffee with oatmilk creamer (quit dairy in 2016 due to heartburn, stomach pain and painful inflammation in hip). Protein probably about 30-40grams per day? I would occasionally make chicken broth from scratch - I bought chickens from a local farm, but they feed their chickens soy feed.
I have felt tired, brain fog, achy, low motivation and energy, weak, depressed, very negative. Everything I ate seemed to give me heartburn, so I drank water to help - which made me cold. I am overweight and constantly trying to lose weight. Its depressing, since as a younger person I couldn't gain weight (I was called scarecrow by the mean kids in school!) I wasn't sleeping well at all, I felt like a vegetable: basically feeling incapacitated mentally and physically. And guilty for being so lazy, tired, not doing the things I needed to or wanted to do. I was considering going back to being a vegetarian (which I was from 2011-2016) because I felt so crappy.
Thankfully I stumbled on this forum somehow and decided to give this a try. I decided to try to heal / balance the thyroid instead of trying to lose weight.
I started following "Peat Diet" as of May 30, 2023 - Actions taken:
-zero PUFA foods - removed nuts, seeds, beans, peanut butter, chicken, pork, factory eggs , factory farmed meats, etc.
-added milk (grass fed whole milk, I actually found a brand I can have without huge stomach pains. However, they only sell whole milk - no reduced fat versions)
-added cottage cheese, some cheddar, and some feta. (same people who make the milk)
-switched to grass fed beef - also from the people make the milk I can tolerate. Note: when I eat this beef, I can literally feel the warmth increase in my body. The thermometer confirms this.
-added pastured eggs (truly pastured, no chicken feed!) ~3-4x/wk
-replaced salmon and tuna with shrimp and codfish 1-2 times a week each.
-added the infamous Ray Peat Carrot Salad, although this is sporadic at best. Not a fan of the vinegar. Blech.
-added orange juice with collagen and salt - sometimes with seltzer or coconut water, 2-3 times per day. OJ used to give painful inflammation in thumb joints, although it still comes and goes it is less painful and less debilitating.
-added homemade milk shake using frozen fruit. Wow. I didn't know these could be so good.
-increased protein to ~70-80g per day via meat, milk, cheese, fish, collagen, gelatin.
-still eat strawberries and blueberries even though Peat said no because of their seeds. I tend not to eat cottage cheese without them, so....they are staying for now.
-increased amount of other fruits: I have unlimited, instead of limiting them to one per day - honeydew, papaya, cherries, grapes, cantaloupe, peaches, etc.
-potatoes (white and sweet varieties) ~3 times per week.
-switched from Xylitol to Honey
-added daily coffee (or caffeinated tea) to which I add a glob of grass fed gelatin, plus honey and milk, sometimes add 1 tsp butter.
-stopped drinking 16-64oz plain water daily. It made me frigging cold anyway!!
-added 120-240mg magnesium glycinate before bedtime to help sleep.
-added 50mg Vitamin E / 200mcg Selenium combo daily
-added 325mg aspirin in morning with coffee.
-sporadically take 500mg niacinamide
-1 drop of Lugol's 2% Iodine 3-4x / week
Labs from 12/2022 compared to labs on 6/12/23:
-TSH from 3.070 to 0.743 . This is the lowest my TSH has ever been since I first started thyroid labs in 2008, but still very very tired with brain fog, etc. More tired than I was before, but feeling somehow like the sleep was healing as opposed to being unconscious.
-Cholesterol increased from 200 to 232.
-Fasting glucose increased from 94 to 99.
-Progesterone 0.3 (expected since I'm in menopause, I guess. No prior lab to compare to)
-Estrogen 11.40 (no prior lab to compare to)
-Temps still in 96-97.4 range.
-Pulse still 60-65
-Bowel is constipated since adding milk. Used to be no issue there. I think it is lack of fiber. (yeah yeah, eat the carrot salad, I know, I know...I'm working on that)
-Heartburn is much much less. I almost forget I used to have it all the time.
-Added OTC progesterone - 3 drops, 5x per day.
As of 6/18/23
-It was like a switch went on. Thinking is MUCH MUCH clearer,
-Way more physical energy,
-Negative thinking reduced dramatically.
-Temp improved to 96.5-98.1 range. Very odd to see 98 on the thermometer.
-Pulse improved to 60-70 range.
As of 6/20/23
-Temperature is actually 97.6-98.9 - unheard of for me!
-Resting pulse rate 70-80 - it hasn't dipped back into the 60s.
-Thinking is still more clear than it had been,
-My hands and feet have normal temps - I don't need socks to sleep in as my feet are hot in them.
-My sleep is interrupted only once per night (bathroom). I don't need an extra blanket around my neck, shirt under my pajamas, or socks.
-I have been walking for 1/4-1/2 mile 1-2 times a day. It is hard, but I am gaining strength in my legs, and hope to eventually gain enough strength to do some weight training.
-However, I am getting painful inflammation in my right hip. This is making walking difficult! Inflammation is one of the reasons I quit dairy in 2016. I am hoping this will clear up.
-I have gained ~4 lbs. I am hoping this will stabilize...I'm hoping that I can switch to a milk with less fat, but that brand doesn't make any low fat milk products. I know, adding all the carbs plus high fat is not a good combo for weight.
Future:
-will add liver and oysters
-will increase carrot salad to daily.
So - that's a lot of changes and resulting improvements in less than a month!
Thank you all for your incredible generosity with the information you have shared. I hope things continue to go well for me - please know that I appreciate all the help you have given, even if you didn't know you did it!
Starting out:
I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's in 2008 after literally sleeping for 3 days straight. There is not a lot of my thyroid remaining due to destruction by antibodies. (as confirmed by ultrasound and endocrinologist) But, as long as there is a piece of thyroid, it can produce thyroid hormone.
I take 90 grains of Armour Thyroid daily.
I take Vit B Complex regularly.
I am 61, and in menopause.
My temperature has been in the 96-97.4 range for as long as I can remember.
Resting pulse rate 60-70.
Blood pressure is always quite low. Like, 120/80 is the highest I think it's ever been?
Cholesterol went high for the first time in 2017 (after doing Paleo Autoimmune Diet) and has been 200-250 ever since.
My diet consisted of a lot of veggies, salads (with fat free dressing to which I'd add my own olive oil), chicken, oats, flaxseed and flaxseed oil, chia seeds, walnuts, almonds, black beans, the occasional burger, occasional egg and bacon, Thai Food (yum!), apples, berries, green smoothies, wheat germ oil for Vit E, tea and coffee with oatmilk creamer (quit dairy in 2016 due to heartburn, stomach pain and painful inflammation in hip). Protein probably about 30-40grams per day? I would occasionally make chicken broth from scratch - I bought chickens from a local farm, but they feed their chickens soy feed.
I have felt tired, brain fog, achy, low motivation and energy, weak, depressed, very negative. Everything I ate seemed to give me heartburn, so I drank water to help - which made me cold. I am overweight and constantly trying to lose weight. Its depressing, since as a younger person I couldn't gain weight (I was called scarecrow by the mean kids in school!) I wasn't sleeping well at all, I felt like a vegetable: basically feeling incapacitated mentally and physically. And guilty for being so lazy, tired, not doing the things I needed to or wanted to do. I was considering going back to being a vegetarian (which I was from 2011-2016) because I felt so crappy.
Thankfully I stumbled on this forum somehow and decided to give this a try. I decided to try to heal / balance the thyroid instead of trying to lose weight.
I started following "Peat Diet" as of May 30, 2023 - Actions taken:
-zero PUFA foods - removed nuts, seeds, beans, peanut butter, chicken, pork, factory eggs , factory farmed meats, etc.
-added milk (grass fed whole milk, I actually found a brand I can have without huge stomach pains. However, they only sell whole milk - no reduced fat versions)
-added cottage cheese, some cheddar, and some feta. (same people who make the milk)
-switched to grass fed beef - also from the people make the milk I can tolerate. Note: when I eat this beef, I can literally feel the warmth increase in my body. The thermometer confirms this.
-added pastured eggs (truly pastured, no chicken feed!) ~3-4x/wk
-replaced salmon and tuna with shrimp and codfish 1-2 times a week each.
-added the infamous Ray Peat Carrot Salad, although this is sporadic at best. Not a fan of the vinegar. Blech.
-added orange juice with collagen and salt - sometimes with seltzer or coconut water, 2-3 times per day. OJ used to give painful inflammation in thumb joints, although it still comes and goes it is less painful and less debilitating.
-added homemade milk shake using frozen fruit. Wow. I didn't know these could be so good.
-increased protein to ~70-80g per day via meat, milk, cheese, fish, collagen, gelatin.
-still eat strawberries and blueberries even though Peat said no because of their seeds. I tend not to eat cottage cheese without them, so....they are staying for now.
-increased amount of other fruits: I have unlimited, instead of limiting them to one per day - honeydew, papaya, cherries, grapes, cantaloupe, peaches, etc.
-potatoes (white and sweet varieties) ~3 times per week.
-switched from Xylitol to Honey
-added daily coffee (or caffeinated tea) to which I add a glob of grass fed gelatin, plus honey and milk, sometimes add 1 tsp butter.
-stopped drinking 16-64oz plain water daily. It made me frigging cold anyway!!
-added 120-240mg magnesium glycinate before bedtime to help sleep.
-added 50mg Vitamin E / 200mcg Selenium combo daily
-added 325mg aspirin in morning with coffee.
-sporadically take 500mg niacinamide
-1 drop of Lugol's 2% Iodine 3-4x / week
Labs from 12/2022 compared to labs on 6/12/23:
-TSH from 3.070 to 0.743 . This is the lowest my TSH has ever been since I first started thyroid labs in 2008, but still very very tired with brain fog, etc. More tired than I was before, but feeling somehow like the sleep was healing as opposed to being unconscious.
-Cholesterol increased from 200 to 232.
-Fasting glucose increased from 94 to 99.
-Progesterone 0.3 (expected since I'm in menopause, I guess. No prior lab to compare to)
-Estrogen 11.40 (no prior lab to compare to)
-Temps still in 96-97.4 range.
-Pulse still 60-65
-Bowel is constipated since adding milk. Used to be no issue there. I think it is lack of fiber. (yeah yeah, eat the carrot salad, I know, I know...I'm working on that)
-Heartburn is much much less. I almost forget I used to have it all the time.
-Added OTC progesterone - 3 drops, 5x per day.
As of 6/18/23
-It was like a switch went on. Thinking is MUCH MUCH clearer,
-Way more physical energy,
-Negative thinking reduced dramatically.
-Temp improved to 96.5-98.1 range. Very odd to see 98 on the thermometer.
-Pulse improved to 60-70 range.
As of 6/20/23
-Temperature is actually 97.6-98.9 - unheard of for me!
-Resting pulse rate 70-80 - it hasn't dipped back into the 60s.
-Thinking is still more clear than it had been,
-My hands and feet have normal temps - I don't need socks to sleep in as my feet are hot in them.
-My sleep is interrupted only once per night (bathroom). I don't need an extra blanket around my neck, shirt under my pajamas, or socks.
-I have been walking for 1/4-1/2 mile 1-2 times a day. It is hard, but I am gaining strength in my legs, and hope to eventually gain enough strength to do some weight training.
-However, I am getting painful inflammation in my right hip. This is making walking difficult! Inflammation is one of the reasons I quit dairy in 2016. I am hoping this will clear up.
-I have gained ~4 lbs. I am hoping this will stabilize...I'm hoping that I can switch to a milk with less fat, but that brand doesn't make any low fat milk products. I know, adding all the carbs plus high fat is not a good combo for weight.
Future:
-will add liver and oysters
-will increase carrot salad to daily.
So - that's a lot of changes and resulting improvements in less than a month!
Thank you all for your incredible generosity with the information you have shared. I hope things continue to go well for me - please know that I appreciate all the help you have given, even if you didn't know you did it!
Last edited:
But, I'm sure this is temporary. It is temporary, right?? 
I opted for capsules, but some peeps on here seem to like the tea....you may want to buy a very small batch as a tester
