Why Your New Years Resolution Could Be Hurting Your Thyroid
There is something about starting a New Year that triggers us to reevaluate our health. However, this can be just as overwhelming as it can be inspiring. With good intentions we set out with a refreshed focus, feeling ready to make changes and work towards our health goals, in the hopes of feeling our best. With that comes the ever-predictable onslaught of advertisements centred around fad diets, fitness challenges and “detox” approaches. It can be all too easy to feel the pressure of signing up to one (or all) of these options that are offered to us across the media, and yet it may be doing more harm than good for our health, not to mention highly restrictive in some cases.
Weight loss culture would have us believe that we need to exercise more and restrict our calories to achieve results. Almost always, we see that this approach not only doesn’t work long term, but it can also have detrimental impacts on our health. Calorie restriction and an increased and especially high intensity exercise load are additional stressors on the body. Adding stress to an already stressed and burdened nervous system can stop weight loss efforts in its tracks. The HPT (Hypothalamic Pituitary Thyroid) and HPA (Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal) axis' are closely connected and if stress in any form is chronic or heightened, then dysfunction surrounding both adrenal and thyroid gland homeostasis may arise.
Evidence also suggests that, if exercise-related energy expenditure exceeds calories consumed, a low T3 syndrome may be induced and may exacerbate hypothyroidism states. Yoyo dieting, chronic stress and nutritional deficiencies (as a result of undernourishment) can lead to T4 being shunted off to the inactive thyroid hormone reverse T3, which blocks the thyroid's effects of energy, metabolism and thermogenesis at a cellular level. This sets the stage for metabolic shifts in response to this level of physiological stress, one being the slowing of our metabolism overall and the feeling that we are putting on weight on a 1,200-calorie diet and high intensity exercise – countless women can agree to this statement.
Not only is there the message of drastically reducing calories, but there’s an outdated assumption that carbohydrates must be reduced or taken out of our diets altogether. Unfortunately, this creates an unhealthy relationship with carbohydrates, with so many fearing a foundational macronutrient that we need for countless aspects of our health. In fact, various research has shown that very low carbohydrate diets are associated with lower T3 concentrations in the body, and this can further impact healthy weight loss and metabolic function in cases of hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s. Whilst there are some limitations to these studies, it is suggestive of the link between carbohydrate restriction and thyroid hormone imbalances. To simplify the message around carbohydrates, the quality of carbohydrates we eat (wholefoods over processed), the balance with other key macronutrients in the diet (protein, fats, fibre), the serving sizes at meals, individual energy requirements, and the ability to digest and assimilate our food, are the most important factors.
The problem with quick fix “health solutions” that are sold on a generic and mass-produced level is that they fail to focus on the individual person and do not cater to your unique needs. One diet that works for one person, is not going to work for another, purely based on our individual biochemistry. A one-size-fits-all approach almost always fails, and we find ourselves disheartened and back at square one. A holistic and in-depth health approach considers your current lifestyle, health history, sleeping patterns, stress and mental health, dietary habits and nutritional requirements, exercise, supplementation, pathology results and more. When an individualised dietary and lifestyle plan is designed and implemented correctly, it is much more likely to be enjoyable, flexible, and maintainable. It also gifts us so much more than a reduction on the scale. It supports our energy, improves our mood, balances hormones, nourishes our gut, enhances immunity, reduces stress, increases our stress resilience, and optimises sleep and recovery. Remember, weight loss becomes a symptom of everything working in harmony. No crash diets, overexercising or deprivation necessary.
References
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Kuchkuntla, A.R., Shah, M., Velapati, S. et al. Ketogenic Diet: an Endocrinologist Perspective. Curr Nutr Rep 8, 402–410 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13668-019-00297-x
Iacovides S, Maloney SK, Bhana S, Angamia Z, Meiring RM. Could the ketogenic diet induce a shift in thyroid function and support a metabolic advantage in healthy participants? A pilot randomized-controlled-crossover trial. PLoS One. 2022 Jun 3;17(6):e0269440. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0269440. PMID: 35658056; PMCID: PMC9165850.