PREFACE

Why is an article about healing at a homeschool group’s website?

The quick answer is at AAEN’s May 2007 business meeting, we began to discuss health issues and members asked me to post the information I had put together about a health issue facing a large percentage of the population, something that is mostly ignored today.

But there’s another reason. We homeschoolers have many differing styles of teaching. My family tended towards unschooling, that unusual concept that kids want to learn and just need help finding the resources that will help them discover and learn how to function in the world.

Homeschooling didn’t exist when I was in school. Most unfortunate. By the middle of tenth grade, I’d realized high school had little to do with true education and a great deal to do with following the rules and not thinking too much (read anything by John Taylor Gatto for more information). I went to one quarter of college and realized it was the same system that I’d hated in high school, but I was having to pay for it. I left institutional school then and there.

I have always been tremendously curious, so without an actual intention to do so, I started a nearly 4 decade, ongoing process of self-education. I homeschooled myself. As it turned out, my husband’s head injury recovery depended on it.

There is a quote I love: “Ancora Imparo," a quote from Michelangelo meaning "I am always learning.”

That’s what homeschooling is truly about.

INTRODUCTION

A FORGOTTEN HEALTH PROBLEM

I've been studying and applying nutrition and alternative healing for 37 years (since 1969-70). In addition, I have a broad range of interests, and a great deal of curiosity, combined with a proclivity to look outside the box and see connections in seemingly unrelated areas. My main focus of study for the last nearly one decade has been brain injury healing, due to my husband Phil’s 3 concussions since 1997. That focus has been largely successful, leading to treatments for him that have, to a great extent, given him his life back.

Mixed in, here and there as I had time, I've read and studied about the health problems that run in my family. When my mother died in 1995 from a massive stroke following emergency heart by-pass surgery. I had already learned enough to know that diet played a core role in her death. I began to look deeper into issues such as metabolic syndrome (aka syndrome X) and leptin. My own recent health issues have raised that study into family health to a higher level of priority.

All along, I've been feeling like I've been assembling a jigsaw puzzle with the random pieces I've come across over the years, but the most recent pieces have me very excited. They pull together many of the 'threads' and I can actually see a cohesive picture now; I'm beginning to understand the story. I'm sure there's much more, but I've got a good outline now, and I’ve found good prospects for healing.

I'm dealing with issues of adrenal fatigue, a version of hypothyroidism (low functioning thyroid system), and there’s something low-key autoimmune going on in the background. My recent studies make this combination totally understandable and completely expected, especially considering my personal and family medical histories. I'm currently taking thyroid support supplements: Lugol’s solution (iodine/iodide drops) and desiccated thyroid. This treatment is something I will likely need to continue at some level all my life to maintain optimum levels of health. To me, taking supplements that are food based that provide significant health benefits is far preferable to taking pharmaceuticals, with all their potential side effects, as I age.

For folks who are hypothyroid, treatment of all of the health issues listed below would, at the very least, benefit from thyroid support treatment. Researchers and doctors involved in treating hypothyroidism say that at least 40% of the population is affected to some degree (some say 80%); there is a reason for that large a percentage (see “Whys and Wherefores”). It is inherited, usually, but not always through the mother. And today at least, each generation seems to be more hypothyroid than the last.

Obviously all the health issues listed can have different causes, but thyroid function can be one of those causes and is unfortunately rarely given consideration today, even though there are large numbers of cases studies, voluminous research since the 1870's, and personal stories showing how pervasive hypothyroidism is and how responsive it is to treatment. All of the conditions in the list have been implicated either as a direct result of hypothyroidism, as made more likely or more extreme by hypothyroidism, or the condition can more quickly respond to treatment if hypothyroid treatment is included in the regimen. Considering the simplicity and non-toxicity of appropriately monitored treatment, hypothyroidism should be one of the first considerations in determining treatment in any of these conditions. Unfortunately instead, many people live with these health problems for years or for their whole, often shortened, lives, when relief is quite possibly easily at hand.

One reason hypothyroidism is not more often considered as a health problem is that there are no reliable tests of thyroid function, despite what many of today’s MD’s think. This lack of ability to actually pin down a diagnosis has plagued researchers since the ‘discovery’ of hypothyroidism in the late 1870’s. Most doctors today rely solely upon blood tests, which provide very limited information, and many doctors simply will not see hypothyroidism, even if many symptoms are present, if the blood test comes back negative. Often doctors are absolutely convinced that if the blood work is fine, the thyroid is fine, despite what their patients are telling them, regardless of the symptoms being presented. That has been my personal experience. All that the blood tests will show is if the thyroid is not producing enough of the various thyroid hormones; in addition, usually the only test done measures only one of the thyroid hormones, a far too limited view of a complex system. The blood tests cannot show if the entire loop of thyroid hormone activity, from hypothalamus to the thyroid to the mitochondria inside your cells and back, is working properly. The most reliable test for low functioning thyroid is taking the basal body temperature test and that is not fool proof either. However, patients' histories (including family histories) always give a clue, and experimental treatment with iodine/iodide drops and desiccated thyroid, under medical supervision, won't do any harm. In my reading of research and case studies, many times cures have happened by using this treatment, and only then was it understood that hypothyroidism was underlying the condition.

If you're wondering what of your own health issues might be involved, the list of symptoms is amazingly long. I've sorted them into categories and alphabetized them as well. Some symptoms will be listed in more than one category. There also is a subgroup of people whose symptoms may appear more like hyperthyroid (overactive thyroid), but they represent instead a variation on the body's reaction to hypothyroidism. Again, a term of supervised treatment will reveal whether it’s an over- or underactive thyroid system. But some of the symptoms in the list below will be opposites; don’t let that confuse you. Just remember that each of us is biochemically unique.

If just one of the symptoms below is one of your health issues, it still would be worth your efforts to see if providing thyroid support might help. But if you’re like me and many of my family members, you will find not just one, but many of the symptoms listed that are part of your personal and family’s health history. It is also not uncommon to have hypothyroid issues stimulated by stress, so many people might find that a cascade of hypothyroid health issues follows a particularly stressful period in their lives.

SYMPTOMS

AUTOIMMUNE DISORDERS
celiac, lupus, MS, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis

CANCER

CIRCULATORY SYSTEM
anemia, atherosclerosis, easy bruising, congestive heart failure, heart attacks, heart palpitations, hemorrhages and poor clotting, high cholesterol levels, high (or low) blood pressure, reduced blood circulation, rheumatic fever, slow (or, rarely, rapid) heart rate, stroke

www.press-library.com/releases/2005-02-04/Alliance-Team/Heart-Attacks-Older-Women-Linked-Underactive-Thyroids.htm “Heart Attacks In Older Women Linked To Underactive Thyroids 2005-02-04, Alliance Team - The Annals of Internal Medicine have published research that reveals even a slightly underactive thyroid (subclinical hypothyroidism) pose a major heart disease risk for older women. In the Rotterdam study, they discovered that this group of women had twice the incidence of blockages in the aorta, the body’s main artery, than those with normal thyroid function. They are also reported twice as likely to have heart attacks.”

DENTAL
gum disease, TMJ, tooth decay

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
anorexia, constipation, decreased (or increased) appetite

EARS/HEARING
otitis media (middle ear infections), hearing loss, tinnitus, vertigo

FATIGUE
mental and physical

INFECTIONS
candida, repeated infections, otitis media (middle ear infections), osteomyelitis, rheumatic fever, sinusitis, tonsillitis, upper respiratory infections

JOINTS, BONES & MUSCLES
abnormal bone growth (including scoliosis), arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, gout, joint/muscle pain, lack of muscle coordination, muscle weakness, osteomyelitis, osteoporosis, poor equilibrium, rheumatoid arthritis, TMJ

MENTAL DISTURBANCES
anorexia, apathy, bipolar disorders, difficulty concentrating, dementia, depression, hallucinations (auditory and visual), hyperactivity, hypochondria, impaired memory, insomnia, intolerance, irritability, chronic mania, nervousness, neuroses, nightmares, paranoia, paresthesia (abnormal sensations that feel like burning, tingling, prickling, or the feeling of insects crawling on your skin), psychosis, slow thinking

ORGANS
bladder and kidney infections, gall bladder pain (lower right rib cage) or gall stones, congestive heart failure, hyperinsulinemia (diabetes), hypoglycemia, reduced liver function

PAIN
arthritis, chronic pain, joint pain, muscle pain

HEADACHES
menstrual, migraine, tension

REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM
cystic breasts/ovaries, decreased sex drive, eclampsia, endometriosis, gestational diabetes, fibroid tumors, inability to dilate, infertility, excessive menstrual bleeding, excessive menstrual cramps, miscarriages, irregular periods, PMS, prolonged labor, premature or delayed puberty

RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
asthma, emphysema, bronchitis, otitis media (middle ear infections), pneumonia, sinusitis, tonsillitis, tuberculosis, upper respiratory infections (especially chronic infections)

SKIN
acne, boils. carbuncles, cellulitis, dry skin, eczema, ichthyosis (“fish skin”), impetigo, moles and warty growths (especially on the trunk of the body - I have many!), myxedema (puffy, thickened skin), pallor, paresthesia (abnormal sensations that feel like burning, tingling, prickling, or the feeling of insects crawling on your skin), decreased perspiration, psoriasis, puffy skin, yellowish or amber tint to the skin due to inability of liver to convert beta carotene to Vitamin A, vitiligo, “winter skin”

WEIGHT
overweight, obesity, underweight

OTHER
allergies, bed wetting and nocturnal incontinence, chronic pain, dizziness, edema, hair loss, hoarseness, hyperinsulinemia (diabetes), hypoglycemia, increased infections, insomnia, intolerance to cold, intolerance to heat, lethargy, low body temperature, low resistance to disease, brittle, ridged, striated and/or thickened nails, nutritional imbalances, sleep apnea, symptoms exacerbated by cold weather, visual disturbances including night vision problems

Also, from page 101 of Hypothyroidism Type 2, The Epidemic by Mark Starr, MD: "Dr. Barnes*, as well as other researchers, documented the hypothyroids' propensity toward alcohol and substance abuse. Early researchers noted alcoholic beverages diminished hypothyroid symptoms. Dr. Barnes stated that he never treated an alcoholic patient who was not hypothyroid."

*(Dr. Barnes is Broda A. Barnes, M.D., www.brodabarnes.org, who dedicated more than 50 years of his life to researching, teaching and treating thyroid and related endocrine dysfunctions in this country and abroad.)

BUT THERE’S MORE!

An amazing healer/friend from Chicago, hearing about my health issues, recommended a website that has provided a fascinating additional piece to this puzzle (www.drplechner.com). Dr. Plechner has been a vet for nearly 40 years. Early in his practice, he began noticing a pattern. To quote from one of his articles: “The problem originates with genetic or acquired disturbance to the adrenal cortex production of cortisol. A domino effect ensues, affecting the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis. Hormones go awry. Estrogen, from the apparent conversion of adrenal androgens, is overproduced. Thyroid hormones are blocked. Immune function becomes compromised. I consistently see this scenario in sick patients. As an example, EVERY cancer patient I treat has it.”

and

“In thousands of cases - now well over 50,000 - I have repeatedly observed the same endocrine-immune dysfunction operating. It undermines homeostasis and sets the stage for malabsorption and digestive disorders, allergies, lung and urinary tract problems, sluggish liver function, strange or aggressive behavior, epilepsy, obesity, deadly viral and bacterial infections, periodontitis, vaccine reactions, autoimmunity, and cancer. Younger animals with the defect develop diseases typically seen in older animals. Moreover, the defect often causes not just one illness but multiple illnesses.”

Many of the conditions Dr. Plechner lists that come from the dysfunction are the same as the ones in the list of hypothyroid symptoms. But he also lists an additional condition that he’s had a 70% recovery rate in treating: feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), which involves a retrovirus similar to HIV. His patients remain disease-free as long as they are maintained on the low-dosage cortisone, which is part of his treatment protocol. In addition, he’s seen digestive tract issues that make him wonder if this treatment would be helpful for humans with Crohn’s disease or colitis.

Plechner’s patients’ human owners, seeing such significant results with their pets, have taken his information to their doctors and many have gotten relief from their own health problems.

His treatment involves “... low-dose cortisone, along with thyroid replacement, ...... ...hugely beneficial for restoring lost immune competence...” Again, this treatment is usually ongoing for life, making up for a dysfunction in the body. Dr. Plechner says “William Jefferies, M.D., of the University of Virginia, has described the safe and effective use of physiologic dosages of cortisone for decades in patients with ‘adrenocortical deficiency.’” This physiological dosage is much smaller than the pharmacological dosages that are usually used short term to treat certain conditions. Both Plechner and Jeffries have used the smaller physiological dosages of cortisone ongoing in their patients without the problems associated with pharmacological dosages, and indeed find that ongoing supplementation of cortisone is often necessary to maintain health in affected individuals.

Dr. Plechner has a series of tests he does. He recommends not necessarily relying on blood tests alone for diagnosis since they “may test out as normal but in fact involve significantly bound hormones” (i.e. the hormones are present in the blood, but the body cannot use them appropriately - an overly simplified description).

If you’re interested more in this piece of the puzzle, I strongly recommended going to Dr. Plechner’s website, clicking on the protocols link, and getting more of his fairly detailed information.

TREATMENT

Goiters, a symptom of more advanced hypothyroidism, used to be very common, particularly in areas of the world that had been scoured by glaciers. In North America, the most affected areas were the Great Lakes basin, the area around the St. Lawrence River, westward through Minnesota, the Dakotas, the neighboring Canadian territory westward to British Columbia, southward including Oregon and Washington, with southward arms into the Rocky Mountains and parts of Appalachia. Iodized salt was introduced years ago in this country as a public health measure to reduce the incidence of goiter.

Iodine or Lugol’s solution (a combination of iodine and iodide that’s been around for many years) or similar preparations can be used to support thyroid function. What the doctors, whose work I’ve read and one of whom I’m currently seeing for this condition, recommend for treatment is primarily desiccated thyroid (definitely not the synthetic forms of thyroid replacement provided by pharmaceutical companies that do not provide all of the thyroid hormones, nor can they provide any natural cofactors we don’t yet know about that might help with absorption or function). Sometimes small amounts of cortisone are needed as well.

Treatment needs to be under a doctor’s supervision; the trick is finding a doctor who will be willing to consider treating for hypothyroid when the blood tests come back negative. Treatment probably should start off slowly. For instance, I was tested to need 3 grains of desiccated thyroid, but my body wasn’t ready to tolerate that much to start. I began on 2 drops of Lugol’s solution a day, increasing the dose by 2 drops every 4 days until I reached 8 drops. At that point, I added 1/2 grain of desiccated thyroid, upped to 1 grain after a month for another month, then to 1 1/2 grains, then to 2 grains. After nearly 9 months of taking desiccated thyroid, I am still not able to take 3 grains yet. Nevertheless, my energy levels, therefore my ability to do anything, are significantly higher than they were 9 months ago.

Resolution of symptoms takes time. For instance, according to Broda Barnes, M.D., 2 months thyroid treatment is necessary to raise resistance to infectious disease. For long standing skin disorders, he says thyroid treatment should be attempted for at least 6 months before deciding, if symptoms haven’t resolved by then, that a hypothyroid is not involved. In addition, this treatment may need to be lifelong; it is a way to provide a nutritional supplement that is needed by many people, one that will allow affected people to live their lives in greater health.

Before beginning treatment, there are some things you could consider doing to provide support to your thyroid. Lugol’s solution is available OTC (or online). A normal daily dose is 1 or 2 drops in some water half an hour before eating (I gradually worked my way up initially to 8 drops daily and have dropped back gradually til now it’s 5 drops daily). Seaweed is an excellent source of iodine. Eat your sea vegetables! Or get kelp supplements. Also fluoride, bromide and chlorine compete with the iodine needed for thyroid hormone metabolism and can cause poor thyroid function, so give consideration to what’s in the water you drink, or bath or swim in. Eat coconut oil; it is rich in medium chain fatty acids, is beneficial to health, and tends to boost thyroid function. Avoid uncooked foods containing goitrogenic* substances: sweet potato, cabbage, cauliflower, turnips, rutabaga, canola oil, cassava, pine nuts, mustard, millet, soybeans, and peanuts. The levels of the goitrogenic substances are low and are inactivated by cooking. I repeat: avoid soy; soy can depress thyroid function and has been shown to cause goiters. *(tending to produce goiter, i.e. enhancing hypothyroidism)

From www.soulhealer.com/hypothyroidsm.htm: “Gentian is known to normalize the function of the thyroid gland. Radishes have historically been used to treat thyroid problems and have been known to keep the levels of thyroid hormones balanced. Try supplementing with zinc and selenium. Studies indicate that severe zinc or selenium deficiencies can cause decreased thyroid hormone levels.”

www.womentowomen.com/hypothyroidism/alternativetreatments.asp “Healthy thyroid function depends on a range of nutrients, especially selenium, folic acid, and iodine. Consume foods naturally high in B vitamins, such as whole grains**, nuts, and seeds, and iodine (fish, seaweed, vegetables and root vegetables)." ** (from Miranda: read the info below to see why I strongly disagree with this grains suggestion)

www.womentowomen.com/hypothyroidism/alternativetreatments.asp) "Stress in all its forms is another key culprit of thyroid dysfunction. Most of us experience a high degree of the most damaging kind — unremitting stress. It is essential for hypothyroid treatment to identify the stressors you face and learn techniques and activities that can help you reduce your stress."

WHYS AND WHEREFORES
A detective story

Why is there such a high incidence of hypothyroidism? Most of Dr. Plechner’s animal patients suffer from the results of too many years of inappropriate breeding practices, practices of such long standing that even mixed breed pets are at risk; this does not apply to most human patients. However, stress can significantly upset the body’s biochemical balance, leading to a cascade of negative effects. In addition, 70,000 synthetic chemicals were introduced to the environment in the 20th century, 80% of which have never been screened for their effects on humans. Many of these chemicals have been shown to have negative effects on various animals. According to Dr. Mark Starr in his book Hypothyroidism 2, The Epidemic (p.200), “Thyroid metabolism is one of the most frequent targets of synthetic chemicals.”

A recent news article talked about the long term effects of the nuclear testing that our country did from 1951 to 1962. Some scientists calculated that 400,000 American children had died as a result - the government countered, saying it was ‘only’ 4,000. The radioactivity from these nearly 100 aboveground nuclear weapons tests in Nevada and another dozen underground tests which also leaked radioactive materials into atmosphere, was carried by weather patterns to other parts of the country and the world. Settling to earth, it became part of the food chain. According to the EPA website ( www.epa.gov/radiation/radionuclides/iodine.htm#exposure): “People are exposed to I-129 from the past testing of nuclear weapons, and I-131 from nuclear power plant emissions. Some industrial facilities also emit radioactive iodine to the environment, as well as medical institutions.......
Radioactive iodine can enter the body by ingestion or inhalation. It dissolves in water so it moves easily from the atmosphere into humans and other living organisms. For example, I-129 and -131 can settle on grass where cows can eat it and pass it to humans through their milk. It may settle on leafy vegetables and be ingested by humans. Iodine isotopes also concentrate in marine and freshwater fish, which people may then eat.....
When I-129 or I-131 is ingested, some of it concentrates in the thyroid gland. The rest passes from the body in urine....
Low doses can reduce activity of the thyroid gland, lowering hormone production in the gland.” Can it also produce mutations in the gland that make it less functional? I’m not a researcher, so I can only ask that question. Incidentally, if you are taking iodine supplementation, that helps reduce the uptake of the radioactive versions.

As I was pondering the reasons for so much hypothyroidism, I remembered something from other studies I did years ago because of my interest in paleoanthropology. This leads to my theory of why humans are so sickly compared to other species living in their natural environments.

This story begins about 10,000 years ago with the advent of agriculture. The hunter-gatherers of the Late Paleolithic were about 1/2 foot taller than their Neolithic farming descendants. In addition, remains of those Neolithic farmers often showed signs of malnutrition and an increase in infant mortality, a reduction in life span, an increased incidence of infectious diseases, an increase in iron deficiency anemia, an increased incidence of osteomalacia, porotic hyperostosis and other bone mineral disorders and an increase in the number of dental caries and enamel defects. We in the modern world have only recently regained that lost height, though there are indications that the next generation will show a reversal of that upward trend. With what I've recently learned, that reversal makes total sense.

When I first read about this height differential many years ago, the supposition stated was that the more limited food sources, therefore more limited nutrients, that agriculture provided, compared to broader availability of foods for hunter-gatherers, were to blame for the height reduction. Although that probably has relevance, what I'm uncovering in my reading indicates another 'smoking gun.'

Our species has unknowingly been involved in an evolutionary experiment for the last 10 millennia or so.

Growth is determined by thyroid hormones. Insufficient thyroid hormones can cause people to remain short and even sexually underdeveloped; it can also result in people growing excessively tall. It would seem logical when faced with a sudden height difference in our species to look at a possible connection to thyroid function. What could have happened with the introduction of agriculture that would affect the thyroid?

Because of family health, I’d been reading about metabolic syndrome (aka syndrome X). That led me to finding out about leptin, a powerful hormone released by fat tissue (primarily adipocytes) that signals the brain when to eat and when to stop eating (unless of course there is leptin resistance, akin to insulin resistance, and the system is out of whack). It also has other critical functions, such as regulating blood circulation, preventing blood clots, enhancing new bone growth, regulating body temperature and reproduction.

In reading about leptin, I discovered that when leptin levels are inappropriate, a host of conditions, including virtually all of the degenerative diseases, is likely. When leptin levels are appropriate however, the effects are dramatic. The best description of the effects of appropriate leptin levels is to relate the results of 2 lines of studies that have been done for many years, that of animals fed calorie restricted diets that lived much longer and were healthier than their non-restricted peers, and studies made of centenarians to determine what might be the common factor that extended their life spans.

From The Rosedale Diet by Ron Rosedale, MD: "Much of what we know about longevity is derived from studies of humans and animals who have broken the age barrier for their species.......
[such as] ....the exceptional group of people who live to be 100 or more years old, scattered throughout the world......
It would be easy to dismiss longevity merely as a function of the genetic lottery, but we know that this isn't necessarily true. A second and equally rich source of information on longevity has come from the studies of laboratory animals put on calorie-restricted diets. Since the 1930's, dozens of species - microscopic worms, assorted rodents, and more recently, rhesus monkeys,....
have been fed calorie-restricted diets. These animals are fed about one-third fewer calories than normal, but they're not starved; they're given a nutrient enriched diet. These animals virtually always live longer - 30 - 80 percent longer. This would be the equivalent of a human living to be 160 to 200 years old! Not only do they live longer, but they are also healthier, more energetic, and look years younger than noncalorie-restricted animals. These longer-lived animals have nearly identical genes as their peers who died younger. The only discernible difference is their diet.... At first glance, human centenarians would appear to have little in common with calorie-restricted animals. There is no evidence that centenarians followed a particular diet, or even had particularly healthy lifestyles.......
Calorie-restricted animals share a particular metabolic profile - I call it the Longevity Profile - that distinguishes them from their peers who die younger and sicker.....
Centenarians come by the Longevity Profile naturally.” "My patients, even the sickest ones, achieve the Longevity Profile within weeks of following the Rosedale Diet."

Ah, so what is the Rosedale Diet? It’s a diet high in "good fats" (about 50% of calories from good fats such as monosaturated fats such as olive and nut oils and oils providing omega 3’s), plus the right amount of protein, determined by your height/weight. Carbohydrates are the worst foods, promoting ‘sugar burning’ (leading to health problems) instead of ‘fat burning’ (leading to health). Dr. Rosedale’s patients, after a few weeks on the diet, have remarkable improvement of many of the same health problems that hypothyroid produces.

I figured there had to be a leptin-hypothyroid connection. I started to search for articles online about a link between leptin and hypothyroid. There were many, mostly from medical journals.

For instance:

from http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/full/89/10/4821, about a woman who was able to stop her thyroid medication (T4) after leptin therapy was established:
“Thus, it appears that leptin deficiency*** is a cause of reversible subclinical hypothyroidism.” ***(I think saying leptin imbalance might be a better term here, but....)

or from http://joe.endocrinology-journals.org/cgi/content/full/183/1/243:

“....leptin is an important neuroendocrine regulator, including regulation of the hypothalamus–pituitary–thyroid axis........ The present study shows that leptin action on TSH [thyroid stimulating hormone] secretion is modulated by thyroid function. In hypothyroidism the acute stimulatory effect of leptin on TSH release, previously reported in euthyroidism [normal thyroid function] (Ortiga-Carvalho et al. 2002) could not be observed.”

Bingo! A connection between hypothyroidism and leptin. And leptin levels can be maintained at appropriate levels with diet. The leptin controlling diet is one with low carbohydrate intake (and no intake of refined carbs). It’s high in good fats, with Omega 3 and Omega-6 fatty acids in balance 1:1, instead of the modern diet which is heavy on Omega-6’s, 12:1 to 20:1. There’s a substantial amount of protein (I think for me, at 165 pounds, 65 grams of protein are recommended. Perspective: 1 chicken breast: 27 grams; 4 ounces hamburger: 25 grams; 2.5 ounce sirloin steak: 22 grams; 1 egg: 8 grams).

Let’s go back in time again to our Paleolithic, pre-agriculture ancestors and take a look at what their diet was. According to Loren Cordain, Ph.D., a professor of exercise physiology at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, Colorado, and widely acknowledged as a leading expert on the diet of our Paleolithic ancestors (from www.beyondveg.com/cordain-l/metab-carn/metabolic-carnivory-1a.shtml), “The most frequently occurring (mode) plant/animal subsistence ratio for worldwide hunter-gatherers is 16-25% plant/75-84% animal...”
Our human menu for more than 2 million years was lean game meat**** supplemented by fresh fruits and vegetables. From an interview, available online, with Professor Cordain ( http://chetday.com/cordaininterview.htm) “Both the fossil record and ethnological studies of hunter-gatherers (the closest surrogates we have to stone age humans) indicate that humans rarely if ever ate cereal grains nor did they eat diets high in carbohydrates.” 70% of the food eaten today was not eaten at all or only in very small amounts by our Paleolithic ancestors.
**** (that lean game meat assumption is challenged by information gathered in an article, “Caveman Cuisine,” by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig, authors of books and articles on health and diet, and president and vice-president of the Weston A. Price Foundation www.westonaprice.org/ : “Present-day hunter-gatherers, as well as those of the ancient past, possess greater dietary wisdom than the majority of our modern Ph.D.'s. They understood that a diet of lean meat, lacking in fat, was the surest route to weakness, disease and death. Steffanson, who studied the Eskimos and Indians of the far north, reports that when lean caribou was the only meat available, anxiety set in. These natives knew that a month or more on such meat, without the addition of marine animals or fatty fish, would make them sick and prone to disease.“

According to a March 1996 British Archeology article online at www.britarch.ac.uk/BA/ba12/ba12feat.html, Neolithic farmers in Britain were practicing animal husbandry, and weren’t eating much, if any, grain. Their diets, determined based on bone isotopes, were primarily animal based and likely included dairy as well as meat. The bone isotopes of remains from those Neolithic sites “were as high, and sometimes even higher, than stable isotope values of carnivores.”

Professor Cordain goes on (at www.beyondveg.com/cordain-l/metab-carn/metabolic-carnivory-1a.shtml) to compare our digestive system to that of cats and apes. Unlike our closest primate relatives, who must maintain large and metabolically active guts to process the fibrous plant foods which compose over 93% or more of their diets, the human gut is much smaller and less metabolically active. “In addition, ...there are other metabolic and biochemical clues which point to increased utilization of animal food by humans over our evolutionary history.”

Cats are obligate carnivores, meaning they must eat meat. There are necessary nutrients that they cannot manufacture in their bodies, nutrients that are only available to them by eating meat. Cordain makes several comparisons of similarity between our gut and those of cats, and says “...humans, like cats, have consumed vitamin A-rich animal food sources for eons and are in a transitional state from omnivory to obligate carnivory.”

Those Neolithic farmers (outside of Britain) were growing grains and legumes as major crops. But even our primate relatives do not have a gut with the enzyme systems required to derive energy from the specific types of fiber which predominate in grain. We have to heavily process the grain in order for it to be edible by us at all (threshing, grinding, cooking, etc.). Again from an interview with Cordain (at http://chetday.com/cordaininterview.htm), “The high phytate content of whole grain cereals can impair mineral metabolism i.e. iron, calcium, and other anti-nutrients have the potential to interact with the gastrointestinal tract and perhaps the immune system as well.” He describes many other problems with humans utilizing grain and legumes as a food source in more detail than you likely want to hear. But it becomes abundantly clear that neither of the food sources are true foods for humans.

We can eat grains and legumes, some of us more easily than others, but considering the human genome hasn’t changed much in the past 40,000 years, when behaviorally modern humans appeared, “our nutritional requirements remain almost identical to those requirements which were originally selected for stone age humans living before the advent of agriculture.” (ibid.) In addition, most of those grains now consumed are so refined, they bear little resemblance to those first grown 10,000 years ago. We can eat the grains, they allowed us to live in densely populated cities and create our current civilization by providing an easily stored ‘food,’ but we are paying for all that by increasing our health problems.

I suspect hypothyroidism appeared as a chronic problem in humans with the advent of agriculture.

I suspect that the increase in hypothyroidism in succeeding generations might be due to mutations caused by exposure to radioactive iodine, and/or it could be due to just how incredibly grain/carbohydrate based our diet has become, especially in recent decades, and certainly not helped by the large amounts of refined sugar present in the diet (more anti-nutrient carbs).

Humans, who are biologically in a transitory position between being omnivores and obligate carnivores, are eating primarily foods they were never meant to eat. We may eventually evolve to be able to be more like herbivores, but there will be much human suffering along the way. In the 10,000 years since grain became a major part of our diet, there has been a very small change genetically. Are you still willing to be part of that genetic experiment? If so, it’s even more important that you consider the information in this article, so that you can provide necessarily supplementation to offset the damage and allow you to live in vibrant health.

RESOURCES:

If you want to know more, check out any or all of these resources. If you come across any others, please let me know. Ancora Imparo!

Books:

Hypothyroidism, Type 2, The Epidemic by Mark Starr, M.D. (www.starrpainclinic.com)

Hypothyroidism: The Unexpected Illness by Broda O. Barnes, M.D. and Lawrence Galton ( www.brodabarnes.org)

The Rosedale Diet by Ron Rosedale,. M.D.

Mastering Leptin by Byron J. Richards, CCN with Mary Guignon Richards

Websites:

www.starrpainclinic.com

www.type2hypothyroidism.com

www.brodabarnes.org

www.drplechner.com (protocols link)

www.beyondveg.com

www.beyondveg.com/cordain-l/metab-carn/metabolic-carnivory-1a.shtml

http://chetday.com/cordaininterview.htm

www.westonaprice.org/

Miranda Paymer
2006 - 2007