And as we grow up, we might have felt the struggles that anxiety brings up to the body.
Overall, the general symptoms are feeling nervous, sense of fear and danger, increase heart rate, chest pressure, tremblings, and some other senses of worries.
As I remember one anxiety attack that I had, was after a simple sushi night where I drank a couple glasses of Iced Tea.
One hour after I started to feel the previously mentioned symptoms of Anxiety and it did felt horrible, in the body and in the mind.
I was took to an hospital where I was checked up, and of course, all my vital signs were normal, so I was just injected with some tranquilizer.
Of course, as a fast answer, it probably was the sugar of the Iced Tea, but at that extreme with my personal drama that “I felt I was dying”.
Actually, my constant trips with some doctors where because “I just don’t feel right”, and this is a common thing that happen in autoimmune diseases.
When I went those times with the doctors, I used to check up my general blood test labs, and did also some chardio tests, and I was perfectly fine, but from where did all these feelings were caming from.
As one is young, one doesn’t have a clue of the gut-brain connection, and how also autoimmune diseases are mainly a sign of a gut imbalance.
We all know the importance of a healthy diet, but honestly, myself, I was not really aware that even there could be some food sensitivites that can cause different symptoms, even if those foods were apparently a healthy option.
And after several years, I got to know that all those symptoms that I had were actually a reaction to foods, as well as the anxiety, and if I could have set aside Gluten since years, but we only learn after we walk the path.
Since the recent lifestyle and diet changes that I have made for myself, I have become a huge advocate of the brain-gut connection and how important it is to find the foods that are causing inflamations in our body.
For people with Hashimoto, is pretty straight forward to eliminate Gluten from our diets, since it contains Gliadin, a protein that is similar to the Thryoid tissue, and a confused immune system will eliminate the gliadin if it is filtered to the bloodstream, and also will attack the thyroid.
Gluten will also have an impact on the brain, and it must be eliminated from your diet if you are presenting anxiety.
When I started my personalized diet thanks to the food sensitivities test that I did, it was more helpful than guessing out which foods should I eat.
Most people will say “X” or “Y” food will be bad for Anxiety and Hashimoto, but as I think, each of us is unique, and what affects me, might not affect you.
Therefore, before continuing on some other foods to avoid, first I do recommend if its in your possibilities to do an allergy food test or food sensitivities test, or a test that shows if you have any autoimmune reaction.
This way you can have a personalized list of foods that are good and bad for you.
You can check out my personal list at the end of the post.
Some other foods to avoid according to the book This is your Brain on Food are the following.
Taking care of the gut is an important aspect to follow.
Probiotics such as Kefir and Yogurt are gut supporters.
Consult also your doctor for Glutamine containing foods or suplements that you can take, because it helps to regenerate the gut lining.
Selenium is an important mineral that supports your thyroid, therefore Brazilian nuts are a good natural source of selenium.
Dr. Uma Naidoo recommends Turmeric as a spice to use in foods due to its antiinflamatory properties and more.
Although it is not food, taking sun baths and improving your Vitamin D is also crucial for mental health.
Remember that what we are aiming is to reduce the gut and brain inflamation.
I personally have a natural juices and smoothies schedule that I love to drink every morning to help me on my healing Hashimoto journey.
I take green juices (spinach, green grapes, kiwi, celery, spirulina, green apple, water), berries smoothies (strawberry, blueberry, blackberry and raspberry, low fat milk or coconut milk) and banana with organic cocoa, cinammon powder, walnuts, peacans and coconut milk.
Yes, there is a connection.
One of my health problems, the thyroid nodule, I also believe that I have this problem due to my emotions.
I have not been a very expresive person and it certainly had affected me in the long term with my thyroid problem and mental health.
As I keep walking my Hashimoto healing journey, I trust more nature and spirituality, than just being fully science believer.
Body, Mind and Spirit are connected and if we don’t see it as a full, there might be aspects that won’t heal, even if we are doing everything right as the doctor said.
Therefore, that anxiety probably has a profound spiritual meaning inside yourself.
I am as well on my path on learning more about spirituality, and I won’t discard this topic just because it is not a “medical or scientific proof”.
Some recommendations are to sing or to journal.
Therefore, also this blog has helped me to document my Hashimoto healing journey, even if my website is more Marketing and Entrepreneurship oriented, but if it does help someone my experience, than I would be more than pleased.
But certainly, really learning how to express myself and don’t keep negative and positive emotions inside me are a thing to work on.
And probably here is another of the most important tests to do if you have Hashimoto Thyroiditis.
The thing is that in general this test might be quite expensive.
So if going to a lab to test for Food Sensitivities and see which foods create anitbodies reaction is not an option by the moment, then you can start by creating an elimination diet.
I did this test in Germany, but my doctor here in Mexico was also going to ask for the Food Sensitivities test.
Overall, it is recommended to leave out Gluten, Dairy and Egg, but every person is different and unique, and what might have a reaction on me, might not be the same for you, so listen to your body.
In my case, Casein, a protein found in Dairy, was not on my reactions list, plus having a glass of low fat milk for me is not a problem.
Here I share with you the list of foods that I reacted for antibodies.
Group 1 is food that I can eat daily. Group 2 is food that I could intercalate. Group 3 is food with moderate antibody reaction. Group 4 is food with high antibody reaction.
To close up, most of the autoimmune diseases have their root causes that are the ones that show up the symptoms.
If we are able to discover what is affecting us on a deeper level, we will be able to also reduce any issue such as anxiety.
As mentioned, I am more now on the nature side than medical side, and I don’t believe that the use of anti-depressants and anxiolytics are a true answer to really heal from the root.
I do think conventional medicine will help as band-aids, until the root causes are discovered, but they are not the solution.
So take your time to heal, just as me I am taking my time in this journey were there have been ups and downs, but I do feel a lot better since I started a healing work with a functional medicine doctor.
I am taking care of nutritional defficiencies, supporting my body with foods and suplements, and a low dose of levothyroxine Karet, a mexican brand, that for me has been better than taking the brand Eutirox.
What works for me probably will or will not work exactly for you, that is why it is important that you work closely with a good doctor to create your healing journey.
