Gluten Free diet and thyroid problems/hashimotos disease.

Hey guys,

I was just wondering if anyone here has thyroid issues and has tried a gluten free diet? 

I've been diagnosed with hashimotos disease and was doing some reading around it when I came across a lot of research that indicates a gluten free diet can help your thyroid, particularly with hashimotos. I've been trying to be gluten free for about 2 months now (although I have fallen off the bandwagon a couple of times), and have noticed my energy has increased and my weight dropped.

However, I also have noticed that since trying to be gf, when I eat things like "normal" bread, I get a really upset stomach and my energy plummets. Does anyone know if I've inadvertently made myself gluten intolerant? Or could it be my body just isn't used to gluten now? Man, it's really hard to be gf as it requires a lot of planning and forethought around eating, which I am really slack at doing :/ although I don't miss fast food :)

Any advice  would be awesome!

I'm also on a gluten free diet due to my thyroid and other medical issues. 

I've been GF and dairy free for about 7 months and when I have a slip up, I can feel it straight away.  My body doesn't know how to process gluten or dairy anymore so I would probably say that yes, it's because you're not ingesting it like you used to, your body treats it like a bad bug and tries to get rid of it.

But that's a good sign though, you're obviously getting better on a GF diet, that's great.

And I found the same, what food I could eat became quite limited but I actually cook a lot more at home now.  And there are some really delicious recipies flying around using coconut and almond flour, so if you want some good recipies whether it's for dinner or baking or whatever, I've got some great ones I'm happy to share :)

I hope this helps!

i am gluten retarded and have been for five years now. So I am not on the gluten free diet by choice but I can pass some information from my allergy doc who says you should not remove gluten completely from your diet unless you are supposed to or you will make yourself intolerant to it. 

Now I'm not a dr so I think it's best you get tested etc but in the meantime try introduce gluten back slowly in small amounts so your body gets used to it and doesn't think it's a toxin. White bread is the worse (kind of like the cryptonite of gluten) try other things that don't upset you as much perhaps cereal? Any small amount once a day should do the trick.

but I would talk to your doctor in case it is something more! And if you do have to go completely gf message me I have sooooo many tips and recipes I'm happy to share.

i hope this was somewhat helpful x

My mum has Hashimotos, and found that going gluten free had a big impact on her symptoms. But yes, if you stop having gluten and then start again, your body can have a bit of a shock. Talk to your doctor about it.

Thank you guys for all of this info. I've decided to go and see my doc and ask his advice (which I probably should have done in the first place). I definitely think it is helping as my symptoms aren't so bad when I am gf but I think I should probably get some medical advice either way.

as for recipes, I've found HEAPS online and am a little obsessed with gf falafels... :p

I watched a webinar from Clinicians the other night which spoke about Hashimotos disease and had a nutricianist discussing what to do etc so you could go onto the Clinicians website and find out.  You can also email questions to their nutritionists etc and they will get back to you fairly quickly.  Good luck. :)

Yep, I have congenital Hypothyroidism (nothing to do with genitals lol) and I was born without a thyroid and have to take thyroxine.  My dosage goes up and down all the time and so does my weight.  I had tried heaps of things to help me lose the weight and be healthy and it didn't help when I had my 3 children either, the weight just kept going on.  A guy at hubbies work came in one day and hubby didn't recognise him because he'd literally lost half of his weight, hubby asked him what he did and he said he was using Bodytrim system.  Not sure if anyone on here have heard of it, its an aussie programme by a guy called Geoff Jowett.  Anyway, short story is that I started using it and have to date, lost 18kgs on it.  The reason it worked for me is that you basically cut out carbs (the bad carb that is, not the good ones like vegies) i.e. pasta, rice, all those types of things with heaps of sugar in them.  The reason it works so well with my thyroid problem is because a specialist had told me that my body didn't like anything processed with lots of sugar and salt in them and needed to avoid certain food groups.  She was right.  You can check it out at www.bodytrim.com.au if interested. I'm in no way affliated with it (think thats the word lol) but have personally used it and received excellent results.  You can also join support groups on facebook and they are amazing.  You just eat normal food minus all the junk food.  Hope that helps somehow :-)

Oh my goodness! This thread is such a gem and full of such wonderful ideas. I was just talking about gluten and the effects it has on the body with a lady who has studied nutrition for 15 years. She said that the first thing to get your health on track is to remove ALL gluten from your diet. In fact I went out and bought gluten free bread this evening and am having gf sandwiches tomorrow. I have read a heap of info about the effects of processed food on the body and the research is so staggering. I didn't realise that going gf can help the thyroid - thank you very much for sharing this info!! I would love to hear how you all get on with being gf :-)

I have Graves disease (includes hyperthyroidism). I don't think I have gluten intolerance because I can take or leave bread and other processed stuff without issue, but have recently developed a strange allergy to sugar. I can't eat anything containing sugar near the end of the day or I wake up in the night with the most horrific migraines you can imagine. They spread right throughout the next day and there is no way of getting rid of them. It is extremely frustrating trying to research diet with thyroid issues as every view conflicts with the one before it. I've come to the conclusion that Graves 'attacks' when I'm under stress ( then steals my clear mind, memory and energy) and lays dormant when all is well. It really has wrecked my life and there's no cure for it. I've tried all sorts of diets and nothing, except banning sugar in the evenings (it's fine during the day if not in excess), has made the slightest difference, so it's a case of following the lead of your own body firstly, and secondly eating what we all know are the best foods for everyone. That's how I see it at the moment anyway!