Dr. Westin Childs Podcast: Thyroid | Weight Loss | Hormones

Want an easy way to reduce your risk of developing all autoimmune diseases by up to 22%? One study of over 25,000 people showed that you could do this with just the use of two supplements taken every day: Fish oil and vitamin D. Link to study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8791065/ Here are some takeaways from the study so that you can easily apply this information to your life and get the benefits: 1. The reduction in autoimmune disease is probably higher than 22%. This is because the researchers could only include people with official autoimmune diagnoses and not probable autoimmune diseases. 2. The benefit from these treatments applies to ALL autoimmune diseases, not just thyroid autoimmune diseases. 3. The longer you take these supplements, the bigger the benefit. The researchers found that the benefit of taking vitamin D was significantly higher after it was already taken for 2 years. 4. Even if you already have an autoimmune disease, there’s still good reason to take vitamin D

Not having enough vitamin D increases your risk of developing unwanted symptoms like depression, fatigue, and muscle weakness but it also increases your risk of developing more serious consequences like diabetes, weight gain, and cancer. For these reasons, you should take your vitamin D level very seriously. But the question is: how can you rapidly increase your vitamin D to prevent these issues? I’m glad you asked because you have 3 options that work VERY well: Method #1. is the sunlight method. This method is by far the most natural and the one that you should aim for if at all possible. It works by harnessing the power of the sun which helps to convert and activate vitamin D in the skin and body. Watch the video to make sure you are using the correctly! Method #2. is the supplement method. Because not everyone will be able to get all of the necessary vitamin D that they need from the sun, we have to talk about supplements. If you are using supplements then you’ll want to make sure to use vitamin D3

It’s never normal to have elevated antibodies to portions of your thyroid gland floating around in your blood. The presence of these antibodies indicates that your own body may be trying to attack and destroy your thyroid gland and they are the hallmark of thyroid autoimmune diseases like Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and Graves’ disease. And, unfortunately, conventional medicine doesn’t have very many great treatment options for lowering these antibodies. But that isn’t a problem because it turns out that there are some great natural supplements that have been proven to help. These supplements fall into two groups: Those proven in studies to be beneficial: 1. Nigella sativa 2. Selenium 3. Inositol 4. Iodine reduction And those shown to be effective based on anecdotal experience and based on known physiologic action: 1. Vitamin D 2. Fish oil 3. Magnesium Want more help reducing your thyroid antibodies? Check out this video: https://youtu.be/lrjOCPG5Yic?si=8lZ0WKgG_HwLWsQ9 Download my free thyroid re

Want an easy way to naturally increase how well your thyroid is working by up to 20%? There’s a simple way to do it: by treating your gut. Your gut and thyroid are connected in several ways and if there’s a problem with one, you can guarantee there will be a problem with the other. There’s no scientific study to back my claim that treating your gut can increase thyroid function by up to 20%, but based on my understanding of thyroid physiology, I think it’s possible for most people. Here’s why: 1. Estimates suggest that 20% of circulating T4 is converted into T3 in your gut. 2. Healthy bacteria can bind and hold onto thyroid hormones allowing for recycling of these hormones instead of elimination in the stool. 3. Your gut is the site of the absorption of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients from both the food that you eat and the supplements that you take. Your thyroid needs these nutrients to function optimally. 4. It’s the site where your thyroid medication is absorbed. 5. 70% of immune cells live t

Berberine is one of the most powerful weight loss supplements out there because it acts on some of the most fundamental issues that precipitate weight gain. What makes it ideal is that it has a broad range of benefits, is well-tolerated, and can be used in conjunction with other weight loss supplements and medications. Here’s how it can help you lose weight: 1. By improving insulin sensitivity. Berberine has been shown in at least 1 study to have an equal impact on blood sugar as the prescription medication metformin. 2. By increasing the density of mitochondria in your muscle cells. Increasing muscle function is critical to burning more calories. 3. By activating brown fat tissue. Brown fat tissue helps regulate your heat production and metabolism and berberine can help you brown white fat. 4. By reducing inflammation. Reducing inflammation helps balance fat-storing hormones like leptin. 5. By improving gut health. There is a connection between gut health and your ability to stay lean and berberine

Not drinking enough water? You may want to rethink that decision because dehydration has a negative impact on your thyroid! Not only is about 60% of your body made of water (making it essential for just about every cell and function), but your body also needs water to maintain the concentration of proteins in the bloodstream. States of dehydration cause changes to the functions of these proteins which can then impact your hormones (including your thyroid). Here are 3 ways that dehydration can negatively impact your thyroid: 1. Dehydration impacts thyroid hormone delivery. When you are dehydrated, your body will shunt blood flow to the tissues that need it most. This means that thyroid hormone will not be carried evenly to all of your tissues (especially those farthest from your heart). 2. Dehydration impacts thyroid hormone-binding proteins. Dehydration impacts the concentration of proteins that bind to and inactive thyroid hormone. This means that you will have less active thyroid hormone availab

If you’re suffering from hair loss then there’s a high probability you’ve looked into hair supplements. But before you go out and purchase one, there’s something you need to know: there’s a secret ingredient that all of the best hair supplements contain and I’m going to share it with your right now. What’s the ingredient? It’s silicon. What’s crazy is that this ingredient has been under your nose for a long time without you even realizing it because it’s often hidden as a different name among other ingredients. But give me a few minutes and I’ll explain why silicon is the PRIMARY ingredient found in the best hair supplements. Silicon is a trace element which means your body only needs small amounts of it and it’s because of this that it often gets overlooked. A true deficiency in silicon is quite rare but it’s not uncommon to not get enough. And low levels can and definitely do impact your hair, skin, and nails. Popular supplements like nutrafol and viviscal, which are used by thousands of people ever

If you are interested in losing weight or simply maintaining weight then you need to pay close attention to your basal metabolic rate. This rate controls how many calories you burn at rest and it’s the most important factor when it comes to your weight. The question is, can you do anything to augment your basal metabolic rate to improve how many calories you burn at rest? And the answer to that question is yes. This is because your thyroid is primarily responsible for controlling BMR. It’s estimated that up to 40 to 60% of your caloric burn is regulated in part by your thyroid. And there are things you can do to improve your thyroid function to increase how many calories you are burning at baseline. One of those things is by taking thyroid hormones, especially t2 thyroid hormone. Emerging research is showing that T2 thyroid hormone is one of the thyroid hormones in your body that is primarily responsible for regulating your metabolism. And it just so happens that T2 is the only thyroid hormone t

Exercise is probably one of the best treatments for your thyroid that you aren’t taking advantage of. Don’t believe me? Here are just some of the benefits: 1. Higher free thyroid hormone levels. 2. Lower TSH level. 3. Faster weight loss. 4. Increased muscle mass and better muscle health overall. 5. Improved mood. 6. More consistent bowel movements. 7. Reduced inflammation. If you wanted to take advantage of a treatment that can help you almost as much as a thyroid medication (without the need for a prescription) then exercise is something you simply can’t ignore. But how can you exercise for your thyroid? And if you do, how do you know which exercises are best? Exercising with a thyroid condition is difficult, but not impossible. Symptoms like fatigue, and muscle pain, which can stem from low thyroid function, can limit your ability to exercise but the good news is that exercising can actually help alleviate these symptoms. If you are going to exercise, the best combination of exercises includ

Selenium may be one of the best and easiest ways to reduce thyroid antibodies if you have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis or Graves’ disease. Selenium is a trace mineral that is necessary for the function of certain enzymes and proteins. One of the functions of selenium is to create glutathione which acts to protect the thyroid gland from oxidative stress. When selenium is low, your thyroid gland is open to damage just from creating thyroid hormones. Taking selenium has been shown in several studies to help lower thyroid antibodies and even balance thyroid hormone levels like free t3 and free T4. There is some conflicting information, though, regarding selenium supplementation as not all studies suggest that it’s effective. The reason for this is probably because selenium supplementation works best for those people who need it and who are deficient. Should you take selenium as a thyroid patient? I think so because the benefits far outweigh the potential negative side effects and, even if it doesn’t help

Taking the right supplements has the potential to dramatically improve your thyroid and either help it work better or prevent future problems from occurring. Whether you’re trying to optimize your thyroid function because you have an existing problem like hypothyroidism or because you just want to prevent a future thyroid problem from occurring, these are, in my opinion, the 5 best supplements to take for your thyroid EVERY day: 1. A daily multivitamin. A multivitamin because your thyroid is incredibly active and chews through a lot of nutrients. The most important include zinc, selenium, vitamin A, iodine, and vitamin B12. A deficiency in any of these may impair thyroid function. 2. Protein powder. Protein powder makes the list because it’s one of my all-around favorite supplements for one reason: it helps you stay on track with your diet. In addition, there’s also a connection between your muscle mass and thyroid function. 3. Omega 3 fatty acids. Fatty acids help to lower inflammation which helps ensu

Yes, you’ve been lied to: brazil nuts are not the source of selenium that you’ve been led to believe! Yes, they are definitely the single best food source of selenium out there, but they have a few dirty little secrets that you should know about BEFORE you start eating them. These secrets are so impactful on their overall benefit that I think it often makes more sense to supplement with selenium as opposed to getting it from brazil nuts. Here’s why: The selenium content in brazil nuts varies dramatically from nut to nut. Some studies suggest that it’s as high as 6 mcg per nut all the way as high as 154 mcg per nut. The second reason has to do with selenium toxicity. It’s easier than you might think to accidentally take too much and when you couple this with the variability in dosing, you’re very likely to get much more or much less than you think. The third has to do with the potential increased risk that taking too much selenium can have on diabetes risk. The bottom line? Think twice about using

Your thyroid gland is the most important endocrine gland in your body (yes, I said it!) because it controls and regulates just about every cell in your body as well as just about every hormone in your body. It also happens to be sensitive to inflammation and if this happens, you will feel it. These are the most common signs of thyroid gland inflammation: 1. Fluctuating thyroid hormone levels. 2. Feeling run down. 3. Joint pain and muscle pain. 4. Allergies or reactions to foods. 5. Skin problems. 6. Symptoms of other autoimmune diseases. Because thyroid gland inflammation is never normal, you should always get it checked out. The most common cause of thyroid gland inflammation is the autoimmune disease Hashimoto’s. If you feel you have inflammation make sure to get tested for this condition and make sure you take steps to reduce inflammation as quickly as possible! You can do this with natural therapies, changing your diet, and taking the right supplements. #thyroid #thyroidawareness #hypoth

Using the right supplements has the potential to help you manage your thyroid symptoms and support your thyroid. Using the wrong supplements can do the exact opposite. In fact, using the right supplements is even worse because not only will they not help you feel better, but you’re also wasting money. This video outlines some of the WORST supplements and WORST formulations that thyroid patients can take. If you are looking to improve thyroid function and better manage your symptoms then you’ll want to avoid these supplements and ingredients: 1. Magnesium oxide. 2. Zinc oxide. 3. High-dose iodine. 4. Cyanocobalamin. 5. Vitamin D2. Instead of using these formulations, you will want to opt for magnesium glycinate, zinc glycinate, low-dose iodine, methylcobalamin, and vitamin D3. #thyroid #hypothyroidism #thyroidsupport #thyroidawareness #hashimoto #supplements Download my free thyroid resources here (including hypothyroid symptoms checklist, the complete list of thyroid lab tests + optimal rang

Wait, aren’t fruits harmful because they contain sugar?! Not by a long shot. Fruits are not only healthy for your entire body, they can also help support your thyroid gland. If you are someone with thyroid disease, or if you are just looking to support your thyroid to keep it healthy, this information is for you. Fruits work to help your overall health by providing a natural source of fiber, phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals, and polyphenols. These ingredients help your body fight of inflammation, protect your cells, help with weight loss, and so much more. When it comes to your thyroid, a few fruits stand above others. These include: 1. Blueberries. Packed full of nutrients, blueberries clock in at 85 calories per serving. These are low carb and have some of the best health benefits of any fruit. 2. Goji berries. Goji berries act as both a fruit and an adaptogen which means they can help with adrenal fatigue, vitality, and cortisol imbalance. 3. Avocados. This fruit is high in healthy fats w

Magnesium is incredibly important for cellular health as it is involved in over 300 different enzymatic reactions. When magnesium levels are low, you WILL feel it. This leads a lot of people to use supplements to replace low magnesium levels. But here’s the problem: When you go looking for magnesium supplements you will be met with a huge array of different types. And these types and formulations of magnesium are NOT all created equal. Let’s talk about the best types of magnesium so you can replace lost levels and manage symptoms like fatigue, insomnia, stress, anxiety, depression, and more. 1. Magnesium oxide. This is the cheapest and least effective form and should be avoided! 2. Magnesium citrate. This form is great for treating constipation. 3. Magnesium malate. This is a stimulating form of magnesium great for those with fatigue (don’t take it at night!). 4. Magnesium l-threonate. This form of magnesium crosses the blood-brain barrier and is ideal for treating conditions like depression. 5.

GLP-1 agonists are a class of medications that everyone is talking about right now because of their beneficial effects on weight loss. And while they are effective at helping with weight loss, there have been multiple studies that suggest that there is a link between their use and the new onset of thyroid cancer. Let’s talk about this connection in more detail to see if it is something you should actually worry about. First off, where does this information come from? Studies like this one (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36356111/) suggest that there is indeed a real risk of thyroid cancer with long term use of GLP-1 agonists in diabetes. This study showed that there were about 2,500 new cases of thyroid cancer in a sample size of over 3.7 million. The incidence of thyroid cancer in these patients was small but still real. It’s important to note here that correlation does not equal causation but this is just adding to the pile of studies that suggest a link between these medications and thyroid cancer s

Is your thyroid contributing to an overall look of fatigue or tiredness on your face? If so, you aren’t alone. And today I’m going to teach you how to get rid of this look so you that you can wake up feeling and looking refreshed. The stereotypical thyroid tired look comes from a variety of things including the impact that thyroid function can have on your face and eyes. Due to changes in your sleep and even changes in your facial shape from swelling, your thyroid can make you look chronically tired. The good news is that it doesn’t have to last forever and there are things you can do to fix it right up. Step 1. Get more sleep! Here are 3 tips to help you get more sleep: - Tape your mouth shut. - Set a bed time and protect it. - Allow your body to wake up naturally and get out of bed immediately upon waking up. - Step 4 (treat your thyroid but more on this later). Getting more sleep is ALWAYS important if you don’t want to look tired. Step 2. Do facial yoga. Facial yoga targets the muscles of facial

I probably don’t need to convince you that not all thyroid medications are created equal. If you’ve been a thyroid patient for any length of time then you know that there are some thyroid medications that just seem to work better than others. The question is why? There are several reasons for this but one of the main reasons has to do with the inactive ingredients. Every single thyroid medication contains similar active ingredients but they differ dramatically in their inactive ingredients. And it is these inactive ingredients that can cause a lot of issues for patients. Here are the BEST and CLEANEST thyroid medications on the market by thyroid medication class: The cleanest T4-only thyroid medications: Tirosint Tirosint-sol The cleanest T3-only thyroid medications: Sustained release T3 (SR T3) The cleanest NDT thyroid medications: NP Thyroid by a slight margin (WP thyroid be the best if it were available) #thyroidmedication #thyroidmedicine #levothyroxine #thyroidawareness #thyroidproblems #hypoth

Berberine is one of my favorite supplements out there and has been for several years. The reason is simple: berberine helps treat the biggest and most important conditions that people face including weight gain, insulin resistance, and gut dysfunction. It’s not only healthy for people who are already healthy, but it’s also amazing for people who want to stay healthy! You can use it to assist with weight loss, balance your blood sugar, build more muscle mass, or just optimize your physique. Let’s talk about the benefits of berberine and why you can make a strong case to use it. Many of the benefits we are going to be discussing today stem from Berberine’s ability to increase something called AMPK or AMP kinase. This is the same enzyme that is increased when you exercise. So when you think about the benefits, think about berberine as a tiny bottle of exercise. It doesn’t replace exercise but it’s helpful to wrap your head around how it’s working. Activating AMPK increases fat burning potential, mitochondr