Holistic Approach To Health

with Juledor Corneille

You might be one of those women out there who've tried all the diet products around, and yet nothing has worked.

You've starved yourself and exercised every day and nothing has happened. If you're one of those people, then you need to read further.

Truth be told, if you've tried all of these things and nothing has worked, then maybe you need to look in another direction.

Have you given any thought to the fact that your problem may not be your diet or your exercise program? The problem may be with your thyroid.

A slow heart beat, cold hands and feet, depression, fatigue, fertility problems, hair loss, recurrent infection are all signs that you might be one of many women with under active thyroid problems.

Simply called, hypothyroidism.

Iodine is one of the nutrients that the thyroid needs to function properly and we can get this nutrient from fish, iodized salt, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower and seaweed.

If you lack zinc you might be more susceptible to hypothyroidism.

Studies have shown that people who live near the sea have low rates of hypothyroidism.

While all studies on this are not conclusive, it is believed these people have a less chance of developing this disease simply because of the consumption of bladder wrack, a plant-like substance, which is high in iodine.

This supplement has been used to fight against obesity in that it helps the thyroid to function properly.

Bladder wrack is sometimes called kelp.

People with hypothyroidism have been shown to have an impaired ability to convert beta-carotene to vitamin A.

L-Tyrosine is a mild appetite suppressant and also an anti-depressant, but where does this fit in the problem of hypothyroidism? Well, most depressed people tend to eat a lot.

And for people with thyroid problems, excessive eating makes matters worse.

Depression is one of the symptoms of under active thyroid. As a matter of fact, hypo means under, by the way.

One of the other ways you can find out if you have hypothyroidism (or HT, as it is sometimes called) is by taking your body temperature while in bed.

When doing this, remember to stay motionless. If your temperature reads 97.6 or lower for more than five days, then you would want to check with your physician for consultation as to whether you would be better off with medication or some nutritional supplement.

The problem is best dealt with if detected early.

As usual, a good multi-vitamin, with high doses of B-Complex, extra vitamin E (400IU), extra vitamin C (500mg four times a day) and vitamin D should go a long way in helping to deal with HT.

You would want to drink distilled water, instead of regular bottled water.

Lithium is a drug that is used to treat manic depression, but it can cause the thyroid to malfunction.

So for a lot of you out there, who have gone down the diet route and have gotten no results, the problem might be that little gland in your neck, called the thyroid.

It may be all out of whack and not functioning as it should.

You see the thyroid is the gland that determines how much calories you burn each and every day.

This means that you can go to the gym and work out for three hours, but if your thyroid is out of whack, you will burn no calories. I know that's hard to believe, but trust me, it can happen.

Ninety percent of the people with thyroid diseases are women, but a small percentage are men.

On the flip side, there are people who have what we call a fast metabolism, because their thyroid is over active, giving them the name hyper (meaning fast) active thyroid.

This is one of the reasons why some people, like I say, have problems when it comes to losing weight.

Have you ever heard this expression "when I was younger I could loose 10 or 15 pounds easy"?

But the truth is we are all getting older each day and that is when most people find themselves suffering from this problem with their thyroid and rapid weight gains. They're reaping the results of years of bad habits. So, if you find that you've been doing everything "in the book" to lose weight and it seems like nothing has been working, then perhaps you need to go to your doctor and have him/her check out your thyroid to see if there are any abnormalties there. There are procedures that can be done to deal with the problem if that is the case. I know that may seem like an extreme measure, but if overweight is causing you health and medical problems, it is certainly worth going to the extreme to take care of the problem.