Walking or Running: Which is BETTER for Hypothyroidism Treatment?

Take Your Life Back and Stop Hypothyroidism Naturally at the Source

When it comes to exercise, there’s a lot that we don’t understand when this applies to hypothyroidism treatment.

While everyone is led to believe that exercise is something that is always beneficial for our health and hypothyroidism treatment, if you suffer from hypothyroidism, then exercise can quickly become dangerous and pose a serious risk to your thyroid and health.

This has become a very serious problem because so many hypothyroidism sufferers are incorrectly and dangerously using exercise as a means of trying to control their weight.

You can’t blame yourself though because everyone, even your doctor who is supposed to actually know what is best for your health, tells you that you need to exercise to lose weight and get healthy.

But, when nobody stops to actually look at and understand the physiology of the body and how exercise impacts your entire hormonal system (thyroid included) that’s when you end up getting yourself into big trouble.

Yes, I understand that society today is obsessed about weight loss and the ridiculous idea that simply losing weight is the solution to all of our health problems.

If that were true then why are so many non-overweight people suffering from hypothyroidism, cancer, autoimmune disease, heart disease, and every other disease for that matter?

In fact, I work with a number of clients who are severely hypothyroid and underweight.

If we would take a minute to step back and look at the big picture then we could begin to see that exercise isn’t always healthy, and in fact, can be quite thyroid suppressive and dangerous to your health.

A large part of the problem can be attributed to our poor interpretation of research, lack of knowledge, and a lack of understand of the human body.

While I will cover some of the dangers of exercise as it relates to hypothyroidism a little later, the purpose of this article is really to open your mind so that you can understand how little we really do understand when it comes to exercise.

So, I’m going to discuss a couple of very common exercise myths just so show you how little we really do know.

Hypothyroidism Treatment Myth #1 – Exercise Improves Thyroid Function

If you look at the current research, a lot of people are incorrectly led to believe that exercise improves thyroid function and is helpful for hypothyroidism treatment.

There are studies where they have taken blood samples immediately before and then immediately after exercise in order to analyse the amount of thyroid hormone in the blood.

Many of these studies have found that some forms of exercise cause an increase in blood level thyroid hormone, and so they interpret this as evidence that exercise improves thyroid function.

It’s time to celebrate, right? Not quite…

Using a basic understanding of cell physiology, when cells become fatigued or overworked, they take up more water. This is a natural response to stress.

So, when you exercise, as your muscles fatigue, they can take up a significant amount of water. As water is pulled from your bloodstream and into your cells, this effectively decreases blood volume.

If blood volume is decreased then of course the concentration of thyroid hormone will increase but only because there is less blood and not because there is more thyroid hormone.

If you are to take this into account, the total amount of thyroid hormone actually decreases. And these researchers fail to account for this loss of blood volume that exercise causes.

There’s also a lot of research that demonstrates this as well.

For example, one mechanism that is well known is that stress, including exercise, inhibits the conversion of inactive T4 thyroid hormone to active T3 thyroid hormone by the liver…

The effect of acute exercise session on thyroid hormone economy in rats

http://joe.endocrinology-journals.org/content/198/2/347.abstract

“T3/T₄ ratio was significantly decreased 60 and 120 min after the exercise, indicating impaired T₄-to-T₃ conversion.”

And there are plenty of studies showing the negative effects of exercise on thyroid hormone as well…

The effect of exhaustion exercise on thyroid hormones and testosterone levels of elite athletes receiving oral zinc.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16648789

CONCLUSION: Findings of our study demonstrate that exhaustion exercise led to a significant inhibition of both thyroid hormones and testosterone concentrations…

And this one which also demonstrates a decrease in resting metabolism…

Endurance training with constant energy intake in identical twins: changes over time in energy expenditure and related hormones.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9160814

“Resting metabolic rate (RMR) was significantly decreased by 8% after training despite the preservation of fat-free mass (FFM). Accordingly, plasma norepinephrine (NE) concentrations, NE appearance rate, and plasma levels of triiodothyronine (T3), free T3, and total thyroxine (T4) were lower after training.”

There are lots of studies that show the same exact results, but I think you get the point.

Forcing yourself to exercise as a means of losing weight or trying to “boost” your metabolism can actually have the opposite effect and result in the further suppression of your thyroid, a slower metabolism, and ultimately more future weight gain.

Sounds kind of counter-productive, right?

Hypothyroidism Treatment Myth #2 – Running Burns More Calories than Walking

This is one of my favorites because it goes to show you how far behind we are when it comes to our understanding of exercise and physiology.

The media, your doctor, your next door neighbor and everyone else who still has a bit of sanity left will tell you that running is one of the best ways to burn calories and lose weight?

Running is far better than walking, right?

Yes, you can read this in any exercise physiology book, but there’s something big that they’ve all forgotten to take into account…

Your brain!

When exercise physiologists study energy expenditure and derive their energy calculations, they fail to account for the brain in their calculations.

And your brain produces huge amounts of energy and requires a huge amount of fuel.

Just because you’re running on a treadmill doesn’t mean that your brain shuts off and stops working. It’s still working and expending energy, just like your muscles.

Russian physiologists on the other hand are accounting for the brain. And by stimulating the brain and therefore increasing its energy expenditure, your brain can burn significantly more calories.

So, stimulating your brain while you walk can actually be more beneficial than running on a treadmill while your brain is minimally stimulated.

If you take into account that walking would be far less damaging to your thyroid and metabolism, you can effectively support your thyroid and burn more calories on average from walking in a mentally stimulating environment than running while bored.

The bottom line is that our current understanding of exercise and physiology is severely lacking and it’s only further contributing to our general declining state of health today. And in today’s world, your thyroid really does need all the help it can get.

Millions of people today are not only hypothyroid, but are also making their hypothyroidism worse by following all of the bad advice out there.

When millions of people are led to believe that something like exercise is always beneficial to their health, while it’s unknowingly causing more damage to their thyroid when it comes to hypothyroidism treatment, then we really have an epidemic problem.

Hopefully this opens your eyes up to the fact that exercise, as it relates to hypothyroidism, is something that needs much more attention if we are ever going to make real progress in properly understanding and treating hypothyroidism.

Watch this Video Below Here - DIY Hypothyroidism Treatment - How I CURED my Hypothyroid NATURALLY

Read the following related topics:

10 Hypothyroidism Diet Tips to Help Heal Your Thyroid

What is a Good Diet for Hypothyroidism?

3 Ways Coffee Can Heal Your Thyroid and Save Your Life

Hypothyroidism and Cholesterol – What You Don’t Know CAN Kill You!

5 Worst Cooking Oils for Your Thyroid

What is really The Best Cooking Oil for Thyroid Health?

3 Dangers of Iodine Therapy for Hypothyroidism

 

5 Best Ways to Protect Yourself from Iodine Toxicity

Caffeine and Cancer – The Hard Truth You Can’t Deny

Revealing Here the 3 Best Kind of Hypothyroidism Exercise

Author Bio:

Tom Brimeyer – The author of Hypothyroidism Revolution – is a practitioner of functional medicine, health researcher and author on nutrition, hormones and hypothyroidism.

His personal mission is to inspire and educate people to take control and achieve true health by correcting their hypothyroidism and underlying causes of their health problems instead of being stuck relying on doctors and drugs that merely cover up their symptoms while their health continues to suffer.

For more details on his program, click on HypothyroidismRevolution.com

What is the Best Way to Diagnose Hypothyroidism?

Take Your Life Back and Stop Hypothyroidism Naturally at the Source

I recently covered the many reasons why all thyroid tests suck and why you CANNOT rely on them to accurately diagnose hypothyroidism or to even monitor your thyroid function.

The good news is that there’s a better way to diagnose hypothyroidism and it’s actually quite simple. I’m going to share with you how I work with my clients using the best test for hypothyroidism.

With the billions of dollars invested each year in medical research and the amazing advancements in medical technology, you would think that we would be able to diagnose hypothyroidism today with 99% accuracy.

Heck, I’d even settle for 85% accuracy but we’re still missing that mark by a long shot.

Let me tell you, computer technology today may be advancing at light speed but in many other areas of technology we’re still scratching our heads.

It reminds me of my days as an engineer when I was introduced to a navigational program that was still using navigational technology developed by German scientists 70 years ago during WWII. For the past 70 years American scientists have been trying to improve this German design and have achieved nothing but 70 years of failure.

Sometimes, it’s what we don’t know that slows technological advancement, but when it comes to healthcare, more often than not it is ignorance that impedes progress.

How is it that we are told that running is the best way to burn calories and lose weight yet Russian scientists have shown that you can burn just as many calories, or more, by simply walking for the same amount of time? Sounds crazy, right? I’ll tell you more about that later.

In the same respect, it is ignorance that allows us to continue to rely on inaccurate thyroid testing while ignoring a simple test that was developed 70 years ago to more accurately diagnose hypothyroidism.

Low Body Temperature and Hypothyroidism

Low body temperature is an epidemic problem. I have personally talked with nurses and have heard stories from others in the medical field who chart temperatures all day long and who openly admit that it’s rare to find anyone today with a 98.6°F temperature unless fever is present.

Low body temperature is more often than not, an indicator of hypothyroidism.

Am I saying that everyone today is hypothyroid? Of course not, but it’s well known that hypothyroid people get sick more often and are far more likely to develop health complications and disease.

So, it should be understandable that the majority of people being seen in hospitals and doctors’ offices for health problems today are far more likely to be hypothyroid.

Your thyroid is responsible for controlling and regulating a large number of functions within your body including:

·         Metabolism and Heat Production

·         Circulatory System and Blood Volume

·         Muscular Health

·         Nerve Health

·         Digestive Health

·         Health of Every Organ

·         Health of Every Tissue

·         Health of Every Cell

But today, we don’t even stop to consider the potential impact that thyroid health has on every function of the human body, and instead we only focus on its impact on our metabolism and our ability to lose weight.

Every cell in your body relies on thyroid hormone to produce energy and remain healthy. When your cells use thyroid hormone they produce more energy and therefore more heat. When your cells are starved of thyroid hormone, they produce less energy and therefore less heat.

By simply measuring the heat that your cells, or body, produce at rest can give you direct insight into how much thyroid hormone your cells are actually using.

And as I’ve mentioned many times before, TSH tests, blood tests, and all other thyroid tests DO NOT tell you how much thyroid hormone your cells are actually using, which is the only true way to accurately diagnose hypothyroidism.

The Basal Body Temperature Test

The basal body temperature test was first pioneered by Dr. Broda Barnes who was one of the early American physicians to recognize that hypothyroidism was being severely undiagnosed by modern medicine.

He spent more than 50 years researching and proving that hypothyroidism was the underlying cause of heart disease today.

Even though nobody has been able to invalidate his research, his work has been, and continues to be, completely ignored by the medical community today.

In 1942 he published a study demonstrating the effectiveness of basal temperature in diagnosing hypothyroidism and its ability to prevent wrong diagnoses that have led to unnecessary operations to remove the thyroid gland which can lead to severe health complications.

BASAL TEMPERATURE VERSUS BASAL METABOLISM

http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?volume=119&issue=14&page=1072

SUMMARY 1. From a study of over 1,000 cases the results indicate that subnormal body temperature is a better index for thyroid therapy than the basal metabolic rate. 2. The differential diagnosis between hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism is sometimes difficult. In 7 cases reported the diagnosis was wrong, in 5 of which an operation had been performed. The temperature was subnormal in each case.

Why Your Doctor Doesn’t Want You Taking Your Own Temperature?

If measuring your basal body temperature is such a simple and effective way to diagnose hypothyroidism, then why does your doctor dismiss its relevancy?

There are two reasons which are quite simple…

1. Your doctor didn’t go through 8 years of school and 3 to 5 years of residency just to let his or her patients self-diagnose themselves by simply using a thermometer.

Of course not, and doctors understand that they have to protect their profession because they are the so-called “experts” when it comes to your health, not you. What would the world become if people started taking a more active role in their own healthcare and demand proper treatment?

What a scary world that would be! So, instead of even trying to argue the relevancy of basal temperature, modern medicine has chosen to turn a blind eye and simply ignore it altogether.

2. Healthcare today is a business. And like any business, they want to maximize their profits. How much money do they stand to make by having you take your own temperature?

Absolutely nothing…It’s much more profitable to charge you for an office visit to draw your blood, charge you for the blood test itself, and then force you to come back to their office so that they can charge you yet again for another office visit, just to read you the results of your test.

Multiply this times twenty, thirty, or forty years of seeing your doctor and you’ve done your part to pay for your doc’s vacation home.

I personally know someone who was dropped by their doctor because they requested to receive their blood test results by phone and refused to go in and pay for an office visit they didn’t see as necessary.

How to Take Your Basal Body Temperature?

Caution: This is a complex medical procedure that should only be carried out by highly trained medical professionals. You are not a doctor and have not gone through 10 plus years of medical training required to accurately read a thermometer and diagnose hypothyroidism. This test is contraindicated by poor eyesight which may lead to false readings.

Now that our fancy medical disclaimer is out of the way, here’s how simple it is to measure your basal body temperature:

How to Measure Your Basal Temperature?

1.   Get a thermometer and put it within arm’s reach by your bedside at night before you go to sleep. If using a mercury thermometer, be sure to shake it down.

2.   Don’t eat anything late at night or in the middle of the night as digestion can affect basal metabolism.

3.   Go to sleep.

4.   Wake up in the morning.

5.   Being as still has possible, reach for your thermometer by your bedside and sit completely still in bed while you take your temperature for 10 minutes. If using a digital thermometer, it’s best to leave it in your mouth for 10 minutes, prior to turning it on for most accurate results.

Watch this Video - How to Test Your Thyroid - Simple Self-Test

How to Interpret Your Basal Temperature?

Men and post-menopausal women can take their basal temperature on any day.

However, women who are menstruating will notice that their temperature will fluctuate depending on what part of their cycle they are in.

During the first half of their cycle, their temperature will be lower. During the second half of their cycle, their temperature will be higher.

Menstruating women should measure their basal temperature on days 2 through 4 of menstruation.

A healthy functioning thyroid will consistently maintain a basal body temperature between 97.8 °F (36.6 °C) and 98.2 °F (36.8 °C) upon waking.

Anything lower than 97.8 °F (36.6 °C) implies that at complete rest, your cells are not able to produce adequate energy to meet the energy demands of your body. This means that you are in fact hypothyroid.

Extraneous Influences on Basal Temperature

I’ve mentioned before that while basal body temperature is a more accurate indicator of hypothyroidism than blood testing, there are extraneous influences that need to be accounted for which can influence the results of the test.

Influence of Air Temperature

The colder the air temperature, the harder your thyroid has to work to maintain your body temperature and the warmer the air temperature, the less it has to work.

If the air temperature is relatively warm then your thyroid will have to work very little and therefore your basal temperature may appear higher than it truly is.

Influence of Infection

Oral temperature can be used but it’s well known that even the common sinus infection can falsely raise oral temperature. If there’s any possibility of infection, then it’s best to use underarm temperature instead.

Extraneous Influences

There are many other extraneous influences that should be considered as well.

For example, sleeping under an electric blanket will artificially increase your body temperature. Artificially raising your body temperature through exercise or even a hot bath can also influence results.

The Importance of Your Pulse

Today, we can do better than just basal temperature. Because there are various extraneous influences that can affect body temperature, it’s important to also monitor your pulse as an additional indicator of thyroid function.

Even if basal temperature is normal, if your pulse is below 80 to 85 beats per minutes, then this is yet another indicator of hypothyroidism.

All of my clients track both temperature and pulse which we use to decipher what is happening within the body on a hormonal level, which then tells us what we need to do in order correct the underlying problems that are inhibiting their thyroid.

If you’re not tracking your basal body temperature regardless of whether you’ve been diagnosed with hypothyroidism or not, then you need to start now.

Basal body temperature is the best test for hypothyroidism and can give you a lot of insight as to whether you are truly hypothyroid even if other thyroid tests say you’re not.

For those who are currently taking thyroid medication, it can also be very useful in determining whether, or not, your medication is working for you.

Read the following related topics:

10 Hypothyroidism Diet Tips to Help Heal Your Thyroid

What is a Good Diet for Hypothyroidism?

3 Ways Coffee Can Heal Your Thyroid and Save Your Life

Hypothyroidism and Cholesterol – What You Don’t Know CAN Kill You!

5 Worst Cooking Oils for Your Thyroid

What is really The Best Cooking Oil for Thyroid Health?

3 Dangers of Iodine Therapy for Hypothyroidism

 

5 Best Ways to Protect Yourself from Iodine Toxicity

Caffeine and Cancer – The Hard Truth You Can’t Deny

Author Bio:

Tom Brimeyer – The author of Hypothyroidism Revolution – is a practitioner of functional medicine, health researcher and author on nutrition, hormones and hypothyroidism.

His personal mission is to inspire and educate people to take control and achieve true health by correcting their hypothyroidism and underlying causes of their health problems instead of being stuck relying on doctors and drugs that merely cover up their symptoms while their health continues to suffer.

For more details on his program, click on HypothyroidismRevolution.com

Why All Thyroid Function Tests Suck?

Take Your Life Back and Stop Hypothyroidism Naturally at the Source

I hate to be the bearer of bad news. But if I don’t tell you, then no one else will. Often times you look to your doctor for answers and you’ve been raised to believe that your doctors knows exactly what is going on with your health and exactly what to do about it.

But, I’m here to tell you that your doctor and the medical profession in general is more confused than ever regarding hypothyroidism, healthy thyroid function, and thyroid testing.

For what it’s worth, it’s not entirely your doctor’s fault.

Your doctor is really only as good as the thyroid function tests or tools he has available to diagnose you with. And, the TRUTH is that there really is NO perfect test for hypothyroidism.

Don’t get me wrong!

The hypothyroidism testing that takes place today is really abysmal. There is so much more the medical profession could be doing to improve their practices but they simply don’t for a number of social and economic reasons. Unfortunately today, improvements in medical science and testing are only considered if they can generate more profit.

All thyroid tests have their pluses and minuses, which can be expected. But today we’re so far off the mark when it comes to testing and diagnosing hypothyroidism that it really brings into question whose best interests are at mind here?

Bad Tests for Thyroid Function

The issue of thyroid function testing has been a hot debate for more than a century. If we can learn anything from history (which we rarely do) we should learn that thyroid tests come and go with the wind.

There have been a number of previous tests that have been “accepted” and used as the gold standard in diagnosing hypothyroid for years or decades only to eventually be discredited and deemed useless.

So, it’s important to take our current methods of thyroid function testing with a grain of salt because it’s likely that they too will follow suit at some point in time and be deemed unreliable.

Below are some of the commonly used hypothyroidism testing methods and why they are unreliable.

1.  TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) Testing

Odds are, if you’ve been diagnosed as hypothyroid by your doctor then you’ve had your TSH levels measured and they have likely been above “normal” (at least their interpretation of normal that is).

This is currently the standard test that medical doctors use to diagnose hypothyroidism. And it’s the ONLY test they typically run.

If you’re not familiar with human physiology, TSH is a hormone that tells the thyroid gland that more thyroid hormone is needed and to release more thyroid hormone into your bloodstream.

So, if TSH is high then this is thought to mean that your thyroid gland is not able to produce adequate thyroid hormone, thus you must be hypothyroid.

Extraneous Influences on TSH

One of the biggest problems with TSH testing is that it can be influenced by a number of extraneous factors unrelated to the direct function or health of the thyroid gland including:

·         Aging

·         Stress

·         Infection

·         Blood Sugar

·         Excessive T4

·         Etc.

It’s important to understand that any thyroid function test is merely giving you a snapshot of your hormone levels at one single moment in time. And any factor, including the list above, can cause an immediate or drastic change in your hormone levels.

So, let’s say you’re under a considerable amount of stress, you’ve caught a cold, or you didn’t have time to eat before your doctor’s appointment… these variables can affect the outcome of your test.

It’s also important to note that doctors typically prescribe T4 only medications like Synthroid, which can easily lower TSH without actually improving your thyroid function.

Illogical Reference Ranges

Any lab test is only as accurate to the degree that its reference ranges are accurate. And there is a lot of evidence surrounding the illogical reference ranges that have been established for TSH.

The original TSH reference ranges were based on the results of the Protein Bound Iodine test, which was one of the many tests that were deemed unreliable. Basing TSH reference ranges on a test that was proven to be unreliable makes the results of the TSH test… unreliable at best!

Watch this Video - Why TSH is the wrong test for Thyroid Function.

2.  Free T3 Testing

Triiodothyronine (a.k.a. T3) is typically referred to as the “active” thyroid hormone because it is far more metabolically active in your cells than T4, or the “inactive” thyroid hormone. Because of this, we know that T3 is the primary thyroid hormone that your cells use to produce energy.

When thyroid hormone exists in the bloodstream, it relies on carrier proteins to move it within your bloodstream and delivery it to your cells where it is used to produce energy.

One of the biggest arguments today regarding hypothyroidism is that of the Free Hormone Hypothesis. This hypothesis speculates that only “free” or non-bound T3 thyroid hormone can enter your cells and produce energy and that any T3 that is bound to a carrier protein is unavailable to your cells.

However, there have been many studies that have disproven this theory and demonstrated that bound hormones can enter not only cells, but cell mitochondria and cell nuclei.

This pretty much deflates the entire idea that only “free” T3 can be used by your cells.

Since free T3 accounts for less than five percent of your total T3, testing for free T3 is practically useless for diagnosing hypothyroidism.

3.  Basal Metabolic Rate Tests

BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) Tests were extensively used in the early to mid-1900’s before blood tests were developed. This same BMR test is still being used today and is becoming more and more popular in recent years.

The BMR test works by precisely measuring the amount of oxygen that you consume when your body is basal, or completely at rest. Your rate of oxygen consumption can then be used to determine your metabolism and therefore thyroid function.

However, there are a number of factors that make this test unreliable.

For starters, it requires that your body be in a completely basal state which is practically impossible with this method of testing. The only time your body is truly in a basal state is when you first open your eyes in the morning and before you start moving and get out of bed.

By the time you wake up, get dressed, drive through traffic to your doctor’s office, check in, etc., your body is no longer in a truly basal state.

So, how accurate can measuring your “basal” metabolism be if you’re not even in a basal state?

In order to make this test truly relevant, you would have to have your doctor come to your home while you sleep, and then administer the test upon waking.

Even in this scenario, the idea of having your doctor in your home and putting some sort of mask over your mouth upon waking would elicit enough of a stress response to alter the test results.

4.  Thyroid Blood Tests

There are a number of blood tests available for measuring various factors related to the thyroid hormone pathway including TSH, T4, T3, reverse T3, T3 Resin Uptake, Thyroglobulin, etc.

If you understand the physiology and roles that all of these play within the human body, then you can begin to gain some insight into what the potential problems are that are disrupting your thyroid.

However, they do not answer the one single question that continues to elude medicine even today, which is how much thyroid hormones are actually getting to and being used by your cells.

There are a number of physiological and dietary factors that can stop thyroid hormone from actually being used by your cells. Thyroid hormone can be blocked in your bloodstream and it can be blocked at the cellular level.

There is No Perfect Thyroid Function Test

You MUST understand that you can take all of the thyroid hormone you want, you can run labs showing you have more than enough thyroid hormone in your blood, but if that thyroid hormone is not being used by your cells then you are still hypothyroid.

The perfect test for thyroid function would be to directly measure the amount of thyroid hormone being utilized by every cell of your body. But with billions of cells, this is easier said than done.

I think it’s safe to say that we’re not going to see any “perfect” thyroid test any time soon.

What Is the Best Option for Thyroid Function Testing Then?

We’ve already established that measuring various levels of hormones in your blood can provide some useful insight, but fails to tell you the most important thing you need to know, which is how much thyroid hormone your cells are actually using.

Today, this can only truly be estimated through measuring your Basal Metabolic Rate, which has been problematic because it’s impossible to walk into your doctor’s office in a truly basal condition.

Believe it, or not, there is a simple and highly effective thyroid test that can measure your thyroid function in a truly basal state.

By simply taking your temperature upon waking, you can quite reliably determine if your thyroid is able to keep up with the metabolic demands of your body, or if you truly are hypothyroid.

This is exactly how I work with my clients. We don’t rely on misguiding thyroid function tests. We use basal temperature and pulse as well as temperature and pulse throughout the day to determine the metabolic state of the body.

By knowing this information, you can begin to use your diet therapeutically to supply your thyroid and cells with the nutrients they need to keep them running in their optimal state, which is essential for the body and thyroid to heal.

Watch this Video Here – How to Test Your Thyroid - Simple Self-Test

Author Bio:

Tom Brimeyer – The author of Hypothyroidism Revolution – is a practitioner of functional medicine, health researcher and author on nutrition, hormones and hypothyroidism.

His personal mission is to inspire and educate people to take control and achieve true health by correcting their hypothyroidism and underlying causes of their health problems instead of being stuck relying on doctors and drugs that merely cover up their symptoms while their health continues to suffer.

For more details on his program, click on HypothyroidismRevolution.com

Warnings: 4 Types of Toxic Cookware to Avoid & Why

Take Your Life Back and Stop Hypothyroidism Naturally at the Source

When it comes to your health, and the health of your thyroid, it’s the foods that you put into your body that provide the foundation for regulating your hormones, provide the necessary nutrients to help your cells produce adequate energy, and fuel every single process within your body.

But, many people are ingesting more than just the foods they think they are eating. Many people are unknowingly ingesting toxins in their foods directly from their cookware. And research continues to show that these toxins are contributing to a number of very common and serious health problems today.

Does this mean that you need to go out and spend lots of money buying all new cookware?

Of course not!

But, sometimes the better cookware for your health is also better for your wallet.

Most of us primarily use one or two pots or pans regularly, so simply getting one or two inexpensive non-toxic ones can go a long way in protecting yourself and your family from chronic exposure to these common toxins.

Below, we’ll take a look at the common types of cookware you want to avoid, if possible, and why they are toxic to your health, followed by two safe types of cookware and how to test them to ensure that they are non-toxic and safe.

4 Types of Toxic Cookware to Avoid & Why

There are various types of cookware being sold today, mostly for their ability to resist corrosion and conduct heat. But far less attention has been given to the toxic effects that they can have on the human body.

Most of the different metals being used in cookware today are we’ll know toxins that have been linked to a number of diseases from Alzheimer’s to even heart disease and cancer.

Toxic Cookware #1 – Aluminium Cookware

Aluminium is one source of cookware that is used because it is inexpensive and is a great heat conductor. But, aluminium is a very well recognized neurotoxin that is known to inhibit more than 200 biological processes within the human body.

Cooking acidic foods or using salt in your cooking can leach aluminium out of your cookware and into your food, where it can easily make its way into your body.

Toxic Cookware #2 – Cast Iron

Most people don’t realize it, but cast iron is another very potentially toxic type of cookware. For starters, most cast iron cookware on the market is treated with soy oil which is very thyroid suppressive to begin with.

But few people realize the potential dangers of iron to their health. Studies have shown that stored iron in your body is the strongest indicator of heart disease, more so then cholesterol.

Body iron stores and presence of carotid atherosclerosis. Results from the Bruneck Study.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7918313

In a logistic regression analysis adjusting for age, sex, and all major vascular risk markers, ferritin emerged as one of the strongest indicators of carotid artery disease in both sexes (40 to 59 years; odds ratio, 1.54 per 100 micrograms/L; P < .001).

Iron is known to promote lipid peroxidation, destroy vitamin E in your body, and feed estrogen, all which suppress your thyroid. Iron will also destroy vitamins directly in your food.

There is also quite a lot of research demonstrating iron’s role in both heart disease and cancer. Below is just one of many studies demonstrating this.

Putative role of dietary trace elements in coronary heart disease and cancer.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7881323

Epidemiological evidence linking measures of high iron nutritional status with both coronary heart disease (CHD) and cancer is accumulating…

Toxic Cookware #3 – Austenitic Stainless Steel

Stainless steel is another commonly used type of cookware that is generally thought to be safe. About 70% of stainless steel is austenitic, where nickel is added to prevent corrosion and pitting of the metal itself. While the nickel does help it to last longer, it also makes it more expensive and introduces a number of health risks.

Austenitic stainless steel is typically labelled with either the old 18/8 or 18/10 designation or with the newer 300 Series designations based on the amount of chromium and nickel added: i.e. 301, 302, 304, etc.

However, nickel is more toxic than both iron and aluminium. It’s a very common allergen which is most evident by its use in jewellery, which commonly causes inflammation or a rash to form where the metal contacts the skin.

Nickel has also been linked directly to cancer.

Toxic Cookware #4 – Non-Stick (Teflon Coated) Cookware

Teflon is the chemical non-stick coating that is commonly used with cookware today. Initial research was thought to have shown that Teflon was safe when heated to low temperatures; however more recent research has demonstrated otherwise.

There is also a lot of controversy surrounding other non-stick variations, which are quite toxic and never approved for use in cookware, yet they have been found in cookware in detectable levels. These non-stick variations have been shown to cause cancer, disrupt the hormonal system, and be toxic to the liver and immune system.

As non-stick cookware ages and becomes worn from use, the risk of ingesting Teflon or its toxic by-products increases drastically.

2 Types of Non-Toxic Cookware

When it comes to non-toxic cookware, there are a couple of great choices that you can’t go wrong with.

Pyrex Glass

Pyrex glass in general is always a great choice for baking as it’s durable, inexpensive, and non-toxic. However, it can’t be used stovetop.

Nickel-Free Stainless Steel

For cooking stovetop, there are certain kinds of stainless steel that are safe. One of the best non-toxic options is to use nickel-free stainless steel, which does not contain the toxic nickel component that most stainless steel contains.

The upside to this type of stainless steel is that it’s cheaper because nickel is expensive and increases the cost of the cookware.

The downside is that the nickel helps make the cookware more resistant to corrosion, so nickel-free stainless steel cookware will be less corrosive resistant and therefore not last quite as long.

How to Choose the Right Stainless Steel

There’s a very simple way to determine if stainless steel cookware contains nickel or not. Stainless steel itself is magnetic, however, when nickel is added, it loses its magnetic properties.

Simply testing cookware with a magnetic will tell you whether or not it’s safe. If the metal is magnetic and the magnet sticks firmly to it then it’s nickel-free and safe. If the metal is non-magnetic and the magnet does not stick to it, then this means that it contains nickel and should be avoided.

Watch these 2 videos below – The Best Non Toxic Cookware for Your Kitchen plus Healthy Pots & Pans? The Best Non Toxic Cookware

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Author Bio:

Tom Brimeyer – The author of Hypothyroidism Revolution – is a practitioner of functional medicine, health researcher and author on nutrition, hormones and hypothyroidism.

His personal mission is to inspire and educate people to take control and achieve true health by correcting their hypothyroidism and underlying causes of their health problems instead of being stuck relying on doctors and drugs that merely cover up their symptoms while their health continues to suffer.

For more details on his program, click on HypothyroidismRevolution.com