Hashimotos Thyroiditis and the GAPS Diet – First in a Series of Posts on GAPS

Well, as usual, Hashimotos Thyroidits is not what most people would call a simple health issue! And it continues to amaze me every time I “get ahead”, how quickly I find I am not….really! But what doesn’t amaze me are the awesome things I find out as I go through this journey! Enter: The GAPS Diet! I’ve hinted about this diet in a post or two in the past but now I can update you as someone being in the “heart” of this diet and the challenges that are faced within the diet. What I can also tell you about, will be the pure joy I have gotten from being on this diet! It is the absolute best diet I have ever been on for many reasons, but I will take one at a time as I post more about it. First, I will begin with a rather light-hearted post today, showing you how a desperate GAPS person thinks.

As seen above, I am NOT suffering on this awesome diet! But let me describe a little “blip” I went through this week. Okay, I’m “sailing” along on GAPS (now on the full GAPS plan) and then one day, it hits me! I haven’t had chocolate in over 6 months! What? Me? A chocoholic to the max? How could I let this happen? WHY would I let this happen? Well, let me answer my own questions. First, it happened because I was so intent on healing, chocolate was not even in picture. I was not obsessed with it for all those months because I was healing. Imagine that. Healing? Could it really be happening? Yes, it can!

It started a few years ago when I began taking an online class by GNOWFLINS on traditional diet food preparation which I am still subscribed to monthly and which I greatly recommend. I have even partnered with GNOWFLINS because I believe in learning these skills so incredibly much! (And by the way, if you sign up through my website links, it helps me earn a bit towards the cost of running this website so if you have been helped here at all, I would really appreciate you using these links when you decide to take the awesome classes I enjoy weekly myself!)

Then, I realized I had a gluten “issue”. Yes, I don’t like to call it an allergy but in reality, it is very much like an allergy. The body reacts to this substance launching an immune attack on my body. These are just the facts. If you have a suspicion you have a gluten problem (many of us really don’t want to know and ignore it), I can tell you now that it was one of the best moves of my health journey to find out. Especially considering my thyroid antibodies came down very close to normal after being on the true gluten free diet! And when I say “true”, I mean true! But that is another post!

Now, after having all that behind me, GAPS has been my focus and this one very powerful diet has been one of the greatest moves I have made since going gluten free. The even more important move was finally getting rid of my mercury fillings so the GAPS diet actually had a prayer to help me! But that story is found in my last post outlining my journey to that very important step. Please take the time to read the post explaining that emergency situation. It is a very important part of healing for those who may be struggling, without really knowing they may have mercury poisoning going on in their body.

Okay, I said this post would be on the light-hearted side so now I will get to that portion. I was talking about chocolate right? Well, a few days ago I decided I had healed enough to try a bit of GAPS allowable chocolate. To be honest, I don’t think I will eat it again for a while because I have a feeling it’s best that I don’t have it until I feel I am well on my way to full healing (in fact, I believe this is the advice of Dr. McBride too) but thought I’d experiment a bit and try a recipe I found on the net. I want to thank this Traditional-Foods.com post for the idea. I only changed a couple small things. I felt the “chips” were not sweet enough for me so I added a bit more honey to taste and used ghee instead of coconut oil since I, so far, haven’t done well with coconut oil. Here’s what they turned out like:

So, as you can see, these don’t quite resemble commercial chocolate chips! But who cares when it’s the chocolate you’re after anyway! My next mission was to make chocolate chip cookies. FAIL! But I gave up pretty quickly. If anyone knows of a recipe which uses GAPS friendly ingredients and not coconut flour, please comment below. I would love to find a recipe that can be used towards the holidays. But for now, I settled on a GAPS friendly muffin similar to these from GNOWFLINS but as a member, I got access to a GAPS friendly version.

Now, for a chocolate lover who hasn’t had it in over 6 months, those looked pretty inviting, if I do say so myself! And by golly, they were good! So don’t think you can’t have any treats while eating for improved health. They just need to have the right nourishing ingredients.

So, after having my now unusual breakfast this morning – a fast food type breakfast that looked strangely familiar to my prior gluten infested life, I sat down to write this post.

Okay, so they’re not going to win any awards in the gluten world, but for those of us on GAPS, these muffins hit the spot. But I have to admit, however much I used to like chocolate, I am now more interested in keeping it to a minimum probably because the addiction is finally gone. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy the idea of having chocolate, but there are going to be many more days I will be very happy reaching for a beautiful “popsicle” made from organic, juicy, sweet and delicious watermelon and similar treats. Yum! And so I will leave you with a picture of this lovely sweet treat. And with many months of continuing my journey to go, I am sure I will be posting once in a while, other favorite creations I come up with or come across. Thanks to the book “Internal Bliss” and of course, the official GAPS diet book by Dr. Natasha McBride, I can enjoy these anytime I want. 🙂

I hope you will consider joining me on this journey of healing. Know that there is a lot of support for you if you choose to do so. I plan on continuing this journey for at least another year (have I mentioned this diet is a temporary one?) which will give me plenty of opportunity to share the healing along the way. I look forward to your comments. Here’s to better health!

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer: All posts are describing my personal journey through health issues and are in no way meant to guide anyone towards any method in particular. I am not a medical practitioner or have a dietary or medical license, and this blog is not intended to be taken as authoritative advice. Please see your doctor, or health professional before making any drastic diet changes! Also, occasionally I find others to partner with whom I have had tremendous help from and therefore, there may be paid advertisements and links to support them and help me financially run this website.
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Comments

8 responses to “Hashimotos Thyroiditis and the GAPS Diet – First in a Series of Posts on GAPS”

  1. Heather@DiaryofaSmallTownEarthMuffin Avatar

    Hello! I am doing GAPS and also have Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. I had my labs done a couple months back and my integrative physician was impressed to see that they had improved on their own. It started to get a little better after I went GF, and really progressed well after I started GAPS. I can’t wait to see what the next one brings!!! Thanks for sharing this and have a wonderful day!!!
    Heather

  2. maureen Avatar
    maureen

    Heather – that is GREAT news and so exciting! Please keep me posted! How long have you been on GAPS. Please considering coming to my FB page so we can share stories and ideas there for getting the most out of GAPS. It also would encourage others there. Looking forward to hearing more from you! Thank you for your comment. Maureen

  3. Dr B Avatar
    Dr B

    Maureen,

    Great job with the post.

    Sometimes, actually many times, it is hard to do the things we should be doing even when we know that it will probably help us becase those things are often a bit difficult.

    Especially when it comes to food because it is given almost zero consideration in the traditional medical model.

    There are so many times when I am reviewing a case history file and the patient will mention a period of time where they were doing really good.

    I’ll ask them why they stopped doing what was helping and 9 times out of 10 they tell me that it was too difficult … even though they were feeling really good.

    Keep up the good work. I am so happy to see you continuing to improve and heal.

    Dr. Boydston

  4. maureen Avatar
    maureen

    Dr. B! It is such an honor to have you comment here! Thank you so much! And as you can see, I am adamant about healing! I look forward to moving on with healing too. Honestly, I don’t expect to ever go back to the diet that brought me into this mess mainly because I finally don’t have to worry about food ruining my day anymore! What a relief! I have gladly replaced that worry with the one of making sure I have the right ingredients in the home at all times so I can always find a healthful option that works for my body. Good, properly prepared, healthy food tastes so much different than its unhealthy counterparts. For example, these muffins are made of ground nuts, no baking soda (which amazes me after baking thousands of muffins in my life), and they use honey instead of sugar. Experimenting with these recipes have helped me see that I am not addicted anymore to the foods I used to be. It was a good experiment. I CRAVE fresh food now. Things like peaches, salads, watermelon, and whole foods that have not been altered. These muffins are probably the most complex food I eat and they serve to help me through trips and days out when it is harder to keep fresh food with me. I am finally at the “fine tuning” stage of slowly adding foods in and taking them out if I see a reaction so my diet can be the best for my individual body. The hardest thing for me to learn on this journey is that the statement is true; “one man’s food is another man’s poison!” It’s so tempting to think all natural food is good for everyone! Most people still don’t want to believe that certain foods cause negative reactions in others just because they are “natural.” I can’t wait to get back to your office and talk about all the lessons I’ve learned through all this! And you have been such a big part of my healing! Your support has been probably THE most comforting and encouraging part of the last two years. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Maureen

  5. Judith Avatar
    Judith

    I just found your blog. I also have Hashimotos and I have just completed 6 months on the full GAPS diet. I didn’t do the intro as my GAPS practitioner said it was best for me to not do that. This is truly a JOURNEY and not an easy one but SO worth it. It becomes easier as we discover great recipes and ways to make eating fun while eliminating many foods that we love. I’m really doing well at this until I am invited to someone’s home or to eat out. I do go and I am faithful to my diet or I eat first and sip tea there. I’m bound and determined. I’m gluten free (told that will be always given Hashimotos) and dairy free, though ghee is fine. I’m hoping to add back dairy. I look forward to following your blog.

  6. maureen Avatar
    maureen

    Wow! Thanks for your comment – we are almost exactly on the same road at the same time! I look forward to communicating more with you! Have you done regular checking of your TSH? Have you felt lead to eat less nuts, etc.? I am still fine tuning this diet for my own body and still unsure how many servings (if any) of nuts/nut flour is okay for me. Would love to know your experience on this too. Please consider joining my FB page too so we can enjoy each others journeys there too! 🙂 Take care and congrats on the good work. Your personality sounds close to mine in the determination area. Maureen

  7. lee jenkins Avatar
    lee jenkins

    Hi, i have celiac and hashimotos, and at the moment i can’t eat chocolate bc it gives me anxiety and constipation. I am autoimmune to gluten, soy, dairy and commercial cellulose and slightly to chocolate. I’m a professional GF baker. I wanted you to know that there are some very pure chocolate chips on the market. I buy organic 70% from Jedwards.com No soy lecithin. They are forced from Peru. It is mostly American chocolate that uses emulsifiers like soy lecithin. You can also buy their unsweetened chocolate and add whatever sweetener you want to make good chips. Good luck!

  8. maureen Avatar
    maureen

    Hi Lee! Thank you for the info! That is GREAT to know!

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