"I attended one of your workshops a few weeks back and would like to thank you for your effort and bravery for sharing your knowledge on traditional foods. I knew a few things about traditional foods from a friend who introduced me to your workshop, however your power point presentation brought it to much greater detail. You sold me on the story when your thyroid and blood sugar levels are normal within 1 years time frame. I am only 24 years of age and have hypothyroidism along with a borderline blood sugar level of 1.79 (Awkward because i lost 60 lbs within the past 2 years from heavy running, and a brown rice, low sugar diet). Is it okay for me to ask you how did you lower your blood sugar level? I'm really concerned about getting diabetes and slowly changing my diet now. There is a lot of contradiction between blood sugar levels and alcohol/caffeine. How do you feel about high blood sugar levels with alcohol/caffeine? Thank you very much."
Thyroid healing and blood sugar balancing are intricately related as the thyroid controls insulin production. To completely heal your body it is important to follow a low-carbohydrate diet where consumption of foods like starches (potatoes, beans), grains (such as rice, even brown), sugars (sugar, honey, etc), fruits, and even fresh milk (which is relatively high in sugar) are strictly limited. This means that you need to emphasize bone broths, meats, seafood, eggs, cultured/fermented dairy (cheeses, yogurt, etc.), fermented veggies, non-starchy vegetables of all kinds, traditional fats, nuts/seeds, and very small amounts of starches, grains, and low-sugar fruit (such as berries and sour apples). Everything you eat should be as unprocessed as possible and from the best sources-- grass-fed meat, raw dairy, etc. Of course this is easier said than done! But it is doable and will have a tremendous effect on properly nourishing your body so that it can come into balance. This is always the first step with any health condition; the body (especially of a young person!) has great potential to heal itself given the proper building blocks.
It is also important to look at beverages (alcohol and caffeine) as well as medications you may be taking. Alcohol and caffeine are absolutely terrible for the thyroid and for blood sugar levels because 1) alcohol turns into sugar in the body, while also providing highly toxic effects from the alcohol, and 2) caffeine stresses the adrenal glands (which are closely related to the thyroid) and will lead to the breakdown of many body systems over time. Caffeine has a very big impact on blood sugar as well since your body can go into panic mode when a caffeine kick is over, and end up with very messed up blood glucose levels.
