This is the follow-up to my “Journey to Heal My Thyroid” intro post, elaborating on my detox diet. In short, I don’t want to kill my thyroid until I’ve tried a holistic approach first. Dr. Wellness (my made-up name for the holistic practitioner I’m seeing) did a bunch of blood work, and more results are trickling in. In short, my high thyroid has been over-medicated to low, my cortisol is low and I’m allergic to *Thanksgiving. *Egg whites were the biggest reaction, followed by *sugarcane (what the??), *pecans and *cranberries. Mild reactions, which I can eat every two days, include: artichoke, asparagus, benzoic acid, BHA, *blueberry, candida, chicken, grapefruit, kidney bean (huh?), navy bean (really?!), pomegranate, rye, *turkey, *white potato and *whole wheat. Did I mention that I LURRRVE some pecan pie? Loved. I *loved* some pecan pie. Back in the day. When I wasn’t allergic to every part of it.

In addition to my top 4 food allergens, I’ve been kindly asked to temporarily refrain from such scarce delicacies as gluten, soy, dairy and peanuts (aflatoxin), for the purpose of detoxifying my system. *gasp* If you click on each of those food words, I’ve linked them to randomly-chosen sites that explain the thought behind each one. That way I won’t take up space explaining something I don’t fully understand yet. However, I *will* explain why I’m willing to try something I haven’t fully researched.

1. It seems appropriate to me, that if I’m asking Dr. Wellness to cure my thyroid, I ought to do my best to follow the instructions.
2. I haven’t seen red flags, such as reliance on a miracle substance.
3. I already believe that a plant-based, whole foods diet is the ideal diet, and the closer to it, the better. This is widely-supported by science. Here is one reference. My detox diet encourages reliance on whole plant foods, judicious use of free-range animal products, and avoiding over-used, potentially problematic grains and soy, and use of better-suited, less-toxic goat or sheep milk products. Sounds like common-sense to me.

Last, but not least, I am taking metabolism- and nutrition-supporting supplements and a round or two of pea/rice protein-based detox shake powder. I cannot fail to mention that this powder reminds me precisely of the cloud of brownish-yellowish gunk we used to stomp out of puffball mushrooms when I was a kid. And it’s nearly as appetizing.

My nutritionist – I’ll call her Dee — has been very helpful and encouraging. After she clarified my diet for me, she patiently replied to a barrage of emails and questions and vents from me. She’s also passed on some really interesting recipe ideas. For one, it turns out chia pudding is actually pretty tasty and a bit reminiscent of tapioca. I’m grateful to not be left fending for myself with Dr. Google.

Now, it sounds like I’m all bought-in. But not really. I’m not 100% compliant yet, but I’m succeeding at better choices. The results will have to speak for themselves. However, I have bought-in to eating well (with whatever restrictions or additions that comes with at the time), and I’m trying to give this an honest effort. I also agree with Dr. Wellness that we’ve messed with our food supply too much, depleting nutrients & adding toxins, and that there are chemicals chemicals everywhere and who knows what effect all of it is having on us. How many people do we know that are completely asymptomatic vs. those we know with significant health & wellness struggles? We’ll see what difference this makes for me.