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Month: May 2019

Thyroid 101

Posted on by Tim Ashton

This small but mighty, shield shaped gland is located in the front of the neck and plays an enormous role in our overall health.  Every cell in the body, except red blood cells, has a receptor site for thyroid hormones, and these regulate temperature and metabolism.  The thyroid influences almost every bodily function, so when it is not working properly you can experience a wide range of signs and symptoms. 

Under-active or Overactive?

You might hear the terms under-active and overactive thrown around from time to time when it comes to talking about the thyroid.

Under-active Thyroid

Hypo or low thyroid function means the thyroid gland is under-active and it does not product enough thyroid hormone.  High cortisol (stress hormones) can cause the thyroid to stop producing thyroid hormones and this is known as hypothyroidism.

Environmental stress can also be a cause of an under-active thyroid, and this is highly linked to individual genetic predispositions. 

The major signs and symptoms of under-active thyroid issues are fatigue, hair loss, weight gain, foggy brain , depression, brittle nails, shortness of breathe, anxiety, irregular periods, sensitivity to the cold, bowel problems and a general feeling of un-wellness. 

Over-active Thyroid

Hyper or high thyroid functions means the thyroid gland is overactive, and producing far too many thyroid hormones.  Again internal and external environment stress can cause the hypothalamus and pituitary glands to send the wrong message to the thyroid gland, causing it to over produce.                                                                                           

The signs and symptoms are fairly similar to those of an under-active thyroid, but weight loss is more prevalent, along with a very rapid heart rate, heart palpitations, anxiety, unable to control temperature and shakiness throughout the body. 

Hyperthyroidism is far more dangerous that hypo and needs to be addressed quickly due to the heart’s involvement with hyperthyroidism or Grave’s Disease as it is known. 

Graves’ Disease and Hashimoto’s

Graves’ Disease and Hashimoto’s are the names given to thyroid disease if the immune system is involved; this means that the problem is autoimmune.

Besides medications, controlling environmental factors in both Hashimoto’s and Graves’ is paramount.  Reducing stress and eating a whole food, plant-based fat free diet makes a monumental difference to both diseases.

Lifestyle factors to support thyroid health

Staying gluten free is one of the most important things if diagnosed with a thyroid issue.  The gluten protein is extremely similar to the protein structure found within the thyroid.  This similarity is called cellular mimickery and causes the immune system to see the thyroid as similar to gluten. If you have a sensitivity to gluten, it will want to destroy the gland, this is the first step to autoimmune thyroid disease.

A low ‘free-fat’ diet is also one of the keys to supporting thyroid problems.  The thyroid itself only produces 7% of the active hormone T3 (what the cell can use) and the other 93% , known as T4, must travel via transporter proteins to the liver and gut for conversion to active T3.    These transporter proteins have a strong affinity to fat, so if the diet is full of ‘free’ fats (those that come from a bottle or a jar) bind to these transporters not allowing them to pick up the inactive T4 for transportation to the liver. 

How Flourish can help with the natural anti-inflammatory and beetroot powder

All three of our blends have a role to play when it comes to supporting thyroid health.

If the liver is filled with fat also from a high-fat diet, then it is unable to make the conversion. Our detox blend has been designed to aid this very function of the liver.

Good gut bacteria is also responsible for converting 20% of the inactive T4 to active T3, so our prebiotic, gut blend should also be front of mind if you have a thyroid issue.   

If the gut is inflamed the bacteria all go to sleep for want of a better description, so are unable to perform the conversion properly.  Decreasing inflammation not only in the gut, but also all through the body should be top of mind as well. And that’s where our Turmeric blend comes in.

Find out more about our blends here.

You might also be interested in “Let’s talk about inflammation“.

Let’s Talk About Inflammation

Posted on by Tim Ashton

Inflammation is a buzz word here at Flourish, namely because it is the target of one of our best selling products, the Turmeric Blend.

So often when we talk about inflammation, we associate it with chronic disease, however, inflammation is not always the enemy.

Part of the bodies natural immune system, without inflammation, the body would be unable to heal from infections, tissue damage or wounds.

For example, when you sprain your ankle, it swells and becomes hot and painful – three cardinal signs of inflammation. This is the body’s way of telling you to slow down while it heals what is broken and it’s the good kind of inflammation that our bodies need.

However, the inflammation that accompanies most chronic disease processes is not so good. Inflammation drives disease processes, which means it intensifies the disease in your body and makes it worse. 

The inflammation pathway

The inflammation pathway is called the arachidonic pathway and it has two arms.  One is pro-inflammation and drives inflammation cytokines or cells, and the other is anti-inflammation and drives anti-inflammation cytokines or cells.

The food we eat determines which pathway will be dominant. Animal products drive the pro-inflammation pathway. 

Our lifestyles will often push our bodies to become more inflamed.  The foods we eat, our stress levels and whether or not we exercise will all contribute to our inflammation levels.  A balanced, plant-based your diet combined with controlled stress levels and regular exercise is the best path for getting on top of chronic inflammation. 

Combatting Inflammation with our natural anti-inflammatory

Turmeric is one of mother nature’s best natural anti-inflammatories.  It works exactly the same way as all the non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs like Nurofen or Voltaren.

We are often asked what the difference between Turmeric and Curcumin is, and the easiest way to explain the difference is that Curcumin is like what vitamin C powder is to an orange.  It is only one component of Turmeric, which actually has over 300 beautiful phytonutrients in it.

Turmeric as a whole contains curcuminoids and turmerones, and these turmerones cross into the brain and help turn off inflammation within the brain that causes foggy brain. They also help to keep the liver healthy. 

It is so important to always choose whole foods as your medicine, not extracts as these really are not foods as all.

Shop our bestselling Turmeric Blend here.