everywomanover29

Food, Mood and Women's Health – Be your healthiest, look and feel great!

Archives for February 2017

9th Annual Tapping World Summit

By 6 Comments

The 9th Annual Tapping World Summit starts tomorrow February 27th and is not to be missed if you are holding on to stress that is affecting your body, mind and spirit in dramatic ways.

This online event has been attended by over 2 million people over the last 8 years. It is a truly life-transforming event that you don’t want to miss.

Research is showing more and more that it is the leading cause of so many of our modern problems. And while most people feel that they can’t do anything about it, that it’s just something we have to deal with, the truth is there are effective ways to eliminate it.

And here’s the key: there is a BIG difference between a healthy level of stress, and a level of stress that is limiting your ability to create what you want in your life.

Take a few minutes to watch this eye-opening video with NY Times bestselling author and documentary filmmaker Nick Ortner. If any part of you thinks that you just might have too much stress (and you’re sick and tired of it), watch this video, follow along with Nick’s simple process, and allow the stress to go. You’ll find that when you do, your ability to create the life you want will increase exponentially…

Take a second to think about what in your life is causing you stress.

Feel it in your body, and as you do, think about what it would be like if you could eliminate that stress.

Watch this video. By the end of it, you’ll feel much better. 🙂

I encourage you to keep an open mind about tapping. Many people think of it as being woo-woo but so many people see tremendous benefits for their stress, anxiety, headaches, other pain conditions and much more.

If you’ve been following me for awhile you know I like to look at the research and I’m so impressed to see the amount of research that supports this technique. Here are just a few of the recent studies:

Please share this with someone you love who you know is also dealing with a lot of stress right now. Your thoughtfulness in thinking about them for just 10 seconds might just change their life!

And let us know how tapping or EFT has helped you.

 

Thyroid Secret documentary – wise words of wisdom!

By 7 Comments

The Thyroid Secret documentary is just around the corner!  My colleague Dr. Izabella Wentz and her amazing team have produced this powerful 9-part documentary and it truly is groundbreaking! (It starts on March 1.)

Thyroid disease is one of the most overlooked diseases and is so often misdiagnosed. I see this all this time with my anxious clients (and I share more about this in the documentary!)

In case you’re not already signed up here is the link to sign up. And some wise words of wisdom from some of the experts that are part of the documentary

If you are already signed up enjoy these wise words too!

Dr. Izabella Wentz, host and producer of the documentary, and author of the forthcoming book, Hashimoto’s Protocol, sets the tone and I love it!

A person who has their health has 1,000 dreams. A person who does not has just one.

Allowing yourself to heal will allow you to do all these different things in your life that you maybe dreamed about but you never thought were possible. I have people within my community who’ve become like romance novelists or … they’ve gone back to horseback riding. They’ve done all of these things that they never thought will be possible and sometimes in their 40s, 50s, 60s, lucky ones in their 20s.

Dr. Mark Hyman, author of The Blood Sugar Solution, discusses the prevalence of thyroid disease in this part of his interview:

Thyroid disease is extremely prevalent, one in five women and one in ten men have low thyroid function. That’s an enormous number of people and half of them they don’t know it. They’re not even diagnosed and the ones that are diagnosed and treated most of those are inadequately treated.

You’ve got an epidemic or thyroid dysfunction that is really driving a lot of suffering and it’s subtle. People don’t know, they think it’s something else. Oh I’m a little tired, oh I have trouble getting up in the morning, my skin’s a little dry, my nails are cracking, I’m a little constipated, I have a little fluid retention. Can’t remember things as well, I feel little depressed, I might not be sleeping as well, I might get muscle cramps, my sex drive’s a little low… You add all these things up, oh my hair’s falling out a little bit.

 

Dr. Hyla Cass, integrative psychiatrist, talks about antidepressant side-effects in this part of her interview:

I think people have to be their own medical detectives in partnership with Functional Medicine docs like me because they know themselves better than I do.

 I think the way conventional medicine is treating depression is really a disaster and that’s simply writing prescriptions for antidepressants. I get a lot of these women and women outnumbering men with thyroid issues coming to me, that have been failures. ‘Failures’ at antidepressant therapy, they’re still depressed and they’re not only still depressed but they now have side effects from being on antidepressants. They can’t sleep or they’re sleeping too much, weight gain, huge weight gain (with thyroid issues you’re already gaining weight). Then there is dizziness, nausea, lack of libido… I mean really? So many problems with the antidepressants and it’s not directed to the cause.

 

Dr. Alan Christianson, author of The Adrenal Reset Diet, covers our genes and environmental toxins in this part of his interview:

Thyroid cancer, thyroid autoimmunity are much more common among women. We’re seeing about a eight to one female to male risk difference.

So, we think that it’s really a perfect storm of three, three large factors; we’ve got the, the genes, you know. So, the first step is you got to be cautious about choosing your parents (laughter), however that works out, I don’t know. So, there’s some genetic susceptibility and then, and there’s some foreign substances. So, your thyroid like, there’s the shows about the hoarders you know, like those that like never let go of things. So, your thyroid is kind of a hoarder (laughter). It needs iodine, but the amount that it needs is way above what your blood carries, so it concentrates it and pulls it in.

We have a lot of weird chemicals nowadays that confuse that concentrator, that your concentrator thinks, “Well, that looks like iodine,” but it’s not. So, we have uh, Perchlorate for example in the soils in the southwest area, where we had someone just the other day who is working in aviation, in managing the airplanes out in the tarmac and what not and exposed to jet fuel, and they get Perchlorate from that as well.

Dr. Amy Myers, author of The Autoimmune Solution, covers diagnosis, root causes and supplemental thyroid hormone in this part of her interview:

Your thyroid is a vital organ. It is your engine, so to speak, and every cell in your body has receptors for thyroid hormone on it.

The average is 6 to 10 doctors in five years to get any kind of autoimmune diagnosis. It may be less for thyroid because that’s a little more common and people do screen at least with a TSH, but if that damage has been going on or you are just now becoming aware of it and you’ve had Hashimoto’s for 20 years, if you’ve had enough damage and destruction to your thyroid, I and no one can grow your thyroid back. We can optimize the function through, and I’m sure we’ll talk about that through this interview, we can optimize the function, we can prevent you hopefully from getting another autoimmune disease, we can get to the root cause of why you got it, but I can’t regrow thyroid tissue for you. You may still need to be on some supplemental thyroid hormone, and that’s okay. I just want people to know that there are people, and I have them in my clinic as well, that we get it early enough and we’re able to do all the things that we’ll talk about in the interview, and they don’t need to go on supplemental thyroid hormone, or they’ve gone on it and we’ve been able to get them off.

Dr. Tom O’Bryan, author of The Autoimmune Fix, discusses the key role the gut and microbiome play:

If you have an autoimmune disease, there’s no question that you’ve got intestinal damage.

It’s a shift. The first shift is recognizing that there’s no magic pill for thyroid autoimmune disease. There’s no magic pill. The second shift is recognizing that it’s going to take time to reverse the damage that’s accrued. If you can accept that and look for the small wins regularly, and the third is … My recommendation to people, one hour a week. Can you give one hour a week to just doing some research on this topic that you have? Just one hour a week.

The most important thing as we’re learning now in this last ten to twelve year period is if there’s one organ that is more impactful on the rest of the body than any other organ, it’s the microbiome. The microbiome controls our brain function. For every one message coming from the brain down to the gut, there are nine messages from the gut to the brain. It’s the exhaust, if you will, the chemicals that are secreted by the microbiome that go up to the brain to tell the brain what to do. It’s a nine to one ratio. For your heart, the microbiome sends direction to the heart. For your thyroid, the microbiome sends direction to the thyroid.

Dr. Eric Zielinski, host of the Essential Oils Summit, covers the dangers of conventional body care products and why use essential oils instead:

We need to work on preventing disease before they happen and I hope to God, that the researchers will come together, that the funding will be available so we could start testing how certain essential oils and chemical constituencies in these oils affect thyroid conditions. Until we do have that, I’m telling you one thing.

If you want to save your thyroid, if you want to save your health, stop these conventional body care products. I’m talking throw them away.

The lowest hanging fruit that anyone can do today, so easy, is literally to throw away all hand sanitizer. I’m telling you, it’s like the worst stuff for you. Conventional hand sanitizer, throw it away. To replace it, super simple. You get a one to two ounce glass spritzer bottle, you put a few drops of witch hazel in it, a couple drops of aloe, vitamin E, and seven drops of essential oils per every ounce that the bottle is.

Suzy Cohen, RPh covers low ferritin and low manganese:

The ferritin, which is a storage form of iron, that’s the one that came up low. It was dangerously low. I don’t know how I was walking, it was eight, and it was eight for years. It was eight when I measured it, so it was probably lower, but eight is a very bad number. We shoot to have it above 50, sometimes even closer to 70.

I’m often asked, “What did I do to raise that ferritin, how did I get my iron up?” You would think the answer is that I took iron supplements, but that didn’t work. I did try them. I tried them for six months, they tore me apart. I took the best forms. I’m a pharmacist, I know what the best forms are. Iron doesn’t really help you if you’re iron deficient. That’s a huge secret.

The things that I did were I bought a cast iron pot. I bought two, a little one and a bigger one, and I cooked everything in my cast iron pot because the iron leaches just a little teeny bit. It’s just a little bit, but cooking all of your food in a cast iron pot helped. I drank a little Dixie cup full of orange juice every day. I took betaine with pepsin. This was huge for me. You’ve written articles about this, where you have to titrate up with the betaine. You can’t just take five all at once, but I was so low in acid that at one point I was taking six with my meals. Isn’t that a lot? Today I don’t take any, but there was a point where I worked my way up from one capsule with a meal to six.

The final piece of this was manganese. If your iron is low, manganese is lower, count on it. Having your iron and your manganese in the correct ratio is very huge. I took one capsule of manganese every day and that worked for me. It allows you to better absorb your iron, you need less iron, and you maintain the manganese-iron ratio, and that was a very big piece of it. I took one manganese capsule every day for about a year.

Magdalena Wszelaki, creator of Eating for Hormone Balance, talks about raw cruciferous vegetables and oxalates in this part of her interview:

I cannot find a single study that shows raw cruciferous vegetables are causing thyroid failure or binding to the receptors, or whatever. It’s the stuff that I feel like the bloggers have copied and pasted the same information and just created fear. Having said that, I have come across people …This is anecdotal, but when you have people coming to you over and over again telling these stories of going on a health binge, on a health kick I should say, and they will do juicing or they would start blending smoothies that are full of kale, and beets, and almonds. Then three months into that health protocol, they start having a lot of issues with fatigue. They start putting on weight. They go and get a test that turns out it’s the thyroid.

I think that what is happening is that there’s an issue with oxalates with a lot of the vegetables. Kale has got some oxalates, but spinach is super high in oxalates. Almonds are super high in oxalates, so are hemp seeds, all the seeds and nuts. That has been well-documented that oxalates can deposit on the thyroid gland and be causing an issue. I suspect that could be a problem for a lot of people. With the cruciferous vegetables, I love them because they are so rich in … Nutritionally they’re so much richer than all the other vegetables. They’re also full of diindolylmethane, DIM also named, which binds estrogen and that really supports the thyroid function. I’m definitely for them.

Trudy Scott, yours truly (!), and author of The Antianxiety Food Solution:

A lot of people go to the doctor and get a diagnosis, you’ve got anxiety, or you’ve got depression, and they’ll be given a medication, benzodiazepine or an SSRI. It may be the thyroid that’s causing the problems. It’s common knowledge that thyroid problems can cause depression. It’s less well recognized that thyroid problems can actually contribute to anxiety.

I actually looked at a study that was published in 2010, and they found that there was three times the higher incidence of anxiety in women who have underactive thyroid. It’s more common than a lot of people realize.

Certainly in my practice, working with anxious women, most of the people that I work with are women, I work with men as well, but most of the women that I work with, with anxiety, have thyroid issues. They either have Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, they have hypothyroid, or they may have had Graves’ in the past. It’s very, very common that I see this.

One of the things that we want to think about from a biochemical and a nutritional aspect when it comes to anxiety is, junk food. We want to eat real whole food. The additives, the colors, the pesticides, the trans fats, all of those can be problematic when it comes to anxiety, because we don’t have the raw materials to make our brain chemicals. GABA is a wonderful calming neurotransmitter, and serotonin is also calming, and if we don’t have enough of the raw materials to make those neurotransmitters, we can be more prone to anxiety.

I’d like to end with a perfect quote from Mary Shomon, thyroid advocate: Be your own CEO of your healthcare!

Watching this Thyroid Secret documentary will empower you, provide you with vital thyroid knowledge you and will truly allow you to be the CEO of your own healthcare when it comes to your thyroid health!

Here is the link to register for the 9-part online documentary The Thyroid Secret, which runs March 1-9.

I do hope you can join us online for this amazing 9-part documentary that I’m so honored to have been a part of!

Diabetes, anxiety and GABA

By 21 Comments

 

Anxiety and depression are common in patients with diabetes. In this 2016 paper: Prevalence and predictors of depression and anxiety in patients of diabetes mellitus in a tertiary care center, it was found that a significantly larger proportion of diabetic patients had

  • Anxiety: 27.6% vs. 12.7% as compared to healthy controls and
  • Depression: 26.3% vs. 11.2% as compared to healthy controls
  • Both depression andanxiety: 21.0% vs. 7.3% as compared to healthy controls

The paper also reports that diabetic women had higher rates of anxiety than men (17.6% vs. 10.0%) and higher rates of depression than men (17.1% vs. 9.3%). 

GABA is one of the calming amino acids I used with much success with my clients who have the physical type of anxiety (with stiff and tense muscles). As well as addressing this type of anxiety it also helps them to end their sugar addiction, reducing cravings dramatically. Melissa shares her results after using GABA on this blog: GABA for ending sugar cravings (and anxiety and insomnia)

I was cool as a cucumber at the airport and was much calmer when visiting family and friends compared to last year! The true test of its efficacy will be in two weeks when the semester starts. For now, I notice a general calmness and am sleeping well.

An unexpected result was that I stopped craving sweets after about a week of taking it! I didn’t even realize this until I was grocery shopping and out of habit walked towards the ice cream – I stopped and realized I didn’t want ice cream. So I walked toward the chocolate – same reaction. For once in my life, I was not craving sweets.

Now there is some interesting recent research showing how GABA may play a role in diabetes treatment too.

This February 2015 paper, GABAergic system in the endocrine pancreas: a new target for diabetes treatment explains the role of GABA in regulating islet-cell secretion and that it exerts β-cell regenerative effects:

Excessive loss of functional pancreatic β-cell mass, mainly due to apoptosis, is a major factor in the development of hyperglycemia in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes (T1D and T2D).

In T1D, β-cells are destroyed by immunological mechanisms. In T2D, while metabolic factors are known to contribute to β-cell failure and subsequent apoptosis, mounting evidence suggests that islet inflammation also plays an important role in the loss of β-cell mass. Therefore, it is of great importance for clinical intervention to develop new therapies.

γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA), a major neurotransmitter, is also produced by islet β-cells, where it functions as an important intraislet transmitter in regulating islet-cell secretion and function. Importantly, recent studies performed in rodents, including in vivo studies of xenotransplanted human islets, reveal that GABA exerts β-cell regenerative effects. Moreover, it protects β-cells against apoptosis induced by cytokines, drugs, and other stresses, and has anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory activities. It ameliorates the manifestations of diabetes in preclinical models, suggesting potential applications for the treatment of diabetic patients.

This paper published in November 2015: Study of GABA in Healthy Volunteers: Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics also reports potential therapeutic benefits for those with diabetes:

Our data show that GABA is rapidly absorbed and tolerated in human beings; its endocrine effects, exemplified by increasing islet hormonal secretion, suggest potential therapeutic benefits for diabetes.

You can read more about this in the blog post: GABA rapidly absorbed and tolerated – benefits for anxiety and diabetes

A paper published in December 2016 on GABA and diabetes: Long-Term GABA Administration Induces Alpha Cell-Mediated Beta-like Cell Neogenesis states that

This newly discovered GABA-induced α cell-mediated β-like cell neogenesis [or the regeneration of tissue] could therefore represent an unprecedented hope toward improved therapies for diabetes.

So here we have the amino amazing acid GABA that when used as a targeted supplement:

  • we know reduces and often eliminates sugar cravings completely
  • calms the anxious mind and reduces physical tension and stress within 5 to 30 minutes
  • has much potential in offering therapeutic benefits for diabetes

I’m proposing oral GABA as a much better option for diabetic patients with anxiety – better than benzodiazepines which have been shown to contribute to cognitive impairment. Using GABA sublingually seems to be most effective.

I’ve been invited to speak on the upcoming Diabetes Summit being hosted by Dr. Brian Mowll (it airs March 20-27 month) and we talk about all of this and more, plus exactly how to use GABA and tryptophan for anxiety.  We also talk about a great alternative to coffee that helps with stress and blood sugar handling.   You can use this link to register for the online event.  

diabetes summit banner

Do you have diabetes and has GABA helped you with your cravings and anxiety? And enabled you to reduce your diabetes medication?

If you’re a practitioner I’m curious if you commonly see anxiety and depression in your diabetes patients/clients? And do you currently use GABA (and other amino acids like tryptophan and glutamine) to help reduce their anxiety and sugar cravings? And reduce their diabetes medication?

 

The Evolution of Psychiatry: integrative psychiatry, anxiety and the thyroid

By 2 Comments

James Maskell is the founder of The Functional Forum and this month the theme was The Evolution of Psychiatry. It was such a great episode so I’m sharing it with you here today.

The first presentation was by Janet Settle, MD and Will Van Derveer, MD. They took the stage and presented on the fundamentals of integrative psychiatry, covering root cause-based psychiatry. Together with Scott Shannon, MD, they are also now offering their “Psychiatry Masterclass” training program to other doctors.

This presentation included:

  • The foundations of truly effective, root-cause focused mental health system
  • Typical unresolved physiological dysfunctions that manifest as mental illness
  • Concrete steps for creating the mental health centers of the future

Here is a sampling of what they covered. Isn’t it wonderful to see a slide titled “Integrative Psychiatry Model” and with physiologic root causes listed?

The section on child abuse, trauma and psychospiritual root causes was enlightening:

They cover MDMA- and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy and I look forward to learning more from them about these approaches. However, until I learn more I’m wary of these approaches because of the side-effects. Based on the work I do with targeted individual amino acids I would use them before even considering MDMA or ketamine.

You can watch the entire video presentation here:

 

Next up was Thyroid Pharmacist, Dr. Izabella Wentz, returning to the Functional Forum stage for her first keynote. Dr. Izabella is a dear friend and one of my favorite thyroid experts and she covered the connections between thyroid health and depression and anxiety, looking at proven protocols to address the underlying causes.   Her presentation is titled “The Misdiagnosis Machine: How Thyroid Problems Mimic the Symptoms of Mental Illness.”

Dr. Izabella shares the symptoms of the autoimmune attack on the thyroid gland. As well as fatigue, weight gain, gut issues and apathy, you can experience mood symptoms such as anxiety, OCD-like symptoms and mood swings.

You can watch the entire video presentation here (and listen for a mention of my name and how commonly I see anxiety with clients with thyroid symptoms):

 

If you enjoyed Dr. Izabella’s presentation you don’t want to miss her upcoming documentary called The Thyroid Secret. I’m thrilled to have been invited to contribute on my expertise on anxiety and how this ties back to thyroid health. You can read more about it and find a few snippets from my interview here.

 

Dr. Izabella also has a new book that will be released next month: Hashimoto’s Protocol: A 90-Day Plan for Reversing Thyroid Symptoms and Getting Your Life Back. I have a review copy and it’s brilliant! I’ll be sharing more via a book review and interview with Dr. Izabella, taking a deep dive into infections and Hashimoto’s, so stay tuned for that.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these two presentations! For me, hearing presentations like these gives me so much optimism for the future of mental health!

I’d love to hear what has inspired you?

If you’re a practitioner and would like to attend a live Functional Forum meeting in the future or tune in online, you can register here to be notified. James and his team also offer excellent practice resources for functional medicine practitioners. We appreciate him for what he is doing for functional medicine via the Functional Forum!

 

 

Miracles, fish oil, CBD, forgiveness and mindset, with JJ Virgin, author of Miracle Mindset!

By 14 Comments

I had the pleasure of interviewing JJ Virgin for her new book called Miracle Mindset: A Mother, Her Son, and Life’s Hardest Lessons. It launches next week February 21. This book is very different from her other bestsellers, The Virgin Diet and Sugar Impact Diet which were all focused on diet and nutrition.

The Miracle Mindset is about the 7 powerful lessons JJ learned after her 16-year-old son Grant was in a brutal hit-and-run accident and left for dead.

Fighting for your son’s life inspired a new focus on mindset and the power of courage, strength, and resilience to help you not just survive, but thrive during life’s hardest moments.

You can watch our interview here:

 

This accident happened when her first book The Virgin Diet was about to come out and she was the financial support for her family, so she did everything for her son AND had to make sure the book got finished!

After the fact people kept asking her: “How did you do it?!”

Because I had gone through challenges my whole life and was used to leaning in when I was scared about something. Your comfort zone expands and you can take on more. We are stronger than you think!

When there seemed to be no hope JJ shares it was:

My mindset where I expected to see miracles, where I expect a better outcome, you see only possibility  

She discovered other colleagues had also gone through hard times and had gotten through them, playing bigger and full out.

And the next step was to teach what she had learned as lessons to help others. She shares:

The book takes you through the story, and it’s inspiring, but I wanted it to be a memoir with muscle where you could actually do something with it. You can see the possibility I created in my life. It’s a very specific story but it’s a universal message that you are stronger than you think and you’re never better than when you’re challenged. When you feel afraid you’re playing a big game and that’s where you should be.

For Grant, the things that pulled him through dark times was knowing he had a bigger purpose – even when he couldn’t see it.

These lessons apply to your health challenges, your business, your relationships, your money mindset.

JJ asked her community if you’re not where you want to be with your health right now, why is it? You would have thought it would be “I can’t give up sugar” or “I can’t give up cheese” – but no, the overarching themes were a mindset limitation:

  • I don’t feel good enough
  • I’m not worth it

We talk about the imposter syndrome and not feeling good enough. JJ shares this:

I don’t think you ever overcome it if you’re doing it right. I never even knew it was a thing. I just thought it was my thing …I’m going to get found out…I’m the fraud in this room

Instead of feeling “who am I to do this” it should be “who am I not to”

I think we need to share the struggle and show the vulnerability

When you feel like you have imposter syndrome, lean into it, step up, get courage and you’ll get more capable, more confident and stronger

We discuss asking how important it is to ask for help!

Grant was saved by a village!

We discuss brain injuries and how they can cause mood swings, depression, anxiety, dementia; how they affect the HPA axis and can contribute to insulin resistance, Hashimoto’s and more. JJ wants to get everything they did for Grant out to the world and that’s her next project!

Knowing JJ, she would always include fitness and nutrition I asked how she cared for herself during all this: 8 hours of sleep, exercise, perfect eating, and lots of water. She did allow herself coffee!

Her goal for Grant was to get him to 110% and do everything they could. The first thing they did was essential oils – peppermint, lavender, frankincense – and then progesterone cream. He was on 5g of fish oil before the accident but the doctors would only allow 2g right after the accident. Once the feeding tube was out she fed him fish oil pudding and shakes with fish oil, liquid vitamin D, probiotics and amino acids (because he was catabolic). Then she got his fish oil up to 20g and within a matter of days he called JJ speaking full sentences.   He was also given curcumin, acetyl-l-carnitine, GPC, bacopa, P5P, CBD oil, intrathecal stem cell treatments, pulsed electromagnetic field therapy, hyperbaric treatments, and neurofeedback.

The CBD oil they used was from hemp and Dr. Michael Lewis advised on this. He also helped them with the fish oil doses and is the author of When Brains Collide: What Every Athlete and Parent Should Know About the Prevention and Treatment of Concussions and Head Injuries (an excellent book on concussions and omega-3s).

It was the fish oil that was most beneficial and yet the doctors said “all we can do is wait – there is nothing we can do.” The doctors were great for what they did with the surgery but after that they didn’t have answers.

She was fortunate in that she had some of the brightest minds helping – Dr. Daniel Amen, Tana Amen, Dr. Hyla Cass, and Dr. Barry Sears and many others.

JJ shares stories of two people hitting their heads – one was depressed and suicidal. How much of mental illness could be due to a brain injury?   We know there is a high incidence of anxiety and depression a few weeks after a TBI.

She shares this about fish oils and brain injuries:

You need to start with fish oil and these other nutrients as soon as possible. Even if you had an injury years prior it’s not too late – the brain can heal at any point. A concussion is a TBI and they are additive.

I end by asking this of JJ: “I’d love to hear what lesson in the Miracle Mindset really surprised you the most?”

You’re going to have to listen to this section (starting from the 31 min mark) – it’s incredible!   (hint: you have to actively go through the process and find the gift from this)

JJ shares this about her documentary You Are Stronger Than You Think. It was really hard for her to re-live everything. But it was so important for her to do because it brings the lessons in the book to life and makes them so much more memorable!

The program that she took a core group through was the Miracle Mindset Academy and it was an amazing group of people who saw wonderful results

You never know when you’re going to be faced with life’s biggest challenges – get suited up now (and be prepared). And pass it on and pay it forward.

 She’ll be offering this Miracle Mindset Academy program again in a few weeks so stay tuned for more on this. Before this starts, JJ will be offering a no-cost Live Training event on February 25.

In the meantime…

Get a copy of the book Miracle Mindset: A Mother, Her Son, and Life’s Hardest Lessons (it launches Feb 21). I read it in 2 sittings cover to cover and never do that with a book! (stay tuned for a book review next week)

And watch the documentary You Are Stronger Than You Think online at no charge (for a few more days only). It’s incredible, heartbreaking, heartwarming and inspiring. JJ has been sharing how both her boys have been reading the comments as folks watch it and are touched.

I love that JJ experiences something, learns from it and then wants to share it to help others! I’ve seen her do this over and over again through the years that I’ve known her

If you’re moved and inspired please share and pay it forward! This is one of those once-in-a-lifetime stories. The documentary and book offer so much hope and inspiration and we can all do with more of that!

Please share your thoughts, feedback and questions below in the comments.

The Thyroid Secret online premiere and my anxiety interview

By 12 Comments

My colleague Dr. Izabella Wentz and her amazing team have produced a powerful 9-part documentary called The Thyroid Secret and it truly is groundbreaking!

Thyroid disease is one of the most overlooked diseases and is so often misdiagnosed. I see this all this time with my anxious clients.

Dr. Izabella is a dear friend of mine and suffered for years with chronic fatigue, depression, anxiety and panic attacks simply because she didn’t know she had a thyroid condition. She saw many doctors and they all said “Your labs are normal.” When she finally did get her Hashimoto’s diagnosis she still couldn’t find a doctor to help her so she read and researched and figured out her own solution! And now her mission is to share what she has learned so you don’t have to suffer like she did!

She shares this in her interview with Andrea Nakayama:

It’s really really important for a person to realize that how much control they have in their own situation, and how powerful they really are. They can help themselves.

Of course, having a coach, having a guide, having somebody who has maybe done it before with themselves or with other patients helps.

This documentary is one of your guides to educate and empower you!

If you resonate with any of these symptoms then I encourage you to join us:

  • Fatigue
  • Brain fog
  • Depression and/or anxiety and panic attacks
  • Weight gain
  • Diabetes
  • Heart disease
  • High cholesterol
  • Peripheral neuropathy
  • Goiter (which may inhibit your ability to swallow or breathe)
  • Infertility and birth defects in your children

Dr. Izabella has gathered over 100 of the TOP experts in integrative thyroid treatment to unmask the confusion and misinformation surrounding thyroid issues.

I’m honored and thrilled to have been invited to participate in the documentary!


Here is a snippet from my interview:

I’ve got an underactive thyroid. I discovered that at the same time that I was working with the naturopath, and we supported [my thyroid] nutritionally. I still need to really take care of my thyroid. The interesting thing is, a lot of the nutrients that help with anxiety also help with thyroid health. One of them is zinc, a really important nutrient for anxiety. When you’ve got low zinc levels you’ll feel more anxious, you’re prone to panic attacks, and zinc is one of the key nutrients for thyroid health.

Gluten is a factor for autoimmune thyroid conditions. I’ve got a gluten issue and I can’t eat gluten at all, so getting rid of that [out of my diet] helped my anxiety, and it also gave my thyroid a chance to recover.

There are a lot of overlaps between anxiety and thyroid problems.

A lot of people go to the doctor and get a diagnosis, you’ve got anxiety, or you’ve got depression, and they’ll be given a medication: benzodiazepine or an SSRI. It may be the thyroid that’s causing the problems.

It’s common knowledge that thyroid problems can cause depression. It’s less well recognized that thyroid problems can actually contribute to anxiety.

I actually looked at a study that was published in 2010, and they found that there was three times higher incidence of anxiety in women who have an underactive thyroid. It’s more common than a lot of people realize.

Certainly in my practice, working with anxious women (most of the people that I work with are women, I work with men as well) – most of the women that I work with, with anxiety, have thyroid issues. They either have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, they have hypothyroidism, or they may have had Graves’ in the past. It’s very, very common that I see this.

Dr. Izabella also interviewed over 50 thyroid patients who share their personal and sometimes heartbreaking stories. I love this aspect because it helps us realize that we are not alone and there is hope!

I’d love to invite YOU to the premiere of this exciting and empowering ONLINE educational event as my guest! Mark March 1st on your calendar and then click here to reserve your spot for this special online event.

The Thyroid Secret is a 9-part documentary and is available to watch online at no charge. Starting March 1st there will be a brand new episode up for you to watch each day for 24 hours until the next episode is ready

If you have thyroid disease or if you think you may have thyroid disease this documentary is not to be missed! I know I’m going to learn from Dr. Izabella and her guests too!

If you’re NOT sure if you have a thyroid condition (1 in 3 American adults actually have a thyroid condition and many don’t even know it) take the quiz to see how healthy your thyroid is!

Feel free to share with loved ones or friend who may also benefit from this valuable resource

Please share your thyroid story and questions below in the comments.