Have you caught Agony Aunts on ABC yet (Wednesdays 9.30pm…or iview if you missed the first ep). It’s a lovely show.

The producer Adam Zwar(he made Wilfred) and I met about 10 years ago when we both wrote a relationship-ish column in the Sunday Herald Sun. Funny to come full circle. He’s an ace guy with a delicate touch. The series Agony Uncles was friggen amazing. The guy really knows how to drill down into hearts to get intimate answers.

I thought I’d share this “outtake” about wing women. I’m sharing it, in part, because it’s an interesting example of how CRAP I can look (despite having profressional makeup on) when my thyroid is playing up. I know there are a lot of images of me out there looking all fancy and shiny and GOOD. But how about I balance things out a little!

Yes. This is what happens on a thyroidy day: my face puffs up, my eyes go wonky, I get strained, my skin sends makeup funny shades (um, oompah-loompah woman!) and I develop a lisp.

But don’t let that put you off watching the series…ep 2 is this Wednesday night.

Hands down the biggest comfort to anyone with AI is to know the crazy-weird stuff they’re experiencing…isn’t so crazy-weird. Or at least, other people on the planet are going through the same crazy-weirdness.

image via 'Sweet pics dude'

The whys and how comes of AI remain, largely and bloody frustratingly, a mystery. But ask anyone with the condition and they will no doubt have a gut or emotional sense of what it’s all about. I have AI because I have lessons I need to learn. I have to slow down and enjoy life more. I yearn this and so my AI is here to ensure I get it. One day.

Someone sent me the below “letter from my disease”. As always, if you don’t have an AI or chronic illness, bear in mind that an AI is merely an extreme version of the dis-ease I think so many of us are feeling. When you have an AI, the reminders of the dis-ease are just louder.

If you’re new to this blog, you might like to catch up on some auto immune and hashimotos reading here.

The letter was originally posted on a UK thyroid support group forum and has circulated a little.  It struck me as uncanny how many AI phenomena it raises that I thought were just Me Things. Like:

* it rears its grim head on days when you’re looking forward to something

* it stems from a trauma. Yep, tick. Mine was a series of traumas that conflated.

* the Hashimoto’s roundabout ALWAYS involves seeing 23847239 doctors before you get something resembling traction.

You might have read a column by a former colleague of mine Mia Freedman recently where she questioned people’s food intolerances, specifically gluten, and avoidance of certain foods, specifically sugar. Funnily, I’m both intolerant to gluten and had to quit sugar due to an autoimmune disease.

I was asked during Monday’s webinar for my thoughts. Which I shared. Sadly, it wasn’t saved (the webinar, that is…sorry!). And so I thought I’d post a more detailed response to some of the questions Mia asked, such as, Why so many intolerances? And, Why now? And, Really?

Pic by Jason Schembri

First up. I agree with this point: evangelists are painful. Sharing of information is good. Being your message is ace. And, always, doing your own thing is cool. But preaching does no one favours.

But as David Gillespie wrote during the week on Twitter in reaction to the column, most folk who don’t eat gluten or sugar don’t talk about it….until they’re interrogated as to why they’re not eating their cake.

People want details. They want proof. They want to learn more. Sometimes they want to catch you out.

As to whether quitting sugar has merits…you can catch up here and here. 

As to whether gluten intolerances are valid, and to the issue of “why suddenly now”… well…I’m going to share facts. No evangelising.

OK, it’s been a while since I’ve done an auto-immune post (for those new here, you can find the backlog of AI posts here). But I’m going to start up a bit of a series again. For reasons I feel it’s worth explaining.

photo via Colin Hill flickr

NOTE: For anyone who DOESN’T have an AI…

1. be damn glad

2. you’ll still very much find these posts helpful.

Any tips that help an AI disease are tips that go to the absolute heart of good health and top living.

What I share is only good, fundamental, well, ways to live the good, good life.

3. feel free to forward this link to a friend who does have an AI. I think they’ll like you more for it.

So, my update. My hashimotos has gone a little haywire over the past few months. As a result I’ve had to pull back on a few commitments (you might have noticed…my book, my column) and I’ve been digging deeper into some of the craziness going on, trying out some new techniques, like going paleo and talking to folk like Chris Kresser and Nora Gedgaudas. I’m starting to get some traction in my understanding if not my health.

I know some of you have asked: how BAD do you actually get. You’re not being rude. My friends and family have to ask the same because when I’m BAD, I go M.I.A. So they don’t really see thyroidy me. It’s hard for them to get it. I kind of exit stage left when I’m BAD, not so much due to shame (tho’ that does have a bit to do with it), but because when I’m “thyroidy” I simply can’t face the world. Dark, cool rooms. Not moving. That’s pretty much the spectrum.

On days like this I revert to this intentional resting technique.

When I made the decision to pull back and recalibrate a few months ago I was unable to function 4-5 days a week. It had been about one day a fortnight previously – which I could deal with. But the uggggh days crept up on me. I almost didn’t notice. Until I did.

I posted my interview with Nora Gedgaudas last week that detailed the whole paleo diet thing. I’m two weeks in and am noticing amazing differences – which I’ll report back on.

Photo by Santiago Design

Anyway, I know a lot of readers on this site have an auto-immune disease of some sort. Nora very kindly talked me through her tips for anyone suffering AI, specifically hashimotos. It all fits. I’ve been told for years the paleo diet is ideal for AI issues. I thought you AI types out there would find it useful (apologies to everyone else…and apologies for my rambly chat…I was having a very “thyroidy” day that day…and you know how that goes…)

Remember, Nora’s out here in Australia in November with Nourishing Australia. I really recommend making it to one of the sessions.

Chat with Nora_Gedgaudas - 2 [ 40:21 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Nora then went the extra mile and emailed me to confirm many of her complex points (your head spinning much from listening to the above?). I love that she uses the word “modulation” as the approach that needs to be taken.

It’s so very much about modulation.

The primary issue at hand is IMMUNE function (specifically, a need for immune modulation).

Most if not nearly all cases of autoimmune thyroid are profoundly tied to gluten sensitivity and/or celiac disease (either as an initiating or complicating issue).  Avoiding ALL gluten and whatever cross-reactive compounds you have a sensitivity to should be 100%, immediate and permanent.  Nearly all available testing for gluten sensitivity currently is quite unreliable…so if you think you aren’t gluten sensitive you may want to seriously reconsider revisiting this though more in depth testing.  If it were me, I’d just assume an issue with gluten and avoid it like the plague.

Healing your gut is hugely important in this.  It will be impossible, btw, without generating healthy glutathione levels.

Shoot for between 80-100 ng/mL 25 OHD (vitamin D) in blood tests.

On Friday I had the indescribable joy of chatting to Nora Gedgaudas on Skype. Nora wrote the paleo living bible Primal Body, Primal Mind and is a gem of a woman.

photo via The Alkaline Sisters

In a nutshell, the premise of her thinking is this:

* our genealogy hasn’t changed since Paleolithic times when we ate fat, protein and low-starch veggies.

* our diet has changed to a high carb/sugar/starch diet, with the introduction of the agricultural period 10,000 years ago, which our bodies have not been able to adjust to…which makes us sick and tired.

Ergo:

We need to eat MORE FAT and ELIMINATE CARBS for optimal health and longevity.

Perhaps the most home-hitting point she makes is this:

Fat doesn’t make us fat, fat eaten with carbs does

and:

We aren’t what we eat, we’re how we metabolise what we eat

If you’re interested in all this, her book is seriously the go-to bible. I went crazy with my highlighter and post-it reading it last week. And for auto-immune/hashimoto sufferers…it almost caters directly to our conditions (Nora’s family all have hashimotos).

The great news is: Nora’s also out here in Australia in November speaking at universities in Sydney, Armidale and the Gold Coast. I’ll be at the Goldie to see her speak. It will be rad.

But in the meantime…our chat:

Chat with Nora Gedgaudas Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Some of you asked some questions via twitter on key points of the paleo diet. I thought I’d spell things out a little, because they’re themes that I’ve touched on a lot on this blog. My sugar quitting philosophy is similar, ditto my exercise approach.

But aren’t grains needed by our bodies?

It would appear not. They contain no essential nutrients we can’t get from elsewhere in more effective ways. They’ve traditionally been eaten when fat and protein haven’t been around (and, thus, signal to the body there’s a famine going on). Since we have the option not to eat them, why would we? Especially given the below…