Car Insurance Has No Guarantees

“Just because you have car insurance doesn’t mean you’ll never get in a car accident, there are no guarantees.  Car insurance does help you recover quicker from the car accident, physically and financially which is why it’s so important to have it.”

This is the analogy I gave my friend as she asked me how I was doing after receiving my recent diagnosis, Hashimoto’s, an autoimmune thyroid disorder, just a few weeks ago.

She asked me “are you upset at the fact that you live such a healthy life and with everything you do to prevent this in yourself, and clients, you now have it?”

I immediately replied, “absolutely not!”- and gave her my car insurance analogy.  I don’t drive around expecting not to get in a car accident because I have car insurance, I know it’s there to protect me when I do.

This is life.  It’s unpredictable, which is why it’s SO important to take care of our health as much as we can.

I’ll admit, when the results of my recent blood work and my Hashimoto’s diagnosis was revealed I was taken back a bit.  

Hashimoto’s, like other autoimmune disorders, is when the body is essentially attacking itself.  It views normal tissues as invaders or toxins, and thus declares war sending out the firing squad in the form of antibodies to take down the perceived threat.

In order to have an autoimmune disorder, three things must be in place.  You must…

1- Have the gene for it

2- Have leaky gut, resulting in a lot of inflammation

3- Encounter an environmental trigger, signaling the troops to attack

Like a lot of clients I work with, I had no idea what my family history of autoimmune disorders was and therefore I had no idea if I had the gene for it.  

This is just one of the motivating factors I have for living a healthy life. If I don’t know, I might as well protect myself against it anyways.  Same as we don’t know if or when we might get in a car accident ,so it’s best to have car insurance just in case you do.

Here I am living this uber healthy life and yet I still end up with Hashimoto’s, what gives?

In this week’s video and blog I give you the breakdown on what lead to my Hashimoto’s, how I’m ensuring I put this autoimmune disorder into remission and what you can do to prevent it as much as possible.

As I mentioned earlier, besides having the gene for an autoimmune disorder, two other things must also be in place: leaky gut/inflammation and an environmental trigger.

Environmental triggers can come in all kinds of forms and it just so happens that they contribute to leaky gut and inflammation too.  Triggers can be…

• Gluten and dairy
• Certain species of parasites, bacteria, yeast
• Mold, heavy metals and chemical or toxin exposures
• Chronic, unrelenting stress
• Other hormones that are out of balance in the body

My known triggers are mold and estrogen dominance.

I started working from home full time about 2 years ago and it wasn’t until May of this year that I discovered mold in our house.  I have no idea how long I had been exposed to it but I can tell you that looking back now my body was giving me signs as early as a year ago.

Only one quarter of the population will display symptoms of mold toxicity, which is why it can be so hard to diagnose.  Four people can be living in the same house and only one of them could be showing physical symptoms of mold exposure.

Mycotoxins (aka toxins from mold) lead to an increase in inflammation, contribute to leaky gut, a depressed immune system and elevated estrogen levels.

Elevated estrogen was my first clue.  I thought estrogen dominance was causing my recent weight gain, acne and bouts of low mood.  I tackled the estrogen issue and everything went away except for the weight and the occasional pimple that I thought was just a part of PMS.

Still feeling frustrated about my weight, I dove in deeper and decided to run some routine lab work and to re-check my thyroid although it had been normal back in February.

Out of the 11 pages of results, absolutely every marker looked perfect, except my thyroid antibodies, they were elevated just enough to be considered Hashimoto’s.

The great thing about autoimmune disorders is that with the right healthy lifestyle factors in place you can put them into remission.

This is where my car insurance comes into play.

Luckily I’m already practicing 90% of the lifestyle factors that keep autoimmune issues at bay.  

I eat an anti-inflammatory diet

I get plenty of sleep

I exercise but don’t over-train

I’ve been taking supplements to support balance in my body

I practice meditation daily to offset any stress in my life

I use non-toxic lotions, make up, hair and cleaning products

These are the simple things you can do too in order to prevent an autoimmune gene from flexing its power.

While I’m not always perfect at those things, I will be focusing on tightening up my healthy habits and eating an autoimmune Paleo diet for the next few months to heal my body.

In addition, I’m also in the process of eliminating the known triggers in my life; mold and toxins.

Eliminating or minimizing toxin exposure is HUGE for autoimmune issues.

I will be investigating the mold situation in our house to make sure it’s completely removed, and in a non-toxic way.  

I’m also running a few more tests to take a closer look at the toxins that might be built up in my body so I can better support the elimination process with some strategic supplements such as acetylated glutathione.  

I’m determined to not let this Hashimoto’s get the better of me; I’m committed to getting to the root of the problem and fixing it.  This is what a Health Boss does.

I was hesitant to share my story with you at first because I was worried about what people might think of the “Wholistic Health Boss” getting sick, that maybe you would question my credibility.

I decided to share my story with you because I’m only human.  I hope that by sharing my story it might help you uncover what could be affecting you or a loved one. If you’re just not feeling like yourself, I want you to feel empowered to find an answer.

If you want to learn more about your risk for autoimmune disorders, thyroid function, how mold and other environmental triggers can can be affecting your health, or anything else related to your health, schedule a complimentary Ideal Health & Weight Discovery Session with me here.

P.S.  Want to read more about autoimmunity and thyroid?  Check out two of my favorite books The Autoimmune Solution and Thyroid Connection by Dr. Amy Myers (and you can get them as audio books to breeze through them in the car!)