Crystal OKeefe: Welcome to the MetPro Method Podcast. I’m your host, Crystal O’Keefe, and today I’m joined by MetPro Coach Amber Velasquez. And today we’re going to be discussing all things thyroid related. Some conditions like hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, and specifically what people need to consider when using MetPro.
Amber, thank you so much for being here today.
Amber Velasquez: Hi, Crystal. Thanks so much for having me. It’s always a pleasure and I’m super excited to talk about thyroid health.
Crystal OKeefe: I am excited to talk about it too because a lot of questions come up about this all the time, and one of the things I want to make sure that I mentioned is that you are not “just a coach”.
You also have training in the nutrition side. You’re registered dietitian. Is that your official title? I want to make sure I get it right.
Amber Velasquez: Yes, that is correct. I’m a registered dietitian. So, I kind of dive into all things that relate to thyroid health. And so that’s why it’s really important that I think other people should be aware of it as well.
Crystal OKeefe: Definitely. I think we should probably start with a little bit of background for people who may not know what exactly is hypo and hyperthyroidism.
Amber Velasquez: Yeah, good question. So, hypothyroidism, which is the most common form of condition that relates to your thyroid. It’s characterized by an underactive thyroid gland, and then hyperthyroidism is the complete opposite. It’s an overactive thyroid gland.
And just to give you a little bit of background about. Um, what your thyroid is and what functions it plays in your body. So, it’s a gland and it’s part of the endocrine system and its main responsibility is to produce and regulate hormones. So, the thyroid gland produces two particular hormones.
I’ll just call them T3 and T4. The other names are a bit long and hard to pronounce, but these play crucial roles in regulating your metabolism, your growth, and your development. So, these hormones can also affect just about every other tissue and organ in your body in some way and that also helps control processes such as regulating your heart rate, energy expenditure, and so many other things so it literally can it affects your entire body. So, that thyroid gland is very very important and you’ll find it on your neck just under the Adam’s apple.
Crystal OKeefe: Okay, so like mid-section here, for those of us without an Adam’s apple.
Amber Velasquez: Yep, right in that area.
Crystal OKeefe: When it comes to MetPro, obviously we talk to people a lot about nutrition. So, is there some kind of special diet that people have to follow if they have hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism?
Amber Velasquez: Very good question. I actually get this one a lot because you would think, you know, with it being a special condition that there might be a special diet.
But there is no need for a special diet for this. It’s more so about finding what works for you and your body. I often see people that will drastically reduce their carbs or even their overall caloric intake. And that can actually do more harm than good because if you have an underactive thyroid, your metabolism is already slowing down.
And by decreasing your intake, you’re just slowing it down even more. So, you’re kind of speeding up that process of having a really slow metabolism.
Crystal OKeefe: Yeah, that’s and that’s not good, especially as we get older.
Amber Velasquez: Correct. It doesn’t need any help. It slows down on its own.
Crystal OKeefe: Exactly. What about special nutrients? If you don’t have to follow a special diet, are there special things you should be looking for every day that you want to eat or avoid?
Amber Velasquez: Yeah, so you want to make sure that you’re getting enough iodine. That’s the particular nutrient that plays a big role in thyroid health. A few items that contain iodine would be things like chicken, beef liver, which not many people like that.
But you can also get it in eggs, dairy, and iodized salt is probably the most common one that you’ll see. But you also have to be careful not to consume too much iodine because that can lead to hyperthyroidism and just like hypothyroidism, they both influence your weight in some sort. So, if your thyroid is overactive, it’ll be really hard for you to maintain weight and you will significantly reduce your weight.
Crystal OKeefe: Okay. And as some of us might kind of think, oh, that would be amazing. It would not be amazing if you couldn’t stop it though.
Amber Velasquez: Correct. That is a very good point. It sounds like it would be amazing to have an overactive thyroid, but it has just as many cons as an underactive thyroid. Just to be clear on that.
Crystal OKeefe: Now, what about medications used for thyroid problems, like either the hypo or the hyper? Do the medications that are given to people, do those affect weight loss?
Amber Velasquez: So, I will say they are not weight loss drugs. But they can definitely have an effect in helping you along with the effort that you’re putting in.
So, you of course have to have a good diet, you have to have some exercise in there, good sleep habits. So, the medications can help regulate your thyroid hormones and get them back to a normal range, which can help when you’re trying to lose weight. Now, if you’re on these medications but your diet isn’t very good, and you’re still undereating, then of course that’s not going to make or break your weight loss. So, I just want to make sure that people understand that those medications aren’t for weight loss. They’re really just to get those hormone levels back to where they need to be.
Crystal OKeefe: I guess one question I have is if you have a thyroid problem, if you’re not aware of it necessarily, how would you know that it’s back to normal or that it’s abnormal?
Are there, I’m throwing you for a loop here. I did not prepare you for this question, but I’m just curious if you know if there’s anything that would stand out to say, huh, maybe I do have something going on here with my thyroid.
Amber Velasquez: Yeah. And that’s a great question. And that’s usually how it happens. People don’t, it’s not like your thyroid is telling you, Hey, I’m out of whack. Like I need medication or I need treatment, you know? So, a lot of times people will experience a weight gain that’s unexplained. They will have brain fog, lack of energy. Sometimes they have a hard time regulating their body temperature.
So, they might always be cold or you might always be hot or vice versa. And you can often have like heart palpitations and just an irregular heartbeat. So, if you experience any of those, the best thing to do, of course, is talk to your doctor. They’ll usually run a blood test and they’ll test for your thyroid level.
So they’ll test your T3, your T4, your TSH, and all of those can indicate whether your thyroid is underactive, overactive, or if it’s functioning well.
Crystal OKeefe: Okay. And this is another follow-up to that, so you may not know the answer because this is a medical question, but if you go to the doctor for your annual just checkup, this is not something that they’re checking unless you’re having a conversation specifically about it. Is that correct?
Amber Velasquez: Yeah, that’s usually correct. There are some physicians that I know of that will automatically just test your T3 and T4 when you go for your annual blood work, but I can’t vouch for all physicians.
So, that’s something that you would likely want to just specifically mention if you have a concern about your thyroid health.
Crystal OKeefe: Okay, and then as far as MetPro goes, how can people be successful on MetPro if they have either of these conditions? Like I’m picturing somebody who’s, you know, struggling with an underactive thyroid. They’re really struggling to lose weight. How can they be successful?
Amber Velasquez: Yeah, so it’s definitely possible. I will say that MetPro is here to help make your metabolism better, and we’re here to improve that over time. So, it’s not going to happen overnight, just like anything that deals with your weight.
It’s not a quick fix, so it will take some time, a lot of consistency, and some patience. But going through different periods of using nutrient periodization is really helpful because we cycle you through higher carbs, and we’ll have you going through lower carbs at times. And… ultimately, that will help your metabolism and that can help that thyroid function well also.
So, if you have an underactive thyroid, you want to make sure that you’re not under eating. So, the times that we have, you want a higher carb intake that can actually help your metabolism. And then when we drop you down, that’s where we really focus on getting the weight to move. And if your thyroid has had time to heal a little bit, you’re on medications, then you’re much more likely, as long as you’re staying consistent, that that weight will start to move as well.
Crystal OKeefe: Okay, I guess another follow up question I have is, do people who have thyroid issues have any reaction to things like sweets or things like that? Because you mentioned no special diet, but I know that certain foods can increase our blood sugar and I didn’t know if the thyroid, since it affects so many, if it might be affected by a higher blood sugar.
Amber Velasquez: Absolutely. So those thyroid hormones are influenced by our insulin and glucagon, which is what helps regulate our blood sugar. And so, if your blood sugar is consistently out of whack and not regulated very well, then of course you’re going to have more cravings. It’s going to make it even more challenging to lose weight or even gain weight if that’s your goal.
So, blood sugar is super important and that’s another thing that we really focus on here at MetPro, is making sure that you’re working on balancing your blood sugar by eating frequent meals. Our food list is based on the glycemic index. So, we want to make sure that you’re not having too high or too low of blood sugar, which could ultimately prevent you from hitting your weight goals too.
Crystal OKeefe: Wow. Okay. This is all super, super informative. Is there anything that we missed that you want to make sure that our audience knows about the thyroid in general?
Amber Velasquez: Yeah, I would say if you can work with a dietitian, that would be best because an RD is going to help you figure out what is really going to work best for you and your body.
And then here at MetPro, we really work on improving your metabolism. So, if you have an underactive thyroid or even an overactive thyroid, we can help regulate your blood sugar to manage your metabolism, which will ultimately get you to your end goal, which could be weight loss, could be weight gain, performance based, whatever that may be.
Um, it all comes down to blood sugar, consistency in your meals and your training, and having a little bit of patience because, of course, thyroid conditions, they will make it a little more challenging, but it’s not impossible.
Crystal OKeefe: Okay, that is super good advice. I would also think, and correct me if I’m wrong, I’m thinking that for folks out there who, they’re not using MetPro, but they’re trying to lose weight maybe or trying to gain weight.
Um, to really do a lot of research on any companies or products they use to make sure that that the companies that they are working with are not taking them too low with their carbs, not taking them too high with their carbs and that they’re getting a balanced macro load is, is that your recommendation as well?
Amber Velasquez: Absolutely. Because I would say that most people that I speak to that have a thyroid condition. I’d say 90% of the time they’re under eating and it often comes from trying these fad diets or being super restrictive and that’s never recommended because it slows your metabolism, it wreaks havoc on your blood sugar, and it’s really hard to get out of that vicious cycle of trying diet after diet when nothing is working.
But all of those diets have you undereating.
Crystal OKeefe: All right. Well Amber, this has been incredibly helpful and I really appreciate your time today. Um, listeners, that’s all for this week. You can find all the MetPro Method episodes anywhere you get podcasts, or you can go to metpro.co/podcasts. Please be sure to follow the show and rate and review that lets other people know what they can expect from the show.
You can also learn more about Met pro@MetPro.co. I’m your host, Crystal O’Keefe, and I’ll be back next week. Until then, remember, consistency is key.
