Recently, I interviewed Megan Roosevelt, and we talked about her story, from initial symptoms and diagnosis to her decision to forgo conventional medication in favor of natural methods, the importance of personalized care, the role of nutrition in supporting thyroid health. If you would prefer to listen to the interview you can access it by Clicking Here [1].
Dr. Eric Osansky:
I am very excited to chat with today’s guest, Megan Roosevelt. We are going to have a conversation about Graves’ Disease. Megan, like myself, took a natural approach to Graves’. Very excited to chat with Megan.
Let me dive into her bio here: Megan Roosevelt is a registered dietician, nutritionist, author, photographer, videographer, founder of Healthy Grocery Girl, and creator of The Thyroid Balance course. Megan takes a holistic approach to wellness by focusing on the whole body in addition to nutrition. Megan is a mom of two and passionate about helping people live their healthiest life. Thank you so much for joining us, Megan.
Let’s get a little bit into your background. You have a very popular YouTube channel, Healthy Grocery Girl. If you could talk about how long you have had the channel for? Then we’ll lead into your Graves’ condition, which I think was in 2015. Let’s start with Healthy Grocery Girl. How long have you had the channel for?
Megan Roosevelt:
If you look at the channel, I registered the channel in 2010. Probably about 10 years ago, I really started actively creating content once a week for my channel. I did that for many, many years. Then I had my daughter. Even after having her, I was like, okay, I can keep up with this. Then I had my son. Then there was the pandemic. Then I was like, I can’t keep cranking out a video every single week.
My channel has slowed down over the past few years as priorities, my energy, my time has shifted a little bit, now having two small children. I love YouTube. It’s such a great way to connect with so many people. I do post on YouTube. I have actually been posting again more frequently. I would say I really have been involved in creating content for our channel for about the past 10 years.
Dr. Eric:
Wonderful. How long have you been a dietician for?
Megan:
13 or 14 years. I don’t remember the exact year that I passed my test, got my credentials. I believe 2009 or 2010. Somewhere around there.
Dr. Eric:
Makes sense. Before the channel began, since the channel was around 2010.
Megan:
Yeah, I got my credentials as a dietician and tried the traditional RD route of more clinical work. I did a little bit of that, applied for a lot of things, and realized that wasn’t the best fit for my personality, so I started my own business. That has evolved to so many things over the years. I became a dietician first, did clinical work, then did personal nutrition coaching. Then it’s just evolved into what it is now.
Dr. Eric:
One other question with Healthy Grocery Girl: How long did it take for it to really take off? You have a really popular channel. I forget how many subscribers you have. Was it something that right off the bat, six months into the channel, or did it take a number of years?
Megan:
It was never super fast. I have never been someone who has created anything, and it’s gone viral. It’s always been consistent, slow growth. But I would say that when I started my YouTube channel, I guess it would probably be around 2014/2015/2016.
I feel like in those years, YouTube was still kind of fresh and new. That whole YouTuber persona, I feel like I got into the YouTube space. Instagram existed, but that was still new. Snapchat was new. There was no Instagram stories. Back then, if you wanted to watch video content, you went to YouTube, because there wasn’t video content on Instagram yet. I got in kind of early there, and that definitely helped with the growth. Just like anything, if you join something once a lot of people are doing it, then it’s a little bit harder to get started. It’s just been a slow build over the years.
I have been doing it for 10 years. I think I have 124,000 subscribers now. In the grand scheme of things, I’m not actually that big. A lot of people have millions of subscribers. I have never created something, and it was just like boom, super popular. Just like our health, it’s consistent, showing up, and that’s how there is improvement.
Dr. Eric:
I found you through at least one of your Graves’ videos—you have a few of them out there. With me, I was diagnosed with Graves’, and then I had my YouTube channel and website. With you, you already had the Healthy Grocery Girl channel, and then you were diagnosed with Graves’. Then you were faced with is it something you want to share with everybody, which you did. I don’t know if that was a tough decision. Do I really want to go on video and reveal this to everybody? Which you did. Let’s talk a little bit about that. It was 2015 that you were diagnosed?
Megan:
I think 2016. It was around that time, very close. I think it was the end of 2015. Technically January. I went back and looked at my channel yesterday. When was I exactly?
The story there is that my husband and I were ready to start a family. After a year of not getting pregnant, I thought, it’s been a whole year. It’s probably a good time to meet with a fertility doctor. I had done bloodwork within that year, and everything was fine. When I met with a fertility doctor, that’s when the tests came back that my thyroid was off. Before we could even move forward, because we were thinking about doing IVF or other options, with any fertility options, he said, “You need to meet with an endocrinologist to fix your thyroid first.” That’s when I met with her and did some other testing and was diagnosed.
It was really disheartening because I’ve always been, out of my family and my circle of friends, the healthiest person. Even with my channel, I was like, am I a fraud? You almost feel as someone who is a health professional, somehow you should be immune to health conditions. That’s just not realistic because we’re humans.
It was very vulnerable for me to share that content. I feel like the first round of videos that I shared, maybe people were like, “Wait, this is so different than your normal content.” I think the video that has gone the most, I wouldn’t say viral but that has gotten the most views and is the inspiration for this course that I’ll talk about later that I created, because I get messages from people every single week. I just sat down and shared my story more, just like at my kitchen table.
When I was going through my health struggles, it was so comforting to hear from other people who have been where you are at and hear what they have done, not to feel so alone in the journey. Sharing that video, it’s very vulnerable, but at the same time, I feel like we have to do that because we need to be able to humanize ourselves and help other people. If there can be something good that has come out of this not good thing, maybe it can help other people with their journey.
Dr. Eric:
I think it was that video that I found. Later on, I found out there were some others that were done earlier. I forgot how I found you. I was probably just doing random searching for Graves’ Disease. Sometimes, I see who else is out there. Glad you shared your story.
Can you talk about some of the symptoms you experienced? If I recall, it wasn’t crazy symptoms. A lot of them were more subclinical.
Megan:
Yeah. It’s interesting because that was a really stressful time of my life. Sometimes, when we’re stressed, it’s hard to know, am I feeling crummy because I’m stressed and experiencing this hard thing in my life? Or is it something else?
I didn’t have bulging eyes. I didn’t really have a bulging neck. I felt pretty good other than being incredibly stressed because it’s so hard when you want to start a family, and you are not getting pregnant. Every month, it’s this rollercoaster of emotions.
My main symptoms for me were anxiety. I have always been an anxious person, but it was a very heightened time of anxiety for me.
Also, rapid heart. I could feel my heart beating faster. I got a blood pressure cuff because when I was home, I was fine. Everything was normal. It was like my heart rate would easily elevate, and I would become very anxious. If I was waiting at the doctor’s office, and they were late because most doctors’ appointments are, my heart would beat fast, and I’d get really sweaty. Anything that was uncomfortable for me, it was heightened. Instead of being a little bit agitated, I felt very anxious and stressed. It’s a stressful situation, too.
I remember waiting at the endocrinologist’s office, and I would go in the back room and get toilet paper and cold water and was trying to cool myself down. It was such a stressful time. My body was also super stressed as well. Those are my main symptoms: anxiety and the rapid heart rate.
That was one of the reasons that I didn’t really suspect anything was wrong because I didn’t really have any other symptoms besides those.
Dr. Eric:
I definitely had overt symptoms with the elevated resting heart rate and palpitations. In my case, I can’t say I had crazy anxiety, but everybody experiences different symptoms. Did you lose any weight when dealing with Graves’?
Megan:
I was very thin back then, but I’ve always been a person on the thinner side. I’m only 5’2”, and now I’ve had kids. Your body is completely different after children. In general, I am a smaller-framed person. But I was definitely much thinner. I do think I did lose some weight. If I didn’t have Graves’, I would maybe be 5-10 pounds heavier. When I look back at pictures, that whole time, oh yeah, I was really thin. In general, it’s not like I was 50 pounds lighter or something. I’m a small person. I’m only 5’2”. I was probably my thinnest when I had Graves’.
Dr. Eric:
I brought it up because one of the classic symptoms is weight loss. Some people actually gain weight though; not everybody loses weight. For some people, it’s more extreme. I weigh more than you, so I lost 42 pounds. For me, that’s a lot. With you, you would probably vanish away based on what you described as far as being petite. Even 5-10 pounds, 15 pounds, when someone is petite, is a lot of weight.
Let’s talk about antithyroid medication. When I dealt with Graves’, I also had a decision to make. I did not want to take the methimazole, which is commonly prescribed. I have worked with a lot of people who have taken it. I don’t tell people not to take the medication. You’re also not a medical doctor, so I’m sure you don’t tell people not to take it. It’s a personal decision.
Like you, when I dealt with Graves’, I had no idea what would work and what didn’t work, so I took the herbs, bugleweed and motherwort. I had no idea if they would help, but I wanted to give it a try. If I had to take the medication, I would take it, but I wanted to try to avoid it if at all possible. I think you have a similar story with that, right?
Megan:
Absolutely. A lot of the things you’re saying, I can relate to. When I was diagnosed, I felt like I was this body coming into the office, being given information. There was no customization. Even in the office, at that appointment, where I was sweating, she took my blood pressure and said I needed blood pressure medication. I think I was 30 then around that time. I was still young. I’m not taking blood pressure medication. It’s completely fine when I’m at home. It was just so quick. “You’re in my office. Your blood pressure is elevated. Here’s your medication.” The pharmacy is telling me to pick it up. I didn’t want this medication.
With my options then, I could have radiation, surgery, or medication. I am a dietician. I was at that time. I know how powerful food and nutrition can be in our health. Out of curiosity, because thyroid health at that time was so new to me, I asked her, “Is there anything I can do nutritionally?” She said, “Nutrition has nothing to do with it. These are the three options.” I said, “Okay, thank you. I’ll think about it.” I left, and I didn’t believe that was the only way.
I went to the library and checked out every book I could find on autoimmune conditions, thyroid, everything. I first needed to learn more. Before I say “Okay” and sign up for these things, because I didn’t feel super awful, I felt like I had a little bit of time. Everybody will be different. I at least had a couple weeks to make a decision. Let me take a moment to learn what’s out there.
I read and read and read and read. All these light bulbs started going off, connections of things. I think I wanted to meet with a naturopath and talk about this more. That’s when I met with a naturopath. This is probably bad to say, but I feel a little bit self-conscious, like an annoying patient, because I come with so much information. I read this, and I read this, and I really feel like I try to be a partner in my health, not just be like, “What do you think I should do?” and try that.
Working with her, luckily, a lot of the things she was recommending, testing that we did, it was all aligned with what I was reading about. For me, just like you said, I have never felt like I would never take medication. If I absolutely needed it, and if that’s what’s best for me, then I would do that. Why don’t I try a natural option first and see? I never want to live with regret. Let me just try it. If it doesn’t work, and my body won’t respond to anything natural, and that’s the only thing, then I’ll do medication. But let me try these other options.
I was very determined. It wasn’t just me in this picture of getting my body healthy. I wanted a family. I wanted a baby. I have to get healthy to start my family. I was very motivated by that. I decided not to do medication. I’m grateful that doing all of the things that I did, I was able to have all my numbers come back to a normal range and get pregnant and have my daughter and then go on to have my son.
I don’t know if you want to talk about what I did in more detail because I don’t want to ramble on too much. But that’s my response about medication.
Dr. Eric:
We’ll talk more about what you did. I do want to say it’s very common for endocrinologists to have that response when someone asks about diet and lifestyle, saying diet is not going to help, that there is nothing natural that you could do. It’s pretty much the options you mentioned: medication, surgery, or radioactive iodine. I’m glad based on your background, you decided not to have iodine or surgery.
I definitely want to talk to you about diet. Everybody is different. I think you probably would agree that there is not a single diet that is a perfect fit for everyone. Prior to the diet that you followed for Graves’, I’m pretty sure you were following a plant-based diet. I forget if it was vegan or vegetarian. I’d like to talk about the diet you were following prior to being diagnosed with Graves’, and then the diet you were following while you were dealing with Graves’, and then your current diet as well.
Megan:
Nutrition, that’s what I do as a dietician. How I was eating didn’t cause my Graves’. It’s important that we don’t think of this label of this diet is the reason or the cure because it’s not that simple. How I was eating before is not negative, and it’s not like because I was eating that way before, it caused my thyroid condition. This is my story of what I’ve been eating.
Prior to that, I was vegan. I actually feel really good when I eat that way. I feel very energetic. Amazing digestion. I feel my best when I’m eating lots of plant-based foods, fruits and vegetables. I love to eat. For me, eating really healthy in that way, you can eat more. It was wonderful because I could have this huge bowl of food for dinner with all this stuff. I was eating vegan.
But I stopped eating dairy when I was in college because I actually ended up going to the ER. I was pretty stubborn about giving up dairy, as I feel like a lot of people can be. I had bad digestive issues. I went to the ER for it once. This was in college. I actually met with a dietician before becoming one. She said, “Maybe you’re lactose-intolerant.” I never thought about that before. I apparently am. Cutting out dairy has been huge for me. I haven’t had dairy in a really long time.
I was still eating gluten. That was one of the things I changed. I followed this six-month, very strict diet as part of my protocol for my thyroid health. Doing different tests is what catered to why I ate how I did.
I did some food allergy testing. I did have some foods that were higher allergen foods, but not because I was actually allergic to them. It was thought because of my leaky gut and my gut dysbiosis that they were causing more of an inflammatory response. For the six-month protocol, I stopped eating those foods just to give my body a rest from anything that was causing inflammation.
What was interesting is pretty much all the foods on that list that were in the red for being an allergen, this was my grocery shopping list. This is the main foods I eat every day. That was tricky: don’t eat almonds. I can’t remember the other things on there, garlic and peanut butter and some basic foods. I ate peanut butter every day. I paused those.
I also tested for candida. I was trying to eat a very low sugary, starchy diet. For six months, I didn’t eat anything with added sugar. If I had sugar, it was a little bit of fruit, and I stuck to low sugar fruits like green apples and berries.
I started out eating more paleo because that is a lot of autoimmune things that you come across on the paleo side. Very against grains and legumes. It was the opposite of how I was eating.
Similar to meeting with the endocrinologist, my gut was like, “I don’t like this. It doesn’t feel right for my body.” I don’t like a lot of animal protein actually. I have never eaten a lot of red meat. I have never even liked anything pork-related, even since I was a little kid. It didn’t feel right for my body. I remember being on a walk with my husband and crying about the food. This was so hard. It’s so hard to eat so different than how I’m used to. I don’t even like what I’m eating. I just have to do this my own way. I have to make a custom plan. I want this to work. I want to eat the foods that are going to help my body, but I also have to enjoy what I’m eating, and it can’t be adding so much extra stress onto my plate that the net stress is also negative for my health.
I did more research on things. I remember deciding to add in some beans and grains, but being mindful of how much I’m having. Maybe I have no more than half a cup of rice in a day, or grains. Maybe that’s oatmeal. Let’s starve off the candida.
I did incorporate some more animal proteins back into my diet. I still eat those to this day. Fish and chicken. At the time, on my food allergy list, there was no eggs, so I wasn’t eating those during those six months. It’s kind of a blend of paleo but also very heavy in plant-based diet. For those six months, I was really mindful of sugar and starches as well.
So many people in my family, “I don’t know how you ate that way.” It was very strict. I ate a lot of the same things. I didn’t eat out at any restaurants for six months. I was always making my own things. When we’d go to a family member’s house, I would have my own food. I was so laser-focused on healing body, having family. That was my focus.
Eating this way is not supposed to be how you’re supposed to eat forever. It was this plan of getting my body functioning back into a good place. Then it was an elimination diet. It was reintroducing foods back in. Because I have been pregnant, so I was a lot more lenient with what I ate when I was pregnant.
Now, how I eat is pretty similar. I still eat gluten-free and dairy-free. It is more of that blend of paleo, plant-based. I really focus on lots of vegetables, lots of fruits. I do eat nuts and seeds and legumes. Gluten-free, whole grains. Very low sugar still. I don’t deprive myself from things. I don’t really like sugary things, like I don’t crave cake. But if I want a brownie or something, I’ll make brownies at home. I really focus more on whole foods, organic.
Just full circle, back to what you said at the beginning of your question. It’s really important to learn about your body and what works well for you. We do ourselves a disservice when we take a label and follow all the rules of that label and eat just like somebody else does or what worked for them. What are your triggers? Are there certain foods that when you eat them, you notice it gives you a headache or digestive distress? Maybe you don’t have to eat completely paleo and avoid these certain things because maybe that’s not what’s best for your body.
I think this journey of my nutrition personally has really been learning about letting go of labels and making a unique custom diet that really has helped my body not only with my health, but it helps me be healthy, it is foods that I enjoy, and it’s also maintainable and sustainable. It doesn’t feel like I’m on this strict diet.
Dr. Eric:
Thank you for sharing that. It sounds like you were on a real strict paleo, really closer to autoimmune paleo because you said you weren’t eating eggs. Initially, no grains or legumes. Did they tell you to avoid nightshades initially?
Megan:
Possibly. I don’t remember that. I may have. It was very strict. I felt like I had a very small list of what I could eat at first.
Dr. Eric:
Then you made a transition, listening to your body into a modified paleo, where you are having some grains, some legumes. Still mostly plant-based, so you are eating some meat, but still predominantly plant-based. That’s what I recommend for most people, too.
If you’re familiar with a carnivore diet, pretty much mostly meat. Carnivore diet is all animal-based protein. The approach I take is typically more plant-based and also getting enough protein and eating meats, not just loading up and just focusing on meat and very little vegetables and fruits. Sounds like you are incorporating some of that. You’re no longer vegan, but you’re still predominantly plant-based.
Megan:
I feel really good when I eat a lot of plant-based foods. We try to make meals like soups. If last week’s soup was a lot of vegetables with chicken, then the next week I will do a bean and veggie soup to mix up some lunches. For dinner, some nights, we’ll do salmon, sweet potatoes, and asparagus; we’ll do things with chicken. I do incorporate beans and gluten-free grains, but I really try to focus- I think that’s one area that everybody lacks in, is more vegetables. Vegetables, vegetables, vegetables. Here is the protein, but how can we add vegetables? We try to have two different vegetables at dinner. In my smoothies. The more veggies you can add in the day, the better.
Dr. Eric:
I didn’t know you’re a smoothie person as well. You drink your smoothies, too?
Megan:
Every day. I sometimes think I should mix things up, but I just love them. I have been drinking them for breakfast for a decade straight.
Dr. Eric:
I do, too. Like you, I load it with vegetables. A long time ago, I didn’t like vegetables, so they were more fruit-based, and I would add lettuce. It did take time before I added in as many vegetables as I currently do. Now I definitely enjoy them.
One more quick question with diet: I’m curious. With legumes, beans, do you prepare in a special way? Do you soak them? Do you use a pressure cooker for them?
Megan:
We really like our Instant Pot. I use that a lot for cooking because it’s so fast. All my soups, I make in there. I go back and forth because I’m a mom of two small children and run our business. The ideal situation is I would buy my beans and soak them and cook them. When I’m feeling like I have the energy and time for that, I do that. I also will get beans at Whole Foods, so the Tetra Pak of beans. I rinse them really well, and those get cooked really well in the Instant Pot.
My kids love beans. We eat so many beans in my house. We’re a huge bean family. It’s great. The kids will want beans with salad dressing for lunch, and they eat that. We go through so many black beans. But they’re so good for you. Those are some of the ways we prepare beans.
I will say I do notice that certain beans cause my stomach to feel a little bit more gaseous. It’s important to know what beans work for you and how they’re prepared. The more you cook them, the easier they are to digest. Different beans can impact different people’s digestion differently.
Also, if you’re not used to beans, the motto of introduce them slow and then grow from there. My kids could eat a cup of beans easily and have no issues with them. If you’re not used to that, if you don’t eat beans at all, and suddenly you’re eating two cups of beans a day, that may cause issues for you. You could start with adding a couple of tablespoons of beans to your salad or soup. Our body can adjust to the fiber.
It’s also good to be mindful. I know that when I eat a lot of these beans, sometimes my stomach doesn’t like those as much, but I have no issues with these beans. One of the best things we can do is be so aware of what works well for our own body.
Dr. Eric:
Well said. Thanks again for sharing that.
Let’s talk more about the testing. You said you did candida testing, food sensitivity testing. I also heard you say elsewhere that you did heavy metal testing. Of course, blood testing. You had if I recall not only the antibodies for Graves’ but also the antibodies for Hashimoto’s, correct?
Megan:
Yeah. I did a lot of testing. Huge bloodwork panel testing. We did the heavy metal testing. I did not do the hair analysis; it was urine-based. I did a chelation therapy, these capsules I took. I forget the duration. It was quite a few weeks. That is how I did the chelation of the heavy metals.
I had two on the high side that were kind of odd. We couldn’t figure out why I had those. One of my theories is I was drinking tap water at the time in Los Angeles County. That has also been something I have switched and never looked back: drinking filtered water. You never know exactly what’s going to be in your tap water.
I did food allergy testing, candida, heavy metal testing. What was the other thing you mentioned?
Dr. Eric:
Blood testing, the thyroid panel, thyroid antibodies.
Megan:
Yes, and the antibodies for Graves’ and Hashimoto’s. I had Graves’. Had my kids, and everything was fine. After my son, I just felt awful. There is post-partum awful, but there is “Am I supposed to feel this way forever?”
After both children, it’s what’s true of my body: I would always gain a lot of weight after my kids were born. Part of it was nursing. I feel like my body liked to hold onto fat afterwards to help me produce breast milk for them. I’d have these babies, I’d lose some weight, and be like, “Yay, I’m losing some baby weight.” Then I would gain 10-15 pounds.
Part of that was I swung the other way. I know that you can also have post-partum thyroiditis. Because your hormones are so wonky after having a baby, and if you have a history of a thyroid condition, like your body can be all over the place. For me, I got tested and swung to the hypothyroid side after my son. That was a little bit like, okay, here we are again. If this was Graves’, I knew exactly what to do. I know the herbs. But it was interesting because I have now been on both sides. I have done the natural thing again to get back into the normal range.
For me, I know stress has been a huge trigger for me. It probably sounds like a broken record of what is true for you? For me, when I look at this journey of my thyroid, what preceded each of these times when my thyroid was out of balance? I went through very stressful situations prior. I was very stressed out about getting pregnant. My best friend at the time passed away. That was very stressful. I had all this stress, and our thyroid is so easily impacted by stress. After my children, being sleep-deprived, nursing a three-month-old is exhausting. Sleep deprivation is exhausting. There is the pandemic. My body was not happy. I’ve really had to learn how to help my body. It’s interesting because if someone is like, “Oh, I have hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism,” I’ve had both. I know what it feels like on either end.
As of today, I do bloodwork to check up on it. I’m grateful to be in a good spot now.
Dr. Eric:
That was my next question: Do you do regular blood work? Is it once a year to make sure everything is in check?
Megan:
With my son, I was going more frequently. I don’t know why. I think I was working on my hormones, too. I wanted to check on those. Being a woman, having thyroid issues. Traditionally, it’d be every six months. If I feel like I’m really wanting to monitor something.
Once things are well, the last time I checked my bloodwork was almost a year ago. I’ll do an annual appointment with my doctor and have everything run again. If everything is good, then I’ll do it a year later. If I feel off, then I’ll ask to go check it.
But I like not to. I like going a whole year and having a healthy year. I don’t want to keep getting blood draws. When I had Graves’, it was so many blood draws. Who enjoys getting their blood drawn that often? Now, it’s about once a year as long as everything is good.
Dr. Eric:
Sounds good. Do you do other tests like Vitamin D or CBC? Not just the thyroid but other tests as well.
Megan:
I do the complete blood count, Vitamin D. I check my iron because my iron has been low. It can be really common for people with hypothyroidism and being a woman to have low iron levels. That’s important to check, too. If you feel exhausted, and your hair is falling out, and these other things that can be symptoms of hypothyroidism, it’s good to check your iron and ferritin levels.
I have also been checking my hormones, like my estradiol. Coming off of nursing my kids and pregnancy, I had my kids pretty close together, back-to-back. For about four years straight, I didn’t have any break. I was either pregnant or breast-feeding for four years straight. There was no pause in between because they overlapped. I got pregnant with my son while I was still breast feeding my daughter. I breast fed her through my first trimester. My body had four years or more of not being in a place where I could just focus on myself and heal. My body is for my children. It took me a while. It took me at least 2-3 years after my son was born to feel really good again.
I am healthy. I am sleeping better. My anxiety is better. My hormones are better. That was something else I was keeping my eye on. Vitamin D as well. I think those are the main ones. I do check other things as well because they can also impact thyroid health.
Dr. Eric:
How about supplements? Besides the herbs to manage your symptoms, do you remember some of the other supplements you took? Are you still taking some of those same supplements?
Megan:
When I had Graves’, I did a tincture combination of bugleweed, motherwort, and lemon balm. I really liked that. Sometimes, you take things and don’t notice a difference. I hope this is doing something. But with that, I noticed a difference with my anxiety because the lemon balm is so good for your nervous system and calming you down. I did that with the Graves’.
What else did I take? I took a higher dose of Vitamin D, which is also why I was doing blood work so frequently, to monitor that. I checked my liver levels to make sure things were good there.
I can’t remember off the top of my head. I know there were other ones I took for gut health. Maybe L-glutamine was possibly one.
Dr. Eric:
Did you take a probiotic?
Megan:
I’m sure I did. It’s funny because it was so long ago, and it wasn’t the most joyous time of my life. There are certain elements of it that my brain does not want to hold onto.
I know there is a video on my YouTube channel where I sit down with my basket of everything I’m taking and go through it. If anyone is interested, there is a video of that.
Now, I take a multivitamin. I take Vitamin D. I do a fish oil supplement. Although there is no scientific research to support seed cycling for women’s cycles and hormonal health, I notice a difference with it. I also do that with my fish oil. I do fish oil the first two weeks of the month. Then I do evening primrose oil the second two weeks of the month. The evening primrose oil is beneficial in women’s menstrual cycles. Even if it’s not directly thyroid-related. If women have sore breasts before their period, that can also be beneficial for that.
I also have gotten really into other calming herbs. I feel like while I’m not a credentials-qualified herbalist, I am in my heart. I drink lemon balm tea. I love holy basil or tulsi. I have a tincture with a combination of ashwagandha, rhodiola, and tulsi or holy basil, which is all really good for calming your nervous system.
I also like lion’s mane, which is something else that can help. Anyone that has mild anxiety or depression, it’s really good for brain health. I feel like there is the core vitamins and mineral staples. Off of that, because I know stress is such a huge trigger for gut health imbalance, thyroid health imbalance, I really have incorporated a lot of natural things that can support my nervous system.
I tend to run on a more anxious level. I really have learned over the years what can support me to chill out a little bit. There are so many great herbs that are really helpful and calming for you. I do magnesium. I have a magnesium powder that I put in my tea at the end of the night, which helps me sleep really well.
Dr. Eric:
Before you talk about your course, I have two more quick questions. One question is is there anything that I should have asked you that I didn’t ask you? The second question: If you had to do it all over again, is there anything you would do differently?
Megan:
Good question. This has gone by fast. It’s already time to say goodbye.
One question that you didn’t ask that would be good to briefly talk about is it’s not all about the food. Sometimes, we can put a lot of pressure on ourselves to eat so perfectly and eat all the right things. That alone is the thing we need to work on when our health is so holistic. Food is important, but it’s one piece of the puzzle.
Thinking about our personal products, what we use from deodorant to shampoo to conditioner, if you’re a woman, makeup or hairspray, if they are filled with a lot of chemicals, parabens, fragrance, endocrine disruptors, those things can all impact your health. Slowly, because it can be overwhelming, make the swap to natural products that are better for you.
What we cook with, preferably over a nonstick pan or Teflon pan, something like cast iron or stainless steel or glass. Switching away from so much plastics. If you drink out of a plastic water bottle, switch to stainless steel or glass. If you put your hot food in plastic Tupperware, switch to glass food storage. There is a lot we use in our everyday life that sometimes we don’t think about how it could be impacting your health.
Filtered water versus tap water can be really beneficial. The fluoride and chlorine in nonfiltered water can have a negative impact on our thyroid health. Filtered water is good.
One of the biggest areas that for me I find has been so impactful is also the mental, emotional, and spiritual side of our health. We tend to want to have all these things to do, checklists, rules. If I just eat these foods perfectly, and if I just buy the right products and supplements, then it’s going to fix me.
But if we have a lot of emotional distress, unhealed trauma, or if we’re constantly stressed and anxious, there is a whole truth to the brain and gut connection and how stress can impact our gut health. That has been something I have had to really work on. I know food is so important, but it’s been so profound to see how much it’s benefited me. I have seen over the past few years, like I feel like a different person than I was years ago from my stress response.
We can’t always control stress. It’s not like we can just avoid or eliminate stress. But we can help our body have a better response to the stress. When there are stressors, do I have systems in place so that I can help my body calm down from that? I can learn to meditate, go on a walk, make myself a cup of lemon balm tea or chamomile tea? What tools do I have to help me reduce my stress?
Also, things that can help us to have more resiliency and a better response to stress. I know I’m a person of faith, so my relationship with God and making time for that has been really beneficial for me to not feel so alone in my health journey and feel like it’s all not on me to fix this. That has been huge.
Meditation has also been really powerful for me. I meditate every day. Learning breathwork and learning how to chill out, take a pause, and how to breathe. If you’re feeling like your mind is racing, you’re worried about things, being able to help your body calm down and move into more of that parasympathetic nervous state, so we are not always in fight or flight.
If you have a health condition, it’s stressful and overwhelming. If you’re working on it, it can be chronic stress. You’re worried about your health every single day. What are my daily non-negotiables that I do to help my body not be so stressed? Help my emotional health and mental health.
It really is holistic. This whole picture of all the things we do. Nothing is too small. We may think going on a little walk or switching my deodorant to a better one that doesn’t have aluminum in it, or it’s not an antiperspirant. Drinking an herbal tea, is that going to make a difference? But it does. Every little thing we do all together is going to support our health.
I think it takes pressure off of us feeling like the diet alone. If I just eat these perfect foods, it will fix everything. It’s not just one thing. It’s your whole health. Your thyroid journey, it’s not like doing things for a couple months, and then it’s fixed. It’s a whole lifestyle shift. Especially if you are someone who wants to go the natural route, I think of all the things I’m doing every day are my medicine. I would take medicine if I really needed to. For me, the way I eat, how I support my emotional/mental/physical health, these are all my things. My time in nature, they are all medicine for me, that’s helping my body be in a good place. As a reminder to people to look at the whole picture.
Dr. Eric:
I agree with pretty much everything you said. Stress was huge when I dealt with Graves’, and for a lot of people, it’s big. It’s great that you mentioned the importance of mind/body medicine. I do meditation every day.
Really, I’m so glad you mentioned that there is more than just diet. I say that all the time. Diet is a piece of the puzzle. It’s important, but it’s just a piece. It’s one thing for me to say it, but then also having other people say it, especially a dietician. You focus on food, yet you’re saying that it’s important, but there is more than just diet.
Megan:
I think you had one other question, but I probably talked too long, and I forgot.
Dr. Eric:
If you had to do it all over again, your Graves’ journey, is there anything you would do differently? You had a great outcome, so maybe you would do everything the same.
Megan:
I really can’t think of anything I would do differently. We do our best. We all do our best, and that’s all you can do every day. I know in the past, I did the best I could. Sometimes, I wonder, should I have tried this or that? I think we get worried about making the perfect choice with everything. Even working with a health professional, a lot of health is educated guesses about what will work well for your body. Knowing that it is a journey, and I’ve been on a journey. I try the best I can. I don’t really think I would change anything. I am very grateful that the things I have implemented, I saw improvement for sure.
Dr. Eric:
I agree. With Graves’, I can look back and say, if I would have done this differently, maybe I would have gotten better sooner. But it’s all part of the journey. Our experience helping others, too.
Let’s go ahead and talk more about your Thyroid Balance course and anything else you’d like to talk about. What can people expect from the course?
Megan:
I’m very excited about the course. The inspiration for this course came because of that video I shared on YouTube, where I sat down and shared my story. I received so many people being like, “What do I do? I need help.” I can’t help you through Instagram DMs. There’s so much. “All you have to do is this one thing, and that’s the fix.” I can’t do that.
I have so much information that I wanted to make a course. That’s what I’ve done. It’s a self-paced video course with 12 video modules broken out into different topics.
Testing. What should you get tested? Interpreting your results. Understanding what your test results mean.
Supplements, nutrition, reducing your toxic load, stress. We go through the holistic picture of all the different things.
Learning about your thyroid in the course. What is my thyroid? Where is it? What does it do? What is its function? What are other systems that the thyroid impacts, and what other systems impact the thyroid? All of the things we can do to help support thyroid health from a holistic, functional medicine perspective.
That course is available. You can go to our website, HealthyGroceryGirl.com, to find it. Also, HealthyGroceryGirl.com/ThyroidBalanceCourse. Everything is there about the course.
I have two additional resources I created that are complements to the course. One is an e-cookbook, with 50 recipes that support thyroid health but also gut health and liver health because they are all connected.
The other resource is a meditation packet. As I mentioned, meditation has been so powerful for me. I really enjoy it. I created a guided meditation packet. It’s five guided meditations, me talking in a much calmer, I’m not shouting at you like I am now, voice. Very soothing music.
They are different types of meditations. One helps you as you are trying to fall asleep. Another is good if you have a lot of health anxiety or a busy mind. If you ever feel like you have these decisions to make, and your mind can’t stop racing. There is a good meditation for that. There is a meditation specifically for thyroid health. They are all these guided meditations that help the body calm and take a pause and recenter, reduce our stress, support thyroid health better.
Those are what I’ve created to help people on their thyroid journey. They’re on our website, HealthyGroceryGirl.com, for anyone who is interested.
Dr. Eric:
That’s for not just people with Graves’, but also people with Hashimoto’s or hypothyroidism, as well?
Megan:
It covers both hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism as well as the autoimmune versions of those. Any of those imbalances you have, whether you have the autoimmune version or not, hyper or hypo, it covers it all. Also, it really dives into liver health, gut health, adrenal health, hormonal health as well because really working on those, you’re going to help thyroid health as well.
Dr. Eric:
Thank you so much, Megan. I really do appreciate you taking the time to share your thyroid healing journey. I’m sure the listeners learned a lot. It brought back memories from when I was dealing with it, too. It’s rare that I speak with someone who has a similar journey. Thank you so much.
Megan:
Thank you for your time. Thank you for making this podcast and resource. You haven’t had this podcast long enough that it would have existed when I had Graves’ originally. I feel like when I was first diagnosed, what do I do? I felt so alone. It’s so wonderful that you have this for people to be a guide.
Dr. Eric:
Thank you. It definitely wasn’t around when you were diagnosed with Graves’. Thank you. I appreciate that.