How the Whole30 became my WholeLIFE — exhiLARAated wellness

It looks like the Whole30 just became my WholeLIFE and I could not be happier. It worked! It actually worked.

No, I did not lose 20lbs in 30 days. No I do not suddenly look like a supermodel, but that was not the goal. When I say it ‘worked’ I’m saying that it supported me in attaining my Whole30 goal. I have dedicated the last two years to a mission to heal my autoimmune condition (Hashimoto’s Disease/Hypothyroidism) and get off of medicine. I am absolutely done with putting fake hormones into my body; I have been doing it for a decade and there has got to be another way. An autoimmune condition is when the body attacks itself - I gave this disease to myself through lifestyle and nutrition choices (or lack there of). I was not born with it. That being said, if I caused this disease to culminate in my body then I absolutely hold the power to cure it.

Okay, transparent moment, I don’t think I’ve ever shared this whole story with anyone so putting it into writing, and on top of that posting it to the internet, is a little scary… but #yolo.

My childhood was relatively healthy. I had horrible eczema when I was little, and got intense migraines in high school that would make me black out and throw up which, as we now know, are both OBVIOUS side effects of a gluten intolerance *cough cough. But hey, I don’t blame my parents, the capacities of health and wellness in the 90’s and early 00’s weren’t nearly as advanced and accessible as they are now - you do the best you can until you know better. Anyway I went on birth control at 17 (first heap of questionable synthetic hormones being poured into my body daily) and what do you know, within six months had been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Disease.

How did I know I had a thyroid issue? I get this question all the time. I didn’t. At the start of my senior year my dance teacher had pulled a few of us aside and basically told us we were fat and if we didn’t drop to a certain weight we were going to be taken out of the numbers. This was literally the worst possible NIGHTMARE for 17 year old Lara. My world was collapsing around me. My type A personality obviously went home that night and calculated every detail of this insane plan as to how I was going to drop all of that weight.

I would wake up before school to work out in my basement for at least a half hour, throughout the school day I would drink a massive iced coffee - with Splenda because ya know, zero calories - and ration my 28 almonds (196 calories yup I still remember that). After school I would head to the gym for at least an hour, go home to eat two slices of turkey and as many celery sticks as I wanted, I know I really let myself run wild with this one, then head to dance where I had to stare at myself in a sports bra next to girls who had yet to go through puberty. I would make myself a salad for dinner - usually just lettuce, chicken, cucumbers and balsamic vinegar. Some nights I would even work out again after dinner. Needless to say this went on for about three months and I had only lost … wait for it … 3lbs, and my mom was about ready to check me into an eating disorder facility. Also I was only able to go to the bathroom MAYBE 3x per week which was a painful issue that we finally decided to get checked out. It was the gastroenterologist that sent us to an endocrinologist who was the one who diagnosed me with Hashimoto’s and Hypothyroidism and put me on Levothyroxine (hello more synthetic hormones in my already stressed young teenage body).

Once I was diagnosed I just did what the doctor said, took my medicine, and didn’t ask questions. My stomach issues improved and that was that. I went through my college years, obviously struggling with weight issues that would fluctuate up and down and severe exhaustion but hey - I was in college, drinking/partying all the time, eating pizza (so much gluten ahhh), on dance team, and taking a credit overload so that I could graduate early - I totally mistook all of my hypothyroid symptoms for normal college life. I do remember a particular conversation with my endocrinologist (the one who originally diagnosed me was SUPER traditional in his western thinking) where I asked him about the effects of soy and their pseudo-estrogen claims I had stumbled upon on the internet. He was very quick to inform me that all of that was nonsense and what you eat has no effect on your thyroid. I repeat, he straight up said WHAT YOU EAT HAS NO EFFECT ON YOUR THYROID. That did not quite sit well with me but what did I know, he was a doctor right? I had not even graduated college yet.

Blah, blah, blah. Fast forward: graduate a year early, move to NYC, move to LA and I began to develop stomach issues again. These were way different than the ones I had experienced in high school and SO painful. A few people suggested it being from a gluten intolerance but me being so new to LA thought that there was no way I was giving in to this stupid, trendy fad of going gluten free, how basic and West Coast is that. Needless to say the pains became so extreme that I was like fine I’ll try it. Within three days, all of my stomach pains had vanished. WOAH, world rocked. This sent me on an information internet spiral where I found so much contradicting material on the topic I thought my brain would explode. I was too overwhelmed to take action but at least my eyes had been open to the fact that yes, what you eat does in fact have an affect on your thyroid.

Over the next few years I routinely got my numbers tested, with minor changes to medication and slowly began cleaning up my diet unpretentiously, which was partially just from living in Los Angeles, and partially from getting into the fitness industry. I naturally began to open my awareness; I got allergy tests done, tested my blood for food intolerances and even went vegan for a little bit. Then in the summer of 2017 I began noticeably gaining weight, but I had been away for work for the previous two months so maybe the less intense work out schedules and indulgences of traveling were all catching up to me, so I was not too stressed about it. I thought that when I got back home, and back on my normal grind, my body would balance back to my normal weight. Well you thought wrong girl. On the contrary, I got back to my normal grind (eating well and working out 3-5 hours a day) and literally every single day I would step on the scale and it would go up. Every. Single. Day. This was a horrific mind game for someone who had to stand in front of a room full of fit, beautiful women every day and empower them to move their bodies and be their best selves, while staring into the mirror at this swollen, exhausted, dark eye circles, skin cracking, hair falling out version of myself. To be vain - my eye lashes and eye brows were 75% gone, my hair was falling out every time I put it into a pony tail, the cracks in between my fingers were beyond painful, and ugly, and there were fifteen pounds of fluff covering this body that I had worked so hard for. On a more functional level, I could barely stay awake through the day nonetheless make it through my grueling work schedule. I would constantly cry of frustration, and I am not a crier.

ATL 2017 — Summer 2017

+ 15lbs in 5 weeks

I saw two endocrinologists at this time that told me my blood work was “in range” (I hate that term) and that I was fine. They suggested I “go on a diet” or see someone for my “body dysmorphia”. I knew something was wrong with me. I knew I was not fine and I knew it was my thyroid no matter what those health professionals said. I take that back - frustrated was the understatement of the year. I finally decided to go see this fancy doctor in Beverly Hills who I had been avoiding because he did not take insurance, but honestly at this point, that felt so insignificant. Just by looking at my numbers he was able to tell me exactly what was wrong! Hallelujah!

For my thyroid geeks out there (if this means nothing to you - keep scrolling lol - honestly if you’re still with me you rock and I appreciate you): my T4 was “in range” but almost at the top, because we kept increasing my Levothyroxine, and my T3 was “in range” but almost at the bottom. So I was taking T4 every morning in pill form but for some reason after eight years my body decided to stop recognizing the medicine as T4 hormone so it stopped turning it into T3. If I had waited just a little bit longer BOTH my numbers would have been out of range, in opposite directions, which literally makes zero sense. The fact that two doctors told me I was fine was infuriating, but I was too awestruck by this incredible man to even care.

First of all he immediately replaced my Levothyroxine for Synthroid because this is one of those drugs that the FDA allows too big of a margin for error in the generic brand and your T4 is way too sensitive. In my opinion everyone should always opt for Synthroid. He also added Liothyronine (T3) since my body was not converting the T4 to T3 properly. This was in July, and by November my numbers were officially in a good place and I felt like a new human. He approved me to go off birth control - I had been wanting to for a while but it was too risky with my thyroid levels being so off. My intention was still to get synthetic hormones out of my body and this was step number one. I did not end up getting my period back until the following September; I won’t even get into that now, but I had gotten so many hormone tests done because they thought I had PCOS and they thought my thyroid had gotten worse; anyway I eventually got it back naturally. I have never been so happy to bleed let me tell ya.

I spent majority of last year getting my body back on track - my weight finally balanced, my body image recovered, I dipped my toes into meditation, I started doing a lot of my own research and decided to enroll in the Institute of Integrated Nutrition for the sole purpose of obtaining information in hopes of healing my thyroid naturally. I quickly gained a plethora of knowledge with an overwhelming amount of strategies. Now what? I had to make a change but which change do I make? An elimination diet sounds too hard. Why am I so resistant to cutting out grains? Why am I scared of quitting sugar? What’s the hold up girlfriend? I was so anxious and fearful of making the ‘wrong’ choice that I made no choice at all… for a little while. How dare I say that this is my goal when I’m not actively working towards it? I was a bit ashamed of myself. One thing led to another and a friend had given me Whole30 books that she was going to throw away (and those things ain’t cheap) so they sat on my floor for about two weeks constantly whispering sweet nothings to me, until finally I just did it. I just started. All in - balls to the walls - in it to win it. Before I knew it Day 1 turned into Day 21 turned into Day 30 and I went to my endocrinologist to get some blood work done just out of curiosity. I liked the Whole30, it was fine. Did it change my life? Honestly, no. So I was pretty skeptical about my numbers being any different but I had read a ton of testimonials saying that the Whole30 had completely cured people’s autoimmune symptoms, and even some people who healed their autoimmune disease, so I thought, ‘hey why not?’

WELL IT WORKED! My TSH took a nose dive (that’s great) and my T3 and T4 both went up without making any changes to my medication, which means that my thyroid has increased it’s natural production. Today is my first day taking 50mcg of Synthroid, which is the lowest dose I have taken evereverEVER! It’s actually pretty scary, but I am finding assurance in the trust I have for my body to do what it has to do, and work how it was made to work. I am still in a bit of shock and disbelief. I go back for retesting in a month so fingers crossed. Maybe Whole30 won’t be f o r e v e r … but I’m definitely staying loyal for the foreseeable future!

XO #ExWel