The Dr. Westin Childs Podcast

Millions of prescriptions of thyroid medication will be filled this year and the vast majority of them will be for levothyroxine. Of those millions, only about 10% or so will go to a class of thyroid medication called natural desiccated thyroid. Despite being only 10% of all prescriptions, thyroid patients have a clear preference for it. Not only does it help with weight loss, but it also can help...

Despite what many of you may feel, it’s definitely possible to get to a normal weight if you have a thyroid problem. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, but it does mean it’s possible. In order to do that, though, you’ll want to avoid these mistakes. Mistake 1. Massive upfront calorie restriction. Calorie restriction in some form will be necessary to get to your ideal weight but many thyroid patients sho...

Roughly 80% of hypothyroid or low thyroid patients say that they have trouble losing weight. It’s for this reason, that they are often attracted to dangerous diets that promise rapid weight loss. Unfortunately for them, instead of rapid weight loss, they are often met with thyroid damage, metabolic damage, and short-lived changes on the scale that revert back to normal the second they stop. Which...

There’s a lot of bad advice that gets thrown around out there for people who have Hashimoto’s. And, believe it or not, some of the worst offenders are doctors! If you have Hashimoto’s, make sure you aren’t falling for these lies: 1. Your TSH is "normal". The TSH is an accurate test for diagnosing thyroid disease but it’s not a great test for assessing if you are being adequately treated. 2. Changi...

You should eat low carb if you have a thyroid problem like hypothyroidism and want to lose weight, right? No! Cutting your carbohydrates has been shown to REDUCE thyroid function by negatively impacting thyroid lab tests like free T3 and reverse T3. The change that we see in people who go low carb for long periods of time mimics the same thyroid lab tests we see in chronically ill patients and in...

Glucomannan is a plant fiber that comes from konjac root and it has some special properties that can help you lose weight. Unlike other plant fibers (which are also healthy) it can absorb up to 100x its weight in water. This holding of water allows it to press against stretch receptors in your stomach which impacts appetite. But this is just one benefit, here are 3 ways that glucomannan can help y...

One easy way to check the status of your overall health and the health of your thyroid is by simply looking at your nails. Because your nails grow slowly, and because they respond to stressors on the inside of your body, they represent a 6 month history of your overall health. It just so happens that they also give you valuable information about your thyroid function as well. In hypothyroidism rou...

Is fruit juice worse than soda or is it actually healthy for your body and thyroid? I’m going to argue that every thyroid patient should drink it and here’s why: 1. Drinking it does NOT cause weight gain. Study after study show that drinking more fruit juice is associated with a leaner BMI. 2. Drinking it will NOT cause diabetes or insulin resistance. Meta-analyses show that 100% fruit juice consu...

You can find the links to the products that I use and recommend below (some are affiliate links which means if you make a purchase using my link I will make a small commission): You can also find this information in text form here: https://www.restartmed.com/20-hypothyroid-hashimotos-gift-ideas/ 1. Theragun: https://amzn.to/49E19oX 2. FAR IR Heating pad: https://amzn.to/3R13zH5 3. Dry brush: https...

Berberine is a great over-the-counter supplement known for its benefits on weight loss, insulin, blood sugar, and even cholesterol. But if you spend some time looking around, you’ll notice that there’s a new formulation available: dihydroberberine. The formulation that most people use is known as berberine hcl, so how does this new form compare? In short, it’s probably better for these reasons: On...

These 3 simple vitamins can help support your thyroid in more ways than one and, based on data from NHANES, most people aren’t getting enough of them from their diet. Here’s how they work and why they are helpful: #1. The Pro-Thyroid Benefits of Vitamin A Vitamin A helps with the production of thyroid hormones, protects your thyroid gland from autoimmune disease, prevents thyroid gland enlargement...

Do hypothyroid support supplements work? Absolutely, but only if you use the right ones. In my opinion, and based on my experience, here are the ones hypothyroid patients should be using: 1. Guggulsterone Guggulsterone has been shown in animal studies to promote thyroid hormone creation and iodine uptake thereby supporting the thyroid gland. It also happens to help with symptoms associated with lo...

All thyroid hormones are important for different reasons but if we are talking about pure power, T3 reigns supreme. Compared to other thyroid hormones, it’s about 100 times more active on the thyroid nuclear receptor which means that it does the majority of the heavy lifting. And because of its power, when T3 levels are low, you will feel T3. By my estimation, low T3 is probably one of the biggest...

Experiencing symptoms and not sure where they are coming from? It may just be your thyroid. Owing to the fact that just bout every cell in your body has a thyroid hormone receptor, the symptoms of hypothyroidism are vast. And while you may know about the more common symptoms, there are plenty that can easily get mixed if you don’t know what you are looking for. With that in mind, here are some of...

What is a thyroid belly? It’s the characteristic shape of the abdomen that many patients with hypothyroidism end up with and it’s caused by 4 things: 1. Visceral fat. Visceral fat is the fat that surrounds your organs. Thyroid dysfunction increases your risk for developing this type of fat. The more you have of it, the more it will push outward and cause a thyroid belly. 2. Subcutaneous fat. Subcu...

T2 thyroid hormone is a potent thyroid hormone and the only thyroid hormone available over the counter. For this reason, many thyroid patients have asked me how they can test their T2 level to determine if they would benefit from a T2 supplement. And while commercially available tests are not available for T2 right now, we do have a way to estimate T2 status in the body with the use of proxy measu...

Which is more important for weight loss: hormones or calories? I would say, for most people, its hormones. This is because the majority of people are already pretty good about keeping an eye on their calories. And if calories were the problem, they would already have lost their weight. Both calories are hormones are important for regulating your weight but I’ve found that hormones become more impo...

Want an easy way to reduce your risk of developing all autoimmune diseases by up to 22%? One study of over 25,000 people showed that you could do this with just the use of two supplements taken every day: Fish oil and vitamin D. Link to study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8791065/ Here are some takeaways from the study so that you can easily apply this information to your life and...

Not having enough vitamin D increases your risk of developing unwanted symptoms like depression, fatigue, and muscle weakness but it also increases your risk of developing more serious consequences like diabetes, weight gain, and cancer. For these reasons, you should take your vitamin D level very seriously. But the question is: how can you rapidly increase your vitamin D to prevent these issues?...

It’s never normal to have elevated antibodies to portions of your thyroid gland floating around in your blood. The presence of these antibodies indicates that your own body may be trying to attack and destroy your thyroid gland and they are the hallmark of thyroid autoimmune diseases like Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and Graves’ disease. And, unfortunately, conventional medicine doesn’t have very many...

Today you will learn more about the connection between hypothyroidism and carpal tunnel syndrome. And if you are someone who has carpal tunnel syndrome then you will definitely want to check your thyroid because thyroid dysfunction is a potentially reversible cause of this condition. Carpal tunnel syndrome (referred to as CTS) is the most common nerve entrapment syndrome in the body and is somethi...

Want an easy way to naturally increase how well your thyroid is working by up to 20%? There’s a simple way to do it: by treating your gut. Your gut and thyroid are connected in several ways and if there’s a problem with one, you can guarantee there will be a problem with the other. There’s no scientific study to back my claim that treating your gut can increase thyroid function by up to 20%, but b...

Berberine is one of the most powerful weight loss supplements out there because it acts on some of the most fundamental issues that precipitate weight gain. What makes it ideal is that it has a broad range of benefits, is well-tolerated, and can be used in conjunction with other weight loss supplements and medications. Here’s how it can help you lose weight: 1. By improving insulin sensitivity. Be...

Not drinking enough water? You may want to rethink that decision because dehydration has a negative impact on your thyroid! Not only is about 60% of your body made of water (making it essential for just about every cell and function), but your body also needs water to maintain the concentration of proteins in the bloodstream. States of dehydration cause changes to the functions of these proteins w...

If you’re suffering from hair loss then there’s a high probability you’ve looked into hair supplements. But before you go out and purchase one, there’s something you need to know: there’s a secret ingredient that all of the best hair supplements contain and I’m going to share it with your right now. What’s the ingredient? It’s silicon. What’s crazy is that this ingredient has been under your nose...