While a quick Google search might suggest that you cannot reverse Hashimoto’s through diet alone, I’m here to tell you that there’s a bit more to the story.
Because it IS possible, clinical studies have proven it, and today I want to spend some time walking you through the how and why. Let’s get into it!
The Thyroid Reset Diet gives you a step-by-step plan to reset your thyroid—and restore it to good function.
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What is Hashimoto’s Disease?
How Do You Know If You Have Hashimoto’s?
What Does It Mean To “Reverse” Hashimoto’s?
Does Hashimoto’s Disease Ever Go Away On Its Own?
How Have Diets Been Studied?
What Have High-Quality Studies Told Us About Various Diets?
What Else Has Shown To Be Helpful?
How The Thyroid Reset Diet Came About
A Diet Built For Reversing Hashimoto’s Disease
Hashimoto’s disease is an immune attack against the thyroid. The damage that your immune system does may be so severe, your thyroid may no longer be able to work adequately. This can lead to hypothyroidism.
Other things may be able to cause hypothyroidism, but most of it is caused by Hashimoto’s disease. The two overlap a lot, but it is important to remember that they are also distinct.
Now how do you know if you have it?
We know that Hashimoto’s is present when there are known and measured thyroid antibodies.
There are a couple of things within the thyroid we need to note, which include:
The first is an enzyme. Its primary role is to convert iodide (which is an inactive state) into iodine (the active state). The second is the protein on which iodine attaches.
Hashimoto’s is measured by immune attacks both of these (through antithyroglobulin and antithyroperoxidase). Here’s the thing: They may not always be present.
Many people may have Hashimoto’s but not have those antibodies. In those cases, you would know whether or not you had it via findings done by an ultrasound.
Most people who discuss Hashimoto’s disease and hypothyroidism are speaking about them collectively. When they discuss reversing it, they talk about their antibodies going down to a lower level (or non-measurable). Others talk about hypothyroidism going away.
The biggest win is to have your antibodies go down, have hypothyroidism go away, and not need thyroid medication. These are the different ways to think about reversing it.
This is a really important thing to keep in mind. There is really clear evidence that nearly all versions of chronic thyroid disease have a rate of people who simply get better – doing nothing special and simply re-testing and finding things fixed.
But, how often does this happen? The numbers vary, and it depends a lot on the population and the region. There’s not a hard-and-fast number, but it can range from 20-30% depending on where you look. Here’s why I bring that up, though…
Because that number is a lot more than zero, there are plenty of people who have thyroid disease where they do nothing and they get better. By that same token, there are those who may have done something and got better simply by luck (and not by what they did).
Key Insight: We need to know what is going to work beyond random chance. That takes diving into the data, the clinical trials, and a consistent track record of success to make a solid recommendation when it comes to reversing Hashimoto’s through your diet.
If the real question is determining how diets can help beyond random chance, we need to dive into what it takes to study diets. There’s a handful of options here, and I want to quickly take you through each of them:
Our best level of evidence is controlled human outcome studies. Better yet, if we have multiple ones that we can look at holistically and see what the consensus of data tells us.
Key Insight: A lot of the things that claim to be helpful between diet and thyroid function are based upon mechanistic models or cellular studies. Many of them are not based on controlled human outcome studies – which should be our ultimate marker of the truth.
There are many diets that I won’t talk about here, but that’s mainly because they lack high-quality studies that can tell us truly how they perform.
That said, let’s talk about some of the most popular diets that come armed with real data that can tell us a real story about their effectiveness…
This is a very popular one in the natural medicine community. In the 90’s, there were some speculative ideas that gluten was causal with autoimmunity.
That’s because people with celiac disease, which is an autoimmune disease, have higher rates of thyroid disease. Some thought that the two were connected and one caused the other.
One study tried to get to the bottom of this relationship. What they found was that those who avoided gluten had slightly higher rates of thyroid disease. It wasn’t enough to say that it was a big deal, but it clearly was not lower1.
While someone with celiac is more likely to get thyroid disease, that has more to do with the fact that celiac is an autoimmune condition to where one could lead to the other. The ability to suffer from both is not connected to gluten based on what has been studied.
Key Insight: If you have celiac disease, you should certainly avoid gluten. But, avoiding gluten is not going to be the key to solving Hashimoto’s or other thyroid issues.
The idea behind the autoimmune paleo diet is that there are all kinds of stuff in food that can cause inflammation, worsen the immune system, and drive autoimmunity. So, we should cut out anything that counts as a possible offender.
That turns into quite a long list, including:
That turns into a pretty restrictive diet! What I can tell you is that some of these foods listed above, they’ve been shown to have massive health benefits. While I’m totally fine with someone cutting out processed sugar, I am always skeptical about cutting out healthy foods.
But, we don’t have to speculate wildly about whether this is a good diet or not – we have two studies we can work from that offer us the bigger picture. Let’s start with the first that was done on women with thyroid disease.
Quite simply, no benefits were revealed at all. There were no positive changes to thyroid levels or to thyroid antibodies.
A second follow-up study was done. What this study found was that not only was there no positive change, there was an increase in TPO – effectively meaning that their thyroid antibodies got worse! You really can’t make this stuff up2.
Those who conducted the study reasoned that an increase in iodine levels from the autoimmune paleo diet, caused the negative effects to occur. This is most likely caused by a recommended intake of sea vegetables or sea salts found in diets of this kind.
This was a bit of a one-off study. While it was called a low-carbohydrate diet, it was also exceptionally high in protein. It was a very low-calorie diet.
In it, the dietary intake of protein was at 50-60%, which is a whopping amount. And there are a lot of ways in which those with thyroid disease often are below what is ideal for their protein intake.
So, they got a lot of protein and radically lowered their total food intake. Their thyroid function didn’t change, but they did see their weight go down quite a bit.
Key Insight: While it did lower antibodies a little bit, it did not really help with overall thyroid function (save for the ancillary benefits of overall weight loss).
Why would a low-iodine diet be helpful? As I mentioned before, Hahsimoto’s involves an immune attack on thyroperoxidase and thyroglobulin. When there is too much iodine, these structures can become part of an inflammatory immune response.
But, what do we see from human clinical trials? One study showed that the majority of people with marked hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s had returned to normal thyroid function with only the restriction of iodine within a span of around three months.
They did all of that through diet3. This is a really exceptional finding because it shows us that there is a diet that exists that can help reverse the effects of Hashimoto’s disease. That is big news, and it goes against a lot of what is out there online!
Of those who didn’t improve, if you drill down into the study you’ll find that they either were not following the guidelines properly, or they improved a lot but did not reach the range of what we consider “normal function.”
Key Insight: Of those who did follow the guidelines and got to the target levels of iodine, around 97% of those studied either fully improved or found themselves on the pathway to full improvements. That is pretty impressive stuff!
Now that we’ve run through some of the diets that were duds and some that showed amazing results, what else do we know that can be helpful?
There are a couple of things to consider:
Today’s article paints a bit of a picture of how I came up with the Thyroid Reset Diet. I took a look at all of this diet, and all of these studies, and found what made a huge difference when it came to reversing Hashimoto’s disease.
The exciting study I referenced earlier talked about limiting iodine, but it didn’t really introduce a meaningful program or a categorical way of enjoying a diet that was low in iodine. One that could really help move the needle when it came to thyroid health.
So, I got to work. I designed the Thyroid Reset Diet to not only be helpful to your thyroid but to your entire picture of health. Giving you a healthier diet with more food options, without missing anything that could be a hidden source of iodine.
And, on top of all of that, ensuring that you’re still getting all of the things that we know are good for your thyroid (proteins, carbs, and other micronutrients). While it was about regulating iodine, it was also about so much more!
If you have Hashimoto’s disease, or thyroid disease in general, I’d love for you to learn a little bit more about the Thyroid Reset Diet and how it can help. This is the best-documented diet that has been shown to be effective and safe for long-term use.
The data shows it, and I’m super excited to share it with you. If you’re curious about learning more, you can also take the Thyroid Quiz today, and take the first step of understanding your unique relationship with your thyroid.
1 – Krysiak, Robert; Szkróbka, Witold; Okopień, Bogusław (2018). The Effect of Gluten-Free Diet on Thyroid Autoimmunity in Drug-Naïve Women with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis: A Pilot Study. Experimental and Clinical Endocrinology & Diabetes, (), a-0653-7108–. doi:10.1055/a-0653-7108
2 – Ihnatowicz P, Gębski J, Drywień ME. Effects of Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) diet on changes in thyroid parameters in Hashimoto’s disease. Ann Agric Environ Med. 2023 Sep 28;30(3):513-521. doi: 10.26444/aaem/166263. Epub 2023 Jun 1. PMID: 37772528.
3 – Yoon SJ, Choi SR, Kim DM, Kim JU, Kim KW, Ahn CW, Cha BS, Lim SK, Kim KR, Lee HC, Huh KB. The effect of iodine restriction on thyroid function in patients with hypothyroidism due to Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Yonsei Med J. 2003 Apr 30;44(2):227-35. doi: 10.3349/ymj.2003.44.2.227. PMID: 12728462.
P.S. Whenever you are ready, here is how I can help you now:
1. Schedule a Thyroid Second Opinion with me, Dr. C, Click Here for Details
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4. Download and use my Favorite Recipes Cookbook Here
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Dr. Alan Glen Christianson (Dr. C) is a board-certified Naturopathic Endocrinologist, and the author of The NY Times bestselling Adrenal Reset Diet, Metabolism Reset Diet, Thyroid Reset Diet, and the Healing Hormone Cookbook.
Dr. C’s gift for figuring out what really works has helped hundreds of thousands of people reverse thyroid disease, lose weight, diabetes, and regain energy. Learn more about the surprising story that started his quest.
