How I Put My Hashimoto’s Disease in Remission (and Lowered Thyroid Antibodies Naturally)!

First - if you’re new here - welcome! I’m a Certified Nutritional Practitioner and recipe developer who helps women feel empowered in their health journey, learn how to confidently eat well, find healing and support during chronic illness, and gain kitchen confidence through simple, delicious recipes for you and your family!

How I Put My Hashimoto’s Disease in Remission

I am incredibly thankful to have been able to put my Hashimoto’s into remission this last year. I have been off medication and without major symptoms for about six years, but still wrestled with some of my labs being out of functional range, to include my TPO antibodies and my TSH in various seasons. After some subtle changes, my antibodies have come below the diagnostic range for Hashimoto’s, which is such a praise!

(If you haven’t read my post on my Hashimoto’s journey, you can find that here!)

First, I’d like to define my terms a bit!

What Does it Mean to Put Hashimoto’s in Remission? Is Reversing Hashimoto’s a Thing?! (and some of My Lab Ranges Before and After!)

Putting Hashimoto’s in remission is defined by a reduction or complete removal of symptoms alongside a regulation of lab ranges. I think there are some nuances here, and under some opinions, my Hashimoto’s has been “in remission” for about six years. (However, it’s important to note that remission is variable and not necessarily permanent - we can ebb and flow in and out, depending on lots of factors!).

For me, I started publicly using the phrase “in remission” once my TPO antibody ranges fell under the diagnostic limit for Hashimoto’s (below 34 IU/L). Antibodies at zero are what we truly want, but for someone who has had an official diagnosis of thyroid disease and antibodies that have historically been over 100 IU/L, a long-standing reduction of antibodies under 100 IU/L is also often considered to be “remission”. I have previously had TPO antibodies as high as 240+ (I’ve lost some of my early labs and have no doubt they’ve been higher!).

So as you can see, there are a few different ways to define this! My own goal and current definition of Hashimoto’s being “in remission” is that I am:

• not taking thyroid medication (there are others who would consider remission even on medication, but this is my personal standard!)

• not experiencing thyroid symptoms

• have TSH in a functional range (ideally around .5-2.5 uIU/ml)

• have antibodies well under 100 IU/L and ideally closer to that <34 range!

Can Hashimoto’s Really Go Into Remission? Yes it Can!

Now that that’s established, let’s talk through the healing details! While no list is fully exhaustive (I truly believe our healing is the sum of SO many small choices), I do feel that these pillars are what helped move the needle the most in terms of getting my antibodies to an acceptable range, even though I have been symptom-free for years!

Please keep in mind that this is on top of a lot of basics and foundations - clean drinking water, a low-toxin home, lowering stress where possible, having a support system, getting sunshine, etc! I’ve included links throughout the post below that address some of these other pillars!

The Diet That Helped Me Lower My Thyroid Antibodies

I have had a real food foundation for over a decade, but it was easy to get lost in the weeds of what thyroid patients “should and shouldn’t” eat. It can be tricky to navigate! My overall “diet” style is very ancestral, with a focus on fresh, real food, nose-to-tail eating, and enjoying my food still - that’s important! But I also stand behind that I am “diet-free” in the sense that I don’t feel “restricted” - I feel freedom in the food I include!

RELATED POST: What is Ancestral Eating?

The biggest thing is that my healing was about nourishment on a deep level, not about pure restriction! I cycled through AIP, Paleo, Whole 30, etc. for years, and while yes, having a whole-food foundation made a difference, I hit a wall I couldn’t get past. Moving toward more food freedom, ancestral eating principles, macronutrient balancing, and less food fear is what truly skyrocketed my healing!

(and my cookbooks are all created with these healing principles!)

Gluten-Free

I have found that I do well gluten-free. I’m so sorry if you were hoping for an alternative opinion here 😉. I’ve tried fresh-milled, long-fermented, quality wheat-containing grains and I LOVE the idea of being able to include that eventually. For now, however, I find that staying off wheat has been what I’ve needed and I know that’s not unique to my journey. However, I have certainly heard of others who were able to eventually include wheat that is fresh-milled and/or long-fermented. Here’s to hoping! I’m personally toying around with homeopathic Bovista 200c to support and heal that food intolerance. I’ll keep you updated ; ]

Dairy-free?

Dairy, on the other hand, has been a beautiful inclusion and is part of what has helped me heal! Focusing on organic, grass-fed - the best possible sourcing - has been amazing support for regulating my thyroid levels. I avoided dairy for over five years and wound up with a lot of food fear and some severe dental issues as well. Once I re-introduced quality dairy with a slow, thoughtful approach, I watched my labs and symptoms stabilize as well. This certainly doesn’t mean that dairy works well for every individual in every season, but it can certainly have a place if well-tolerated. Dairy is chock-full of fat-soluble vitamins and quality minerals that are very thyroid-supportive! If needed, lactose-free dairy products are widely available and can be helpful. Sourcing and quality matters a LOT in terms of how well your body can process dairy!

Other Diet Pillars for my Hashimoto’s

Otherwise, the pillars of my diet are: quality meats, to include slow-cooked bone-in meat, pastured eggs, properly prepared grains, fruits and veggies, bone broth - it’s a lot of basics! I don’t over-consume nuts & seeds (now please notice I didn’t say I avoid them - we want to honor food in it’s biological place, which means that some foods are great for small handfuls and not for eating in abundance!). I honor seasonal produce rhythms and eat a lot of cooked veggies as opposed to all raw, and I don’t over-do the cruciferous veggie intake (this moderation can be really helpful for thyroid patients in particular!). I also don’t often consume soy (I think a good case can be made for organic, fermented, wheat-free soy, but that’s hard to come by!), and I do not make processed foods, artificial dye, etc. a part of my normal diet. Getting enough bio-available protein and eating quality carbohydrates and nourishing fats is also a core tenant!

It may sound like a lot of details on paper, but I promise it’s truly simple! All of my cookbooks outline the delicious and sustainable way I eat!

My Nourish book in particular is truly the perfect companion for this pursuit! It includes:

• full page guides on building balanced breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks

• a weekly and daily nourishment guide to help meet your nutrient needs

• a 3 day meal plan example, as well as dozens of pairing examples for meals and snacks

• a “good-better-best” sourcing guide to help meet budget and availability needs

• a seasonal produce guide

• 40+ delicious and nourishing recipes!

  It is sort of my health love letter to you, friend - my decade+ pursuit of healing all wrapped up into one book, because I SO want each and every person to find the healing and freedom I have found!!

Parmesan Potatoes from my Nourish book!

Lifestyle Changes & Tools That Made the Biggest Difference in my Hashimoto’s

Gut testing

This was a big one for me this last year - while I have done gut testing in the past, I had a team of practitioners this year who really helped me pinpoint some long-standing infections that included h. pylori and residual staph (staphylococcus spp. and aureus) and treat them sustainably through herbal and homeopathic support. While I will not outline a specific protocol here, as I do encourage you to work with a trusted practitioner, uprooting these conditions can be monumental in healing Hashimoto’s! If you have being doing all the “right” things for your Hashimoto’s for years, this can be a great next leaf to turn over - h. pylori in particular can often be a root-cause culprit for those pesky antibodies!

Tiny Health is my favorite gut test (I find this one more affordable and accessible, as you can order it yourself!). AND you can use the code FALLON to save $20! I’ve used this for my kiddos and the feedback and results are AMAZING for being empowered as a parent or individual to take your health into your own hands! They give you primarily food and lifestyle recommendations, with minimal supplement support recs if need be, but the focus is FOOD, which I love!

A targeted short season of desiccated thyroid support

I want to give you my experience without oversharing, because I do believe this is something that is best done alongside very careful monitoring with a practitioner - please hear that before anything else! I have been off thyroid medication for around 5-6 years after having been on it for about 5 years. While my symptoms have been mainly gone for years, I noticed my TSH was above the recommended functional range and it was showing up in my weight and metabolic processes in particular. I used a reputable desiccated thyroid brand and cut the dose into about 1/4th of the recommendation - you do NOT want to go hard and heavy here.

(I used ThyroGold; I also really like the new Heart & Soil Thyroid+ version! It is very low dose when just 1 capsule is taken.)

I scaled back eventually because I started noticing some hyperthyroid symptoms (heart palpitations, hair shedding, etc.) and after rechecking my thyroid labs and being very pleased with the ranges, stopped the support. I was comfortable doing this with a handful of practitioner check-ins, and as a nutritional practitioner myself who has a good grasp on interpreting labs and listening to my body. Please talk with your care team about this option as opposed to blindly jumping in!

I was inspired by this option after reading how desiccated thyroid support can be much less risky and more supportive than medicated thyroid support in one of my CN-P certification textbooks - desiccated thyroid certainly has a reputable and great track record but should be approached carefully!

Resetting my Circadian Rhythm & Getting Morning Sunshine

I’ve talked extensively about these on my blog already, so be sure to check out these related posts below! Getting morning sunshine for thyroid health is a well-established concept, and I love that it’s also 100% free! Once you get into the rhythm, it easily becomes second nature.

You can read the how-to in the post below!

RELATED POST: Circadian Rhythms and Morning Sunshine (how LIGHT changes your hormones, vision, & entire well-being)

RELATED POST: My Journey Reducing Inflammation (with accessible tools and NO crazy dieting!)

Homeopathic support

I have moved quite a bit more into homeopathic support even though I still LOVE herbs, etc - but homeopathy is so gentle that it takes the cake for me. It is amazing to work with a homeopath for long-standing conditions if you can, but there are also support tools you can find to fit your specific scenario. For example, the existing Banerji Protocols have remedies curated for Hashimoto’s, hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, and other endocrine and thyroid-related conditions (you can do a web search for these!), which can be amazing help. However, homeopathy is lovely when addressed per person and not per condition, so remedies like Thyroidinum, Iodum, Lycopodium, and Calcarea Carbonica can also fit well, depending on the other symptoms and tendencies you have as an individual. Let this serve as more of a launch pad for your own further exploration as opposed to a “recommendation”! Working with a good homeopath is a fantastic idea!

I will share, however, that a clinical study from 2020 following individuals who used Thyroidinim 3x over the course of 3 months had drastic reduction in TPO antibodies. That’s amazing!!

(Source)

Even if you aren’t looking to approach homeopathy from a “thyroid-specific” lens, I firmly believe that my consistent use of homeopathic remedies has helped my overall vitality and well-being, and in turn, my thyroid! Homeopathy, unlike pharmaceuticals and even some nutraceuticals, does not suppress symptoms and conditions but allows your body to restore balance. And because remedies are capable of stabilizing and restoring many systems and conditions simultaneously, a remedy that you chose for even just a cold may actually be doing deep healing for other seemingly unrelated things. Isn’t that cool?!

Lymphatic support

I did this mainly through dry brushing & the big 6 routine; two incredibly easy, accessible, and nearly free tools with huge impact! I got a dry brush at a local health store and focus on broad strokes towards my heart - there are plenty of great videos and tutorials out there! And on this same note, I focused on….

LOTS of outdoor walking

The important thing for women with thyroid disease is that there truly can be too much stressful exercise. HIIT workouts, distance running, and/or 6 day a week exercise plans may not be what your body needs (even if you’re struggling with weight!). Yes, muscle building is fantastic and weight training can be hugely beneficial - I aim for balance here - but many women with thyroid issues are also struggling under the surface with adrenal and cortisol issues, so we want to be mindful not to drive our systems further into a stress hormone imbalance, which can certainly happen when our exercise becomes too rigid and intense.

And the benefits of walking truly cannot be overstated! (For me, this looks liked playing a ton of disc golf with my family, as well as solo neighborhood walks!). Before there were gyms, programs, memberships, weights, bands, and contraptions, there was walking. There was gardening. There were chores and laundry and did I mention, walking?!

That’s not to say that other activities can’t be worked in and offer wonderful support, they certainly can! But when all else fails, when you feel confused on what plan to follow or feel low energy - walk! And in the sunshine when you can!

Very consistent sleep

This bullet point is less a “new” pursuit for me and more a gentle reminder that your sleep quality and regularity is SO important for Hashimoto’s remission! Sleep is our body’s time to restore, rejuvenate, and recover. My circadian rhythm post also talks about healthy home lighting and other fundamentals to maximize your sleep as well!

RELATED POST: Sleep tips for the BEST rest ever

RELATED POST: Circadian Rhythms & Morning Sunshine

Castor oil packs

This is another topic I have outlined extensively in a blog post, here!

I got really consistent this last year especially with doing thyroid castor oil packs, as well as liver packs, and it has made a huge difference! (This little neck wrap is amazing to have for sore throats as well!)

I hope this list was helpful! This should not serve as medical advice; please consult your own practitioner team for additional help. Some links may be affiliate, see my disclosure here.

And as always, if you need thyroid-friendly recipes that don’t skimp on flavor or ease (and that your whole family will love!), you’re in the right place!!