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FAT, FRUSTRATED, FORTY, AND FEMALE: CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN THE THYROID AND THE OVARIES
The interconnection between these hormonal messengers is so complicated that we're tempted to throw up our hands and say, "I can't figure it out, so let's just get on with life." Let me try to simplify it for you.
First of all, thyroid hormones and female hormones "talk" to each other. David Watts, Ph.D., author of Trace Elements and Other Essential Nutrients, writes of the effect thyroid hormone has on estrogen production and, subsequently, on progesterone production, and vice versa. He says that estrogen dominance, either through oversecretion of the ovaries or through estrogen replacement therapy with synthetics, pulls down the function of the thyroid gland and the metabolic rate of the body, with symptoms ranging from weight gain, blood sugar disturbance, fatigue, and even depression.
"My friends keep saying, 'How did you lose all that weight?' But I promised not to share the recipes with anyone until the book came out. Please, Carol. . . I can't hold them off much longer! We need this book!"
JUDY
Progesterone, estrogen's complementary hormone, reverses this tendency, facilitating the functioning of the thyroid gland and possibly assisting in weight loss, reducing the tendency toward water retention, depression, low energy levels, and other symptoms.
We've seen the impact that pregnancy has on thyroid function. Up to 30 percent of women can experience either clinical or subclinical hypothyroidism after pregnancy, and the likelihood of developing low thyroid function increases with each subsequent birth. Sometimes these thyroid issues will resolve themselves. For large numbers of women, they will not be resolved without outside help.
During pregnancy, and in women using oral contraceptives, serum T3 levels decrease as thyroxine-binding globulin (TBG) increases, leaving less access of the activating thyroid hormone to the cells. While balancing the thyroid is not necessarily the key to weight loss, especially weight loss greater than fifteen pounds, until both hormone and thyroid issues are looked at and addressed, losing weight on any type of program is difficult.
There are actually four players—two hormones and two minerals—sitting on this seesaw: estrogen and progesterone, copper and zinc. During pregnancy, blood estrogen levels soar, increasing many times higher than prepregnancy levels. Excess estrogen means excess water weight, because estrogen sequesters salt and salt sequesters water.
Estrogen may decrease bowel motility—it may cause constipation. Estrogen-induced constipation sets up a negative downward spiral. As estrogens are used, they are supposed to be excreted by the liver into the intestine for elimination from the body. If excess estrogens cause fecal material to sit in the colon for prolonged periods of time, these used estrogens are reabsorbed into circulation through the bloodstream and are reused, causing even higher levels of circulating estrogen.
There's even more bad news. Elevated estrogens cause fat to be deposited in the tissues. While a little roundness makes females look female, too much roundness makes them look fat! The fat men deposit around their waists and hips actually contains more of the enzymes involved in breaking down fat tissue for energy than are found in female fat tissue.
Estrogen wields a powerful influence on the type of fat deposited in a woman's body that promotes fat storage. As one author says, "The action of female hormone is directly in opposition to that of most thermogenic substances." In other words, women have a more difficult time just burning stored calories in the production of heat because of estrogen's influence.
As if the subject of hormones weren't complicated enough, hormones are strongly influenced by the balance of minerals in the body. This is where the subject gets really technical. Americans are notoriously deficient in key minerals, which can create hormonal havoc throughout the body. Mineral deficiencies can also create food cravings and other symptoms to which women are much more susceptible than men.
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