Thyroid, Gluten, & Blood Type

So last week I had a check-up at the Hotze Health and Wellness Center to see how I'm doing.

I had some blood work done, and I asked for a blood type test because I didn't know what blood type I am, and I've always wanted to know! A few days later, the results came back and I found out that I am type O-Positive (the universal donor!).

The PA also talked to me about the food sensitivities that my blood work from the last visit showed and we discussed my thyroid.

First of all - apparently, I have a high sensitivity to wheat and gluten, even though I've grown up eating stuff with these things in it, and have been just fine. But she told me that if I don't change my diet now, it will lead to problems in the future that will be a lot easier to prevent if I just go ahead and cut gluten out of my diet completely now....I'm 'catching it early' is what she called it.

So last week, I tried to start cutting it out. It's actually kind of funny now, because every time I go to eat something, I lean over to Cody and go "is this gluten free??" Haha, even if it's something obvious like an apple.

;-)

But, there are certain things that it is going to be SO hard for me not to eat. For example, bread. We don't buy a whole lot of bread to begin with, but I love to eat it when we go out to eat, or if someone brings kolaches or something of that sort to work. Another example, desserts! Anyone who knows me knows that I have a large sweet tooth, and cannot say no to cookies, cake, or anything with sugar in it. I  know that sugar isn't gluten, but things that have sugar usually have flour, and flour is almost always glutenous.

So, no fun.

Second of all - even though I'm only 25, I have a slightly low functioning thyroid. Which I think is probably a common problem with people today. So I'm now taking some thyroid hormone from the Hotze Center. I am hoping that this will help me boost my metabolism and help me shed some weight that I've gained over the last year (so I can fit into my work pants again). I wouldn't have even brought up the thyroid stuff, but Cody told me that I should because I exercise a lot, I really don't over-eat, and I can't lose small amounts of weight easily. He says that's a symptom of a low functioning thyroid - and my blood tests did point to the same thing. So there we are.

But anyway, at church yesterday, Rachel gave me back our Eat Right for Your Blood Type book that we had let them borrow a while ago, and I was anxious to read what it had to say about my type O blood type.

Turns out that people with type O blood have low functioning thyroids, and need to be completely gluten free.

Who would have thought? I was so surprised when I read that!

And isn't type O blood the most common? Imagine if people would take charge of their health and learn about their own bodies. Would we have a lot less obesity, diabetes, and in general health problems in America?

I think so.

And also, Thanksgiving should be interesting. I foresee that I will be cheating on my gluten free diet a lot...I'll keep you informed.

:)