HOME > > The Relationship between Hypothyroidism and Insulin Resistance

The Relationship between Hypothyroidism and Insulin Resistance

By Ritamarie Loscalzo

blood sugar and belly fat

blood sugar and belly fatI recently recorded a webinar called Belly Fat, Brain Fog, and Burnout Solutions, where I explored the link between blood sugar imbalance and a number of other common ailments, including thyroid dysfunction.

The symptoms of excess fat around the middle, brain fog, and unrelenting fatigue can be tied to both thyroid and blood sugar dysfunction.  After all, your thyroid controls the metabolic rate of every cell in your body, and if the dial is set to SLOW, you will be very efficient at using the available fuel (food), so there will be calories to spare, which get converted to fat.

As I explain in detail in the webinar, when your blood sugar regulation mechanisms are off, then even the fuel that makes it into the cells is burned so efficiently that there’s plenty left over for making fat.

Lovely, isn’t it?

Low Thyroid and Blood Sugar Imbalance Can Make You Fat, Foggy, and Fatigued

Even if you are eating a low-calorie diet, your faulty blood sugar regulation and thyroid hormones work so that you just can’t seem to let go of the extra weight no matter how hard you try.

These very same mechanisms lead to a foggy brain and that all-too-familiar feeling of exhaustion, no matter how much you sleep.

This may seem like a hopeless situation, but, indeed, it’s not!

The Relationship Between Thyroid Hormones and Insulin

  1. Insulin resistance in liver, which occurs early in the process of decreasing insulin sensitivity in your cells, results in decreased conversion of the inactive T4 hormone to the active T3, resulting in hypothyroid symptoms. Poor T4 to T3 conversion is extremely common, and is one of the types of thyroid problems most missed by conventional medicine.

  2. Low thyroid hormone leads to a decreased rate of glucose uptake by cells – in other words, it contributes to insulin resistance.

  3. Low thyroid hormone also results in a more sluggish response of insulin to elevated blood sugar, leading to the damaging effects of elevated blood sugar on blood vessels, nerves, and your retinas. It also contributes to higher levels of Advanced Glycation End Products, which have been associated to symptoms we usually associate with aging.

  4. Thyroid hormone is required to facilitate the clearance of insulin from the blood, so when your thyroid function is low, you are exposed to the damaging effects of insulin on your endothelial lining, contributing to plaque formation, hypertension, heart attacks, and stroke

As long as you have blood sugar dysregulation, whatever you do to fix your thyroid will not work.  And,conversely, impaired thyroid function impacts effective regulation of your blood sugar.

One Person’s Healing Journey

One of the participants in my blood sugar balancing program, B4 Be Gone, Beatriz,  had been told she was prediabetic and there was really nothing she could do but come back in 6 months and recheck. Because she had several family members who’d suffered with diabetes, she was scared, and rightly so.  She decided she would find a solution to prevent her from going down that path.

She joined my  B4 Be Gone Program and focused on doing as she was taught.

Beatriz “accidentally” released 22 pounds within the first month, and she was feeling more energetic and vibrant than she had in decades.

She continued with the program, and  then went to see a new endocrinologist. By then she had released 75 pounds, and her blood sugars were staying in the 80’s.

Imagine her surprise when the doctor told her she no longer had Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, for which she had been on medication for over 50 years. She also no longer had panhypopituitarism, a condition for which she had been taking cortisone. She was instructed to stop all medication, including that for high blood pressure, because her blood pressure had stabilized.

For Beatriz, the B4 Be Gone diet has become a lifestyle, and she remains healthy.  She has gone on to release 110 pounds!

Your body has its own magical healing capacity. All you need to do is correct the imbalances.

My B4 Be Gone  Program is the best system I know for jump-starting all of that.

This intimate relationship between your blood sugar and thyroid is why I decided to offer a very special bonus to anyone who registers for my blood sugar balancing program, B4 Be Gone, during the Early Enrollment period.

I put together a brand new program called Healing Hypothyroidism Naturally, which is scheduled to be launched in the Spring of 2015.

The program is designed to help you take charge of your own thyroid health. You will learn how to order and read your own labs, how to interpret the findings, and then what specific diet and lifestyle interventions you can put into place to restore your thyroid health.

This program will be offered for $297, and at that level of investment it’s a steal. That’s less than the cost of one appointment with a functional medicine practitioner or an endocrinologist!

When you invest in B4 Be Gone TODAY, you will get full access to the Hypothyroid class and all the bonuses offered with it.

You deserve to be healthy.  I know how frustrating it is to spend your time year after year searching for answers.

This weekend only,  when you register for the B4 Be Gone program, you get a bonus package valued at over 4 times your investment, including:
  1. Healing Hypothyroid Naturally – LIVE coaching program in the spring of 2015

  2. A free ticket to my Spring into Vitality Spa Retreat, April 17-19, 2015, on a beautiful lake just outside of Austin

  3. A complete set of Raw Food University/Gluten-Free Academy Online food preparation videos and recipe guides

  4. A complete set of videos from my Spring into Vitality Cleansing and Detoxification weekend recorded Spring 2014.

Hypothyroidism AND insulin resistance are underlying contributing factors in heart disease and cancer.  It is important to take charge of both of these hormonal imbalances right away.

Comment below about your experiences with balancing your blood sugar and healing your thyroid. Also, be sure to let us know what information you’ve found that has helped you.

For more information on how to take charge of insulin resistance and thyroid dysfunction, check out this video:

Share this:
Magic Questions eBook Cover

Are you feeling stuck?

Do you feel as if something is missing from your practice that's keeping you from delivering breakthrough outcomes for your clients?.

I am a Health Professional, Coach or Nutritionist (or I am in training or planning to become one)

Recent Posts

Our Programs

Nutritional Endocrinology Practitioner Training (NEPT)

The Mastery and Certification tier is our flagship program and provides everything you need to feel confident as a practitioner who knows how to get results that lead to healthy and happy clients.

Functional Assessment Mastery

Explore the relationships between the most important hormones and their relationship with nutrition.

Functional Nutrition Mastery

Learn how to support your clients to eat and supplement in a way that reduces and eliminates chronic symptoms.

Medical Disclaimer: The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, drritamarie.com, and the experts who have contributed. We encourage you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional.

Disclosure: Sometimes (but not always), when I share resources in my programs, newsletter, and on my website, I'm using an affiliate link, which means I do make money if you buy. My credibility is extremely important to me; therefore, I only endorse the products, services, and people I believe in. DrRitamarie.com is independently owned and the opinions expressed here are my own.

Click here to see our Privacy Policy.

1 Comment

  1. Radio Show: Food and Nutrients for Your Thyroid | on August 28, 2015 at 11:53 am

    […] How to assess the health of your thyroid […]

Leave a Comment





Related Posts