Jeanne Schumacher | Thyroid Health and Diet

the exam room podcast brought to you by the Physicians Committee with the weight loss champion shot Carol today the focus is all about the thyroid and I'm sitting across the table from a remarkable woman who I cannot wait for her to share her story with you because when I read this I was just blown away your transformation is just incredible gene Schumacher welcome to the show thank you for having me such an honor to be here it's really an honor for me to be sitting across from you because like I was just saying like reading up on you and everything that you went through and then here you are today just perfectly happy and healthy just a few years ago before you you have this transition like you've probably never even thought that this would be possible no it's changed my life it really has well let's talk a little bit about why you are here today because you changed your life and hopefully somebody hearing this will say hey well that's me too I can change my life as well you had a problem with your thyroid can you tell us a little bit about that well it was before that I think like many many of us I had to hit a brick wall mm-hmm that you get to that point where you're just not feeling well or healthy and in this case I had 105 degree it was between hundred five hundred and six degree fever and I'm like okay I think it's time to go to the emergency room yeah and my blood pressure was about 250 over 150 I mean like I should not be here you know I was very sick and I was in the hospital for a week never so sick in my life but and they never figured out why and I really don't care that blood pressure again one more time can you 250 over 150 how are you even up and walking around I know wow I know so don't know don't I think you know there was somebody up there said I need to get your attention do I have your attention yes sir you have my attention yeah no kidding so I never been so sick in my life but the good news is and here was to here was the miracle okay the woman who was attending me was not only a medical doctor but she was a nutritionist as well such a rare combination that is rare and every day she came in and sometimes you have to hit me over the head with a two-by-four you know just like really get my attention that's like oh yes got it okay ready right right so she kept coming in and saying what do you eat you know tell me about your diet and and she kept focusing on that and it was like oh like there's a connection mmm hello so I went to see her afterwards as a nutritionist and she started me and preventing reverse heart disease and I haven't looked back since well let's let's give some background here leading up to that day I want to I think that a lot of times when as adults we've reached this point when we're so unhealthy that we wind up in the hospital on a bad occasion like this this is really kind of the culmination of a lifetime worth of damage leading up to that's true so as a child what was your diet like what were you eating and were you overweight my whole family is okay we're morbidly obese on both sides of my family and you know anytime we have family gatherings you know it's all about the food and and who can bring the highest caloric density food you know it's a contest it's a good it's an unofficial contest who can bring the ice caloric density food and and everybody goes crazy over it and eat and that's what we do we eat from the time we get together we eat from the time we get together till the time we leave you know and but I mean growing up I mean we had five kids and you know basically we started out with with you know my mother was always good we always started with a salad and then we had two vegetables and the meat and it was pretty rare that we had dessert there was no soda in the house or candy that wasn't until like like like I escaped and got outside the house and went oh my god I know and and dr. Barnard talks about this gene you know that that is people that are more addictive to food in in that and I'm like that's my family oh yeah that's my family oh yeah without question I mean we didn't have gambling or drug addiction you know smoking I think we smoked for all of us smoke for like 10 seconds and college or you know you know we're like yeah this this is not fun yes disgusting and you know and then moved on but we never had any other major addictions in our family but food was a big one so everybody is is pretty obese in my family and so you know growing up that way we always were always on a diet you know always my mother was whatever the diet did or was you know the grapefruit diet you know well I had been on every diet known to mankind I mean seriously yeah you know Weight Watchers Jenny Craig I mean and you know you you do find for a little bit of time but as soon as you stop the weight comes back and then some yeah so you've gone you know this yo-yo thing and I always thought you know I thought I did pretty well eating you know in my health was in general pretty well but it was funny because when I connected with dr. dr. Barnard he had me go back and look back and I went and got and took I sat in the doctor's office and I got my sedimentary layer a file and I started going through this going I was really pretty sick I mean you know so you could get sick I would have you know UTIs or migraines or I I'm a teacher okay I teach in high school so I've got kids coughing hacking sneezing on me all day long oh yeah and you would get the cold sometime in the fall and then you would get better and then you get another one because your immune systems low and then for the whole winter you just have this chronic cough gold you know going on and now I don't you know I don't get sick and if I do get sick it's pretty rare but I might be down for a day you know instead of like weeks once I started this whole progression of going down this path I mean from prevent reverse heart disease I mean I didn't stop I mean I started going to plant stock which is at the farm of Caldwell Esselstyn you know and did that for five years while they still had it at the the farm and and I immersed myself in this culture and this lifestyle and learning how to change my health and my health destiny and so as I started to change this way one of the things I you know started realizing my thyroid started going wonky and so that's when my doctor you know in the bloodwork picked it up and she said you know your thyroid starting to go and I said okay and so she handed me a prescription and you know I'm looking at the prescription I'm like doc this has got four refills on this how long am I supposed to be on this medicine she's like for the rest of your life and like no she's like well I've never seen in my years of being a medical doctor anybody healed her thyroid right once it starts to go that's it you need to have a synthetic thyroid to help you know regulate your body and like there's gotta know so what was actually happening and what dr. Barnard Barnard and I had figured out it's like as I started to release a lot of the toxins that were inside of me it started to throw my thyroid off and once I got rid of a lot of the toxins like a hundred pounds worth yep then my my thyroid started regulating itself and I didn't and it came off the medication so after you're in the hospital and you you were working with this doctor who just happened to be the nutritionist as well it sounds to me like you went vegetarian more so than full-on vegans just you know in the beginning almost everything else went and meat went right away okay okay and it was just maybe a little bit of cheese and a little bit of yogurt and that was it but that wasn't long I mean that was a couple of months right and then that was it you know I kept breathing and reading more and reading more and I was like oh my gosh I got to get rid of all you know I got to clean it out right and that was it so it's been it's been a journey and I've seen such changes you know not not only myself but it's just in my demeanor I mean it's changed my life I mean you know and all's I want to do now is help other people too to change their health destiny for sure and to see that you don't have to live this you know in pain and suffering and in in illness right again so your thyroid kind of started freaking out as you were starting to lose and I said we're starting to lose weight and it was really I was releasing a lot of toxins because there's two types of chemicals I'm a chemistry teacher right now you are qualified go right ahead you know there's fat soluble there's water soluble huh okay if it's water soluble you're gonna pee it okay if it's fat soluble it's just going right into your cells and a lot of these chemicals your fat almost like builds around it to protect it almost like a like an oyster I can't compare the fat to a pearl but that's kind of like the idea we're going for here but that's what happens is you get these fat pockets and it's just kids they become these toxic dumps and so you're releasing a lot of these toxins and so that's one of the things that happens as you start to you know it transition I help people to transition I've got an online program to help people and one of the things I get comments frequently from people that are going through it I felt better eat and crap you know and it's like okay because your body is healing yeah so you've got it you got to go through this you're gonna get through it yeah you know and it's your body's gonna start to heal but you gotta get rid of these toxins and you know you can have headaches you can feel like you're coming down with a cold or flu or pimples or rash you know something along those lines but the good news is once you do clean your system out yeah and you have those moments that you deviate like I was tutoring this is hilarious this is like one of those Mayday calls help could be coming too - yeah he's gonna test tomorrow okay so go to the house and I was there for quite a few hours and I didn't I you see bring my food with me so this time I you know I brought my food but that was not I didn't bring plan for an extended break right this was a mayday call so I got you alright so on the way home I saw a bagel place new bagel and it's God as my witness my intention was to just go get a whole week great you know whole grain bagel and that was it just toasted that was it right nothing on it we're good but I was a cream cheese holic you know I I will admit it you know I'd be the first to go hi I'm Gigi micro I'm a food addict so the guy goes to me he says we have a new cream cheese and it's got walnuts and raisins and cinnamon and honey do you want some time yes I couldn't I I couldn't couldn't stop ya the filter was there so and he slathered it on oh my god mmm and I ate it like somebody had just been released from jail yeah I skirt that baby down yeah and I wouldn't down the road ten minutes I had to pull over I felt like somebody had a samurai sword going through my gut and you know I just kind of curled up in the seat and literally I I was it was in a fetal position and I sat there for a good 10 15 minutes before I could start driving again that's how that's how bad the attack was right and then I get home and I'm like I literally crawl up to my bed and I'm in a fetal position on my bed moving and my husband comes home he's like what's wrong with you it took about 6 7 hours for it to go through yeah and have I had cream cheese since that time no everything is amazing and I can only thank the the docs you know and say thank you to all of these guys who I stand on their shoulders you know yeah and say thank you so much for giving me my my health back my life back and I you know so I'm paying it forward and helping others I appreciate you paying it forward a little bit here with us today well thank you so much for having me it's been an honor to be at the PCRM I mean Wow all the things you guys are doing it's amazing so well we are amazed that you were here thank you so much gene Schumacher you

Channel: Physicians Committee

Views: 816,432

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Id: 2tzBRtPundw

Length: 13min 11sec (791 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 27 2020