Health

One Doctor Used an ‘Elimination Diet’ To Shed Stubborn Pounds and Boost Energy — Here’s How

Published

2 years ago

June 8, 2023

One Doctor Used an ‘Elimination Diet’ To Shed Stubborn Pounds and Boost Energy — Here’s How

Do your best efforts to get healthier usually end with disappointment, low energy and weight gain? You’re not alone, says popular TikTok doctor Emi Hosoda, MD, who once experienced similar results. “I even went on a 1,200-calorie vegan diet and didn’t take off a single pound,” the Seattle-based internist recalls. At first, she blamed stress and aging. Then a colleague made an offhand comment: “You shouldn’t be so overweight. There must be something wrong with your gut.” Intrigued, Dr. Hosoda turned attention to her belly, eventually going back to school to learn more. She discovered that inflammation in the GI tract can cause hidden thyroid issues, and with the right tests, confirmed this was her problem. Fortunately, she notes that simple steps including adopting an elimination diet (cutting out thyroid-slowing foods) “were life-changing” for weight loss and vitality. Now, she’s sharing her tips and insights on the elimination diet along with her recommended meal plan for best results.

The Factors That Cause Thyroid Issues

You might be wondering what your GI tract has to do with your thyroid, a.k.a. the little gland in your neck that controls metabolism. Turns out, a key reason the thyroid slows down is that the body mistakenly attacks it — and Dr. Hosoda explains these autoimmune attacks “are very often triggered in our gut.”

Here’s the main way it happens: Little by little, things like stress hormones, antibiotics, and irritants in food damage the thin gut lining; if it gets bad enough, tiny tears form and microscopic food particles escape. While scientists don’t fully understand why, this can cause the immune system to malfunction and begin targeting healthy cells and tissue as they would a virus or toxin. And since the thyroid is delicate, Dr. Hosoda notes it’s prone to getting roughed up so much that it becomes sluggish and diseased.

So does your thyroid need help? Symptoms like fatigue, stubborn weight gain, brain fog, and frequent GI issues hint that the answer is yes. Be sure to talk to your doctor; you may need prescription meds to protect your well-being. But most experts agree that Dr. Hosoda’s basic style of eating can benefit virtually everyone. In fact, research shows it can help prevent future issues and even offer significant relief to folks already diagnosed with a slow thyroid.

To be fair, Dr. Hosoda says the perfect gut-soothing diet will be a little different for each of us. If you have access to a functional medicine expert, you can get high-tech tests and a personalized list of foods to avoid. Not an option? No problem! Making changes to your diet is a low-tech approach that gets pretty amazing results too.

The Best Eating Habits To Boost Thyroid Function

The gist of an elimination diet, or autoimmune protocol, is to give your body a break from foods that often cause inflammation and thyroid attacks, “like grains, dairy, sugar, artificial colors and flavors, and any highly processed food,” Dr. Hosoda says. At the same time, you’ll aim to get plenty of nutrients proven to help relieve inflammation and repair damage — especially antioxidants from produce (organic if possible, to avoid pesticide residue), amino acids from high-quality protein, and omega-3s from good fat.

As you narrow down what you eat and pay more attention to your body, you may notice a seemingly healthy food causes bloating or tummy trouble. Remove that item from your diet too. After you give your system time to rejuvenate, you can add things back one at a time and reincorporate any that don’t trigger reactions. “I used to have trouble with coconut, but now that my gut has healed, I can handle it again,” Dr. Hosoda shares. “The key is to find things that are damaging for you and replace them with things that are healing.”

Bonus: “As your gut heals, it becomes better able to absorb nutrients essential for making thyroid hormones, like magnesium and selenium,” Dr. Hosoda notes. A healthy gut also absorbs more minerals like chromium that are key to preventing inflammatory blood-sugar spikes.

For Dr. Hosoda, blood tests showed a significant drop in markers of autoimmune attacks. “I felt energized and better right away. And then the weight started coming off pretty quickly, about 2 to 4 pounds every week or so,” she adds. “If you take steps and don’t get better, a hidden infection or other issues can be at play. Don’t struggle alone. Keep looking until you find a doctor who helps you.”

Dr. Hosoda’s Elimination Diet Meal Plan for Thyroid Health

To try Dr. Hosoda’s way of eating, use a free app like MyFitnessPal to keep portions healthy and enjoy lots of nonstarchy veggies, protein, and good fats. Include a little low-sugar fruit and grain-free starch like sweet potato, beans, and quinoa into your daily diet. Choose organic or grass-fed ingredients if possible. Also, avoid sugar, dairy, grains, and processed food. Below, you can find three easy meal ideas if you’re following the elimination diet plan:

Breakfast: Halve and slightly hollow baked sweet potatoes. Brush with olive oil and then add raw eggs. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit until the eggs reach your preferred level of doneness, 10 to 15 minutes.
Lunch: Dress up a large bowl of spring greens with grilled chicken, fresh berries, nuts, spring onion, and a drizzle of olive oil vinaigrette.
Dinner: On a sheet pan, top salmon and veggies with olive oil and seasoning. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit until the fish flakes, 15 to 20 minutes.

For more of Dr. Hosoda’s tips, follow @Doctor.Emi on Instagram and TikTok.

This content is not a substitute for professional medical advice or diagnosis. Always consult your physician before pursuing any treatment plan.

A version of this article originally appeared in our print magazine, Woman’s World.

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Water for Weight Loss? How Much You Should Drink to Shed More Weight

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January 19, 2025

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Health

Ivanka Trump stays fit with this self-defense practice: ‘Moving meditation’

Published

3 hours ago

January 19, 2025

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Ivanka Trump stays fit with this self-defense practice: ‘Moving meditation’

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Ivanka Trump, the daughter of incoming President Donald Trump, has been known to lead an active life.

As the mother of three kids and a lover of outdoor sports, the 43-year-old is always on the move, recently adding jiu-jitsu to her mix of physical activity.

In a recent appearance on The Skinny Confidential Him & Her podcast, Trump shared how her daughter, Arabella, expressed interest in learning self-defense when she was 11.

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“I’m just so in awe of [her],” Trump said about her daughter. “She came to me and said, ‘As a woman, I feel like I need to know how to defend myself, and I don’t have a confidence level yet that I can do that.’”

Ivanka Trump plays with her daughter, Arabella Rose Kushner, in the Rose Garden during a Congressional Picnic on the South Lawn of the White House in June 2017. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Trump responded, “At 11 … I was not thinking about how to physically defend myself, and I thought it was the coolest thing.”

After researching self-defense options, Trump enrolled Arabella, now 13, in jiu-jitsu (martial arts) classes with the Valente Brothers in Miami, Florida – and soon the whole family joined in.

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“[Arabella] started asking me to join – I joined,” she said. “Then my two sons wanted to do what their older sister was doing. Then my husband joined … It is good for everyone.”

“It’s almost like a moving meditation.”

Trump, who is now a blue belt in jiu-jitsu, described that she likes how the sport “meshes physical movement.”

“It’s almost like a moving meditation because the movements are so micro,” she said. “It’s like three-dimensional chess.”

“There’s like a real spiritualism to it … The grounding in sort of samurai tradition and culture and wisdom.”

During President Trump’s first term in the White House, Ivanka Trump noted that she had very little focus on fitness, only taking weekly runs with husband Jared Kushner and “chasing the kids around the house.”

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Trump shared that she was “never a gym person,” but always loved sports, which still holds true today.

She said she enjoys skiing, surfing and racquet sports like padel tennis (a hybrid of tennis and squash) and pickle ball, which she described as “fun and social.”

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are seen out for a walk with their children on Dec. 10, 2022, in Miami, Florida. (MEGA/GC Images)

‘Elevating awareness’

On the podcast, Trump said she was drawn to jiu-jitsu because it combines physical fitness and philosophy.

It also focuses more on how to extract yourself from a dangerous situation before having to harm someone who’s a threat, she noted.

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“Having these skills makes you less likely to get into a fight, not more likely to,” Trump went on.

“Once you have the confidence that you can sort of move out of a situation, there’s a real focus on elevating awareness.”

Ivanka Trump waves as she arrives at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland for US President Donald Trump’s departure on Jan. 20, 2021. (ALEX EDELMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

In a previous interview with Fox News Digital, Rener Gracie, head instructor of jiu-jitsu at Gracie University in California, stressed that the only truly reliable skills are those that have been “mastered into muscle memory.”

This occurs through extensively practicing self-defense methods like Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which are “leverage-based and don’t rely on you having a physical advantage over the subject,” he noted.

“Having these skills makes you less likely to get into a fight, not more likely to.”

“And by that, I mean strength, speed, power and size — because in almost every case, the attacker is going to target someone who they feel is physically inferior to them.”

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Gracie, whose family created Brazilian jiu-jitsu and the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), shared that jiu-jitsu is “highly sought after” because it only takes weeks or months for someone to “develop the core skills that could keep them safe in a violent physical encounter.”

‘Transformative’ strength training

In addition to mastering self-defense skills, Ivanka Trump recently revealed a shift in her fitness routine to include weightlifting and resistance training.

On Instagram, Trump posted a video displaying different exercises with various equipment in the gym, noting in the caption that she used to focus primarily on cardio, yoga and Pilates.

“Since moving to Miami, I have shifted my focus to weightlifting and resistance training, and it has been transformative in helping me build muscle and shift my body composition in ways I hadn’t imagined,” she wrote.

“I believe in a strength training approach built on foundational, time-tested and simple movements – squats, deadlifts, hinges, pushes and pulls. These are the cornerstones of my workout, emphasizing functional strength for life.”

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Trump added that prioritizing form is “essential” to ensure results before adding on weight.

“This ensures a safe and steady progression while maintaining the integrity of each movement,” she continued. “I incorporate mobility work within my sessions to enhance range of motion.”

“I believe in a strength training approach built on foundational, time-tested and simple movements – squats, deadlifts, hinges, pushes and pulls,” Ivanka Trump wrote in an October Instagram post. (Ivanka Trump/Instagram)

“Weightlifting has enhanced not just my strength but my overall athleticism and resilience,” she added.

Trump said she dedicates three to four days a week to strength training, including two solo sessions and two with a personal trainer.

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She also said that increasing her protein intake has also been “critical” to her progress.

“I now consume between 30 and 50 grams of protein a meal,” she said. “It works … I’ve never been stronger!”

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are seen arriving at the beachside eatery on May 2, 2024, in Miami Beach, Florida. (MEGA/GC Images)

Trump also still enjoys weekly yoga sessions, spending time outdoors with her children and playing sports with friends, she said.

“I also incorporate a couple of short (10-minute), high-intensity interval training sessions (such as sprints) each week to keep my cardiovascular fitness sharp and dynamic,” she noted.

“This balanced approach has infused new energy into my fitness routine and yielded great results.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Ivanka Trump for comment.

Health

Semaglutide Pills and Injections Vs. Drops: Experts Weigh In | Woman's World

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10 hours ago

January 18, 2025

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