The Book that Took Me Three Years to Read.

"It's not your fault."

The first chapter of this book brought tears to my eyes. It told me everything that I had tried to tell myself for years. It said - "Now it has a name. This illness has a name, and with that comes answers." And that was reassuring, but the paragraph under the headline Blame Game is what really shook me to my core:

Rest assured, your symptoms and illness are not your fault. Got that? I'll say it again, because the conditioning is so strong in the opposite direction: your symptoms and illness are not your fault. You did not create your illness. You did not attract or manifest it. You did not imagine it. You're not sick because your crazy, lazy, weak-willed, defective, or bored. You did not bring your symptoms upon yourself by thinking the wrong thoughts or fixating too much on fear. You don't come from a faulty family line. You are not subconsciously holding yourself back from healing because you secretly crave the attention of being sick. Your suffering is not a punishment from God or the universe, or karma coming back to get you for something you did in this or in any lifetime... All your body does is work night and day to support you - because your body loves you unconditonally.

That was the first chapter of Thyroid Healing: The Truth Behind Hashimoto's, Graves, Insomnia, Hypothyroidism, Thyroid Nodules, & Epstein-Barr by Anthony William. I read that, and I put the book down. Crying. My parents had told me this. My friends tried to drill this into my brain. So, why when a stranger writes it in the first chapter of a book, do I finally believe it? Why is it that I didn't hear it before?

I read that first chapter in 2019, when I received the book. It wasn't until I saw a video of Gina Rodriguez, who most people know as Jane The Virgin, speak about her journey through Hashimotos that I decided to pick the book back up:

She speaks with such eloquence about the disease and how it doesn't hinder her. The comments about food these days being expensive and not being able to nourish and feed your body if you don't have the resources to do so is difficult, but not impossible. So, I started the second chapter.

Anthony Williams, the author, goes through it all. What can trigger your symptoms in the first place and what can make your symptoms flare up in terms of food, stress, and gut health. The problems aren't just with money and being able to find the food that helps and nourishes your body, it's filling that body with knowledge, so you can give yourself better nutrition of what not to eat. As Gina states, it's all about being in control of your own body and what you put into it.

I had to cut out gluten and dairy. I even tried going vegan for a little while. However, I don't make myself miserable if I want to have real cheese on my gluten-free pizza, or I want to have ice cream that night. I know that I might be a little bloated the next morning or put myself through a little pain for something that I really want, because ultimately it's my choice and my body. It's time for you (and, me) to take control and become a thyroid expert, or at least an expert of your own body.

We live in the Information Age! There is no shortage of information readily available at our fingertips. From books to podcasts, putting all forms of your health first is so incredibly important - mental health, gut health, sexual health, your overall health. I say all this because it took me a long time to realize how truly important it is. Dealing with fluctuating weight, acne, hair loss, fatigue, the worst cramps, not being able to get out of bed, forgetfulness, dry skin... you get the point. Take control of your body, and if Anthony Williams isn't the author for you, maybe some of these options will be:

1. The Mind-Gut Connection by Emeran Mayer, MD

2. Food: WTF Should I Eat? by Dr. Mark Hyman

3. How To Heal Your Metabolism by Kate Deering