Dedication
To my dear readers—may Food Pharmacology
awaken your inner healing capabilities!
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
Introduction
1: Hashimoto’s and the Healing Potential of Food
2: Fundamentals of Nutrition
3: Tailoring Your Plan
4: Making It Work! Habits, Tools, and Strategies for Success
5: Frequently Asked Questions
Meal Plans
Cookbook
Simple Essentials
Coconut Yogurt
Fermented Vegetables
Mom’s Dill Pickles
Bone Broth
Everyday Dressing
Fermented Coconut Water
Farinata Bread
Hashi-Mayo
Pizza Sauce
Cashew Cream Cheese
Chunky Applesauce
Goddess of Detox Dressing
Tomato Sauce
Smoothies and Beverages
Green Juice
Hashi-Mojito
Mint Tea
Maca Latte
Pumpkin Maca Latte
Orange Cream Smoothie
Cilantro-Citrus Cooler
Root Cause Original Smoothie
Spa Water
Hashi-Mojito Smoothie
Root Cause Building Smoothie
Hot Chocolate
Soups and Stews
Beef Stew
Chicken Soup
Barszcz (Polish Beet Soup)
Chilly Day Chili
Polish Pea Soup
Cuban Ropa Vieja
Cream of Broccoli Soup
Moroccan Lamb Stew
Carrot-Ginger-Pear Soup
Galaretka (Polish Gelatin Broth)
Winter Oxtail Stew
Creamy White Chicken Stew
Pork Curry Stew
Salads
Golden Raisin Chicken Salad
Jar Salad
Heirloom Tomato and Beet Salad
Katy’s Greek Salad
Bibimbap Bowl (Korean Mixed Veggie Bowl)
Peaches and Steak
Crunchy Arugula Salad
Duck Salad
Cucumber-Fig Salad
Taco the Town Salad
SAM Salad
Chopped BLT Salad
Savory Mains
Frittata with Ham and White Sweet Potato
Duck with Date Sauce
Bigos (Polish Hunter’s Stew)
Shrimp Ceviche
Sweet and Sour Chicken Skewers with Broccoli Salad
Citrus Bison Meatballs
Lentil Shepherd’s Pie
Turkey and Pepper Avocado Boats
Hubby’s Carnitas
Hashi Hash Hash
Maple Meatloaf Muffins
Chicken Tandoori
Tropical Grilled Chicken Skewers
Salmon-Parsnip Cakes
Shepherd’s Pie
Beef Fried Rice
Mexican Quiche
Broccoli and Chicken Quiche
Paella
Paleo Pizza
Squashghetti and Meatballs
Gołąbki (Polish Stuffed Cabbage Rolls)
Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
Baked Ginger-Lemon Chicken Thighs
Sloppy Joes in a HeartBeet
Chicken Burgers and Kale Chips
Grilled Fish and Pineapple Salsa Packets with Green Beans
Italian Meatza Pie
Kotlety (Polish Chicken Cutlets)
Citrus Salmon
Paleo Meatloaf
Poached Trout with Beets
Pork Chops with Balsamic Glazed Onions
Pulled Cherry Pork
Quail with Grapes
Gnocchi with Peas and Pancetta
Slow-Cooked Chicken
Ginger-Peach Pork Tenderloin
Eggplant Lasagna Stacks
Sides and Snacks
Truffled Veggies
Cowboy Caviar
Bacon and Chive Scalloped Potatoes
Chicken Spring Rolls with Almond Dipping Sauce
Chicken Plantain “Nachos”
Cilantro-Lime Guacamole
Sweet and Salty “Granola”
Liver Pâté
Apple-Carrot Salad
Sautéed Rapini
Mango Salsa
Mizeria (Polish Cucumber Salad)
Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes
Spaghetti Squash Sauté
Root Veggie Bake
Parsnip-Carrot Mash
Beef Jerky
Red Pepper Turkey Dip
Almond and Date Snack Bars
Carrot Fries
Zucchini Bread
Biscuits
Sweets
Apple-Blueberry Crumble
Carob Lava Cakes
Chocolate Avocado Pudding
Coconut-Fig Energy Balls
Paleo Banana-Almond Muffins
Cherry Berry Gelatin Snacks
Plantain Crepes
Pumpkin Pie
Sweet Potato Pistachio Pudding
Baked Coconut Bananas
Strawberries and Cream Dream
Waffles
AI Very Berry Pie
Lemon–Banana Cream Ice Pops
Gratitude
References
Index
About the Author
Also by Izabella Wentz
Copyright
About the Publisher
Introduction
If you picked up a copy of this book, there’s a good chance you may be asking yourself, “So why is a pharmacist writing a cookbook?” In short, because I know that all the substances we put in our bodies can have a profound impact on how we feel.
As a pharmacist, I’ve spent countless hours learning pharmacology, the study of how various molecules interact with the cells and tissues of our bodies. Traditionally, when we think of pharmacology, we may think only of synthetic substances such as prescription drugs, but pharmacology is really the study of any substance, whether synthetic, naturally occurring, or produced within our body, that can affect our physiology and biology.
I became a pharmacist because I was fascinated by how tiny amounts of certain substances could have such a profound impact on us humans. I was amazed that a teeny 20 milligram dose of lisinopril could drop the blood pressure in the entire body of a 200-pound man and that mere micrograms of LSD (a microgram is 1/100th of a milligram) could make the same man hallucinate!
Like the tiny substances found in medications, tiny amounts of substances in foods we eat every day can have a profound effect on the body. Food molecules send thousands of messages to our bodies every day! The right foods can send positive and nourishing messages, giving us plentiful energy, shiny hair, and flawless skin and allowing our bodies to function like the high-performance machines they’re meant to be. The wrong foods, on the other hand, can send negative signals, causing inflammation, pain, and countless other symptoms.
In the same way that we use pharmaceuticals to impact our biology, we can use food as our medicine! I call this concept food pharmacology. Food can be a powerful ally in your healing journey, and just as you want to be sure that the medications you take are right for your body, you will want to tailor your diet accordingly to get the best results.
What countless hours of research, my own Hashimoto’s journey, and my work with thousands of people with Hashimoto’s has taught me is that even though each person is unique, there are predictable and repeatable nutrition solutions that will work for most people with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, an autoimmune condition that
attacks the thyroid gland and is the leading cause of hypothyroidism in most developed countries, like the United States. Many of these solutions may also work for people with other types of autoimmune disease.
Through my research and work with people with Hashimoto’s, I have found that nutrient depletions, food sensitivities, an impaired stress response, an impaired ability to get rid of toxins, intestinal permeability, and infections can trigger Hashimoto’s. What do all of these things have in common? According to my Safety Theory of Hashimoto’s, all of these factors are evidence that our body has received messages that the world we are living in is not a safe place and that it should go into an energy-conservation mode.
THE SAFETY THEORY
The Safety Theory of Hashimoto’s came about through my work with thousands of people with Hashimoto’s and the study of biology, medicine, the concept of adaptive physiology, and the leading theories of autoimmune disease, including the bystander effect, molecular mimicry, thyroid-directed autoimmunity, and the three-legged stool of autoimmunity. It was developed as a way to better understand why so many people develop this common condition.
In essence, this is a theory about survival. Research has shown that the thyroid gland works with our immune system to sense our environment and to help us survive. A 2013 study found that the thyroid gland can sense danger and initiate an inflammatory autoimmune response against itself through molecules known as danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs).
A concept referred to as adaptive physiology suggests that our bodies develop chronic illness as an adaptation or in response to our environment. In other words, chronic illness serves a protective role. It sounds counterintuitive, but it makes sense when you think of it as a manifestation of our innate drive to survive.
Our bodies have evolved, or were brilliantly designed, to achieve two main goals: to help us survive and to help us reproduce and perpetuate our species. To ensure the best chances for survival (as individuals and as a species), our bodies are constantly sensing our environment and adapting to it.
In addition to predators, infections, and accidents, a main threat to survival for early humans was food scarcity. One very effective way to survive a famine is by reducing our metabolism so we don’t have to eat as many calories. The body can do this by slowing down the thyroid gland, which is our master gland of metabolism.
I believe that early humans developed the propensity toward thyroid disorders because they helped us survive in times of famine! Many of these survivors were likely our ancestors, who have passed on this “survival advantage” to those of us with thyroid disease as a predisposition for developing thyroid disorders in times of danger.
We would like to believe that we are modern humans, but the truth is we still live in bodies that respond to danger the same way our ancestors’ bodies did. In modern times, although famines are rare in the developed world, we may send the same signal to our body by eating processed foods (things with hardly any nutrients that our ancestors would not have considered food), being on a calorie-restricted diet, eating things that cause inflammation or digestive difficulties, and even eating when stressed. All of these signal the body that food is scarce and that we are in a famine. The food we eat, or don’t eat, can send signals to our bodies that our environment is not safe, and we need to go into survival mode.
So if you have thyroid disease, thank your body for having this genius design that has helped keep you safe and helped you survive. And also think about what may be making your body feel as though its going through a time of famine, war, toxic crisis, or illness.
HOW TO TELL YOUR BODY IT’S SAFE
I consider myself to be a problem solver, pattern recognizer, and guinea pig, a person who loves to figure out puzzles through any means necessary. I’m not athletically or artistically inclined, but I do think I have a gift for taking in large amounts of information and seeing patterns. And what I can tell you from studying the patterns and problems related to Hashimoto’s is that there are universal things that everyone with Hashimoto’s can do to feel better. One way to really outsmart autoimmune thyroid disease is to make your body understand that it’s safe!
Wouldn’t it be great if we could just send a message to our immune system to stop attacking our thyroid gland and our body, to say that we are actually relatively safe in this unsafe world? I have great news—we can! The key, however, is to communicate to your body in a language that it will understand. In simple terms, you must eliminate the things that make your immune system believe that you need to conserve your body’s resources and add things that make it believe that it is safe. One of the fastest ways to let your body know that it is safe and that it can thrive is through nourishing your body with food pharmacology!
THE JOURNEY TO TRANSFORMATION
Now, I’m not just a health-care professional sharing this information. I’m also a patient who has been there. My own personal health journey has been the creative driving force behind this Hashimoto’s cookbook as well as my other two books, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis: Lifestyle Interventions for Finding and Treating the Root Cause and Hashimoto’s Protocol: A 90-Day Plan for Reversing Thyroid Symptoms and Getting Your Life Back; my Rootcology supplement line; and a host of other solutions for Hashimoto’s.
When I was twenty-seven years old, I was diagnosed with the “incurable” autoimmune condition known as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. My diagnosis came after many years of frustrating, painful, and even debilitating symptoms. Some interfered with my undergraduate studies, some emerged during my doctorate program, and yet others appeared when I began working as a clinical pharmacist. It seemed as though every year I was collecting more and more symptoms. What started off as depression and fatigue eventually progressed into irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), panic attacks, acid reflux, a chronic cough, year-round allergies, brain fog, memory loss, emotional dysregulation, palpitations, hair loss, cold intolerance, dry and dull skin, carpal tunnel syndrome in both arms, and that sudden awful realization, “Wow, even my sweatpants are getting too tight!”
Like many thyroid patients, it took me at least a decade to get the right diagnosis. Let me be clear here: it wasn’t for lack of trying. I saw numerous doctors who gave me various unhelpful labels including, “You’re just stressed,” “You’re depressed,” “You likely have IBS,” and my all-time favorite, “You’re just getting older”—which I heard at the ripe old age of twenty-five!
When I received the diagnosis of Hashimoto’s and hypothyroidism, a large part of me was relieved and hopeful—finally I had an answer (and maybe a solution) to all of my symptoms! As a pharmacist, I was well versed in thyroid medications and excited at the prospect of taking a pill to replace the hormones my body was no longer making. At the same time, a part of me was devastated; I had an incurable autoimmune condition. The condition was progressive and would likely worsen each year; my thyroid gland would incur more damage with each passing day! Additionally, I could potentially end up with a second or third autoimmune condition! According to conventional medicine there was nothing that could be done other than taking replacement thyroid hormones (the hormones do not stop the progression of the condition). And, as I came to learn from personal experience, many people who took medications nonetheless continued to struggle with numerous symptoms.
As a pharmacist and a rational human being, I am a firm believer in cause and effect. I wanted to know if there was anything I could do to improve my condition and if my lifestyle was somehow contributing to making the condition worse.
I was trained in lifestyle as well as medication interventions during pharmacy school. We often recommended lifestyle changes like dietary modification and exercise for people with chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol before we recommended medications. And if people needed medications, we would always still recommend that they focus on lifestyle. Granted the lifestyle changes recommended by conventional medicine are not quite where they should be yet, but hey, at least we were tryin
g, and at least there was some hope that patients’ conditions could be improved and even reversed with lifestyle changes.
Yet at the time of my diagnosis, the only type of intervention for Hashimoto’s that was being recommended by endocrinologists was a pharmacological one. Don’t get me wrong—as a pharmacist, I loved using medications (when appropriate of course!). In fact, appropriate medication use was my passion and the foundation of my training. I even had postgraduate certifications in medication therapy management and chose a career path as a clinical consultant pharmacist focused on optimizing medication outcomes.
I’m still a firm believer that the right medicine, for the right person, at the right time can be absolutely life changing (and sometimes even lifesaving). But c’mon, asking one tiny substance to shift your body into a positive healing mode when you have thousands of other substances sending negative disease signals is just not realistic. This is the reason many people who take thyroid medications, whether synthetic, compounded, or natural desiccated, continue to struggle with symptoms as I did.
When I started on thyroid hormone medications I was hopeful. And they did help! I was able to sleep eleven hours instead of twelve (I sure was glad to have that extra hour), and I no longer needed to wear two sweaters and a scarf in southern California. But I continued to have carpal tunnel syndrome that made computer work and yoga almost impossible; fatigue that interfered with my goals and social life; diarrhea, stomach pains, and acid reflux that resulted in embarrassing exits from meetings and presentations; hair loss that reduced my lion’s mane to a third of its former glory; and a myriad of other symptoms.
My symptoms, along with my high thyroid antibodies (my thyroid peroxidase antibodies were over 2000 IU/mL when I was diagnosed, while my thyroglobulin antibodies were over 600 IU/mL) and a strong desire to get at the root cause of my condition, led me to dig deeper and deeper to see if I could somehow help myself get better.
And thus began my journey to seek out lifestyle interventions for Hashimoto’s. My search for information included a review of the latest and greatest scientific literature (yes, I’m a professional nerd), an evaluation of various online patient boards (don’t you just love how connected we can be to one another thanks to the internet?), a deep dive into numerous health books, visits to health conferences, consults with health-care professionals, professional training in integrative and holistic medicine, and most notably turning myself into a human guinea pig to try various interventions that would eventually make me feel like a human again and help me get my condition into remission!
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