Here's a great summary of the effects of a high-fat diet on your hormones. A diet containing greater than 35% of calories from fat, in overweight conditions, in this study, was found to:
--disrupt 24 hour rhythms of secretion of thyroid stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, testosterone, and to a small extent, progesterone.
--lower total levels of thyroid stimulating hormone and testosterone.
--increase cortisol levels and disrupt the normal 24 hour cycle of cortisol release.
--induce higher blood glucose in relationship to high cortisol levels.
--reduced the magnitude of melatonin release.
So if you've got thyroid problems, can't conceive, can't sleep, and/or feel anxious or overly stressed…or have unexplainable angry outbursts…
…maybe one of the very first and most important things you can do to start to feel better…
…is reduce the amount of fat in your diet. And when you DO choose to eat fat, be sure it's the kind you see consistently recommended in our blog--seafood, nuts, canola, avocado, flax, olives.
It's really pretty simple!
Cano P, Jiménez-Ortega V, Larrad A, Toso CF, Cardinali DP, Esquifino AI. Effect of a high-fat diet on 24-h pattern of circulating levels of prolactin, luteinizing hormone, testosterone, corticosterone, thyroid-stimulating hormone and glucose, and pineal melatonin content, in rats. Endocrine. 2008 Apr;33(2):118-25. Epub 2008 May 1.