h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

...by Barry Groves

OK, this thread will be about analsying your poo among other things, so if you're of a sensivite nature, please unsubscribe now.

I've had enough of examining my nether regions this year (or other people shoving things into them, and not in a nice way)

so I'll quietly unsub, if you don't mind.

This book was recommended by one of my hootoo friends as an eye opener, and it has indeed been that!

1. About the thyroid gland:

"The 'normal' range was determined many years ago by checking the thyroid hormone levels of people who visited their doctors with an illness. So, it is reasonable to assume that these were not healthy people. Thus, the question is: Is the 'normal' range also a normal range for normal people?"

It then goes on to say that the easiest and quickest way to 'determine if your thyroid is behaving itself' is to check your temperature, which should be 37 degrees C or 98.6 degrees F.

Well, guess what? My average temperature is usually 36 degrees C and sometimes as low as 35.5.

This reminds me of the time when I found that my ordinary doctor was on holiday, and his replacement had one look at me, asked me how long I had been 'feeling like this' and then promptly sent my off to a thyroid test.

And then seemed very puzzled when the test result showed 'normal' results...

Sorry, forgot to mention this part of the quote:

"If it is one degree Celsius or two degrees Fahrenheit below these figures, then your thyroid is definitely not working properly."

And here comes the poo thing, so beware!

After watching both the original and the Swedish version of 'You are what you eat' you feel you already know what your poo should look like, right?

Well, after cutting down on carbs and upping on the satured fats, this is my current status:

Soft but yet firm enough to stay in shape (no constipation, no diarrea)
Light brown in colour
Won't float but doesn't leave streaks either
Doesn't smell

Doesn't smell - that really surprised me - it doesn't smell at all!!!

And I had to go thrice before w*rk this morning!

pheeew!
Its nice to know that your "stoolpenduly" healthy

count me among the quite unsubs

With due respect, I believe I'll emulate GB on this one...

Queasy bunch, aren't they

I have a baby who has recently started solids so am up to the eyeballs in poo. Just reading about it on here is a doddle...

My temperature is low too and as there is a history of thyroid dysfuntion in my family I get my levels checked every couple of years. It is always on the low end of normal, but not low enough for them to treat, so I'm stuck with the propensity to put on weight and the near impossibility of losing it. *sigh*

Did the book suggest anything to actually do about this?

Barry Groves is my new guru. I am starting his diet on Monday.

No Kelli, the book didn't mention anything about what to do if your thyroid is disfunctional.

However, I think that Coniraya (has anyone seen her around lately, by the way?) mentioned some time ago that she can stay off thyroid medication for quite a time if she eats the right things - I don't remember the details, but I do remember something about paranuts aka Brazil nuts...

I would just like to say that i have not got a disfunctional thyroid. but the family on the other hand..................... this causes me stress, which in turn causes me to drink heavy, which in turn causes me to gtain weight, which i don't care about, which in turn causes me to like the wind

Poo status: even lighter in colour - and floating! Anna Skipper (the Swedish version of Gillian McKeith) would be proud!

2. Fluoride

This is something that confuses me a bit...

According to the book, ingestion or absorption of fluoride produces hypothyroidism - underactive thyroid (unless you have an overactive thyroid).

Quote:
'If you do live in a fluoridated area, then you should think seriously about complaining to your water company and area health authority, because you have a legal right not to be medicated without your consent.'

Erm.... but what if the fluoride hasn't been added, because it's there by nature's own design?

In some parts of Sweden, there used to be 'fluoride ladies' - dental nurses - who'd visit the school classes and make every kid flush their mouth with a fluoride solution. Those who experienced it remember it with disgust, because it obviously tasted awful - probably to disencourage kids from swallowing it...

Now, in my home town, we didn't have 'fluoride ladies' - the tap water naturally contained high enough levels too deem them unnecessary.

I checked the tap water statistics in my current place of living - same thing, not added but naturally containing fluoride.

I checked bottled water - even one of Sweden's most famous mineral waters (that from Ramlösa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raml%C3%B6sa) contains fluoride.

I did however find a Norwegian bottled mineral water that contained no fluoride.

Now, in Sweden there have lately been some demands of forbidding bottled water since the Swedish tap water 'holds such high quality'.

'You're only other options are either to move to an unfluoridated area or buy an expensive Reverse Osmosis water filter or water destillation equipment.'

Ho hum...

*remembers reading something about water filtering devices at Swedish site 'Kloka Gubben & Sanslösa Tanten' and decides to have a look*

Just a thought, but is it at all possible that there are other causes for a slightly low temperature than a disfunctional thyroid?

Well, my first spontenous thought was that a low metabolism rate could be a reason for a slightly lower temperature - but when googling 'low metabolism' it seems it's the same thing, more or less, as hypothyroidism.

I haven't seen Z online much lately, otherwise I'd ask him.

I found a link to a thyroid quiz on the netdoctor site:
http://www.wellnessresources.com/thyroid_quiz.php?

The optimal result is 100, I got 30.

And yet, I've had my thyroid tested twice, and the results were within the 'normal' range.

Seems like a good idea to ask him anyway... to take that test now!

Hmmmm... I wonder. I landed on 30 too.

Now, that might be true, but I only gave high risk scores to a few questions. And just after the evaluation of my answers, a long list of dietary supplements for purchase came up...

Let me take that test again, and guess at all the "low risk" answers!