Case Study: Getting To The Bottom Of A Slow Metabolism

Denise was a lovely 58 year old lady who came to see me because she couldn’t lose weight. Denise tried to eat well and she wasn’t very overweight; the problem was nothing she tried ever worked.

Denise was 5 foot, eight inches tall and she weighed 209 pounds. That gave her a BMI (Body Mass Index) of 31.8 and only just put her into the obese category.

Denise and her husband had recently sold their business and were now semi retired. Denise had a lot of hobbies that kept her active throughout the day; she enjoyed gardening and bike riding, and she walked to the nearby shopping center most days instead of driving. Denise was certainly far more active than she had been while working and sitting at a computer all day. Therefore she was very puzzled as to why she still hadn’t lost any weight.

Her local doctor concluded that she just has a very slow metabolism, so the best thing to do is eat very small portions of food. Anyone can lose some weight by eating very little, but who wants to spend the rest of their life feeling hungry. I had another idea; I wanted to find out exactly why Denise wasn’t losing weight.

Once Denise had completed the thorough health questionnaire I gave her, I noticed that she only had a bowel movement every two or three days. That was the first explanation for her very slow metabolic rate. A sluggish bowel points to a sluggish liver, as the liver produces bile which has a gentle laxative effect. Ideally Denise would have between one and three bowel movements each day; the fact that she wasn’t achieving this gave me clues to the health of her liver. In my experience, constipated people do not lose weight easily. It is vitally important to get your bowels moving if you wish to lose weight. To compound the problem, Denise had her gallbladder removed 7 years ago. Since then her bowel habits really slowed down. The function of the gallbladder is to store and concentrate bile. This meant Denise was missing out on the laxative effect of bile, and she also wasn’t absorbing essential fatty acids well enough. This caused dry skin and dry eyes. I asked Denise to take one ox bile capsule with each meal.

Denise ate gluten free cereal for breakfast with soy milk. However for lunch she ate a wrap made of regular wheat flour. Dinner was always a healthy meal comprised of some kind of protein and vegetables. Denise told me that gluten and milk typically gave her reflux and abdominal bloating, so she tried to minimize her intake of these foods.

When I looked at the blood test Denise had before seeing me, I noticed that her thyroid hormone levels were not ideal. Denise was in the gray zone; her thyroid gland was beginning to struggle but her hormone levels were not yet low enough to be diagnosed with an under active thyroid gland. This is referred to as subclinical hypothyroidism and is incredibly common. So many people are falling through the cracks – they have a thyroid gland problem yet are not receiving adequate help for it. The sluggish thyroid function was contributing to Denise’s sluggish bowel function and it was making weight loss so difficult.

I ordered another blood test for Denise called thyroid antibodies, as I wanted to see what was responsible for her sluggish thyroid function. The test was positive, which means Denise had the earliest stages of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. We had to work on improving her immune system before it did too much damage to her thyroid gland and she was left with permanent hypothyroidism.

My recommendations for Denise

• I asked Denise to completely remove gluten from her diet. This was essential in order to stop the production of thyroid antibodies, which cause destruction to the thyroid gland. Unfortunately there is no such thing as a low gluten diet; she had to remove all traces of it. Denise liked the idea of making a protein powder smoothie using whey protein for breakfast. It is quick, easy and very filling. It should also help to make weight loss easier and faster.
• I gave Denise my liver tonic Livatone in order to improve the ability of her liver to burn fat, and also to encourage bile production, which helped her sluggish bowel.
• I gave Denise Thyroid Health capsules in order to support her struggling thyroid gland. These capsules contain everything the thyroid gland needs to produce normal levels of hormones, and the nutrients in these capsules improve the health of the tissue in the thyroid gland. The Vitamin D and selenium in particular in these capsules help to reduce thyroid antibody production. The iodine encourages healthy hormone levels and can speed up a sluggish metabolism.

I am due to see Denise again in 3 weeks but she sent me a brief email with an update already. So far she has lost 6 pounds in 3 weeks and her energy level and ability to think and concentrate have improved dramatically. I look forward to reviewing Denise’s case thoroughly in our next consultation.

The above statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease.