Everyday Nutrition With Judith

Do you know why goitre affects Pregnant Women???

Pregnancy places a massive physiological demand on a woman's body, and the thyroid gland is one of the hardest-working organs during this time.

Pregnant women are at a significantly higher risk of developing a goitre (or having an existing one grow larger) due to specific shifts in hormones and nutrient needs.

🌱The Body's Demand for Iodine Doubles,During pregnancy, a woman isn't just making thyroid hormones for herself,she is also supplying her growing baby, especially during the first trimester when the baby's brain and nervous system rely entirely on the mother's thyroid hormones.
Because of this, a pregnant woman's need for iodine increases by about 50%. If her diet does not provide enough extra iodine to match this spike, the thyroid has to work overtime.

🌱The Kidneys Flush Out More Iodine, a woman's blood volume increases dramatically, and her kidneys filter blood much faster than usual due to pregnancy.
Because of this increased kidney activity, more iodine is filtered out into the urine and lost from the body. This creates a double-whammy: the body needs more iodine, but it is losing more of it through urine.

🌱Pregnancy Hormones Trick the Thyroid, placenta releases a high amount of a hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), especially during the first trimester. Structurally, hCG looks very similar to TSH (Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone), the hormone that tells the thyroid to work.
High levels of hCG weakly stimulate the thyroid gland, causing it to produce more hormones and physically grow in size.

If the mother has low iodine reserves while this is happening, the thyroid struggles to keep up and expands into a goitre as it desperately tries to capture any trace of iodine available.

🌱If a pregnant woman develops a goitre due to severe iodine deficiency, it poses serious risks to both her and the baby.

Extreme fatigue, risk of hypothyroidism, and complications during delivery for the mother. While Stunted physical growth, delayed neurological development, and in severe cases, congenital hypothyroidism (cretinism) for the baby.

Take care of yourself.
Eat healthy, dear preggy 😊

A goitre is simply an abnormal swelling or enlargement of the thyroid gland.

It is not a disease in itself, but a sign that the thyroid is struggling,usually because of a lack of iodine in the diet, or because the gland is overactive or under active.

Many people live with small goitres, especially if their thyroid is still making the right amount of hormones.

Doctors only remove a goitre through surgery if it grows so large that it blocks the airway, makes it hard to swallow, causes persistent pain, or if there is a risk of cancer.

Let's discuss IODINE 😊

Iodine is an essential mineral that your body needs to make thyroid hormones.
The human body cannot produce iodine on its own, you must get it directly from your diet.

✅Seafood and Fish,animals that live in the ocean naturally accumulate iodine from seawater and the marine plants they consume.Cod, tuna, shrimp, canned sardines, and salmon.

✅Dairy Products,cow's milk and dairy products are major dietary sources of iodine. Milk, yogurt, and cottage cheese.

✅Eggs, Whole eggs (specifically the yolk).
Chickens that eat iodine-rich feed store the mineral in their yolks. One large egg provides a solid, steady contribution to your daily iodine intake.

✅Iodized Salt (The Fortified Option),While it is not a "natural" plant or animal food, iodized table salt is the most common public health tool used globally to prevent iodine deficiency (and the goitres that come with it). Governments mandate adding a small amount of iodine to salt so that everyday cooking naturally covers the body's baseline needs.

✅Plant Foods Grown in Iodine-Rich Soil,Fruits and vegetables can contain iodine, but the exact amount depends entirely on how much iodine was present in the soil where they were grown.

Someone can live completely normally without a thyroid gland, but they cannot live without thyroid hormones.

Your thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland in your neck.

It acts like the body's internal thermostat or engine accelerator. It produces hormones (mainly T3 and T4) that control your metabolism indicating how fast or slow your body turns food into energy, regulates your body temperature, and keeps your heart, brain, and muscles working correctly.

When a person's thyroid has to be surgically removed entirely (a procedure called a thyroidectomy) due to severe goitre, thyroid cancer, or hyperthyroidism (an overactive thyroid), they can live a full, normal life.

However, because the gland is gone, the body no longer makes those essential hormones on its own.

To survive, the person must take daily synthetic thyroid hormone replacement pills for the rest of their life.
These pills act as a 100% identical chemical substitute for the hormones your natural thyroid used to make....

Hope you learnt something interesting 🤔 today?
Oya say thank you 😊 and don't forget to follow, like, share and comment for more series 😁

Happy follow-versary to my awesome followers. Thanks for all of your support! Dn Maryam Shakeel

TYPE 1 DIABETES FINALLY MADE SENSE TO ME. 🧠

I used to know the facts:

“Type 1 diabetes → insulin.”

And suddenly, the whole disease connected.

In most cases of type 1 diabetes, the immune system mistakenly attacks the pancreas' β-cells, the cells responsible for producing insulin.

β-cells are NOT white blood cells.

They are pancreatic cells.

But immune cells, particularly T cells, can drive their destruction, while diabetes-related autoantibodies can serve as important markers of the autoimmune process.

So what happens next?

β-cells ↓
Insulin production ↓↓↓

Eventually, insulin production becomes absent or nearly absent.

That's what we mean by absolute or near-absolute insulin deficiency.

Now imagine this:

There's plenty of glucose in the bloodstream…

…but there isn't enough insulin to help glucose enter many of the body's cells for normal energy use.

So blood glucose rises.

And the body starts looking for another fuel source.

FAT.

Stored fat is broken down into fatty acids.

The liver uses those fatty acids to produce ketones.

Ketones aren't automatically bad. They're an alternative fuel.

The problem comes when insulin deficiency is severe and ketone production becomes excessive.

Diabetic Ketoacidosis isn't simply:

“The person didn't eat, so their body started burning fat.”

It's a dangerous metabolic complication of severe insulin deficiency, with ketosis and metabolic acidosis.

So now the treatment makes sense too.

If the body has little or no insulin…

WE REPLACE THE MISSING INSULIN.

That's why insulin isn't just “one of the medications” for type 1 diabetes.

Insulin is essential for survival in type 1 diabetes.

💉 Insulin replacement

That's the beauty of understanding physiology.

Which one caught your interest???

Tell us.... take care of your health while you can 🙏❣️

Slide through to learn, unlearn, relearn...

You feel fine.
And you feel there is no problem !!!

You wake up, go to work or class, and eat what you have always eaten. Nothing hurts, so nothing is wrong.

But your belly is a little bigger this year than last for this economy_🙄🙄.

Just small exercise , you get breathless, concentration during the day is an issue, sleeping at night wahala and you tell yourself it is nothing.

The man with high blood pressure felt fine, right up until the morning he did not.

The man who had kidney failure was fine for years.

And you see that man whose leg is gonna be amputated was fine the last month. That is the danger of it.

These things do not always announce themselves with pain. They build in silence, inside a body that feels perfectly okay.

Feeling fine is not the same as being well.
It is often just the stage before the body decides to tell you the truth, and I can assure you, that truth isn't gonna be gentle.

It isn't too late to start

You are at the exact point where starting still costs you almost

HAPPY NEW MONTH, MY HEALTH READERS

Welcome to September,another opportunity to learn, grow, nourish your body, and make better health choices.

This month, let’s remember that healthy living isn't about perfection.

It’s about the small, intentional choices we make every day,what we eat, how we rest, how we care for ourselves, and when we seek help.

May September bring you good health, growth, wisdom and many reasons to smile. 🤎

Thank you for being part of this community.
Let’s keep learning and growing together.

Happy New Month 🎉

.

YOU TAKE CARE OF WHAT YOU EAT… BUT DO YOU TAKE CARE OF YOU?

We talk a lot about nutrition.

What to eat.
What not to eat.
How much protein.
How much fibre.
How much water.

But sometimes I pause and ask myself:

What about the person eating all this healthy food?

You can eat a balanced diet and still neglect yourself.

You can drink enough water and still neglect your hygiene.

You can take your vitamins and still be running on three hours of sleep.

You can look after everybody else and quietly abandon yourself.

That's not general well-being.

Taking care of yourself goes beyond what goes into your mouth.

It includes how you care for your body, your mind, your hygiene, your environment, your sleep, your emotions and your health.

And honestly, some things require intentionality.

Take a moment and check yourself.

🧼 How is my personal hygiene?
🦷 Have I been taking care of my oral health?
🛌 Am I sleeping adequately?
🥗 How have I actually been eating?
💧 Am I drinking enough fluids?
🧠 How have I been feeling mentally?
🚶🏽‍♀️ Have I been moving my body?
❤️ Am I constantly overwhelmed and pretending I'm fine?
🩺 Have I been ignoring symptoms that need medical attention?

Even something as simple as noticing that your body smells different from usual can be a reason to pause and ask questions.

Have you changed your hygiene routine?

Your diet?

Your medications?

Your hydration?

Could there be an underlying health issue?

Don't immediately conclude, “Something is wrong with me.”

But don't ignore your body either.

PAY ATTENTION.

One thing I've come to understand is that you live inside your body every single day.

You know your usual energy level.

You know how your body normally feels.

You know your normal appetite.

You know how you normally sleep.

You know when something doesn't feel right.

That doesn't mean you know the diagnosis,you don't.

That's where healthcare professionals come in.

But you need to notice the change before you can communicate it.

So if you're suddenly experiencing persistent headaches, unusual fatigue, changes in appetite, unexplained weight changes, persistent body odour, changes in bowel habits, pain or other concerning symptoms, don't just say:

“It will go away.”

Pay attention.

Record what you're experiencing.

Consider your recent diet, sleep, stress, medications and other changes.

And when necessary, seek appropriate medical care.

Because taking responsibility for your health doesn't mean diagnosing yourself.

It means being attentive enough to know when you need help.

And please, let's stop waiting for somebody else to take care of us.

Your parents won't always be there.

Your friends won't always be there.

Your partner won't always be there.

Even the people who love you deeply cannot live inside your body and experience what you're experiencing.

You have a responsibility to yourself.

Take your bath.

Brush your teeth.

Eat properly.

Drink your water.

Get some sleep.

Move your body.

Look after your skin.

Pay attention to your mental well-being.

Go for medical checks when necessary.

Ask questions.

Rest when you need to rest.

And don't wait until your body is screaming before you start listening.

YOU MATTER TOO. 🤍

Your health isn't only about looking good.

It isn't only about having a “healthy diet.”

It isn't only about avoiding disease.

Well-being is also about being intentional about the person carrying that body every day,you.

So today, don't only ask:

“What did I eat today?”

Ask: “How did I take care of myself today?”

Because self-care isn't selfish.

And nobody can do it perfectly for you.

You have to participate in your own well-being.

Eat well.
Live intentionally.
Pay attention.
Seek help when you need it.
Take care of YOU.