Food Intolerances: What You Eat Could Be Fueling Your Autoimmunity
If you’re struggling with Hashimoto’s and feel like you’re doing “all the right things” but still not getting better…
There’s one often-overlooked factor that could be holding you back: food sensitivities — especially gluten.
Gluten & Your Thyroid: The Molecular Mimicry Problem
Gluten has a molecular structure that closely resembles thyroid tissue.
This means that if your immune system is already attacking your thyroid (as it does in Hashimoto’s), exposure to gluten may amplify that attack through a mechanism called molecular mimicry.
In other words, your immune system might confuse gluten with your thyroid and go after both.
Many Hashimoto’s patients notice significant symptom improvement — more energy, less brain fog, better digestion — simply by removing gluten from their diets.
But why is gluten suddenly so problematic?
Why Gluten is Hard on Everyone — Not Just People with Celiac
Decades ago, gluten-containing grains were very different.
But thanks to modern U.S. agriculture, processing, and genetic hybridization, today's wheat is more inflammatory, sprayed with chemicals like glyphosate, and harder to digest — even for people without gluten intolerance.
It’s no coincidence that many of my patients (myself included!) can enjoy pasta or croissants in Europe with zero issues, but can’t tolerate even small amounts of gluten in the U.S.
It’s not just about sensitivity — it’s about how our food system has changed.
Leaky Gut + Food Sensitivities = Chronic Inflammation
If you have digestive dysfunction or leaky gut (intestinal permeability), gluten becomes an even bigger problem.
A leaky gut allows food particles and toxins to enter the bloodstream, triggering immune responses and inflammation.
Gluten is a known trigger for increasing gut permeability, making this a vicious cycle:
You eat gluten → gut barrier breaks down → immune system gets activated → more thyroid tissue gets attacked.
But it’s not just gluten…
Common Hashimoto’s Food Triggers (Besides Gluten)
Dairy (especially casein): another common molecular mimic
Soy: can disrupt hormone balance and impair thyroid function
Eggs: often well-tolerated in some, highly reactive in others
Corn: a highly modified crop and inflammatory for many
Nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant): can trigger joint pain or inflammation in some
What’s tricky is that food sensitivities don’t always cause immediate or obvious symptoms.
Reactions can be delayed by up to 72 hours — showing up as fatigue, joint pain, bloating, anxiety, or brain fog.
That’s why guessing isn’t the most reliable method…
How to Start Healing
Option 1: Try an Elimination Diet
Start by removing the most common inflammatory foods for 30 days:
Gluten
Dairy
Soy
Corn
Then slowly reintroduce one food at a time, giving yourself 3–5 days to track symptoms before reintroducing the next one.
TIP: Keep a food and symptom journal to spot patterns.
Need help? Reach out — I walk my patients through this process all the time!
Option 2: Test, Don’t Guess
This is my preferred approach.
I work with specialty labs to run Food Sensitivity & Gut Barrier Panel testing that can pinpoint hidden reactivities to even “healthy” foods like:
Broccoli
Sweet potatoes
Eggs
Blueberries
and over 170 others!
These tests also measure zonulin and occludin — markers that show whether your gut barrier is compromised (aka leaky gut).
You may be unknowingly triggering inflammation multiple times a day. Imagine what’s possible when you remove the right foods and let your gut finally heal.
Final Thoughts
Removing food triggers is not about restriction — it’s about liberation, empowerment & abundance!
It’s about calming your immune system so your body can begin to heal.
It’s about eating with confidence again — knowing what fuels you and what flares you.
Ready to take the guesswork out of your healing journey?
Let’s find out exactly which foods are supporting your health and which ones are silently sabotaging it.
Book your free consultation with me today to discuss if Food Sensitivity & Gut Barrier Panel testing is right for you.
Together, we’ll create a clear, personalized path forward — so you can feel better, faster.