Consultants in Metabolism

Consultants in Metabolism I am a board certified physician with a practice focused on optimizing thyroid, hormone management and wellness.

07/30/2026

Have you ever noticed that the food you feel most compelled to eat is also the one that seems to make you feel worse over time?

There's a biological reason for that. Any food eaten as frequently as every 72 hours can sustain a low-grade immune reaction indefinitely. You eat the food, feel a brief improvement, then decline again. You want more, the cycle continues, and the underlying sensitivity never gets identified because the food is never absent long enough to reveal itself.

The foods most likely to drive this pattern are the ones so deeply embedded in the American diet that most people don't even register them as choices anymore. Dr. Dana Gibbs calls them the Big 6: wheat, cow milk dairy, egg, corn, yeast, and soy. She also flags cane and beet sugar, which appears under more than 50 different names on ingredient labels, and malt, which is actually barley and a hidden gluten source in cereals, malted milk, and vinegar.

Full breakdown in Episode 52 of Beyond the Thyroid on YouTube. Share this with someone who has been reacting to something and can't figure out what.

Start tracking your own patterns at danagibbsmd.com/tracker. Link in comments below 👇

07/28/2026

Episode 52 of Beyond the Thyroid is live, and this one might explain something that's been confusing you for a long time.

Most people associate food allergies with hives or anaphylaxis. But the most common food reactions look nothing like that. They show up 24-48 hours later as fatigue, brain fog, joint pain, bloating, mood changes, or skin issues -- and because they're delayed, people almost never connect them to the food.

What makes this even harder is that the foods causing these reactions are usually the ones you eat every day and feel most compelled to keep eating. That's not coincidence. Casomorphin from dairy and gliadorphin from wheat are opioid peptides that bind to receptors in the brain. Gut bacteria add another layer, influencing cravings toward their preferred food sources.

In this episode Dr. Dana Gibbs walks through the full spectrum of food reactivity, the biology behind food addiction, the Big Six foods most likely to drive cyclic reactions, and why Hashimoto's specifically lowers your threshold for all of it.

If you've tried cutting something out and felt worse before you felt better -- or couldn't stick with it at all -- this episode explains why that happens and what to do about it.

Link in the comments.

07/23/2026

If you have Hashimoto's and you've been focused entirely on diet without seeing meaningful antibody improvement, this is worth knowing.

Gut infections are one of the most underappreciated drivers of Hashimoto's disease, and H. pylori is the best studied example. The most virulent strains express a protein called CagA, and because CagA looks similar to thyroid tissue proteins, the immune system attacks both at the same time. This is called molecular mimicry, and it's a well-documented mechanism, not a wellness theory.

Studies have found up to a 62% reduction in thyroid peroxidase antibodies within 30 days of successful H. pylori eradication. That is a more dramatic result than most dietary interventions ever produce.

H. pylori also drives iron and B12 deficiency through a completely separate mechanism, by impairing gastric acid production and competing for iron directly as a bacterial nutrient. So one undetected infection can be contributing to multiple symptoms at once.

Dr. Dana Gibbs covers this in full in Episode 51 of Beyond the Thyroid. Watch on YouTube and share this with someone who has been chasing dietary answers without results.

Want to start tracking your own symptoms and patterns? The free food tracker is at danagibbsmd.com/tracker. Link in comments below 👇

07/21/2026

If you have Hashimoto's and you've been told to eliminate gluten, this is worth understanding before you do.

When you eat gluten, your gut releases a protein called zonulin that temporarily loosens the microscopic seals between intestinal cells. Think of it like grout between tiles, it opens briefly, then resets. In most people, with moderate intake, there is no lasting consequence. This is a normal physiologic response, not a disease process.

What the wellness conversation leaves out is that gluten is not the most powerful trigger of this response. Bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine is actually considered more potent in most people. Chronic stress, insulin resistance, gut dysbiosis, and long-term use of NSAIDs, antibiotics, and proton pump inhibitors all activate the same pathway.

Many Hashimoto's patients have been on PPIs for reflux for years without realizing the medication itself may be contributing to gut barrier disruption.

Dr. Dana Gibbs breaks this down in Episode 51 of Beyond the Thyroid. Watch the full episode on YouTube and share this with someone who's been avoiding gluten without seeing results.

Want to track what your body is actually reacting to? Start with the free food tracker at danagibbsmd.com/tracker. Link in comments below 👇

07/18/2026

Episode 51 of Beyond the Thyroid is live, and if you've been told that gluten is attacking your thyroid through molecular mimicry, this one is worth your time.

The molecular mimicry argument gets repeated constantly in Hashimoto's spaces. But when you actually look at the research, the evidence for it outside of celiac disease is thin.

What does have documented cross-reactivity with thyroid tissue? H. pylori. Yersinia. Borrelia. MAP. And H. pylori in particular can drive iron deficiency, B12 deficiency, and thyroid autoimmunity in ways that no elimination diet will fix.

In this episode Dr. Dana Gibbs covers the full picture: what gluten actually does in the gut, who genuinely needs to go gluten-free, why you need to be tested for celiac before you eliminate, and what to look for if gluten-free hasn't helped you.

Link in the comments to listen or watch the full episode.

07/05/2026

If you've been using diet soda or sugar-free sweeteners to manage cravings, this is worth knowing.

Your brain doesn't wait to see if real sugar is coming. The moment it detects sweetness, it releases insulin preemptively. That insulin spike drops your blood sugar, and that drop is what makes you crave more. Zero calorie sweeteners are still keeping that cycle alive.

When you finally cut it all out, the first few days can feel rough. Headaches, fatigue, irritability, difficulty concentrating. Some people even run a low fever. It's been called the sugar flu or carb flu, and it's your body going through a real recalibration.

Day two and three tend to be the hardest. After that it gets easier. Dr. Dana Gibbs covers this in Episode 50 of Beyond the Thyroid.

Share this with someone who's been wondering why sugar free isn't working for them. Link in comments below 👇

07/02/2026

Struggling with sugar cravings and wondering why cutting back slowly never seems to stick?

If you have Hashimoto's or any autoimmune condition, this is worth hearing. Sweetened coffee drinks, flavored creamers, fruit juice, most smoothies. These keep inflammation high and energy unstable, even when they feel like the healthy choice.

A gradual approach fails because your body keeps asking for more. The craving comes from true hunger, a dopamine hit, or just habit. Cold turkey, with a 10 day reset window, is what actually breaks the cycle.

Dr. Dana Gibbs breaks this down in Episode 50 of Beyond the Thyroid. Watch the full episode on YouTube and share this with someone who needs to hear it. Link in comments below 👇

06/30/2026

Episode 50 of Beyond the Thyroid is live and if you've ever been told to "eat anti-inflammatory" without anyone actually explaining what that means for Hashimoto's, this one is for you.

Here's the thing most people don't know: there are two completely different types of inflammation involved in Hashimoto's — metabolic and immune-driven — and the dietary approach for each one is different. Starting with restriction before you know which type you're dealing with is one of the main reasons people don't see results.

In this episode I walk through:
→ What your existing lab work is already telling you
→ How to use the triglyceride-to-HDL ratio to assess metabolic inflammation
→ Why the Mediterranean diet is the evidence-backed starting point
→ Simple food changes that work even when you're exhausted

Listen wherever you get podcasts, or watch the full episode on YouTube. Link in the comments below. 👇

06/17/2026

Many people assume that if they feel anxious, shaky, sweaty, or have a racing heart after starting T3, the medication must be the problem.

But sometimes the real issue is insulin resistance.

T3 increases the rate at which your cells use energy. If insulin resistance is present, blood sugar can rise and fall more dramatically. When blood sugar drops quickly, your body responds with stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline.

That adrenaline surge can feel a lot like "T3 intolerance":
• Shakiness
• Irritability
• Anxiety
• Sweating
• Heart palpitations
• Even panic-like symptoms

The irony is that the T3 may not be causing the problem at all. It may simply be revealing an underlying metabolic issue that was already there.

This is one reason why nutrition, sleep, stress management, exercise intensity, and sometimes insulin resistance treatment can be just as important as thyroid medication itself.

🎧 From Beyond the Thyroid – Episode 46: When T3 Doesn't Work — How to Dose Thyroid Medication Correctly (Part 2) https://youtu.be/JS0KzdkwjTs

My CORE5 lab guide explains what your TSH misses and what to order instead. Comment CORE5 and I'll send it.

06/16/2026

Many Hashimoto's patients begin their healing journey by changing their diet. That makes sense. Food is something we can control.

But what I often see is a progression from gluten-free, to dairy-free, to soy-free, to increasingly restrictive eating patterns that leave people frustrated, undernourished, and still symptomatic.

At some point, the focus shifts from nourishment to avoidance.

This can create nutrient deficiencies, inadequate protein intake, and a growing sense of anxiety around food choices.

Some food eliminations are helpful. Some are necessary. But more restriction is not always better. The goal is to improve health—not create a life dominated by food rules.

This is one of the important topics discussed in Episode 49 of Beyond the Thyroid.
https://youtu.be/1iWEqWzlFvw

Address

1560 East Southlake Boulevard
Southlake, TX
76092

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Consultants in Metabolism posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to Consultants in Metabolism:

Shortcuts

Featured

Share

Category