All the women in my family have thyroid issues and my father had thyroid cancer. I was excited to read a book about a natural way to help heal the thyroid. I found Healing the Thyroid with Ayurveda to be easy to read and packed with good information. Some of the herbs are a little hard to find unless you have an Ayurvedic practitioner in your area, but fortunately I do.

As someone who's constantly being told what to do for their thyroid disorder, I really appreciated how in-depth this was, but also it's concern with lifestyle. Helpful!

There were things I really liked about this book but it was ultimately not terribly helpful for me. Teitelbaum did a great job of showing the importance of the thyroid in the healthy function of every system in the body and how epidemic thyroid issues are in the U.S. She also showed very well how modern medicine is failing us with bad testing, a poor understanding of thyroid function and symptoms, too many artificial supplements and pharmaceutical products and more. I wholeheartedly agree with the approach that we need to aim for health via real, fresh whole foods and herbs.

Where the book didn't work so well for me.... First off, I am open to Ayurveda but not a devout follower. I don't put a lot of stock into what "type" I am (emotionally, physically and health wise) and what foods will cool and warm me and so on. There is a lot of focus on foods being bad because they are heavy or the wrong temperature, leading to the wrong effect on the liver and so on. The list of bad foods is incredibly long and includes a lot of foods that I consider healthy and are a big part of our diet (and some that aren't). You're supposed to cut out garlic, onions, large beans like chickpeas and black beans, all cold foods, nightshades (tomatoes, eggplants, etc.), red meat, wheat, rice other than jasmine, caffeine, alcohol, potatoes, soy, raw veggies, coconut oil (and just about every other oil besides ghee) and on and on. Honestly, it felt like there wasn't a lot left other than some fruits (though you should probably cook them) and vegetables and some beans and grains that are very India-centric.

I also really believe in relying on the herbs and foods that are local to me for most of my daily diet and herbal remedies. I don't think it makes sense for someone in Minnesota to need a huge host of herbs indigenous to the other side of the world for daily health. Ayurveda was developed in the East so it makes sense that it would center around herbs grown there, but I want to know what plants I can grow and forage in my area to address my symptoms. I know there are incredibly healthy plants that grow here in North America, and it makes sense that bitter greens that I pick here would be as helpful as a bitter green famous for helping in India, for instance.

Teitelbaum is very critical of vegetarianism and especially veganism. She is a huge advocate of consuming large amounts of ghee, made from organic grass-fed milk. She also recommends copious amounts of boiled raw milk. It can't be homogenized (store bought) or it's ruined. I don't know how practical this advice is for large families or those with budget restrictions other than those who live on farms, and this will obviously make the book pretty useless for vegans. (For a good modern vegan cookbook on Ayurveda that addresses Ayurvedic teachings from a vegan standpoint, I recommend Eat Feel Fresh, incidentally.)

The takeaway for this book is that it recommends VAST amounts of specialty Indian herbs that are typically taken as teas or applied topically, plus large amounts of organic cooked unpasteurized dairy. It felt overwhelming and expensive, and also didn't seem to complement our family's lifestyle or preferences at all. The amount of complete dietary changes that need to be implemented may not be realistic for the average person, even if she is struggling with thyroid issues (which most of us are). While the book succeeded in making me think I need to do a lot to better support my thyroid function, it didn't ultimately leave me feeling like it could help me do that.

I read a digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

Great detail and information if you would like to learn more about thyroid with Ayurveda. I found some details about foods and more about the condition. You don't have to take it as medical advice, of course, but it is nice to learn some more things and get details, it did go really in-depth actually. It was well written. There were some recipes, but I would have loved more.

I would like to thank Inner Traditions for providing me with a free – temporary – electronic ARC of this book, via Netgalley. Although I required their approval, the decision to read this book is my choice and any reviews given are obligation free.

Now, one of the banes of my life in the past three years is my slow and scary weight gain, constant lethargy, tiredness and all sorts of other “mild” health issues that no one can seem to find a cause for. I’ve given up being poked and prodded by the mainstream medical profession as they keep saying they can’t find anything wrong with me. I dealt with this as a teen with chronic fatigue and am damned if I am going to go through it again… so I have been reading up on the non-mainstream medical practices. I chose to read ‘Healing the Thyroid with Ayurveda’ for two reasons – firstly, time and again people who know my symptoms have told me to get my thyroid check, only for the generic GP based blood tests to show no issue and therefore they refuse to take it any further. Secondly, I have been drawn to a lot of the principals of Ayurveda as a holistic healing method for some years. And so, reviewing this book was killing two birds with one stone. :-D

As with most things in my life, I don’t agree 100% with Ayurveda – from what I learned from ‘Healing the Thyroid with Ayurveda’ – but the greater percentage of the book really did ring true with me that I have actually pre-ordered a paper copy of it and can’t wait for it to arrive just after my birthday.

Being someone who strongly believes in healing the root cause of illness through better diet, mindset, and environment, rather than medication, supplements and artificial interventions – I really felt connected to this book. Yes, I would have liked a little more on the cookery side… But you all know I am a cook book addict and so can never be satisfied. ;-)

But I have been so inspired by what I’ve read in ‘Healing the Thyroid with Ayurveda’ that I wanted to take it further, own the book, work through it all as shown and maybe even find a local Ayurveda clinic to help me discover my true dosha.

I will freely admit here and now that not everyone is going to enjoy this book and may even scoff at its overly technical “hippy dippy” nature. But Ayurveda has been around for centuries, nay millennia, and in all that time has been proven to help with better health. Whether it be due to the mindset, the environment it helps us build, or the fact it encourages better, whole food, healthy eating – I can’t say. But I can say I found ‘Healing the Thyroid through Ayurveda’ a very interesting read. Though will state here and now that it’s not brainwashed me into ignoring all Western medicine. I am still a daughter of science and logic… but I am also still a creative hippy wanting to learn about anything and everything and putting to use the parts that ring true to me. In other words, don’t worry folks, I’m still taking my Zoloft and not about to feel the need to go on an angry murder spree, or run naked through the local park…. Well, no more than I would have before reading this book. ;-)

Book nerd side of things, its layout was clear and easy to follow – will be a lot nicer once I see it in the paper format it was truly intended to be. No major copy editing clangers either.

Would I recommend this book to others?

Yes I would… but only to those with an open mind and interest in alternative medicines and their linked lifestyles. There is no point reading this book if you strongly feel anything not endorsed by the FDA, TGA or whoever is a bunch of hokum.

Those looking to seek wholefood, supplement free treatments for known Thyroid issues, or those like me just wanting a non-invasive way of giving your thyroid a health check, will find this book interesting – and hopefully helpful too.

Would I buy this book for myself?

Yes I would, yes I have, and I am looking forward to getting it as a personal birthday present from Me to Me. ;-)

In summary: An interesting looking into the ancient practice of Ayurveda and how it can be used to help heal your thyroid.

As someone who suffers from thyroid issues, I was particularly looking forward to reading this and seeing how I could support my condition. The book was fairly technical in its approach but was generally well written, informative, and interesting. The cover is, I think, a little misleading, presenting more of a cookery book appearance but nonetheless a worthwhile bookshelf addition.

With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

This book was a bit too technical for me, but nonetheless, I found it well written, informative, and very interesting. Should appeal to a range of readers, particularly those suffering from thyroid issues for whom it provides lots of useful advice

I have hypothyroidism and I am also a Vegan so when I seen this book I thought it would be good to see if I could align my diet to better to help heal my thyroid using Ayurveda however to be honest this book had way to much "jargon" and things that I just did not understand or that I felt just were not of any use to me. Therefore I am going to have to offer an honest review and say that I didn't enjoy this book, it was not what I thought it would be going by the title and the front cover. However I would like to thank the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me the opportunity to review this advance copy.

I request this book because of my own mother's condition. Thank you for the opportunity, the content looks pretty useful and I will definitely recommend it to everyone who is going through the same struggle.

An Excellent book but rather too technical for the average person as a sufferer of thyroid problems gave me a good insight to other ways of rectifying it
Thanks to netgalley for an early copy in return for an honest review

Interesting and science based. I still would have loved more recipes instead of many differente teas, but at last now I have the name of the herbs that I need for me.

Interessante e con un certo fondamento scientifico, anche se io avrei preferito un maggior numero di ricette piuttosto che tanti tè differenti, ma almeno ora ho i nomi delle erbe che fanno al caso mio.

THANKS NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!