Book Review – Healing the Thyroid with Ayurveda by Marianne Teitelbaum.

4 out of 5 stars

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. 😀

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.