Kelly Clarkson has been getting a lot of attention for her figure lately. Although, to be honest, the press has always paid too much attention to Kelly’s weight. But this time, it’s because The Voice coach has recently lost 37 pounds. Kelly wants to set the record straight that her lower weight is a result of treating thyroid and autoimmune issues. Her new slimmed-down look is from clean eating, a change she made for her health and definitely not due to an arduous workout schedule.
Kelly Clarkson has finally addressed her recent weight loss.
On Thursday, Extra published an interview with the singer, 36, who revealed her weight fluctuation was due to a thyroid disorder.
“I literally read this book, and I did it for this autoimmune disease that I had and I had a thyroid issue, and now all my levels are back up. I’m not on medicine anymore because of this book” said Clarkson, referring to The Plant Paradox by Steven R. Gundry, a cardiac surgeon. “It’s basically about how we cook our food, non-GMO, no pesticides, eating really organic.”
Clarkson said exercise did not contribute to her recent slim-down.
“I’m not working out! I think people think I’m working out and I’m like, ‘Don’t think I’m going to come play some sport!’” she said, adding: “Literally, I haven’t worked out at all!”
Clarkson flaunted her svelte figure on the latest season of The Voice. When previously asked about her weight loss, the Grammy winner coyly responded with quips.
“I have to shout out my whole glam squad,” Clarkson joked of her sleek physique after The Voice finale last month. “I literally hired Harry Potter and SPANX; it’s all like a sausage.”
I am fortunate enough to not *knock wood* suffer from thyroid problems. I know some folks who do and it just seems to be a constant struggle. I’m not worried about how much Kelly weighs, but I am happy to hear she’s found something that helps with her health issues. Kelly told Hoda Kotb on Today last week that this new diet has been so effective, she’s off all her medication as well. That’s huge.
Kelly’s become a bit of a role model for body positivity because she admitted that being svelte is not necessarily her goal and that the extreme measures she took to get there in the past made her miserable. So, I get why she makes jokes about her weight loss now. I think Kelly wants to keep her message about being healthy both physically and mentally and if that means carrying a few extra pounds, then embrace it. Which I will but damn, if she’s lost almost 40 pounds without setting foot in the gym, I might have to check this Plant book out of the library.
Photo credit: WENN Photos
She must have cut something out of her diet that was triggering the autoimmune response. Lucky her. I got mine from three generations of genetics, lol.
Yeah, I was a little confused when she said she could quit her meds. The autoimmune diseases that I’m familiar with — T1D, celiac, hypothyroidism — don’t go away with diet alone. I guess you could say celiac is “treated” with a gf diet but it never really goes away.
In any case she looks great and it’s good news that she’s healthy.
It is possible to recover completely from hypothyroidism using diet (and other lifestyle changes.) I’m working on diet changes, as well as removing toxins from my life, and my thyroid is recovering. I’m not 100% of the way there, and I’m sure there are some people that this wouldn’t work for, but so far, it’s working for me.
My boss is doing that diet. It’s very restrictive on what you can eat.
I think she looks great! I have an autoimmune thyroid issue too but I just can’t cut out so many kinds of foods. I’m trying though.
I have hypothyroidism and have tried all manner of restrictive diets to treat it. Nothing worked, however, for me personally until I found the right dose on my thyroid meds. Before the right med dosage, I was basically eating lettuce and working out 5 days a week and still gaining weight. After finding the right dose, my diet was a lot more balanced and relaxed but was still working out 5 days a week and I lost 25 lbs and counting.
Start small. You don’t have to cut everything out all at once, and in fact if you try it’s highly likely to fail. Pick one thing that it wouldn’t be too difficult to replace. The key is replace. You can’t just remove something without putting something else there. Otherwise there’s a hole and all you can think about is the thing you’re missing. So, let’s say you want to replace soda. Try using plain seltzer water and adding citrus juice to flavor it. After a few weeks, think about the next thing to replace. Sometimes it can be as simple as deciding that you will only have a certain thing (like bread or cookies) if you make it yourself. You get the double effect of having an energy barrier (do you reeeeally want to make it?) and being able to control the ingredients. Keep going like that and pretty soon you’ll be amazed at the changes you’ve made. Once impossible, it’s almost like a game. What non-nutritious food item can I replace next?
Baby steps. It can be done.
Super advice, thanks!
Yeahhhh Gundry’s work is pretty controversial in the science world so I’m kind of meh about her promoting it but I’ll be positive and say I’m glad that she’s feeling better health-wise!
I’m happy that she’s happy and feels good. But what she is saying is bu**sh*t. The thyroid is a gland and thyroid hormone is, well, a hormone. If your thyroid is not producing enough thyroid hormone to regulate your metabolism, an extremely common condition particularly in women, no amount of organic vegetables is going to change that. I have had hypothyroidism for 33 years, and I’m 5’6″ and weigh 135 pounds. I maintain a normal level BMI because I take a tiny little prescribed pill containing the appropriate amount of supplemental thyroid hormone every day. You don’t go “off your meds” with this condition. It can result in VERY serious negative health effects. CK is like the Gwynette Paltrow of hypothyroidism.
Well…technically, yes, there is not cure. However, it’s possible if her hypothyroidism is a result of autoimmune response being instigated by a specific food she was ingesting, that could stay or limit the body’s thyroid antibody production to some extent. Molecular mimicry is one of the theories being bantered around as a possible trigger for autoimmune conditions, so if you remove said trigger, you could hypothetically halt the progression of the disease.
She may wind up on medications down the road if the condition flares up again for other reasons (stress, hormones changes, etc.), but if she caught it early enough that the thyroid production was still within certain clinical ranges, she may be able to get off the medications for the time being because her levels are stable enough without supplementation of synthetic T3. In general, once autoimmune conditions start, it’s a domino effect that often leads to others, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she encounters other problems later. However, if this diet is helping her right now, I’m not going to shit on it. We still don’t know enough about the exact mechanisms of immunity to ascertain whether these diets have any effectiveness one way or the other.
Obviously it’s not a good idea to go off your medication until after your thyroid has started to recover. But it is possible for some people’s thyroid problems to recover using diet. It’s currently happening for me. Just because you didn’t have that experience does not mean it’s not possible. There are many causes of thyroid problems. Sometimes the cause is dietary and if that’s the case, then diet can fix the problem.
I’m very happy for you that the medication is helping you. But it doesn’t work well for everyone. I spent 15 years on medication and the medication helped a little bit, but not a lot. I’ve tried every imaginable dose and only felt slightly better. Then my doctor and I started trying to figure out why the medicine wasn’t working for me, and we discovered that the underlying cause was food intolerance, my body responding badly to toxins, and vitamin deficiencies that we caused by digestive system disturbances that were causing my body to not absorb vitamins correctly. We are currently working on correcting the digestive problems through probiotics, bone broth and fermented foods (it’s working!) and we’re working on figuring out and eliminating the food intolerances and I’ve removed toxins from my life. The result: my thyroid (and entire endocrine system) has stopped trying to shut down. My levels stabilized and then my thyroid started to work better on it’s own and I’m about to start lowering my dose of thyroid medicine. My doctor is hopeful that I will be able to eliminate my medication completely soon.
Your experience is not everyone’s experience. It’s totally possible to recover from a thyroid problem using diet. It’s just not possible for everyone.
You CAN go off your meds with proper diet and monitoring. I have had graves, fibromyalgia and Hashimoto’s for well over 20 years.
I started doing the AIP diet and have lost 35 pounds in three months and my antibodies are 0. Last year they were 4000. I have never been able to control or do anything to help myself for years. I was sick, in pain every day and my weight was all over the place.
I’m back to riding horses and bikes, running, working out, have lost weight and feel better than I have in twenty years. I’m a medical professional and did extensive research to help me on this road and worked closely with my endocrinologist and my integrative team.
So, I’m going to say you are incorrect and things can be done. Diet,specifically giving up gluten, dairy, sugar and soy have made changes that no meds ever did. I still take synthroid, but half my previous dose and I feel incredible.
I’m in the same boat as you. And especially as a nurse it worries me when someone with a thyroid condition stops meds. I have the autoimmune disease Hoshimotos, that caused my hypothyroidism. Once you lose proper functionality of your thyroid diet alone will not treat it.
Eating specific foods or taking supplements won’t help you control hypothyroidism. However they can make you feel better, lower your stress, and prevent disease.
@NYGal: Yes, diet alone can help you control hypothyroidism. That’s not true for everyone, but it is true for some people. There are many causes of thyroid problems and diet can be one of them.
>Eating specific foods or taking supplements won’t help you control hypothyroidism
It honestly saddens me to see someone working in healthcare spreading stuff like that.
She lost me at non-GMO. I’m close to treating it like “toxic”. Bet you my salary she has no idea why GMOs are supposedly horrible.
@Allie .yes possibly .Depending on the cause, especially if it was caused by deficiency of iodine in your diet.
However beyond that there is no scientific evidence that conclusively confirms diet has an effect on the thyroid…And in this case if it’s autoimmune there is no proof going off meds and treating with diet is safe or works.
@ Maggie grace I agree with your thoughts totally.. and I think saying stopping meds is very misleading and can be dangerous.
@NYGal: unfortunately, a lot of us can’t wait around for several decades until scientific research catches up. So we’re trying experimental things that are helping. And no, it’s not safe to go off thyroid meds before your thyroid recovers. But it’s absolutely safe, and necessary, to lower thyroid meds once the thyroid recovers. I tried a thyroid-friendly diet and my thyroid recovered so much that my test results were registering as if I was on too much medicine. So, yes, getting off my medicine was safe. It would have been incredibly unsafe to continue taking the medicine at my original dose. Too much thyroid medicine is incredibly bad for your heart.
My thyroid was a complete mess even 2 years into treatment. I had TWO great docs and they didn’t know what to do with me because I was miserable, fatigued, depressed and couldn’t lose the 20 lbs I gained after my thyroid cr*pped out. I’d get tests done every 6-8 weeks and every.single.time. I needed my dose adjusted (mostly upped, though there was a period of very severe hyperthyroidism where I almost ended up in the hospital as well).
Then I went vegan and everything stopped. Seriously, just like that. My first tests after going vegan were the best I’d had since I was diagnosed, and every one after that was good. It’s been over 3 years. I weigh less than before I even got sick and even if I get slightly hypo (rarely) now, I don’t even know about it until I get tested because I still weigh the same (weight was always the first sign), my energy levels go down slightly but that’s it. Before, I was a depressed, insomniac mess. My doc is amazed, she had no idea about plant-based diet. And for the record, I was vegetarian before (though my thyroid got messed up while I still ate everything.)
Same here. Longtime vegetarian, Hashimoto. I ate cheese ONCE this monday, ONCE in like I don’t know. At least half a year. Spend tuesday in bed unable to do anything, slightly suicidal. Today is not better, even worse. I know it’s the stupid cheese so of course I won’t do anything stupid but let me tell you, it’s no fun living like this. Gluten is a total no-go aswell. I know that soy is bad but I ate some last week because I was hungry and desperate and.. well.. this week sucks bigtime 😀
About the post: I read the Plant Paradox aswell and it’s either genius or completely nuts. I haven’t made up my mind about that yet. Slightly inclined to the genius side.
There seems to be a lot of anecdotal info online about gluten and thyroid issues, if little science to confirm the correlation at this point. But many do claim going gluten-free helps resolve some autoimmune conditions like Hashimoto’s. If people try it and they feel better, then great. I guess I’ll wait for the science one way or the other.
I think the problem is that a lot of books and online sources are acting like gluten is the problem for everyone. If you are allergic to or intolerant of gluten then it can mess with your thyroid (it happened to me.) But I think there are too many leaps being made by the authors of these books and articles about gluten being bad for everyone.
I also think the articles/book aren’t careful enough to point out that for some people the problem isn’t gluten, the problem is that wheat contains a much higher gluten content today than it did 50 years ago, or even 20 years ago. So there are a lot of people who probably aren’t intolerant/allergic to gluten, they just can’t handle this incredibly high amount and would be able to still handle gluten in lower amounts.
My hubby and I are doing the Keto diet. Which cuts out sugar and we can only eat around 20 carbs a day. I have lost 26 and my husband has lost 45 pounds. He has gone from prediabetic to in the normal range in 6 months. So much of the food we eat is awful for us. I suggest watching the Magic Pill on Netflix. Sooooo good.
Diet high in carbs has cured many from diabetes as well, even though it seems to be the total opposite of keto. The Starch Solution it’s an interesting book and Dr McDougall has some great success stories on his website. https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/education/health-science/stars/stars-written/
I’d caution you to take The Magic Pill for what it was – a diet suggested by a veteran cook with no medical or scientific training. The paleo diet reverses Type 2 for some individuals, but excessive fats and proteins in a diet can also produce chemicals that interfere with insulin production and can contribute to other problems. (Hardcore low-carb diets can also be downright dangerous if you aren’t taking in enough calories – ketone buildup can occur in the kidneys as a result of fat metabolism.)
The reality is that everybody’s health is highly individual based on their genetics and environment. There’s never going to be one size fits all diet, and science is still working out the complexities of how our bodies work. I’m happy this one worked for you, but I highly suggest to anybody who wants to do radical diet changes speak to a medical professional first.
Medicine is constantly evolving because our knowledge base is. Fifty years ago we thought fats were the ultimately killer. Now we’re starting to look at excessive carbohydrate intake in industrialized populations that rely on processed foods. Health is tricky. A good doctor has the humility to listen to new ideas while having enough skepticism to check the science.
The diet is a form of Keto. The gist of the book is that some plants are good for you and some aren’t because they have lectines to protect the seedlings, and humans haven’t been eating grains for long enough to properly deal with the lectins. Gluten is the most famous lectin. The writer was a cardiologist at Lima Linda University, so he had a bunch of cardiac patients who were vegetarians.
I have started Keto and am reading the Plant Paradox and am following it’s principles and guidelines because I am tired of feeling ill. My cholesterol was too high. I am eating Keto and figuring out which foods inflame my joints. When I started, the pain in my joints and hip vanished. We will see if it improves my numbers. A friend and of mine just got her doctor’s blood work back and her numbers have drastically changed for the better.
I have hashimoto. I try to eat healthy and I am 130 lbs but used to be 115 Ibs before it was diagnosed. My only „sins“ are coffee and chocolate and I do feel that it’s not good for me, but due to my stress @ work and with the kids I didn’t manage to cut it out completely. Stress by the way makes my thyroid hurt as well. My mother removed parts of hers but than you go into menopause and I am still very young and an active person so this thought makes me feel very old 🙁
Huh? Removal of your thyroid does not cause menopause. Removal of ovaries causes menopause.
Thyroid hormones effect regulation of menstruation in women, so complete removal of the gland can aid in triggering early menopause. It’s not an absolute guarantee, but it can happen.
I had hashimotos. I depend on thryoid medicine. It’s not the worst thing on the scale of bad health issues that can happen to you, but untreated (ie just trying to fix it with diet) you will feel tired all the time. You probably don’t need to get it removed, but see an endocrinologist if you haven’t already.
Thank you. I take 125 mg thyroxin medicine every day. Still feeling very tired always. I used to take 150 mg but the doctor said I can reduce. What I found is that, reducing stress helps. I focus on family, only closest friends and work and god. I cut out every B-C etc. friends, obligations, things that only cost Energie but don’t give anything back. I used to be a people pleaser but have learned my lesson. I think most illnesses are deep down caused by stress.
She is one of those ‘unhealthy’ ambassadors like meghan tranor who have made ‘being fat’ into their brand. So now that she has actually lost weight, she feels te need to backtrack and explain that she’s still not sporty or about the healthy life. “She might be skinny on the outside now, but still an average fat girl on the inside’ is the PR message. Ok we get it kelly.
She did not make being fat into her brand. The media wouldn’t stop talking about it and she kept letting them know that it wasn’t something she cared about. She was asked about it in interviews and let the person interviewing her know that it wasn’t something she wanted to be the focus of her life. She can’t control it that they continued to talk about it anyway.
This diet requires eliminating processed sugar and all the “lectin” plants. Or at least peeling and seeding them. I wonder if she only eliminated the processed sugars if the same changes would happen?
Sorry, this is complete and utter hooey. And like Jennie McCarthy on anti-vaxxing, it’s dangerous because people see a celebrity doing it and think it’s ok. The thyroid gland is not something that doctors have figured out how to cure; believe me, I tried everything to avoid going on fake thryoid hormones when I was diagnosed. For six months I went off my thyroid meds and tried to “cure” myself following a diet like this one and for six months I felt great — lost ten pounds I didn’t have to lose without trying and felt like I was high all the time. And then I crashed so hard and have been on the meds ever since. That was ten years ago. Don’t f*ck around with your thyroid. If you’re tired “for no reason,” weepy, losing your hair, can’t get enough sleep, gain weight you can’t get rid of, any of the above, just do yourself a favor and get your thryoid levels checked. It’s a simple blood test and doctors don’t look for it in younger women (younger than 35) esp if you haven’t had a baby yet. I was 30 and my doctor was going to put me on antidepressants before she checked my thyroid levels.
No, it’s not. It’s not possible for everyone to cure their thyroid using diet. But it is possible for some people. It happened for me. And this comments section is full of people saying that they were able to do the same.
I’m sorry that it didn’t work for you, but it does for some people. Your experience is not everyone’s experience.