Dr. Izabella Wentz, PharmD

Thyroid Pharmacist

Podcast Episode 84: Carnivore Approach: Less Plants More Healing for Hashimoto’s? With Caitlin Weeks

84: The Carnivore Approach: Could Less Plants Mean More Healing for Hashimoto’s? – With Caitlin Weeks

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LISTEN TO THE PODCAST – Also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts

In this episode of the Thyroid Pharmacist Healing Conversations podcast, I interviewed Caitlin Weeks, also known as the “Grass Fed Girl,” about her unexpected and powerful healing journey with Hashimoto’s – and how a carnivore-style diet played a pivotal role in putting her autoimmune condition into remission.

Caitlin shares how years of dieting, over-exercising, and “doing everything right” eventually led to debilitating fatigue, digestive issues, and joint pain, despite normal TSH labs. We explore why conventional advice, like “eat more vegetables,” can actually backfire for some people with autoimmunity. Caitlin also shares how removing plant foods helped calm her immune system, heal her gut, and dramatically lower her thyroid antibodies.

This conversation is not about dogma or extremes – it’s about listening to your body, understanding root causes, and giving yourself permission to explore approaches that may go against mainstream nutrition advice, especially when nothing else has worked.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

  • Why a carnivore-type diet can act as a powerful reset for Hashimoto’s: Caitlin shares how removing plant foods (and eating meat) helped calm gut irritation, bloating, and constipation, and coincided with her thyroid antibodies dropping from the 600s into single digits.
  • How “normal” thyroid labs can mean undiagnosed autoimmune disease: Caitlin explains why she was dismissed for years due to a normal TSH, and how testing thyroid antibodies was the key to finally identifying and addressing Hashimoto’s.
  • The link between vegetables, anti-nutrients, and gut inflammation: This conversation explores how compounds in veggies, such as oxalates and lectins, may aggravate gut inflammation, bloating, and pain in sensitive individuals, particularly those with autoimmune conditions.
  • Why diet alone is not enough for healing: From shifting away from punishing exercise to addressing stress, toxic environments, and self-expectation, Caitlin explains the non-diet lifestyle changes that supported true recovery.
  • Who may benefit most from trying the carnivore diet, and who should proceed cautiously: Digestive issues, IBS, bloating, histamine intolerance, and stubborn thyroid antibodies may all be clues that the carnivore diet could help – but preparation, personalization, and context matter.

Many people with Hashimoto’s have irritable bowel syndrome, which can be both a root cause and symptom of autoimmunity. Dr. Wentz’s new book, IBS: Finding and Treating the Root Cause of Irritable Bowel Syndrome, is a comprehensive guide that reveals how irritable bowel syndrome is often a catch-all diagnosis that overlooks treatable root causes. It offers a step-by-step approach to help readers understand what’s really driving gut symptoms, and how to create a personalized plan to restore gut health and overall wellness. The book is available for preorder now and will be released March 17, 2026!

Freebies

Guest Resources / Connect with Caitlin Weeks

Supplements We Discussed

  • Magnesium (especially magnesium citrate) – Magnesium supports muscle relaxation, nervous system balance, and bowel regularity, and is especially helpful for people with Hashimoto’s who experience constipation, muscle cramps, or heightened stress responses. Consider Rootcology Magnesium Citrate Powder.
  • Vitamin D – Vitamin D plays a critical role in immune regulation and inflammation control, and low levels have been associated with higher thyroid antibody levels and increased autoimmune activity. Consider Pure Encapsulations Vitamin D.
  • Electrolytes (sodium, potassium, magnesium) – Electrolytes help maintain cellular hydration, nerve signaling, and adrenal function, and are particularly important for people following low-carb or elimination diets who may lose minerals more quickly. Consider Rootcology Electrolyte Blend.
  • Digestive enzymes with ox bile – Digestive enzymes with ox bile support fat digestion and nutrient absorption, which can be impaired in people with hypothyroidism due to sluggish bile flow and reduced digestive enzyme output. Consider Rootcology Pancreatic Enzymes Plus.

Other Tools and Resources

  • Natural Desiccated Thyroid (NDT) – Natural desiccated thyroid provides both T4 and T3 hormones in a form that more closely mimics the body’s natural thyroid output, which may benefit individuals who continue to experience symptoms on T4-only medications.
  • Thyroid antibody testing (TPO antibodies) – Thyroid antibody testing helps identify autoimmune thyroid disease and track immune activity over time, even when standard thyroid hormone levels appear normal. Consider Rupa Health for your thyroid labs.
  • Carnivore or elimination-style diets – Elimination diets temporarily remove common dietary irritants and immune triggers, allowing the gut and immune system to calm while helping identify foods that may worsen autoimmune symptoms.
  • Parasite testing and treatment protocols – Identifying and addressing parasitic infections can reduce immune activation, improve gut integrity, and help resolve persistent symptoms that do not respond to diet or supplements alone.
  • Histamine awareness and low-histamine food strategies – Reducing dietary histamine exposure can help decrease inflammation, headaches, anxiety, and digestive symptoms in individuals with histamine intolerance or mast cell activation.
  • Gentle, restorative movement practices – Low-stress movement, such as walking and light strength training, supports circulation, bone health, and metabolic function without triggering excessive cortisol or immune stress.
  • Non-toxic home and personal care practices – Minimizing exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals helps reduce toxic burden on the liver and immune system, which is especially important for individuals managing autoimmunity.

Books & Articles About Thyroid Health

Get the Full Episode Transcript

Let’s Connect!

Got questions? Drop them in the comments! 🙂

About Our Host

Dr. Izabella Wentz 

Dr. Izabella Wentz is a compassionate, innovative, solution-focused integrative pharmacist dedicated to finding the root causes of chronic health conditions. Her passion stems from her own diagnosis of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis in 2009, following a decade of debilitating symptoms.

Dr. Izabella Wentz has written several best-selling books, including the New York Times bestseller Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis: Lifestyle Interventions for Finding and Treating the Root Cause, the protocol-based #1 New York Times bestseller Hashimoto’s Protocol: A 90-Day Plan for Reversing Thyroid Symptoms and Getting Your Life Back, the Wall Street Journal bestseller Hashimoto’s Food Pharmacology: Nutrition Protocols and Healing Recipes to Take Charge of Your Thyroid Health, and Adrenal Transformation Protocol. Her latest book, IBS: Finding and Treating the Root Cause of Irritable Bowel Syndrome, will be released on March 17, 2026, and is available for pre-order here.

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About Our Guest

Caitlin Weeks is a certified nutrition consultant, personal trainer, and founder of the popular keto blog, Grassfedgirl.com. She is the bestselling author of Mediterranean Paleo Cooking, which incorporates the Mediterranean diet and ancestral foods into easy, flavorful recipes. After yo-yo dieting and excessive exercising through her teens and 20s, she was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. While learning to heal her own thyroid issues with a full-body approach, she chronicled the journey on her blog to help others dealing with similar issues. Her mission is to empower people to find wellness on their own terms with a nutrient-dense, low-carb diet and non-toxic lifestyle, through self-love and personal experimentation.

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