I’d like to thank my agent and friend, Carol Mann, as well as Jessica Deputato and her colleagues at HarperCollins for their wonderful guidance. Thanks to Jon, Julia, and Danny Mathis, and our fuzzy family members, who endured my long hours at the computer to help me make this book happen. Thank you to my dad, Dan Shomon, his fiancée, Gail Dana, and my brother, Dan Shomon, for their support, and to my mother, Pat, who, even though she is gone, is with me always in heart and spirit.
To my friends Jeannie Yamine, Jane Frank, Laura Horton, Kim Conley, Cynthia Wallentine, Gen Piturro, Viana Muller, Rebecca Elia, Julia Schopick, Lisa Moretti, Mohammed Antabli, Franca Fiabane, Michael Phillips, Nadia Krupnikova, Ric Blake, and Lisa Cook—thank you all for your support and friendship. And thanks to all the Momfriends!
Many thanks to my dear friend and colleague Teresa Tapp and the whole T-Tapp crew for their hard work and support. Ribs up, tuck butt, KLT everyone!
Thanks to Susan Osburn, Leslie Blumenberg, Lorena Veresh, Linda Souter, and Paige Waehner for research help on the current edition and the original book.
Continuing gratitude to Kate Lemmerman, MD; Scott Kwiatkowski, DO; and Lauren Cafritz, who keep me running smoothly and breathing easily.
Special thanks to Katie Schwartz of DearThyroid, Geri Rybacki of the Coalition for Better Thyroid Care, Nicolet (Nikki) Hundt-Prohaska, Ali Jagger, Molly Shea Jester, Scott Rose, and Robert Chapman for your advocacy work and contributions to the thyroid cause.
To my unofficial news bureau, Rose Apter, Kim Carmichael-Cox, Sherri Leu, and Nicholas Bashour, among others, who have regularly sent me news reports, articles, and books that are right on target and always just what I need.
With thanks for their time and contributions to the book: David Clymer, Kat James, Jimmy Moore, Paige Waehner, and Daphne White.
Thanks to Kate Grossman, MD, Joy Victory, and all our colleagues at About.com, as well as my fellow guides, and to Aracely Brown and our colleagues at the New York Open Center.
Much gratitude to weight loss experts Marc David and Jena la Flamme, cofounders of the Weight Loss Pleasure Camp, for their time and for sharing their truly innovative thinking.
I must thank the many doctors, practitioners, and experts who provided information for the book, or who took time to brainstorm with me, shared their insights, or otherwise have contributed greatly to my thinking in the area of thyroid disease and nutrition. We are all fortunate to have these smart and caring people out there thinking about, researching, and caring for our health: Ken Blanchard, MD; David Brownstein, MD; Rob Carlson, MD; Hyla Cass, MD; Adrienne Clamp, MD; David Derry, MD; Rebecca Elia, MD; Udo Erasmus, PhD; Bruce Fife, ND, CN; Rick Ferris, PhD, ND; Ted Friedman, MD; Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS; Sara Gottfried, MD; Joy Gurgevich; Steven Gurgevich, PhD; Ron Hoffman, MD; Donna Hurlock, MD; Mark Hyman, MD; Dave Junno, PsyD; Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa, DN-C, RH ; Scott Kwiatkowski, DO; Stephen Langer, MD; Kate Lemmerman, MD; Scott Levine, MD; John Lowe, DC; Ron Manzanero, MD; Viana Muller, PhD; Jan Nicholson, PhD; Richard Podell, MD; Byron Richards, CCN; Marie Savard, MD; Erika Schwartz, MD; Karilee Shames, PhD, RN; Richard Shames, MD; Robban Sica, MD; Mark Starr, MD; Jacob Teitelbaum, MD; Dirk van Lith, MD, MPH; and Ken Woliner, MD. A special thanks to Kent Holtorf, MD, for generously sharing so much of his innovative thinking about thyroid health.
And my heartfelt gratitude and commiseration to the thousands of people who have written to me to share their stories, pain, tears, laughter, joy, and sorrow as they go through this journey of thyroid disease and face the challenges of weight loss. I know exactly how you feel, and I can only hope that you find a glimmer of hope somewhere in this book, because you more than deserve hope, good health, happiness—and answers.