Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

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I rarely, if ever, feel physical hunger. It's been a big problem for me because I'd often eat out of habit rather than hunger, and I have thus never been able to lean out. (I'm 4'11" and 130lbs with a lot of muscle.) I do also have a history of pre-diabetes and PCOS, though.

Recently, kind of on a whim, I bought a kelp supplement and started taking one tablet daily. It says it has about 225 mcg of iodine per tablet. Suddenly, I'm hungry! I'm ravenous at regular times, stomach growling and everything. I can't remember the last time this happened to me. I feel great. I feel normal.

I've been tested for hypothyroidism multiple times and have always been within range. From what I've been reading, 225 mcg seems like a fairly safe amount of iodine to supplement with. MDA seems to suggest that 1 gram is probably a safe upper limit, and I don't think I'm getting extra iodine from many other sources.

But what are your thoughts on this? Do you think my increased appetite is a good sign or a bad sign?

flag	asked Oct 26 at 22:45 Paula 156●7

Dan · Answer 1 · 2012-10-26 23:58:46Z UTC

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Eat! For heavens' sakes, eat! Satisfy your hunger!

answered Oct 26 at 23:58

Dan
4,136●5●12

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(I'm not worried, why should you be?) – Dan Oct 26 at 23:59

baba · Answer 2 · 2012-10-27 04:44:10Z UTC

Thyroid hormones will not only increase your appetite, but also revv up your metabolism, so if you were (slightly) hypothyroid before, all should be well. Just make sure that you have adequate selenium if you take iodine.

With your history of PCOS there is one caveat though: thyroid hormones can increase insulin resistance.

The "range" of lab results is usually ultra-wide, so read up on symptoms of hypo-/hyperthyroidism and check your pulse and temperature to make sure you're alright.

Robin · Answer 3 · 2012-10-27 13:03:38Z UTC

Be very careful -- you could be swinging into hyperthyroid. This happened to me on an even lower dosage than you're taking...in fact, on a lower dosage than the RDA. It's rare, but it happens, esp. if you were deficient in iodine when you started -- your thyroid may have adjusted to that very low level of iodine, and now it's having a hard time adjusting to the extra and it's producing too much thyroid hormone. Watch for things like mouth sores, or more hair loss than usual, a yellow tinge to the skin on the palms of your hands or the soles of your feet, slight anxiety or "racy" feeling, cherry angiomas, loose stools.

No idea if you're having the same problems I did, but I felt great at first too, and I lost a few pounds even though I was taking in more calories. That was great. Then I didn't feel so great, and I swung between hyper & hypo thyroid for months. It wasn't so much fun.

And agree w/ Baba about the selenium.

Is my increased appetite a good sign or a bad sign?

3 Answers