Evening snacking

[Bollieforme]

hello everyone, I eat pretty healthy during the day, morning and lunch, however the munchies kick in around 8pm, I crave salty then sweet then on repeat! Is this thyroid related? I feel like I’ve hit the sweet spot with my thyroid meds but wish I’d didn’t have the enormous appetite between 7 and midnight.

[RedApple Administrator]

I don't think this is especially thyroid related 😊 But I get it anyway!

Try having a cup of tea or something equally less fattening instead. Apparently we sometimes confuse thirst for hunger, hence eat when we should actually drink.

[greygoose]

Salt and sugar craving sounds more like adrenals than thyroid. Have you had your cortisol tested?

[Bollieforme in reply to greygoose]

No I haven’t. I did ask my Gp if he would test my cortisol in the last round of blood tests and he asked me why? I said it’s related to thyroid.

[greygoose in reply to Bollieforme]

Stupid man.

[Anthea55]

I've just been rereading the book "The Functional Approach to Hypothyroidism" by Kenneth R Blanchard.

Dr Blanchard talks of those patients who gain weight rather than lose it when started on thyroid meds. He says that these people often report food cravings. He thought that these cravings might be related to T4 coming into direct contact with the walls of the stomach. So he got these patients to take their T4 with food, and most of them reported that "the hungries are gone".

Many of us do take thyroid meds with food. I find it is a lot simpler than having to count the hours, if you know what I mean. I have my levo with breakfast.

Give it a go and let us know if it helps with your munchies.

[Bollieforme in reply to Anthea55]

I will do that have my meds with food see if it makes a difference to the cravings

[FallingInReverse]

Do you ever track your food to know your calorie intake?

I started tracking to count my iron intake, but it’s remarkable how consistent our calorie needs are day to day. I track what I eat, without restricting what I eat. I end up eating about the same number of calories a day, and when I’m short by days end, I find myself snacking.

And also remarkable how you can’t guess a foods calories by its size… a spoon of a salad dressing can equal the calories of a small healthy meal. It’s totally crazy actually.

There certainly is something to cravings but also the simple math of calories in/calories out can also reveal a lot about why you might be hungry by days end!

[arTistapple]

I reluctantly tried Intermittent Fasting (IF) after someone mentioned it on the Forum (thank you to that person - I would have to look through every reply I had ever made on the Forum to find them). This coincided with changing my thyroxine to bed time.

I have taken the view that since (at a very late date in my life) being diagnosed with hypothyroidism, I discovered all the food I was eating (overeating) was not able to be a source of energy. My metabolism just could not provide that.

So I want to very quietly indeed say, I have lost 12.8kgs. I feel like it’s the kiss of death to say so - so no comments please!

This is because I worked the bedtime routine of taking my levo at least four hours after eating. As long as I eat within the parameters of the hours of my choice of IF hours (6 pm to 9am usually but often I don’t feel like eating long before 6pm) not only do I feel better gut wise, I do feel my levo might be working a bit better.

There are days (because of remaining unwellness) when I don’t eat enough and I then have a day or two where I eat a bit more. This seems a natural process of balance - something entirely impossible before IF.

Much to my GPs annoyance I am fully out of the Type 2 Diabetes zone …………

I am just passing this on in case it helps anyone. Believe me there is a lot of weight still to shift but the loss has been easier than I thought.

The discipline of taking my meds at night allowed this ‘change’ to take place. Off course I would sometimes like to snack in the evenings but I want my levo to work better more.

[Noelnoel in reply to arTistapple]

Hi arTistspple

As requested I won’t comment 🙂but what did you mean by this:

often I don’t feel like eating long before 6pm

[arTistapple in reply to Noelnoel]

Ah! Noelnoel. The minute I discovered it was possible eating, for me, did not equate to ‘energy’, was a revelation. For many years I have watched my peers eat not very much. I often wondered how much was’enough’. Dr Sarah Myhill’ book helped me work out what I need. I found out quite quickly after that, I need my food early in the day and if I have a nutrient dense breakfast and lunch, mostly that’s all I need. So come my cut off time for taking my Levo at bedtime (6pm) I find 1.) I am often too exhausted to make another meal anyway and 2) I find I am not hungry. I am open to change. I don’t feel rigid about it, other than once the decision is made not to compromise my Levo, I do not eat after 6pm.

If I feel I need to eat more on another day I don’t diss myself about doing just that. Still the same pattern of eating though. Food itself takes energy to digest and mostly I just would rather have the rest later in the day. I would say that generally I am more productive - that is important to me. It’s still quite new to me. I did not write down the start date as frankly I did not think I would take to it. It’s been probably about three months. Before I changed my dose to 106.25 mcg which I have now dropped back slightly on 100/106.25 alternately, because my FT4 was getting too near the top of range.

I hope that helps.

[Noelnoel in reply to arTistapple]

Thank you for the informative reply. It does help

So come my cut off time for taking my Levo at bedtime (6pm)

You go to bed at 6pm?

Food itself takes energy to digest and mostly I just would rather have the rest later in the day

But if you’ve had your nutrient dense meals at breakfast and lunch, what “rest” is eaten later in the day. Apologies if I myself am coming across as dense!

If you don’t mind would send your reply via pm as I’m conscious of hijacking Bollieforme’s post. Sorry Bollieforme

[mstp]

If your body doesn't handle carbs/sugar well perhaps you are experiencing sugar dips which make you feel sluggish, hangry or generally like eating to compensate for how you are feeling. Eating veg and protein before carbs can offset this a bit. Glucose Goddess book might be worth looking at.

[Geegee777 in reply to mstp]

When I feel a craving at evening though i try to fast after 6pm, sometimes its a bit tricky so I make a spinach, avocado and banana smoothie. That does the trick for me.

[catpotter44]

Some good comments above about the adrenal connection and whether you are eating enough. Also whether you are eating enough protein. I have found eating enough protein has been a game changer for my energy and satiety.

One other thing I would suggest looking into is stomach acid. I've recently(after much research) been working on my gut health, and part of that has been taking betain and pepsin to help with low stomach acid. I found myself feeling less hungry throughout the day, perhaps because the body is able to absorb kore than before. I ran out and started feeling more hungry again. Just got a new bottle today.

[SecondAngel in reply to catpotter44]

Me too on the low stomach acid and taking betaine/pepsin. Dr advised me to take gavaston for indigestion and it made the symptoms lots worse - comments on this forum to the rescue!

[catpotter44 in reply to SecondAngel]

Oh man, doctors!

The digestion piece is so huge and also in some ways simple, like everything else, it's crazy doctors don't know about it. Autoimmune and hypothyroid patients should be taught and given recommendations for gut healing as a matter of course! It would save so many problems. Glad to hear it's helping you too

[Capan24]

I would not take my thyroid medication with food.Taking Synthroid with food can interfere with its absorption. Ideally, it should be taken on an empty stomach, at least 30 minutes to an hour before eating, to ensure maximum absorption. If taken with food, especially certain types like high-fiber foods, calcium supplements, or iron supplements, it can decrease the absorption of Synthroid, potentially leading to decreased effectiveness. I take my Synthroid at 10:00 p.m. and we eat my last meal at 5:00 p.m. this way I know there isn't any problems with absorption of the medication because it's on an empty stomach. I also have silent acid reflux. So eating late in the evening is not a good idea when you're laying down to sleep. As far as the evening goes, I sip on water and have a cup of tea. I also chew some Pur gum which does not contain sugar or aspartame. This gum has xylitol in it which is recommended by dentist because it helps reduce the bacteria in your mouth for tooth decay. I feel that the gum helps curb my appetite.

[Fizzyinch]

I would consider if you are eating enough throughout the day, especially at breakfast. I would concur with other users that PROTEIN has been a game changer for thyroid and general wellbeing; make sure this is included in every meal, but especially important at breakfast. All meals and snacks should be balanced with carbs, fat and protein.

I also find that more carbs = more carbs, so just a bag of crisps will make me want more, the key is to balance your plate with the three macros.