Fighting the Hunger.

[NickiC]

Protein is your best friend. Protein energy lasts longer. Lean protein sources and healthy fats. You do need your whole grains and lots of vegetables. Psyllium before a meal helps you to feel full before you eat. Drink two full glasses of water with the fiber and green tea helps stamp it down too. Good luck I know what it is like. You feel like you could eat an entire supermarket and an hour later take down another.

 

[joelafayette]

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[fire_breeze]

Thank you again for all your tips and advice! I did manage to speak to my endo about this a couple of times, after I fessed up as to how hungry I was. He looked back to my past blood tests, some of them taken right before my period (earlier this year and in May). Nothing out of normal - on the lower end, but still very much within the acceptable parameters of my normal, although I will probably take them again next month just to be sure. So, as there isn't much he can do, he did offer some insight and advice (all the while monitoring if there's any improvements in the next two months):

Like TheSilverLining, WeirdHarold and GiggleGasm mentioned, it had everything to do with the normal fluctuations of a woman's cycle. We naturally get more hungry at this time because progesterone kicks in, serotonin, oestrogen and blood sugar (with the last two being a natural appetite suppressants) levels drop pretty dramatically. The upshot of this is that our metabolism hits up a notch, so we also burn considerably more calories than anytime during our cycle, hence the hunger. My endo pointed out that because of my hypothyroidism, even if it's controlled, I am just much more sensitive to the natural hormonal shifts.

His suggestion was a multivitamin, which I already take, iron supplements and more importantly to moderately feed into the hunger: that is, when I get hungry during this time, I should not ignore my body, eat and not really worry as the metabolism will take care of itself. He suggested to space out snacks (every hour and a half), and consume foods that are high in protein, complex carbs, healthy fats and calcium. I've already upped my carbs and protein by pretty much picking off Giggle's (I cannot wait to try your baked oatmeal) and Jimbo's (who listed some of my favourites) lists- and any excuse to up my dairy intake is fine by me. . I'll also be picking up iron supplements, so we will see next month.

Thank you all again for your insights and help. It truly helped a lot, and it was relieving to know that I'm not the only one with the starving monster.

Thank you