Apparently it still is common here. I was pretty surprised when two of my closest neighbors said they tested low for iodine, and both told me that their doctors told them it was very common here. Just about every woman I know talks about their thyroid problems here. I always thought it was mainly a female thing, and I don't stick around long when they gather up and start talking doctors and hospitals. My wife is always in the middle of it though. She has a very enquiring mind, and it was reading one of her "Women's" magazines that put me on to doing something.

I don't have a weight problem, and lots of women talk about that connection. And my problem is not severe by any means. But I am very sensitive to how I respond to food, and the lack of it. I don't really get cravings, but I do realize when I'm lacking something that many foods supply, and I feel how foods either provide it, or not.

Since iodine isn't in most of what I normally eat it was a tough one for me to realize it was lacking, or make the connection to what provides it. And it's not entirely clear or easy for me to make those connections anyway. For example, I always feel great after eating lobster, and I really love it too. It's a great source of iodine, and one of the few I'd have been getting. But I don't get it often, and it's easy to mistake the "Good" feeling for nothing more than the joy of eating lobster.

But now I know, it is more than that. Like most everything I eat that makes me feel good, it's because it's providing something I need. I wish kelp capsules tasted like lobster