Low Iodine Diet Help - Please!

[CommMajor101]

Hello everyone,
I am having a very difficult time finding appetizing foods that have non iodized salt or stick to other rules within the diet. Has anyone been on this diet and find some really good foods that stick to the rules? I don't have a whole lot of time every day to cook, so I need something that's relativity easy.  Thanks in advance!

[vp53]

Tips for those on LID: Walnut Acres makes a plain but ok no salt added pasta salt that works for LID. I also found a salsa with no salt in  it and blue chips (I remember those are Garden of Good Eatin) with no salt. The classic Crisco pie crust works for LID - just use non-iodized salt. And the BEST bread EVER can be made LID - Jim Leahy's no knead bread. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html?_r=0 I also recommend peanut butter cookies - http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/peanut-butter-cookies-recipe.html - just sub non-iodized salt for the listed sea salt, and buy crunchy peanut butter with no salt, just peanuts. Look in the organic section to find some stuff. Also, Kashi shredded wheat and coconut water from trader joe's.

[goodwife1995]

I have been cooking for my wife for three years while she is on and off the LID.  It is hard, but very important to stick to the rules of the game.  I am cautious of all the ingredients I put in her meals and make sure she has plenty of handy snacks.  

[Robbie305]

I called Frito/lays.. they use non iodized salt on their chips and I also called SMUCKERS, they make JIFF peanut butter and use non iodized salt.. PBJ's and chips for lunch. I bake my own bread. I have been on this diet for 5 weeks now. After 2 years of CT scans and scans with contrast it is taking a long time to get my iodine level down so I can have radiation.. we are hoping that 2 more weeks will do it. I also have diverticulitis so that leaves out a lot of the foods this diet does allow.. good luck!!

[NickThornton]

To the person who said that "sea salt does not contain idodine" you are incorrect. Hopefully no one took your misadvice.

[hungryandtired336]

I have been on the LID for 6 days. The first three days I already had dinner or lunch plans at restaurants scheduled so I ate mostly fresh fruits at the restaurant,(did you catch the "mostly"?) I did eat an eggroll one day and a small portion of pasta with regular sauce another day. I have done pretty well otherwise and am wondering if I am going to find out today when I get my bloodwork that I have eaten too much iodine?  It is a LOW iodine diet right, not a NO iodine diet. Do you think I am in trouble? And can I have a freaking Pepsi please? :)

[Diana553]

This is my second time around for this diet.  I've learned that you need to plan ahead for your meals. You can't get away from cooking your meals and there's very few places where you can eat out. If you're out away from home and need something quick, Jamba Juice is great when making special drinks for people on diets.

I enjoy having a bowl of my Chocked Full of Vegtable Soup.  Just cover a whole organic chicken with water.  Add one med onion, celery, potatoes, zucchini, fresh corn, carrots, etc. Don't forget to debone the chicken. :-) Make up a huge pot of this soup and freeze it into individual servings.  For breakfast I make up several servings of 'steel cut oatmeal', add apple, banana, or raisins to it, drizzle honey on it and freeze individual servings. Heat this in the microwave for 2-3 min and you're done.  Fruit smoothies are good too for a quick breakfast using apple juice or orange juice.  I also try to have on hand a variety of unsalted nuts, and raisins.  When I go away from home, I make up a snack made of this for a quick pick me up.    Bread machines are great when making up your bread.  I love the Honey White Bread recipe in the low-iodine cook book.  It's super fast to make and it makes the house smell wonderful.  I wish you all the best.  Hang in there and remember this diet is only temporary!  Thank God for that!!!
Diana

[sj8337]

Did any of you have back pain and muscle cramps while on the low iodine diet? Is this connected?
I am so worried about what I have been eating...there are such conflicting ideas on what I can or can not eat!  Now I am seeing that cured meats..????....the information from my doc said bacon, ham, etc was ok.  UGHH! I don't want to do this again!

[Achtan]

sea salt doesnt have iodine.  try sticking to natural whole foods, fresh and frozen veggie not canned.  some meats are ok just prepare them yourself.  it is a good time for trying differnt fruit and veggie salads.  I haven't done the diet in a long time and refuse to go off me meds for the scan because i want thyrogen so me and my endo azre still arguing about it.

[Staff2n2]

Does anyone know where you can get the Fleischmann's margarine that is okay?  I'm in St. Louis and going on the diet again in a few weeks and wasn't able to find it the last time.  Thanks so much!

[adri20]

does anyone now how to make rice milk I can't download the cook book on my computer or is lactezze ok to drink anybody know!

[CommMajor101]

Ooooh that is a shame to hear. I'm very sad to hear that as I was planning on celebrating my first day off this diet with a pizza. Maybe I'll wait. Oh man, that really does make me sad.

fragrance850 - I'm not sure about the low iodine diet for Hashimoto, but I think most of us are on it or have been on it to prepare for having the Radio Active Iodine treatment which usually follows thyroid surgery or is being used as the method to treat thyroid cancer. I don't know about Hasimoto though. And the diet is just temporary and you'll be told to go on it by your Doctor  :)

I'm still not feeling worn out though. Its worrying me and its sad WHY its worrying me. I'm worried my levels won't be low enough and we'll have to postpone the treatment and...ready...here's the kicker...I'm worried about ALL the stupid paperwork I'll have to deal with at work to correct the dates I'll be out. Isn't that sad?!?  Aaah, that's corporate America though. - Ok, that wasn't exactly relevant to the diet topic, but I still have a normal level of energy. Hmmm.

[Liz94]

You know, all I wanted when I was on that diet was pizza and I coudn't have it. Then after the RAI and I went off the diet I got the pizza I wanted so badly and then.....I COULDN'T TASTE IT!  After all that suffering with the stupid nuts and apples and blah food I lose my taste AFTER the RAI.  They should make a way for you to have no iodine after the RAI when your taste buds are shot anyway!  (my taste returned to normal after about 3 weeks. But 2 weeks of **** food and then 3 weeks of no taste made for a very pointless existence.)

[Cloulou]

I'm with you, diet is very annoying, just thinking about having to start it again in 12 days just ticks me off. and liz94, I just looked at the cookbook and it says 6 ounces is okay per day so you should be fine. happy junk food to anyone who is near the end and happy soon to eat junk food to anyone starting, cheese cheese, wonderful CHEESE!!!!!!

[shannon828]

The worst part of the diet is that NO ONE gets it at all when you try to explain what you can and can't eat.  The dining facility at my work told me "we don't use iodine"...um, yeah, that is not what I am asking you!  Does it contain dairy, soy, iodized salt, etc. etc.  Most annoying diet ever.  Period.  The End.

[fragrance850]

Hi, all.

I don't know if Hashimoto's hypothyroidism should have a low iodine diet or not? I have too many seafoods as well as iodized salt.

Thank you.

[Liz94]

It was on the handout from the doctor.

[CommMajor101]

Huh, I didn't receive any heads up like that from my doctor. Was he the one who told you to limit it or was it from the cookbook?

[Liz94]

I was told only 5 ounces of organic meat per day.  I think I may have cheated on that aspect and had 6 because I was so freakin hungry.

[CommMajor101]

Thank you all so much for your helpful bits of info. I'm glad I'm not the only junk food junkie dyyyyyyyying for a pizza right now (it'll be the first thing I eat since the first day I can eat real food is super bowl sunday - hehe). If you like sweets, I've found that gummy bears stick to the rules. And the fajitas recipe in the cookbook is super yummy.

Liz - you mentioned that you ate half your daily allowance of meat at lunch and the rest at dinner. Is there an allowance of meat? I know they say like no more than 4 servings a day, but I was thinking they meant no more than 4 meals a day consisting of meat. (shrug).

[Cloulou]

Oh the Diet, yuk. I am about to start for the 3rd time. You can have salt, you just need to use Kosher salt, no sea salt or table salt but kosher is fine. Yes the prep time is a pain so my suggestion is when you have a day off, cook cook cook if you have time and then portion and freeze or cook parts and freeze so you can put things together. Making bread is a giant pain in the neck and but if you use the a basic white bread recipe with salt and olive oil and let the dough do the work for you. Use bread flour it has a higher gluten content so you don't have to work it so much. I spend all of 10 minutes on bread and I take out lots of work frustration on it & it smells wonderful while it's baking next to roasted veggies or granola. You can check local bakeries to see what they use, you may be able to buy bread without conditioners. I roast alot of stuff, I will put a whole chicken in the oven with salt, pepper, olive oil, lemon, fresh rosemary and thyme, and next to it I roast a whole head of cauliflower in olive oil, salt & pepper. After dinner strip the chicken down and make gravy with the drippings for chicken and biscuits, (there's a biscuit recipe in the cookbook) anyway, just some ideas. When I have time to cook, I cook truckloads so I can use it for more than one thing, but you are right, it is a pain in the neck. My daughter listens to me whine every time I have to go on the diet and she thinks I am being ridiculous but she is a culinary student. Don't get me wrong I love to cook when I have time and when I WANT TO not when I HAVE TO.  The granola in the cookbook is pretty good too, I use nuts only and no fruit and I bake it cupcake tins so they are portable, if my salivary glands were working they would be great but I just end up with a blob stuck on the side of my face that I can't swallow and can't get out without a shovel!! haha. Anyway my answer to most of the diet dilemna was to roast everything in site, even grape tomatoes and then throw them into pasta with lemon and olive oil. I make my own salad dressing anyway with oil and vinegar or lemon & dijon mustard, salt & pepper. If you look in the kosher foods part of your market you may find some prepared foods that you can use made with kosher salt. If it's kosher it's made with kosher salt, so that can be some help. Hang in there it will be over soon, the first thing I usually want after the diet is something dairy, cheese, ice cream, anything as long as it is dairy, that is my toughest part and coffee without creamer and I use soy creamer and I can't even use that!!! But this too shall pass. All the best. I wish you a nice big pizza dripping with cheese when it is all over!

[Liz94]

When I was on the LID diet I bought a food scale and cut chicken breasts into 2.5 ounce pieces and also divided up (organic) ground beef and steak into serving sizes. I ate half of my daily allowance at lunch and half for dinner because I NEED protein and 5 ounces a day just isn't a lot. I also ate a lot of noodles with unsalted spaghetti sauce and smoothies made with frozen berries. Also, I lucked out in that there is a bakery near my house that specializes in breads for people with medical conditions.  It was expensive for one loaf but well worth the money to have it!  I also managed to discover many foods that I didn't know I liked such as sweet potatoes and regular potatoes with salsa.  I wish you luck, that diet does stink.  It's very healthy though and I lost 8 pounds in 14 days on it.

[shannon828]

I am on the diet now and even though it's my second time around I'm starving and counting the days until I am off this stupid thing.  I found a few things that saved me:

Fleischman's Unsalted Margarine (contains soy, but soy oil which is allowed)
When Pigs Fly Bread (they use non-iodized salt and no iodates in their breads)
Living Harvest Hemp Milk (available at Whole Foods or online- for use in coffee or over Granola, etc.)
Heniz No-Salt Ketchup (5 oz burger anyone?)
Walnut Acres Low Sodium Pasta Sauce (no salt)

The diet ***** and NONE of the recipes in the cookbook are appealing to me, so I can relate to your question.  If adhering to it wasn't as important as it is I would just cheat all day long, but since I know my health depends on it, I am pretty strict about it.

We actually made the Griddle Cakes recipe from the Thyca website yesterday and they weren't too bad.  My mom usually bakes me a loaf of bread, some cookies and/or muffins to get me through.  The other problem is since there is virtually no fat or protein on the diet I am exhausted all the time.  Luckily it's only for a short time, but I feel your pain.

Signed,
Starving and Exhausted

[CommMajor101]

My dad found a spaghetti sauce that fits our LID criteria, L.E. Roselli's. Haven't tried it yet, but we'll see  :)

[nissah46]

I know, I constantly thought about food.  I really missed my yogurt.  You can look forward to your first day off the diet and dream about what you will eat.
Trish