low-iodine diet...

In preparation for the RAI-131 treatment, almost all doctors will require you to go on the low-iodine diet. Before discussing it with my endocrinologist, I read that most people do it for 2 weeks before the treatment and after the treatment....

Luckily, that wasn't the case for me. My doctor required me to start the low-iodine diet 7 days before treatment. I quit taking the Cytomel 50 mcg 7 days before the diet began.

quick timeline:
Tuesday, October 11, 2011: Stopped Cytomel
Tuesday, October 18, 2011: Started Low-Iodine Diet
Thursday, October 20, 2011: Bloodwork to check iodine levels
Tuesday, October 25, 2011: RAI treatment
Tuesday, November 1, 2011: Full Body scan and end of diet!

Ok...so, how did I survive this diet?

Three words: Organize and PLAN ahead!

Several people told me to go to www.thyca.org and get ideas from the low-iodine cookbook....

BEST advice EVER! Seriously!

This cookbook states amounts of food you can eat per day and RECIPES (that, honestly, are not bad). I went through the recipes and printed 10-12 that sounded easy and good. Knowing that I would have NO energy to cook everyday, I started buying ingredients that I needed and making meals that could be frozen and heated in the microwave.

Also, I LOVE sweets and snacking throughout the day. As my doctor describes, I am a grazer. :)

I found GREAT ideas for snacking, unsalted pretzels, fruits (apples, grapes, watermelon, strawberries, blueberries), veggies (carrots- with peanut butter), Frosted Mini Wheats cereal (no milk!), unsalted nuts, homemade oatmeal cookies....

I am not a huge peanut butter fan, but I bought Organic/Natural (Honey) peanut butter and had that in my lunch bag everyday! If you've never had natural peanut butter, you have to mix the oils and solid once you open it for the first couple of times.

Also, I am not a huge fan of oatmeal, but that was really the only thing I could think of eating at first. For breakfast, I had a bowl of oatmeal, usual maple flavored and drank some apple or orange juice.

Later in the diet, I found a recipe for apple muffins that turned out GREAT! These were a great breakfast treat! :)

For lunch, I usually had pasta recipes or vegetable recipes for the thyca.org recipe book.

I usually saved the meat for dinner (since you can have 5-6 oz. a day). By the end of the diet, I felt like I had accomplished so much and learned many new and yummy recipes! :)

I will upload some favorite recipes next...