In order to get ready for the radioactive iodine pills, my doctor required that I go off of my thyroid medication for 2 1/2 weeks as well as be on a low iodine diet. I knew I would be tired, but I had no earthly idea how depleted of energy and strength I would be! Having no thyroid and no medication to regulate my body took its toll and it felt like a struggle to get through school and work each day. All I wanted to do was lay in bed and rest all day...every day!
I had never heard of the low iodine diet, but I had been on several diets before and knew there would be some setbacks, but I figured I would be able to master the diet before it was all said and done.....UNTIL I did some deep research and found out that I could not eat hardly anything! NO seafood, dairy, bread, etc!!! Basically, (in some ways) the diet mastered me!
After my experience, I wanted to help others who find themselves in this predicament and think they have no where to turn...or no options to rely on. I learned a lot while being on this diet and want to share my knowledge with others!
First things first, the diet is a LOW iodine diet..not a NO iodine diet. For a week, I thought that meant low sodium so I checked all of the labels to see how high the sodium was in foods and avoided anything over 20 msgs. I didn't realize the data was talking about iodine..not sodium. The basis of this diet is to eat foods low in iodine in order to deplete the cells in your body of the iodine present. That way...when you take the radioactive iodine pills...it will be easier for the cells to absorb the iodine so the radioactivity in the iodine can kill any remaining thyroid tissue and cancer cells (that's also why your doctor will have you quit taking your thyroid medication.)
The diet helped me to kick start healthier eating habits because you have to eat fresh veggies and fruit. My stomach began shrinking because I eventually did lose my appetite (a side effect from my body going into hypothyroid from not taking my meds) and did not eat much. I lost 6 pounds within the first week! Anywho, I found some products that are suitable for the diet and will get you through however many weeks you have to be on it.
Eating OUT:
The diet recommends that people do not eat out because you are unaware of what restaurants use to cook in their food, but sit-downs are the way to go because you have the ability to ask the wait staff if they can have the cook not use any salt, seasonings, or butter on your food (not with everything but fresh items such as steak, grilled chicken, broccoli, baked potato, etc.). Olive Garden actually uses KOSHER salt in their kitchens so most (not all) of their items are suitable for consumption. They have an allergen menu for you to look through to see what you can and cannot have. Anything with dairy or seafood is out of the question so consult the list to see what items fall on those lists. Luckily, you can have their bread sticks and the spaghetti with meat sauce :).
I, also, went to Cotton Patch, Mimi's Cafe, and Chili's and explained to the waitress that I was on a low iodine diet and could not have any kind of butter, salt, and seasoning and they were really helpful.
My Food at CHILI's
My Food at COTTON PATCH
We have an HEB where I live and a Sprouts not too far from here so I shopped at those two places for items that were suitable for the diet. If you have a specialty grocery store around you or a health food store (or maybe even a regular grocery store might have some of these items) then you should be able to find these products.
Kashi's products use Kosher or non-iodized salt which you can have! I wasn't too fond of this cereal but it was a good thing to snack on.
Look for products that say NO SALT ADDED!
I was sad because I didn't find Mrs. Dash until the last 2 days of the diet!! I had been using Nu-salt and this salt free seasoning (which tasted terrible!!!!) These are the ones you want to use on everything for taste because most of the stuff will be tasting pretty bland! Also, use extra-virgin olive oil as well. I was already putting it and garlic powder on my popcorn because it gives it such a great taste! 
These drinks are fantastic! They taste really good!! All of them have NO sodium and you are allowed to have sugar on the diet! Just REMEMBER NO RED DYE #3!!!
If you are not into textures then you may not like this but it tastes really good on apples!! At first, I didn't like it because I ate it on the Matzo crackers, but afterwards, I loved it when I found out how good it was paired with fresh fruit!!
The Naked juice drinks are made with fruits and vitamins so you are good to drink these!! They are low on sodium and I'm sure the sodium used is kosher or naturally occurring...
You can pour these into your water bottles so you have some kind of flavoring to drink! Water is good, but sometimes it can get old. These have NO sodium and no red dye # 3.
These chips are the best tortilla chips ever!! They actually taste like what you would find at a Mexican restaurant and they have NO sodium!!!!
Other products not listed: Haribo Happy Colas, Kettle Unsalted Chips, Popscicles!!!
Final Note: These are just some products that I found but there are other resources out there to help such as www.thyca.org/rai.htm and http://www.cc.nih.gov/ccc/patient_education/pepubs/lo_io_diet.pdf. Make sure you read the labels to see what ingredients are being used! Believe me, you don't want to have to further your diet because your levels are not high enough to take the pills!! There also blogs out there with people who have had to be on the diet as well that can definitely help!
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