Have you been diagnosed with an underactive thyroid or suspect you have one?
Looking for a sample meal plan tailored to your condition… one that you can follow right now?
The 14-Day Meal Plan For Hypothyroidism and Weight Loss is a Dietitian-made plan to help make life easier (and more delicious) when learning what you should and should not eat with an underactive thyroid.
It’s designed to be:
- Simple to follow for busy folks with many mouths to feed
- Realistic, with recipes that beginners can master
- Gluten-free (which often appears beneficial for those with Hashimoto’s)
- Loaded with nutrient-dense foods (especially spinachand legumes for folate: see the MTHFR mutation link)
- Naturally rich in selenium, zinc and iodine for thyroid health, and vitamin B12 for more energy
- Budget-friendly (except for two worthwhile investments: chia seeds and quinoa).
You can follow the entire plan for the whole 14 days, or simply choose your favourite recipes and include them into your current diet. Many are recipes from qualified Dietitians that I strongly encourage you to follow!
Note that if you are trying to lose a lot of weight, I recommend you read this guideas well as this one. Also this is not suitable for those following the Autoimmune Protocol.
You can still follow this plan if your thyroid is healthy, but then I also recommend browsing through these 33 low-carb lunch and dinner recipes for more ideas.
The14-Day Meal Plan For Hypothyroidism and Weight Loss
Must-Read Starting Notes:
- Consult with your personal doctor or Dietitian first: While I am a qualified Dietitian, I’m not familiar with your personal medical history, your current medications or additional factors that need to be considered when altering your diet or fitness regime.
- Thyroid hormone should be consumed fasting:At least 1-2 hours before your first food (being conservative). This could mean you skip breakfast altogether, which is fine if it suits you. It just depends on your eating habits and what works best for your lifestyle.
- Goitrogens, soy and legumes: Goitrogens and soy seem to be safe in moderate amounts (1, 2), but you can always leave them out.The same goes for legumes, often left out of Paleo diets (although I don’t recommend they be left out). If legumes give you digestive stress, it could be the FODMAPs.
- Choose water as your drink: The meal plan does not include drinks, but keep a bottle of water with you at all times and drink up. Tea isalso fine, but anecdotal reports suggest more than300 mg per day of caffeine (2-3 regular coffees)can aggravate the thyroid.
- Flexibility is key: Of course this plan cannot meet all your individual needs, so if there is an ingredient you don’t eat then replace it or leave it out. Also it pays off to batch prepare some meals ahead of time so you can simply reheat and go.
- Limit or eliminate junk foods and highly processed products: This plan focuses on whole, unrefined foods as they are fundamental to a healthy diet. Realistically it’s very difficult to eliminate all highly processed (often pre-packaged) foods, but just be mindful of cutting down. Likewise, snacks listed are optional depending on your regular eating habits, and there are bonus snack recipe ideas if you scroll to the bottom.
- The recipes sourced often make 2-4 servings: Consider this when writing your shopping list. You will have leftovers. Feed the family or save the leftovers to have in place of a meal on another day. Recipes toward the end of the week factor in leftovers.
Day #1 Monday
Breakfast: 1 large Banana.
Remember only have breakfast at least 1-2 hours after taking thyroid hormone.
Lunch: Greek Yogurt Tuna Salad. Greek yogurt is high protein and low sugar, while tuna is a rich source of iodine and healthy omega-3 fats.
Dinner:Healthy Chipotle Chicken Sweet Potato Skins. Sweet potato is just one of my all time favourite foods.
Snack: 2-3 Brazil nuts. High in protein, fibre and healthy fats, Brazil nuts are a fantastic source of selenium (for thyroid health). What’s more, the addition of nuts to the diet does notincrease body weight (3).
Day #2 Tuesday
Breakfast: Overnight Chocolate Chia Pudding. Chia seeds are a wonderful source of protein, fibre and magnesium. As the name implies, this should be made ahead of time in large batches.
Lunch:Gluten-free sandwich with tinned tuna (or your favourite sandwich topping).
Dinner: Egg Shakshuka + rice to serve. ThisTunisian dish is a wonderful source of vegetables and eggs, a source ofiodine. Plus rice is naturally gluten-free.
Snack:1 cup of carrot and cucumber sticks + cottage cheese or hummus (DIY Spicy Peanut Butter Hummus).
Day #3 Wednesday
Breakfast: Gluten-free toast with eggs over-easy.
Lunch:Middle-Eastern Mason Jar Salad. So smart and so simple. Mason jar optional of course, but you need a jar of some type.
Dinner: Shrimp, Zucchini & Pesto Angel Hair Pasta. You should choose gluten-free pasta for this recipe (doesn’t need to be angel hair). Shrimp is a good source of iodine.
Snack:1 banana.
Day #4 Thursday
Breakfast:Green Monster Smoothie. Again, this requires a blender and is another way to make use of your chia seeds, but brush your teeth before work!
Lunch:Pumpkin Soup Like You’ve Never Tasted Before. I’m a bigfan of soups, especially in winter. They tend to be lower-calorie than regular meals, rich in vegetables, and can keep you full for longer.
Dinner:Leftovers.
Snack: 2-3 Brazil nuts.
Day #5 Friday
Breakfast:Choose your favourite.
Lunch: Choose your favourite or leftovers.
Dinner:One Pot Cheesy Taco Skillet. For some reason I like the idea of Mexican on Friday nights, and this creates a fun, communal feel that your family will enjoy.
Snack: 1 cup of carrot and cucumber sticks + cottage cheese or hummus.
Day #6 Saturday
Breakfast: Choose your favourite
Lunch: Quinoa Salad with Nuts. Quinoa is a versatile grain that is naturally gluten-free and high protein. This recipe hasmany tasty alternatives depending on what vegetables and nuts you have leftover.
Dinner: Choose your favourite / leftovers / eating out
Snack:Paleo Sweet Potato Fritters
Day #7 Sunday
Breakfast:California Sweet Potato Hash with Feta and Eggs. Because it’s Sunday. And sweet potato is good at breakfast too.
Lunch: Choose your favourite / leftovers / eating out
Dinner:Quinoa Crusted Chicken Parmesan+ vegetables to serve. Delicious way to serve chicken (you can use regular milk if lactose is no problem for you), and you can make use of any leftover vegetables and cheese.
Snack: 200g (7oz) plain Greek yoghurt + 1 small banana
Bonus snack ideas
Additional healthy treats and snack ideas… because life happens:
- Cashew Butter Green Smoothie.
- 5-Ingredient Sweet Potato Chips. I recommend soaking the potato for 1 hour beforehand to remove some starch, so they will bake crispy.
- Raw Wild Blueberry Snack Balls
- Spicy Honey-Roasted Chickpeas. Fantastic spin on nutritious chickpeas.
- Super Simple Banana Bread. Only 4 ingredients and perfect for toddlers too. Use rice flour for a gluten-free version.
- Homemade Hummus. Alternate home-made hummus recipe
- More healthy snack ideas for busy people.
