Low Iodine Diet Shopping List

You just found out you need to follow the low iodine diet for radioactive iodine scans and/or treatment. Before this, you never even knew iodine was in food.

Then, you find out that iodine is NOT on the nutrition label for foods. And many ready made foods are high in iodine, so you will need to be cooking more.

What in the world should you buy at the store? What will you make with those ingredients?

In this article, we go over the lists of allowed and restricted foods on the low iodine diet, go through some FAQs, provide a shopping list to get you started, and link to recipe ideas to use those ingredients.

Low Iodine Diet Basics

Here is a simplified outline of foods to enjoy and foods to avoid on the low iodine diet. For more details, see my post on Low Iodine Diet Basics.

Foods Low in Iodine to Enjoy

Fresh, frozen, canned, and dried fruits
Fresh, frozen, and unsalted canned vegetables
Unsalted nuts and nut butters
Unsalted canned or dried black, white, and garbanzo beans
Fresh meats and poultry
Sugar, brown sugar, jelly, honey, maple syrup
Egg whites
Potatoes (white and sweet) without skins
Popcorn
Homemade bread/safe bread brands
Pasta and rice
Coffee and tea
Vegetable oil, shortening, and margarine
Pepper and other spices and herbs
Soda, beer, wine, lemonade
Nut and oat milk
Homemade salad dressing
Dairy free chocolate
Hard lemon candies

Foods High in Iodine to Avoid

Many of these are the ingredients you should look for on a food label to avoid.

Iodized Salt
Seasoning mixes with salt
Seasonings with salt in the name – onion salt, garlic salt, etc.
Fish or products from the sea, including seaweed, sea salt, carrageenan, kelp, dulse, agar-agar
Dairy products
Commercial breads with dough conditioners (iodate, iodide in the ingredients)
Vitamin or supplements containing iodine or high iodine ingredients
Soy protein products, including soy beans, tofu, edamame, soy burgers, soy milk.
- NOTE: Soy lecithin and soy oil are ok as they do not contain soy protein
Egg yolks
Food dye red #3
Commercial protein shakes or nutrition supplements such as Ensure, Boost, and Glucerna
Most restaurant and processed foods
Blackstrap molasses
Chocolate with dairy
Potato skins
Rhubarb

Low Iodine Diet FAQs

Iodine in Food?

Iodine is found in food. In some foods, it is naturally there from the soil, including plant based foods as well as animal foods (meat) since that animal ate the plants. Iodine can also be added to food as a supplement or via residues from disinfectants on equipment. (1)

How Does My Body Use Iodine?

Iodine is used by the thyroid gland for making thyroid hormones. Thyroid hormones have MANY functions in your body and can influence every cell in your body. These include:

Effects your metabolism, including how your body burns calories – this affects your weight as well as your energy levels
Regulating your heartbeat
Regulating body temperature
Can affect digestion speed – meaning too much can cause diarrhea, too little constipation

Why do I Need a Low Iodine Diet?

A low iodine diet (LID) is used before radioactive iodine treatment to make the body “iodine hungry”. (1) The basic idea is if you deprive your body of iodine, any remaining thyroid cells (specifically thyroid cancer cells) will be very hungry and aggressively take up the radioactive iodine when you receive treatment. This should make the treatment more effective.

How do I know if Iodine is in a Food?

There is not really a great way to know the iodine content of food. Iodine is not required on nutrition labels and is not regularly measured in whole foods.

Most processed foods in the United States do NOT contain iodized salt. However, manufacturers are NOT required to state on the label if they use iodized salt or not. LIDLife has extensive lists of manufacturers they have contacted about what salt they use.

I have contacted some manufacturers, including for any items on this list. However, please note that a manufacturer stating they use non iodized salt DOES NOT mean all of their products are safe. They may contain other ingredients.

For example, Sara Lee Breads use non iodized salt. But, many of their products use iodate based dough conditioner, so you still cannot have many of their products.

Any other foods I should avoid?

While you need to avoid foods high in iodine, you also need to avoid foods that could interfere with your body’s ability to take up the radioactive iodine. Soy products and cruciferous vegetables (spinach, broccoli) may decrease your body’s ability to absorb iodine. (2) (1) So avoid soy bean products (soy oil and lecithin are ok), and try to not over do the spinach and broccoli.

Here is a Low Iodine Diet shopping list, broken into categories. If you are looking for a way to use these ingredients, check out my Simplified Low Iodine Diet To olkit.

Fruits

Lemons
Limes
Oranges
Pineapple
Strawberries
Apples
Bananas
Frozen berries
Grapes
Applesauce
Raisins
Melons

Veggies

Baby spinach
Tomatoes
Cilantro
Garlic
Onion
Bell pepper
Lettuce
Potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Green Beans
Ginger
Radishes
Zucchini
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Mushrooms

Cold/Dairy Alternatives

Liquid egg whites
Elmhurst oat milk or almond milk
Orange juice
Forager Project Cashew Yogurt
So Delicious Coconut Yogurt
Kite Hill Dips
Sabra Hummus
Wholly Guacamole
Earth Balance Buttery Soy Free Spread

Bread/Baking/Grains

Plain oats
Quaker Instant Oatmeal Packets
Mission Flour Tortillas
Thomas Bagels
Nature’s Own 100% Whole Wheat Bread
Matzo Crackers
Pasta
Basmati Rice
Qunioa
Jell-O
Dairy free chocolate chips (Enjoy life or Nestle Toll House Allergen Free)
Brown sugar
Honey
Nutritional Yeast (cheese substitute)

Meat

Fresh chicken
Fresh beef
Fresh pork
Fresh turkey

Boxed/Canned

No salt added black beans
No salt added garbanzo beans/chickpeas
No salt added canned diced tomatoes
No salt added canned tomato sauce
Herbox Sodium Free Chicken/Vegetable/Beef broth or bouillon cubes
Coconut milk
Jam/jelly
Tahini
Unsalted nut butter

Spices/Condiments

Kosher or plain salt
McCormick’s taco seasoning
Black Pepper
Balsamic vinegar
French’s mustard
Olive or canola oil

Snacks/Sweets

Popcorn kernels
Power Up Trail Mixes
Oreos
Gummy Bears
Swedish Fish
Junior Mints

Enjoy Life chewy bars and protein bites
Sugar free lemon drops (for after RAI)

Low Iodine Recipe Ideas

Need some ideas for what to cook on your low iodine diet? My Simplified Low Iodine Diet Toolkit has 3 weeks of meal plans complete with recipes and grocery lists.

For recipes on the blog, try these:

Would you like a free printable of this shopping list as well as a blank list to fill in for yourself? Enter your email below and it will be delivered to your inbox!