Small But Mighty: A Thyroid Life

• Goitrogenic foods, such as cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, turnips, rutabagas, kohlrabi, radishes, cauliflower, African cassava, millet, and kale. (Taken from about.com thyroid disease)

• Soy is also a goitrogen and it is probably worth doing some of your own research on this as there appears to be a massive online debate about whether it is good, bad, or harmless and, as with most foods' affect on our health, scientistis appear to be changing their mind about as frequently as my blood test results. 
• The general assumption is that, when taken frequently, soy may cause you problems. It is worth checking the ingredients of your foods as many more purchased items contain soy than you might think. For example, there are many cereals which quote how wonderful they are for containing protein - what the protein is, is soy. In addition, watch out for the use of the sauce, and try not to eat excessive tofu. 
• About.com Thyroid Disease lists some important tips for those wanting to include soy in their diet and it includes tips relating to how much you should eat and how long after taking your pills - after 3 or 4 hours, apparently, so it may be worth throwing those soy cereals away! - the link is here:
• http://thyroid.about.com/cs/soyinfo/a/soy_4.htm
• I am not sure if it is only soy in a specific variety - i.e. soybeans but not soy sauce - so please let me know if you have any information about this, however I would advise generally watching your intake of this ingredient as it appears to be unfriendly to hypothyroids.

• Watch how much milk you are having in the morning after taking levothyroxine, and ensure you only take it a full half an hour or more (see below: Tip 5) after taking the pills. Calcium, but specifically, milk, can affect the absorption of levothyroxine. If your breakfast sizes have increased - perhaps due to increased appetite from a faster metabolism; or from seeking energy from food - and your thyroid levels have gone down, it may be worth reducing those breakfast sizes, eating it later, or switching the milk (or at least most of it) for yoghurt or something else. 

• Other foods to avoid, from personal experience, include the harder-to-digest sorts of foods and the high in sugar foods. I am going to start with pizza, which is supposed to be the hardest of all to digest. As of last year I have refused to eat it. It made me terribly dizzy and generally fill ill for some hours after eating eat. Then followed pasta - this is perhaps more of an issue with acid reflux or a slight wheat intolerance - but, as it is a thicker, heavier food, the body is going to struggle to deal with it. If you are finding you need to stop eating this, you can try switching to thinner pastas; using rye or other types instead of usual wheat (alternatives can be easier to digest and healthier); or smaller portions - perhaps pasta mixed with something else.
• The earliest foods I started having trouble with were sweets and chocolate, about 4 years ago, which then grew to all things unhealthy which you would eat on a day out at Thorpe Park - fast food, for instance, and anything that looks all shiny and disgusting with sugar (how did I ever think they looked nice?). The same symptoms would come - a general lightheadness or diziness and just feeling unwell but without too vigorous symptoms, which makes it difficult to explain. 
• Thinking about it, it makes sense - foods high in sugar, or generally very heavy, do of course require a fast metabolism (or at least a 'normal' one) to process and deal with. 
• Hence a hypothyroid patient, not yet taking medication, is going to be practically unable to deal with the foods correctly. I have not yet tried these foods since being on levothyroxine so I cannot say if it is purely related to being hypo and untreated - however I do notice the same symptoms when my thyroid levels drop, specifcally after meals (when the body is trying to deal with the food intake). My general suggestion would be that if you are experiencing these symptoms, try to work out if they are specifically after eating these foods - if they are, stop and switch. Choose the good options: cereal and seeds are always good! :)

"Food may delay or reduce the absorption of many drugs, including thyroid hormone. Food can often slow the process of the stomach entering, but it may also affect absorption of the drug you're taking by binding with it, by decreasing access to absorption sites, by altering the rate at which it dissolves, or by changing the stomach's pH balance. This is why many doctors recommend that for best absorption of your thyroid hormone, you should take it first thing the morning, on an empty stomach"

"It is very important to take levothyroxine with a full glass (8 ounces) of water. The levothyroxine tablet can dissolve very quickly and swell in the throat, possibly causing choking or gagging." http://health.yahoo.com/hormone-medications/levothyroxine/healthwise--d00278a1.html