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That sounds hard! I would be very careful about any advice received online, though, especially as you have such a severe reaction. Have you talked with your doctor about losing weight yet, or about your diet in general? If not, that's probably the best first step. :)

Just wanted to make sure beforehand. :)

Do you have a general idea of ingredients that are safe for you? I know there are a couple websites that will list off recipes based on ingredients you enter. MyFridgeFood is one of those. You can put in ingredients you have, and it pulls up recipes for you.

I've lost about 35lbs in the past 2.5 months on the keto diet with intermittent fasting. It's very hard to stick to but worth it.

Not sure if that will work for an iodine free diet though. That's a tough one.

I think if you just cut down on portion sizes with your frozen foods and then supplement with vegetables you know are safe, you could be on the way. :) Another thing to remember with dieting is that patience is key, and the faster you lose weight the more likely you'll get it back again. Stricter diets and workouts are harder to stick to, so don't be afraid of starting out really easy to build up diligence and discipline. If you're past childbearing age that also affects your metabolism, so it'll be harder to lose even with exercise, but you could do it. :)
I have MyFitnessPal set to losing 1.5 pounds per week, which is the middle difficulty, so don't feel like you have to lose a lot at once for it to be effective. :D
Fun fact: I've heard that The Biggest Loser (that TV show where overweight people go through super tough dieting and training) has a lot of old contestants popping up again back at their old weight because the lifestyle of the contest didn't carry over to their real life, and no wonder.

Also, I'm sure if you're having trouble finding things, others are, so post your eventual findings online so people in the same boat can see. :D

Just like most others here I do not know enough about nutrition and your allergy to be willing to give any hard advise on what to eat.
But for helping with weight loss and diet in general MyFitnessPal that RoseFlute spoke of is an excellent tool to help you reach your goals. I highly reccomend it.
You can set goals for weight and caloric intake, custome carb/fat/protien ratios and all sorts of other things.
It has so many good points but the main thing for me was the "food journal" part for awareness. Just realizing how much my daily eating habits were preventing me from reaching my goals, when I thought they were good, was a huge eye opener.
When I am using it faithfully it has made the biggest positive impact on me reaching my weight goals, over excercise and fad diets.

I meant to mention this to @Bourbon too on her post. :)

I'm surprised you have an issue with dairy. I have yet to know anyone who specifically gives iron supplements to their cattle. Pigs & goats, yes.

Man it sounds like you really should try to work with a dietitian. I don't really even have any suggestions due to your allergy other than try to keep moving.

I'm actually low in Iodine due to the diet I'm on, so maybe it's something you can look into? It's vegan wfpb which is whole food plant based. It's based on unprocessed foods, so no breads, no sugars, no oils, nothing which combines more than a few ingredients. That means everything on the shelf is out.

It's based on this model, and you aim to have all of your meals (excluding breakfast which is either a smoothy, chia seed pudding or porridge) like this. You also can have three fruit a day, and a handful of nuts. I tend to have black kidney beans, or curried chickpeas, with cauliflower and broccoli along with either rice or diced backed potato. I tend to chuck spice mixes on top like taco seasoning or korma spice if it's a little bland. I also have baked sweet potato with cauliflower rice and lentil curry on occasion.



EDIT: Forgot to mention, I'm not an expert and with a vegan diet it's vital to have a very varied approach with your food to make sure your vitamin levels are OK. You might want to get periodically tested on them, or have a nutritionist walk you through it. I have intolerances to soya, potassium (bananas my love!) and lactose :(

Hello! MCAD/EDS/MD zebra food-issue-extraordinaire here! I have The Probs when it comes to food. None of my food issues seem to be severely ana YET (the latex CC food groups are my worst offenders, but I only get an itchy throat, skin rash, skin flushing, and gut issues... so far), but my body likes to have ana reactions to latex when it feels bored, and to liquid benadryl when it REALLY wants to be a problem child. Had three memorable ana eposides so far this year, and I’m getting tired of them.

Of course, seeing medical specialists is my first recommendation, blah blah blah, I’m sure you’ve got a stack of medical paperwork that could start a bonfire. But when THEY are clueless/harming you with poor advice, it’s time to turn to social media. (This is where all the healthy people gasp and go “OMG you get your medical advice from Facebook?!”) Yes, yes I do, because so many doctors are dumb, or worse, uninformed, and their terrible advice will harm or kill me. I need to consult EXPERTS, not medical “professionals” who learned about my disease for a whole 15 second powerpoint slide in their entire medical education career. In these sitatutions, your best experts are the ones who go through this food circus every day: fellow allergy sufferers.

Here is how my medical adventures with the less-informed usually go: I get the info I need from my Facebook groups (allergy forums are also helpful). When helpful, I will pull the research studies the info is based on, and print it for my BEST doctors (I won’t waste the paper for the lazy fools who can’t be bothered to educate themselves). I then schedule an appointment with Specialist X, Y, or Z as needed, tell them what we’re doing now, and ask if they have any questions or helpful input. You MUST advocate for yourself, and that includes telling doctors they are WRONG when they are wrong. It’s no skin off their nose if you end up hospitalized or die from their poor, outdated advice... but it sure makes your day a bad one! We tend to read a LOT more research studies about our conditions than they do. We also tend to be more up-to-date on newer treatments than most MDs. You will nearly ALWAYS be a better expert in your rare allergy condition than most of the docs you seek help from. You live it daily; they don’t.

ShelteredShadows, what is your experience with either a MCAD diet, or Ballantyne’s Autoimmune Protocol (AIP)? What programs have you looked into, and what worked or didn’t work for you? There is NO single diet plan in the world that covers all of my 40+ food sensitivities/allergies, so I had to customize my own. AIP, Paleo, and low-histamine are my big three resources. There may be others that work better for your needs.

Feel free to reach out to me if you’d like to talk more! Food allergies are scary AF, and the level of distrust they create can be really stressful. “Will this kill me?” is an exhausting game. Food shouldn’t be this hard! You are not alone, and we can get this figured out.