Green and Orange Powerhouse Hash

This Green and Orange Powerhouse Hash features a mouthwatering homemade breakfast sausage and energizing veggies for a supercharged meal! Combined with caramelized onions, crispy sweet potatoes, and nutrient-rich greens, this hash is a powerhouse of thyroid-friendly goodness.

For those of us eating for optimal health, hash is an essential breakfast technique. It's satisfying, savory, and easy to pack with anti-inflammatory, nutrient-dense ingredients. To set you up for a powerhouse day, this hash is packed with two of the most energizing colors of the plant-food rainbow: green and orange. Plus, we can't forget about starting the day with a dose of high-quality protein for all-day energy and blood sugar balance.

Prep a big batch of this on the weekend, and you'll be ready to start the week with heat-and-eat leftovers that will leave you feeling satisfied and ready to take on the day. 

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Why Hash is Perfect for Thyroid Healthy Meal Making

There are so many reasons to love hash, and add this technique to your thyroid-healthy cooking repertoire. Most importantly, it's delicious, with countless possibilities and flavor combinations. Hash can be way more than just corned beef and potatoes, friends! But what makes it a thyroid-healthy meal option? Let's discuss.

1) Hash is a breakfast that works with your dietary needs.

There is no one-size-fits-all diet for Thyroid Thrivers, but most of us have some dietary restrictions.  Gluten, dairy, and sugar are three primary ingredients in traditional breakfast foods that are notoriously inflammatory for thyroid patients, causing symptoms like bloating, brain fog, fatigue, and joint pain. Cutting those foods out can be key to restoring your health. It also means that traditional breakfast foods like bagels, pancakes, toast, cereal, donuts, danishes, waffles, and even yogurt are suddenly off the table, and your breakfast needs a makeover. 

Hash is a versatile breakfast option that can be tailored to suit any dietary needs, whether you're gluten-free, dairy-free, Paleo, AIP, or beyond.

2) Hash is a great way to get the nutrients you need.

Hash is a low-sugar, protein-packed breakfast, which is the BEST way to start your day if you want to optimize your energy, manage your blood sugar, keep that lean muscle mass, and maintain a healthy weight. When you make hashes the thyroid-healthy way, they’re loaded with colorful plant foods, high-quality animal protein, and healthy fats. These macronutrients provide excellent fuel to help your body thrive. 

When your hashes are choc-full of veggies like this one, they’re also full of phytonutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. That means you are supporting your health from a foundational level by supporting your mitochondria. This, in turn, means that your cells can utilize your thyroid hormone efficiently and effectively to create energy, fueling your metabolism and optimizing every single system in your body. Yep, hash is a POWER meal!!

3) Hash is a great way to minimize food waste.

Like frittatas, soups, or stir-fries, hash is a superb way to use up your perishable inventory. Got a zucchini that’s about to dimple– toss it in! How about roasted potatoes from last night’s dinner? Perfect! Some parsley that’s on the verge of wilting? Go for it. And don’t forget that half an onion in the back of your veggie drawer. You’re investing in your health when you go to the grocery store and buy all those whole food ingredients. Don’t let them go to waste– make a heavenly hash with them instead!

4) Hash is convenient.

With hash, the possibilities are endless, and it’s a great way to try new foods. Once you learn this technique, you can whip up a big batch of hash on the weekend– a family-friendly breakfast that is wonderful for sharing– and still end up with multiple servings of leftovers. That means when Monday morning rolls around, you’ve got a heat-and-eat breakfast or a lunch option you can take to work with you.

5) Hash is customizable and flexible. 

One of the best things about hash is its flexibility. Whether you need to make ingredient substitutions due to allergies or personal preferences, you can tailor this hash to suit your needs. Thyroid-healthy eating is all about personalization, so feel free to customize this hash to your heart's content.

As thyroid patients, we all have unique dietary needs-- just ask my Thrivers Club Members who are dealing with an array of different co-occurring issues like SIBO, histamine intolerance, H.Pylori, or even just cooking for picky eaters (sometimes themselves)! As a community, we understand the importance of these unique and personalized dietary requirements, which is why this Green and Orange Powerhouse Hash is gluten-free, dairy-free, nightshade-free, Paleo, and autoimmune protocol (AIP) friendly. No matter your dietary restrictions, you can enjoy this delicious and nourishing meal.

Want to Learn How to Make Hash?

Want to learn how to make heavenly hashes to your heart's content? I'll teach you!

This technique is easy to master, and once you do, the sky's the limit. In my Heavenly Hash Workshop, I teach you everything you need to know, including all my best chef's secrets. You can instantly access this and over a dozen other workshops when you become a Thrivers Club Member! 

Why Green and Orange Foods?

Eating a rainbow of colorful plant foods is one simple and highly effective strategy for boosting your energy. Plant foods are loaded with antioxidants and phytonutrients that help lower inflammation and promote happy cells. Happy cells mean happy mitochondria, which means better energy. 

Happy cells also mean we are better able to convert and utilize thyroid hormone, which helps us turn the food we eat into life-giving, joy-boosting energy! This process also helps power every system in the body for better function, including our brain, heart, lungs, digestion, liver, muscles, sex drive, skin, hair, nails...you get the picture. We're talking big-impact stuff here, friend.

A diversity of colors is key, but green and orange foods are some of my favorites for boosting energy. Why? Because so many of these provide good amounts of potassium and magnesium, which will help with your energy. These also happen to be two key thyroid-supporting nutrients. Potassium helps with the production of thyroid hormones, and magnesium helps with the conversion of thyroid hormones from inactive (T4) to active (T3) form. 

A Quick Note About Goitrogens

You may have heard that as a thyroid patient, you should avoid goitrogenic' ingredients like cruciferous vegetables and sweet potatoes. The reasoning behind this recommendation is that these so-called “goitrogenic” foods contain compounds that can block the thyroid’s uptake of iodine and potentially contribute to developing a goiter or enlargement of the thyroid gland. 

While this sounds scary and has deterred many thyroid patients from eating these health-promoting foods, the recommendation to avoid goitrogenic vegetables is now considered unnecessary and out-dated by leading thyroid experts. In short, the benefits outweigh the risks. The recommendation to avoid goitrogenic foods, while not exactly a 'myth,' was more of an overblown warning about something with low risk for most of us.

This is good news, considering that the list of goitrogenic foods is very long and includes a multitude of colorful, nutrient-dense, and otherwise healthy plant foods. Both sweet potatoes and several varieties of leafy greens, which are two of the primary ingredients in this hash recipe, are on that list! But don't fret. Keep reading...

The rule of thumb with goitrogenic foods and the simplest way to diminish any potential risk (even a small risk) is to eat these foods cooked or fermented whenever possible and in reasonable amounts. Cooking and/or fermenting greatly diminishes or eliminates their goitrogenic properties.

There you go! Another good reason to try incorporating hash as a thyroid-friendly cooking technique—it's well-cooked. Hash is not only a delicious way to enjoy nutritious ingredients but also a smart choice for thyroid health. By cooking the greens and other ingredients, any goitrogenic or thyroid-inhibiting properties are neutralized, ensuring you get all the benefits without any concerns.

Thyroid Healthy Recipe Highlights:

• Sweet potatoes are loaded with complex carbohydrates that can help fill you up and stabilize blood sugar levels. They’re also a rich source of thyroid- and immune-supportive antioxidants beta carotene and vitamin C, as well as the minerals copper and manganese. In addition, sweet potatoes support gut health with prebiotic fiber and are also considered anti-inflammatory. 
• Dark Green Leafy Vegetables, or "DGLVs," are one of the most highly recommended foods to eat more of by nutritionists from all schools. In addition to being high in fiber, low in calories, and extremely nutrient-dense, they feature several key thyroid-supporting nutrients, such as Vitamins A, C, and B vitamins, as well as magnesium, potassium, and iron. 
• Pasture-raised Pork: A 3-ounce serving of pork contains 103% DV of tyrosine, 63% DV of selenium, and 17% DV of Zinc—3 key nutrients for thyroid health.
• Turmeric has multiple health benefits for those of us with thyroid disease. It can help protect and heal the intestinal barrier (leaky gut), and reduce inflammation throughout the body, in joints, muscle tissue, and even from GI conditions like Crohn’s, IBS, and ulcerative colitis.
• Ginger aids in relieving both the inflammation and the sensitivity to cold sometimes caused by thyroid disease.
• Cinnamon: In addition to adding a dose of sugar-free sweetness to recipes, cinnamon is one of the highest antioxidant spices around. Cinnamon has also been shown to reduce blood sugar and increase insulin sensitivity. Ceylon cinnamon seems to be the better health choice over the more commonly found Cassia cinnamon due to a higher amount of antioxidants and less of a naturally-occurring toxin called coumarin.

Happy cooking, happy thriving, and enjoy the recipe (below)!

More Thyroid Healthy Breakfast Ideas: 

• AIP Lamb Hash with Carrot and Celery Root
• Hearty AIP Breakfast Bowl
• Zucchini Basil Breakfast Soup
• Horchata Chia Pudding
• AIP Lamb Sausage (and 4 Ways to Use It)