Welcome to my first ever Thyroid Friendly Cookbook Club! Guys, it’s been a while since I’ve been this excited about a cookbook. Heck, it’s been a while since a thyroid-specific cookbook came out. This one’s right up our alley, so I had to share this valuable resource with you.
There are a few “thyroid-specific” cookbooks on my shelf, but the truth is they’ve gotten little to no use. Some of them, purchased in my early days of this journey, have outdated ideas on nutrition, and can tend to prioritize the proclaimed healthfulness of a recipe over the appeal. Because I’m a chef, I’m only willing to sacrifice so much in the name of “healthy” cooking. That’s just the way it is with me. It’s gotta taste good. The flavors and textures and colors need to be interesting and inspired. And since I’m a working mom, the recipes need to be somewhat unfussy and quick to prepare. I’m a difficult sell when it comes to recipes, you see.
But this cookbook has fully grabbed my attention. I reached out to the authors after hearing them on this episode of Thyroid Nation Radio, to find out more and ask if I could share some of their recipes with you (spoiler alert: they said yes, and the recipe links are below).
Nutrition experts, Lisa Markley and Jill Grunewald, have created a cookbook containing over 100 “food as medicine” recipes for those of us with Hashimoto’s (autoimmune hypothyroidism) – The Essential Thyroid Cookbook: Over 100 Nourishing Recipes for Thriving with Hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s.
Lisa Markley is a registered dietitian nutritionist with over a decade of nutrition and culinary experience and Jill Grunewald is an integrative nutrition and hormone coach who’s been in practice since 2008, guiding her clients and students with hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s to health and vitality.
The Authors: Lisa Markley MS, RDN (left) and Jill Grunewald HNC (right).
They both know first-hand the challenges of Hashimoto’s and have discovered that the most impactful way to reduce symptoms and improve thyroid and immune health – for themselves as well as their clients – is to focus on the nutrition and lifestyle strategies outlined in this cookbook. They’ve been working on it for five years– which says a lot– and the time, care, and degree of thoughtfulness is what makes this thyroid-specific cookbook stand out.
The recipes are easy enough for any home cook, appeal to a broad variety of palates (Hashimoto’s or not), and perfectly translate thyroid and immune-supportive nutrition recommendations into dishes you actually want to eat. It contains a substantive, rigorously researched educational component focused on practical ways you can maximize nourishment to help restore your thyroid and immune system, or better yet, help to prevent thyroid dysfunction to begin with. Wouldn’t that be nice?
In their own words:
“We took a rigorous academic approach in identifying the most thyroid and immune-supportive foods. From this research, we created a “nutritional springboard” to serve as a foundation for the recipes that are therapeutically designed to incorporate the key foods/nutrients we discovered as being most supportive to thyroid and immune health, while not compromising on taste.”
Seriously, these ladies are speaking my language. They recognize too, that people may be in different places on their healing path, and the dogmatic, one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work in the real world of bio-individual nutritional needs for those of us with thyroid disease.
“We provide ample information for everyone to make their own decisions about whether or not to include debated foods such as grains, legumes, “goitrogenic” foods, and soy in their diets. We also provide sensible adaptations, whenever possible, to fit dietary practices commonly used to address thyroid imbalances and autoimmunity, such as Paleo and Autoimmune Protocol (AIP). Our ultimate goal is to support our readers for a lifetime of peak thyroid function no matter what dietary practice they follow or where they currently are on their wellness journey.”
I’m not a nutritionist, but because of what I’ve learned from this recipe blog, and from your comments on my Facebook page, I have a tiny inkling how tall of an order that can be. But they managed to fill it successfully. As a writer, as a recipe developer, as a chef, as a mom, as a home cook, and as a thyroid patient, I am utterly impressed with what they pulled off. This one’s not going to be gathering dust on my shelf. It’s going to be collecting the speckles and splatters that all my favorite cookbooks bear the mark of.
The paperback is $29.95, and the e-book version is $9.99. For FREE, you can sign up to get The Essential Thyroid Cookbook 48-page “minibook” that includes three sample chapters and six recipes.
Now, for the yummy stuff. These links will take you to some of the incredible recipes and photos inside the book. They also give you a sneak peek of how the things are laid out and keyed for things like vegan, 30 minutes or less, AIP, or Paleo. So, so lovely, but it’s the comprehensive nutrient information that gets my inner nutrition nerd all giddy and excited. See for yourself:
Coconut_Banana_Matcha_Smoothie
Flourless_Triple_Chocolate_Walnut_Brownies
Alrighty friends, thanks for joining me at Thyroid Friendly Cookbook Club! Happy cooking, and as always….
Wishing You the Best of Health,
Ginny, thank you SO much for this beautiful write-up! We are so honored to now know you.
Aww, thanks Jill, and likewise. It’s such a beautiful and valuable book for all of us with thyroid disease, so thanks for publishing it! 🙂
I need a thyroid cookbook. I don’t have Hashimoto’s. I do have stage three kidney disease. also. How do I order a cookbook for my thyroid problem?
What is your diagnosis Charlotte? Most thyroid issues lead to hypothyroidism so this book may be a good option for you, in spite of the fact you don’t have Hashi’s.