I know this is over a year old, but I want to reply in case anyone with thyroid issues looks at this.
Lisa, you have serious health problems to take care of before you work on diet.
1. Get a CPAP machine to treat you apnea ASAP. This is essential. Adjusting to the face mask can be hard for some people, but it is worth the effort. I cannot survive without my CPAP. It has changed my life.
2. Get your thyroid dose adjusted so that your TSH comes down. No wonder you feel horrible and gained weight. Your doctor should give you as high a dose as it takes to get your TSH under control. (I took 300 mcg of Synthroid per day for many years. I had thyroid cancer, so no thyroid hormone produced by my body at all. I am guessing you had Graves Disease. That is tricky since you have to keep adjusting your rx dose as the thyroid gland slowly dies off from the radiation.)
Important things that can help you stabilize TSH: As you know, take thyroid pills first thing in the morning, or even middle of the night, and then wait an hour before eating. Be aware that iron and calcium supplements will reduce the thyroid pill's effectiveness or absorption. My friend was messed up for years because she drank calcium fortified orange juice. The calcium interfered with the thyroid pills and so her TSH was always high. Her doctor didn't think she was actually taking her pills and wouldn't increase her dose.
So don't eat vitamin fortified breakfast cereal or take morning vitamin/mineral pills with in 3-4 hours of taking thyroid. (Or always eat the cereal and get your doc to increase your dose to compensate.) Other things that can interfere with thyroid pills is large amount of soy or cabbage/kale. Again consistency is most important.
Synthroid or a generic takes six weeks to stabilize a new dose. If you miss a dose, take it as soon as you realize, or double up the next day. Finally, since your TSH is sky high, you should increase you dose in steps over a few months.
3. Now with your sleep apnea and thyroid level under control your mind will start to work again and you can focus on your diet. The only comment I will make is that "unlimited fruit and vegetables" can be dangerous. While fruit is healthy, too much is just more sugar. Notice the 7-day menu in an earlier post that fruit was severely limited - only 1/4 cup for 2 out of 7 days. And be sure to distinguish between starchy and non-starchy vegetables.
