Has this ever happened to anyone?
 

Every once in a while, as a change of pace, I'll eat higher carbs for a day or two.

I find that when I do, there seems to be a slight allergic reaction. For example, I'm highly allergic to mangoes. When I eat them, my lips will suffer a slight burning sensation with a feeling of tightness (as if my skin is being stretched) for several days. This is the reaction I now have when eating higher carbs.

This is perplexing since I've never suffered this before I started low-carbing. It could be the food that I've eaten, but I've had them in abundance in the past without ever suffering any deleterious effects.

Anyone suffer anything remotely similar to this after having low carbed for a couple of years?

Many thanks,

Frederick

I tend to swell up when I eat carbs. I can feel my feet and fingers swelling right up. Depending on what I eat I also get a really strong, hard heartbeat.

I've heard that lcing strenthens the immune system, maybe its working against you in this case. If you know what foods you're allergic to, I'd suggest not eating them ever again.

Hm, you make it sound so ominous.

Well, honestly...it is a bit ominous, with reason. I've recently discovered that I am allergic to raw almonds, and only raw ones. I don't know what the roasting process changes, but it does. Currently, the only reaction I get is an itching, deep in my ear canals. But I'm not willing to risk my throat swelling and other problems for a few raw almonds.

Food allergies can crop up at any age and can cause serious issues.

Have you been able to identify which foods that you eat on higher carb days that cause this reaction? Do you think you may have developed a wheat allergy or something along those lines?

I read recently that people have discovered they have food allergies purely because they've been on low carb diets. then they switch back and find they were allergic to wheat, etc. Wheat is the main one at the moment... Just think - we've all been eating this stuff that's been making us ill for so long.

Well, at least you know what to avoid now, Frederick!

There doesn't seem to be a particular "culprit" causing my reaction. This time, I had a bagel with cream cheese, slice of pizza, hot dog, chocolate chip cookies, and a chocolate milkshake. That was during the course of an entire weekend.

I've eaten all of the above in abundance before without ever having noticed any adverse effects.

Well...almost of those things have wheat in common. You may have developed a gluten allergy.

And like I mentioned, allergies can pop up on you like that.

Whatever it is, you've upset your body. PLease be careful.

Yeah.. I've noticed that the more healthily I eat, the worse the reaction when I eat a bunch of junk. Or even not junk, I just am aware of small reactions for certain foods. I think it's just that when you're "used" to eating junk you have a low level reaction going on all the time that is not noticable. Like living in a city, there is a dull roar of noise and of light pollution that never goes away but you don't notice it at all, it's doesn't bother you. However, if you go out to the country for a while.. and get used to silence, dark skies and stars - suddenly the city seems extremely loud and intrusive/offensive. It hasn't changed, your perceptions have.

I have found the same thing, I don't get an alergic reaction as such, but if I eat a big number of carbs now, I get a sick feeling, my head aches, the stomach cramps are terrible and I feel like I have the flu. I avoid having high carb binges now because of these reasons!

Another low carber I know (my mom) says that the cleaner she got doing LC, the cleaner she had to get. She has an amazing number of allergies - wheat being primary. She's reduced herself to eating fruit, a few vegies, and some meats - because so many things give her terrible allergic reactions. Really - no eggs, dairy products, or shellfish.

She has to be careful even about what kinds of vitamins she takes (they often have wheat or dairy in them.) She never goes out to dinner anymore because she's got to have pure food with no possibility of things in them that make her ill.

She does find it a bit restrictive, but likes that ALL of her health problems (like arthritis, psoriasis, gout, diverticulitis, shingles, ulcers, etc.) are non-existent as long as she doesn't eat the stuff that gives her fits. Plus, she's maintained her weight for almost 3 years now - unheard of, as she's been overweight my entire life.

I thought I was a freak of nature because I do the exact same thing! I think I must be really carb-sensitive, because if I even get up to 25-30 net carbs a day my heart feels like it's POUNDING in my ears!

Update...
 

Firstly, my sincere appreciation to everyone's input.

Secondly, I tried it again yesterday to test the wheat theory. I just had some plain white bread in a sandwich.

It happened again. Is it possible that I'm now allergic to the stuff in wheat or whatever it is they use to make bread? How is that possible since it's never been an issue before?

Once upon a time, I could eat a truckload of bread washing it down with wheat grass and not feel any adverse effects.

Apparently it is very common. I posted this on a message forum where people regularly cycle carbs and quite a few said "Hey, me too!".



I've been reading up on gluten intolerance, interesting stuff. Apparently about 1 ot of 100 people whose blood were tested (blood donors) had the antibodies to gluten proteins. However, most of them never show any serious symptoms. Although, I kind of wonder if it does cause some damage more insidiously.

Anyway, apparently if you've got the genes for this it can flare up at any time.

This web site has lots of info from some specialists: https://blossom.safe-order.net/clan...exp_doctor.php3

And, this is a really good list of things to avoid:
http://www.celiac.com/st_prod.html?...-30105299594.27

I've been suspecting this might be my problem too, I've had some of the markers for it for many years. I recently started a gluten free diet/lifestyle to see if it helps. So far, my IBS has really cleared up.