I've recently discovered that I have an allergy or intollerance to grain products - something I never thought I suffered from before!! As I moved into pre-maint. I raised my carbs to about 60-100 net w/ fruit, extra vegi's and whole grains... Well, I didn't gain weight from this amount or anything but I did get into a "funk," where my mood completely shifted. I got lazy and refused to workout anymore, I became a total bitch to everyone, and I began binge eating again (not binge and purge, just the binge part), which I suffered from when I was heavy (how I got fat in the first place). My balance was off, I wasn't stable anymore - I wasn't me!!

So on Sunday I finally forced myself into 2 weeks of Induction and within a day I was completely back to normal! No more binge eating, no more cravings, I was a sweetheart again ( ) and it wasn't so hard to workout anymore...

This leads me to believe I'm allergic to grains or something. Does anyone else suffer this problem? If so, how do you deal with it? I think when I move back into pre-maint. in a week I think I'm going to still raise my carbs quite a bit, but I'm going to do it more-so with fruits and vegetables. I think I'll still endulge 1-2 times per week on a whole grain, like brown rice or wild rice or whole grain pasta - but that's it. I think I'd be ok with that (and if not, I'll cut it out). I know I'm ok w/ fruit cause when I moved into owl I did it w/ fruit and was fine - so no resorting to bad habits.

Any suggestions?

i have been sorta slacking on the workouts recently, i think mainly because its spring and nice out. Also its getting old doing the same routine. Havent added grains in as of yet, but am up to 60 carbs. How often were u eating grain b4?

I ate 1-2 servings daily of whole grain while I was in my 60-100 net carb phase - choosing only from those highest in fiber. They really helped my system, if ya know what I mean, but I guess I just can't handle them in that quantity...

Maybe you could try them less frequently, or just lay off for awhile, and when you introduce them again, see how you react. If all those negative symptoms return, then you should probably find another alternative to grains. Or maybe it is just specific grains that cause you problems? Could it be a gluten thing and might you be fine eating sweet potatoes, but not bread? Just some ideas.

60 - 100 carbs is higher than I could do on a regular basis without blood sugar problems.

I also am guaranteed a nasty blood sugar hit if I have even small portions or rice, breads, grain products, or starchy vegetables. Rice is by far the worst, and 1/4 cup will set me off even if the rest of my diet is quite low carb. Mine isn't gluten related, because I do fine with my home made muffins (wheat gluten, egg, baking powder and nutmeg only). I actually have to buy wheat gluten in bulk, and use it to make muffins, waffles, and home-made pasta. None of those give me any trouble.

I need to be careful with fruits as well, but can normally work some into my diet occasionally.

I can handle up to about 13% of my daily calories from carb, but if I'm under a lot of stress at work I need to back that down to about 9%. Recently most days are around 45 grams of carbs and 2200 calories, and most of my carb is from nuts, cheeses, and green vegetables of all sorts.

I probably use nuts like most people use grains. I keep a variety of them on hand, buy them online at bulkfoods.com, and they give me all of the benefits of fiber without giving me the carb hit. The way that grains set off my blood sugar, nuts and wheat gluten are going to have to be my long term alternatives. You haven't seen bitchy until you see me after 1/4 cup of rice, shaking, aching (head, arms and calves), sweating, crying, and snapping because my blood sugar is crashing into the 40s. (Should be around 100.) It feels horrible, and I'm not really pleasant when I feel like that! And that was with brown rice, which is supposed to be one of the low glycemic grains.

My reaction is insulin related and is not an intollerence to wheat, though. One of my good friends is gluten intollerant. The symptoms include bowel problems and vitamin B deficiency from the digestion problems - very different from insulin shock. She also has no trouble handling non-gluten grains. She steers well clear of my wheat gluten muffins!

Lynda

Lauren, there are threads discussing this. If you go to the Research/media forum, look for 'Gluten intolerance a Fad', that's one of them. I can update my own experience. I took an allergy test and it came back negative for wheat and gluten. I have read, probably in a book by Dr. Mercola, that wheat is hard to digest and often will cause the colon to swell and that allows food particles to get into the bloodstream in bigger strands than is recognised by the body as food. It's called leaky gut syndrome. It causes an auto-immune reaction. There is one strand of wheat protein that looks like the protein in the lining of our joints. This is probably what happens to me. When I eat wheat, after about 3 or 4 days, my joints start hurting. This is in addition to fatigue, headache, foggy thinking, and muscle aches. I don't know if it's just wheat, or if it's a problem with gluten (or both). Right now I'm doing fine without grains, and am waiting for my gut to heal. Later I'll try adding back wheat germ and another grain that has gluten, like oats, and probably find out, but I'm in no hurry! Hope this helps.-Gail

Hi
I have found fruit easier to tolerate than grains as well. This is probably because fruit tends to be really low calories, which means less carbs, which means less upset in blood sugar. On the other hand even a tiny quarter cup of rice has as many carbs as a large piece of fruit. The caloric-dense nature means it's likely you can et more than you anticipate, which is really bad for blood sugar. Plus the carbohydrate in grain is pretty high glycemic compared to most fruit. It's a double whammy for the carbo sensitive type.

The worst for me are yams and rice... probably because I like them so much and tend toward overstepping my bounds hehe. I can eat very small portions (1/4 a yam, 1/4 cup rice), but I really have to be careful to avoid blood sugar problems.

Hi Lynda,
Your calorie needs are considerably higher than mine but I do the same thing - I use nuts and cheese like most people use starches hehe. I tend toward avoiding getting most of my fats from meat fat and oils because oils and meat fat aren't very nutritious (other than the fatty acids, naturally) whereas nuts and dairy is.

I am not as carb sensitive as you, as you know I feel a lot of my weight is from "food issues", but I can totally relate to your rice example. The other day I went a little crazy at dinner... I had a chicken thigh (ok), asparagus (ok)... but I also had a quarter cup of real starchy rice and a third of a cup of yams. Not only was the carb count fairly high but the meal was too low fat and too high glycemic. Poor balance for me.
After eating my head was buzzing and I felt like I was darted with a tranquilizer. I knew what I had done, so I figured I'd go for a walk to try to help lower sugar to mitigate the spike and avoid the insulin crash. About an hour into my walk I felt confused, disoriented, felt really irritated, shaking visibly, sweats, etc.
Didn't work

Thanks everyone for your replies. Well, I did 1 week of Induction just to clear my head and it worked great, but I only went to Induction to get out of the cycle, not to try and lose again... So after that week I added a little fruit and a few beans in and that's what I've been doing this week and I've been fine. No mood swings or anything like I experienced before, so I know fruit and beans, in small amounts, are ok for me. I've decided next week I am going to add 1 serving of whole grain into my diet - not daily, just one of the 7 days... If I feel fine at the end of the week then the next week I'll try 2 servings for the whole week, etc. until I reach the point that I get moody again, then I'll cut back to the previous amount (like finding your ccl!). I don't think I'll ever let myself go beyond 3 or 4 servings a week though, just cause I'd rather get my carbs from fruit, vegi's and healthier items anyway.

I think I just moved too quickly into eating whole grains, but I think if I limit myself I'll be just fine. You've gotta make mistakes to learn I suppose...

Currently I'm eating about 50 net carbs daily and think I could go a little higher. We'll see. I just want to make sure I feel ok - that's more important than a number.

Lauren, I just checked out the book Protein Power Lifeplan and in chapter 6 is the info I was talking about earlier in this thread. The chapter is about leaky gut syndrome. It explains the whole thing real well.--Gail

well today was a big day for me, i had my first sandwich on Whole Wheat and im gonna have to say i'm less than impressed. It didn't taste great at all and was rather bland. I think i'll just stick to eating the ingrediants without the bread. I may eat with the bread for a little while though just because im trying to up my carbs so that way i won't have to be continually thinking about how many im eating. And no, there is no way to really up them w/fruit alone cuz im pretty full after my bacon, and burger and what not.

Well, last week w/ my fruit and beans went very well. No change in weight and I don't feel like ass. I even had a little brown rice on Friday and last night (leftovers). No more grains in the menu this week, though. I guess I can handle the stuff occasionally, just no more daily! Now... to get back into my workout routine...