Always
12-21-2006, 05:23 PM
Hi all: Some of you already know me (http://www.proteinpower.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1567). I have been low carbing since Nov of 2000, own a low-carb store and will preach to anyone who will listen about how great this food lifestyle is. That said, I get a lot of headaches, some morphing into migraines, and have embarked on a journey to find out if there are foods that may be triggering them. I know that some of you have already been down this road.
A customer of ours is a doctor who runs a clinic for Autism and because Autism is very connected to food allergies and food sensitivities (which he’s branched off into), has taken me on as a patient. After the first visit of 3 hours and several vials of blood later, he told me to look into salicylates and go on a low salicylate diet.
What are salicylates (http://users.bigpond.net.au/allergydietitian/fi/salicylates-list.html) you ask....They are chemicals that occur naturally in many plants and act as preservatives to delay rotting and act as protectants against harmful bacteria and fungi. They are stored in the bark, leaves, roots, and seeds of plants and can be found naturally in some foods and its compounds are used in various products. Aspirin is a salicylate.
He gave me a list of foods that are low-high in salicylates and I was totally bummed to find the majority of low carb foods that I've been eating for 6 years on the high end of the list...almonds, coconut and olive oil, raspberries, cinnamon, blueberries, peppers, strawberries, cranberries, romaine, peanut butter, tomatoes. The lowest salicylate fruit...banana...sigh! Could I have been poisoning myself these last 6 years thinking I was eating well? Again...sigh!!! I stopped eating iceberg lettuce because there aren't many nutrients in it and went to romaine...now I'm back to iceberg as it's low in salicylates.
To make things more confusing, he recommended reading the book Eat Right 4 Your Type (http://www.dadamo.com/) which is based on the premise that each blood type should avoid some foods and eat others. We have several customers who swear by this method. Michael and I both read it and I have to say it was very interesting. The doc typed my blood and I am an "O"...the oldest blood type known to man. “O” type people do well on protein (no pork) but minimal dairy and no wheat and if you're trying to lose weight, no cauliflower or cabbage (both ironically low in salicylates).
And to make matters worse, a urine test came back with a high ratio of casomorphin which is a peptide derived from casein, a milk protein (and acts as an opiate for God’s sake to keep us addicted to dairy). I might have to give up dairy and for a low carber that is…welll…a big time bummer!!!!! But then it follows my blood type.
Then he threw out glutamates (i.e. msg) and free-glutamates…again…deep sigh! So many ingredients…so little time!!!!
Needless to say my head has been spinning. I have been to a million web sites on all of these subjects and I have to say that sometimes too much information is a bad thing. I have been eating carefully for the entire month, but it is a challenge and I have not always succeeded. I didn’t look at the Jimmy Dean Sausage Patty ingredient list to see it had MSG in it and I didn’t think that the blackened chicken I had at a restaurant could have had MSG in it…was that why I got a migraine???? My next appointment with him is next week and I will learn more about the blood work and where to go from here. Stay tuned.
Is anybody else out there sensitive to salicylates?
A customer of ours is a doctor who runs a clinic for Autism and because Autism is very connected to food allergies and food sensitivities (which he’s branched off into), has taken me on as a patient. After the first visit of 3 hours and several vials of blood later, he told me to look into salicylates and go on a low salicylate diet.
What are salicylates (http://users.bigpond.net.au/allergydietitian/fi/salicylates-list.html) you ask....They are chemicals that occur naturally in many plants and act as preservatives to delay rotting and act as protectants against harmful bacteria and fungi. They are stored in the bark, leaves, roots, and seeds of plants and can be found naturally in some foods and its compounds are used in various products. Aspirin is a salicylate.
He gave me a list of foods that are low-high in salicylates and I was totally bummed to find the majority of low carb foods that I've been eating for 6 years on the high end of the list...almonds, coconut and olive oil, raspberries, cinnamon, blueberries, peppers, strawberries, cranberries, romaine, peanut butter, tomatoes. The lowest salicylate fruit...banana...sigh! Could I have been poisoning myself these last 6 years thinking I was eating well? Again...sigh!!! I stopped eating iceberg lettuce because there aren't many nutrients in it and went to romaine...now I'm back to iceberg as it's low in salicylates.
To make things more confusing, he recommended reading the book Eat Right 4 Your Type (http://www.dadamo.com/) which is based on the premise that each blood type should avoid some foods and eat others. We have several customers who swear by this method. Michael and I both read it and I have to say it was very interesting. The doc typed my blood and I am an "O"...the oldest blood type known to man. “O” type people do well on protein (no pork) but minimal dairy and no wheat and if you're trying to lose weight, no cauliflower or cabbage (both ironically low in salicylates).
And to make matters worse, a urine test came back with a high ratio of casomorphin which is a peptide derived from casein, a milk protein (and acts as an opiate for God’s sake to keep us addicted to dairy). I might have to give up dairy and for a low carber that is…welll…a big time bummer!!!!! But then it follows my blood type.
Then he threw out glutamates (i.e. msg) and free-glutamates…again…deep sigh! So many ingredients…so little time!!!!
Needless to say my head has been spinning. I have been to a million web sites on all of these subjects and I have to say that sometimes too much information is a bad thing. I have been eating carefully for the entire month, but it is a challenge and I have not always succeeded. I didn’t look at the Jimmy Dean Sausage Patty ingredient list to see it had MSG in it and I didn’t think that the blackened chicken I had at a restaurant could have had MSG in it…was that why I got a migraine???? My next appointment with him is next week and I will learn more about the blood work and where to go from here. Stay tuned.
Is anybody else out there sensitive to salicylates?