# Made Myself Sick in 1 Day



## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

Since I had my aortic valve replaced in September 2019, I have put on weight month after month. I went from 218 lb to 263 lb. The more I try, the worse I seem to do. 

For the 1st year, I was hungry all the time. I blamed it on the medication, but I was allowed to discontinue it after 6 months and the hunger persisted. I took probiotics and prebiotics thinking maybe my gut was messed up, but haven't noticed any improvement.

I had 3 procedures where they inserted a catheter through my groin, so I wondered if somehow my Vagus nerve might have been damaged. The vagus nerve sends signals to the brain from your stomach and gut that control hunger. My cardiologist said he had never heard of that happening, so he didn't think that was the problem. A google search didn't find any hits either.

A little background so what comes next might make sense. I tried a low carb/high fat (keto) diet for many years. I went from 320 to 270 in a couple of months. For the next 15 years, I couldn't get below 270. I did a lot of research and learned that I had trouble digesting and absorbing saturated fat, so I suddenly became a vegetarian. I was also getting stroke level blood pressure spikes, which I was able to trace to the high saturated fat diet. It took a couple of years of eating plant-based to eliminate the spikes.

Since I had lost 50 lb so quickly on a lc/hf diet before, I thought I would try it again since nothing else was working. I ate 2 pieces of bacon and 3 eggs for breakfast, barbeque chicken for lunch, and I don't remember what dinner was but it wasn't high fat. By the time I went to bed I had a terrible headache, couldn't sleep, and my heart rate was at least 25 points higher than normal. I took all the supplements that sometimes helped in the past for a BP spike. I also took a 2nd BP med.

The next morning I still had the headache and my BP systolic was about 30 points above normal. I again took the 2nd BP med along with my regular med. I went back to plant-based. I felt a little better last night and my heart rate was back to normal. Woke up this morning with a headache again and BP up again.

I wonder if it is the bacon that is causing the problem. Sodium, saturated fat, nitrites/nitrates - probably something I need to avoid. A lot of religions had restrictions on eating pork and there is usually a good reason for these prohibitions. I have been eating chicken occasionally without a problem, but chicken is lower in saturated fat. I think once I get rid of the headache and bp is back to normal, I will try eating a small portion of meat with a meal, but make sure there are plenty of plants to go with it. I think a portion of meat might solve the hunger problem.

But absolutely no bacon and that includes that terrible stuff they call turkey bacon.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Have you any idea what your blood work says?

Before I was a diabetic my pancreas quit holding my blood sugar in the range that it was supposed to stay in: I was going from too high to too low and back again. All of those blood sugar swings made me hungry all of the time because the human body does not care to be yanked around in that manner.

But that is just me and might not apply to you at all. For me the "smoking gun" was my high triglyceride level, which did show up on my blood work but since that was over 20 years ago it was missed. Most doctors do better now though a few doctors will still miss that.

NOTHING works as well at 55 as it did at 25. Nothing at all. After being stable for 2 decades I am again struggling and so I am also trying to tweak my diet for something that works better for me. So, I am again pushing the lean protein, and I am trying to reduce the number of carb exchanges in a meal yet again.

I know that if I can get my weight down again that my blood sugar will stabilize, as it is easier for a pancreas to regulate a 130 pound body than a 160 pound body

I am doing better now that it is warmer: I have dropped 2-3 pounds and the effort continues


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## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

MoonRiver said:


> Since I had my aortic valve replaced in September 2019, I have put on weight month after month. I went from 218 lb to 263 lb. The more I try, the worse I seem to do.
> 
> For the 1st year, I was hungry all the time. I blamed it on the medication, but I was allowed to discontinue it after 6 months and the hunger persisted. I took probiotics and prebiotics thinking maybe my gut was messed up, but haven't noticed any improvement.
> 
> ...



You are chasing the symptoms, not addressing the problem. Go find a good Nurse Practitioner and follow their advice.


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## MAWL (Feb 2, 2021)

Bacon and BBQ aren't KETO, high in sugar.


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

MAWL said:


> Bacon and BBQ aren't KETO, high in sugar.


They are both keto. Bacon has no carbs unless the curing adds it in. I made the barbecue sauce and it had very little carbs.


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

muleskinner2 said:


> You are chasing the symptoms, not addressing the problem. Go find a good Nurse Practitioner and follow their advice.


Have you ever had a vehicle that doesn't run right and you take it to different mechanics, none of whom fix the problem? Then you finally decide the only way it will get fixed is if you fix it yourself. That's how my body works.


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

Terri said:


> Have you any idea what your blood work says?
> 
> Before I was a diabetic my pancreas quit holding my blood sugar in the range that it was supposed to stay in: I was going from too high to too low and back again. All of those blood sugar swings made me hungry all of the time because the human body does not care to be yanked around in that manner.
> 
> ...


It's a possibility. I haven't checked recently, but when checked over the last couple of years, my fbg is usually around 95-100. Maybe things have changed. I will test for a few days and see.


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## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

MoonRiver said:


> Have you ever had a vehicle that doesn't run right and you take it to different mechanics, none of whom fix the problem? Then you finally decide the only way it will get fixed is if you fix it yourself. That's how my body works.


Good luck with that.


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## MAWL (Feb 2, 2021)

MoonRiver said:


> They are both keto. Bacon has no carbs unless the curing adds it in. I made the barbecue sauce and it had very little carbs.


The curing does add sugar. Can't comment on your BBQ sauce without ingredients. I can recommend a KETO book by a type 1 physician that used himself as a guinea pig to test various foods if you are interested. I have done and am doing quite well with his recommended foods.


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

MAWL said:


> The curing does add sugar. Can't comment on your BBQ sauce without ingredients. I can recommend a KETO book by a type 1 physician that used himself as a guinea pig to test various foods if you are interested. I have done and am doing quite well with his recommended foods.


Keto simply means you are in ketosis. You can do that by fasting for a couple of days. All you have to do is limit carbs enough that you start burning fat. I have 15 years of experience with low carb and I have tried just about every variation of it there is.


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## MAWL (Feb 2, 2021)

Okay, my bad. I thought you were struggling a lit bit. I apologize.


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## kinderfeld (Jan 29, 2006)

Chicken tends to be rather high in sodium due to the salt water injected during processing.


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## Hiro (Feb 14, 2016)

What you ate on any given day is not always the source of a BP spike or a headache. There are many other possible causes.

Anyway, everyone is different and what works for one person may not work for anyone else. Consistent calorie burning through physical activity often works well for people that have an appetite that seems overly aggressive.


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

Hiro said:


> What you ate on any given day is not always the source of a BP spike or a headache. There are many other possible causes.
> 
> Anyway, everyone is different and what works for one person may not work for anyone else. Consistent calorie burning through physical activity often works well for people that have an appetite that seems overly aggressive.


This is a genetic problem. I don't know if my body doesn't make enough digestive enzymes or what, but if I eat more than 20g a day of saturated fat it ends up staying in my blood and not being processed for energy by the cells, but stored as fat. I was willing to chance it for 2 months if that's what it took to lose weight, but just one day made me sick.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

MoonRiver said:


> This is a genetic problem. I don't know if my body doesn't make enough digestive enzymes or what, but if I eat more than 20g a day of saturated fat it ends up staying in my blood and not being processed for energy by the cells, but stored as fat. I was willing to chance it for 2 months if that's what it took to lose weight, but just one day made me sick.


In that case you might try eating lean protein instead of eating fat. Fish, chicken, lean beef, pork chops.... it could be fun! 

For myself, I am hungry unless I eat something with grain in it. I do not have to eat a lot of grain with my meals: this morning I had 2 crackers and it was enough. While that probably does not allow me to go into ketosis I think it is worth it as I am more comfortable in my skin. 

Nobody chooses their genes. My ancestors came from an area of the world where they ate huge amounts of bread, and I stay hungry unless I have had at least a couple of bites of grain. I no longer attempt to change this as my earlier attempts were useless.


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

Terri said:


> In that case you might try eating lean protein instead of eating fat. Fish, chicken, lean beef, pork chops.... it could be fun!
> 
> For myself, I am hungry unless I eat something with grain in it. I do not have to eat a lot of grain with my meals: this morning I had 2 crackers and it was enough. While that probably does not allow me to go into ketosis I think it is worth it as I am more comfortable in my skin.
> 
> Nobody chooses their genes. My ancestors came from an area of the world where they ate huge amounts of bread, and I stay hungry unless I have had at least a couple of bites of grain. I no longer attempt to change this as my earlier attempts were useless.


That's pretty much going to be the plan. Fish and chicken. I have 2 steaks I bought a few days ago, so I am going to try limiting to about 4-6 oz per meal and take digestive enzymes and betaine HCL before eating.

I miss things that crunch like potato chips and crackers. If I buy them, I eat the entire bag/box in one day - I can't limit myself.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Try getting the little single serving bags of chips. Just buy one when you are out. Self limiting unless you buy a box of the single serve bags and eat all the little bags. Yes, the little ones cost nearly as much as a family or party size bag. But if you want crunch and have no will power the additional cost is worthwhile.

Is there a possibility you are getting too much salt and not drinking enough water? It can affect some people that way.


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## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

I love potato chips. When I was losing weight I knew that I had to include them or I would give up as always before. The small bags are a great idea - one at a time or even divide them up. We bought the bigger bags simply because of the price but I had a guardian - my husband - who would lock the bag away in his tool chest. Banning any food never works for me. I ate a few chips everyday with my lunch - about 15 grams worth. It did take discipline but not as much as I thought it would as I knew I could have more the next day. This meant I never had a craving for or a binge out with them and in fact one day I realized that I forgot to pack them and I never missed them. Gradually I stopped packing them for lunch. It takes about 6 to 8 weeks for any new habit to become a habit.


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## kinderfeld (Jan 29, 2006)

MoonRiver said:


> ...if I eat more than 20g a day of saturated fat it ends up staying in my blood and not being processed for energy by the cells...


That doesn't sound good at all.


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

kinderfeld said:


> That doesn't sound good at all.


By the time I figured it out, I had 2 clogged arteries and a calcified aortic valve. I had a series of heart health tests run and every single test came back with low risk for heart disease. Obviously there's at least one more lab they need to add.


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## barnbilder (Jul 1, 2005)

What gives me a bad headache and makes me feel terrible, almost every time, is when I don't get enough to eat. You aren't tracking your calories, you didn't weigh anything, so you have absolutely no idea what you ate. Blaming random foods for such huge unknowns hardly seems rational. Doesn't sound like anything is wrong with you at all. It's perfectly normal to gain the amount of weight you gained in the time you gained it, it is what we were designed to do, eat a little more than we need so we can store fat. It happened cumulatively and it must be undone cumulatively, one day is does not make any tangible baseline data.


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

barnbilder said:


> What gives me a bad headache and makes me feel terrible, almost every time, is when I don't get enough to eat. You aren't tracking your calories, you didn't weigh anything, so you have absolutely no idea what you ate. Blaming random foods for such huge unknowns hardly seems rational. Doesn't sound like anything is wrong with you at all. It's perfectly normal to gain the amount of weight you gained in the time you gained it, it is what we were designed to do, eat a little more than we need so we can store fat. It happened cumulatively and it must be undone cumulatively, one day is does not make any tangible baseline data.


That's you. I know me.


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## barnbilder (Jul 1, 2005)

MoonRiver said:


> That's you. I know me.


Are you human? I am human, and my nutritional needs are close enough to other humans that the things that impact me will also impact other humans. If you aren't weighing your food on a scale, or recording label information, you have no idea what you are eating, so you are just guessing. And no, evidently you don't know your own body, or you would be able to lose weight at will.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Respectfully point out that the metabolism of an 18 year old will not be the same as the metabolism of a 60 year old, which is why the 18 year old needs more calories.

The metabolism of the average person will metabolize their food far better than us diabetics, and far better than a person who is having difficulty with their gall bladder

Etc

As a rule of thumb if somebody says they have difficulty if they eat more than a set amount of a particular food, then I simply believe them. Because they have more data than I do.

I haven't used a scale in several years, now. Instead I eyeball things and I double check my eyes with the occasional cup measure. There is more than one true way


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## kinderfeld (Jan 29, 2006)

MoonRiver said:


> ...I know me.


LOL!!! You sure about that? The OP makes me wonder.


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