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It's a shame there's so much pseudo-science around food intolerances, as I'd basically dismissed out of hand that I might be intolerant to some foods.

As part of a separate diet, it's become clear to me that bread caused the life-long indigestion I've suffered, and that eggs were causing my skin to be bad, neither of which were links I'd made before.

Also currently on a diet that isn't keto -- I'm eating a lot of vegetables, and the occasional rice dish, and not being careful with sugar in sauces -- but lacks white carbs, and getting many of the benefits people who are on keto diets are claiming. As per the article, my sleep is massively improved, largely because I've stopped getting up in the night 20 times to pee.

I advise all my friends to do a "one food and work up" diet. I had massive problems with sleep, my skin, my bowel movements, general fatigue, long-onset DOMS after working out - the list goes on. These are completely gone now I pin-pointed the issue. I cut back everything, and added things one ingredient at a time. I started with only root veg, then added legumes, then brassicaceae veg (kale, cauliflower, broccoli etc.) That covered all my nutritional needs bar B12, which I supplement. From there, I've slowly added one more food every couple of week.

My only guess is that I have a histamine response to some kind of compound found in grains and certain types of spices. The body is a strange machination. Honestly, doing the reduction diet was the best thing I've ever done. If you could make a medication that brought me from how I felt 3 years ago to where I am now, you'd be worth more than Bezos.

for how long did you eat the one food item for? ( is that all you would eat?)

About 2 weeks with 'low risk' foods, and up to 4-6 weeks with 'high risk' foods - low risk being low FODMAP foods, and those that you rarely hear of allergies with. 'High risk' were things like nuts, which many people react very poorly to. I'd add them to the foods I already knew were safe to eat. So for example, I've recently taken to adding buckwheat (which is weirdly a fruit) to my stews and granola after workout. I'm slightly concerned that I may react badly, so I won't add anything new to my diet for a while until I'm 100% sure that it's not causing any under-lying inflammation. I'll mentally keep track of variables like my gym performance, mental acuity, ability to absorb new information, tiredness levels etc. I very much play it by ear though. If I'm especially stressed, or miss workouts, or suffering from any other thing to could contribute to me feeling tired or down, I'll lay off adding any new foods because it will skew 'results'.

This sounds very similar to Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and it might be worth your time to ask a doctor about it if you haven't already.

Thanks, I'll definitely look into this. I take anti-histamines and aspirin to regulate some of my symptom outbreaks as per a recommendation from my GP, so the fact that it's mentioned as a treatment certainly perks my interest.

My wife had struggles very similar to yours. She had herself tested for a super broad range of allergies and intolerances (this wasn't cheap) and found that her histamine levels were 20x the upper bound of "normal". This was in a time when eating a single chocolate chip cookie could knock her out for days.

She then did an elimination diet much like yours (but without the keto - she just cut out anything that either is high in histamine or encourages histamine production in the body). She's a different person now. Her gut mostly recovered in the sense that the same cookie would now make her feel bad for a few hours and sometimes not even that. It's great.

Just in case it interests someone, she maintains a food blog particular for histamine intolerant people at https://histaminefriendlykitchen.com/

It makes sense that histamine messes with sleep. The drug modafinil (Provigil, Nuvigil) is a pro-histamine and considered a nootropic because it reduces sleepiness and even increases focus.

I wonder, can one use a pro-histamine food as a nootropic?

Have you checked for diabetes?

I have, because I’m super super sensitive to sugar, get thirsty a lot, and pee a lot but ... the tests are always normal. Cutting out sugar has made any symptoms go away.

There are food allergy tests that you can take, too. I've done the ALCAT test, and it was very helpful. It's a blood test, and provides a big list of red/yellow/green foods.

e.g. Red = likely to cause a strong negative reaction.

I found it to be extremely helpful in finding things that were causing issues.

Kale, Cumin, etc. Things that I would not have easily identified on my own.

I did one of those, and later found out the one I did was pretty non scientific :-( I’d urge caution there

The thing with fibre and carbs (like in fruits) is that the fibre will line your intestine so you don't absorb the carbs as much, but allows the carbs to pass to the next intestine where the gut bacteria there loves the stuff.

Maybe it is glycemic load? I completely agree, but I get hit hard by sugars, bread, mashed potatoes and cheap fries (really good fries I justify).

If you still want to enjoy fries, get an air fryer and just spray sliced potatoes with a very small amount of olive oil. Then cook only up to temperature of 250F/120C to prevent acrylamide from forming (it might take 30-60 minutes to be finished).

I used to be hit hard by regular fries (was feeling sick for a day, felt them staying in my stomach for a while etc.) until I switched to the aforementioned method. Taste is almost the same, but digestion is unproblematic now.

Processed carbohydrates will by definition hit you hard. Added oil is also hard. Try intact grains, e.g. rice, quinoa, millet, barley, etc. Even whole wheat bread or pasta will hit harder than boiled wheat grains.

Added oil is just fat, not bad for you. Specifically since op mentioned keto.

But they're not talking about keto if they're eating fries etc. Added oil is not good - in excess fat builds up in the cells and is responsible for insulin resistance. With ketosis this is temporarily staved off, but you will still likely have insulin problems when you go off keto, it doesn't actually fix anything, just offer temporary relief.

I don't think it's that, as I'll go ham on like 2000 calories of potatoes and beans after working out and feel great. My thoughts are that it must be a histamine response to some compound found in grains and some spices.

What about quinoa? If that's still an issue, what have been your favorite substitutes for grains? I'm fond of riced cauliflower.

Quinoa is great, as are lentils and corn. You can also get lots of different types of cous-cous made using legume flour. Those are my go to's if I want to add something grain like to my meals. I've experimented with some others like Teff and Amaranth, but they still made me feel sluggish and restless.

Whole grains will be packed with protein and fiber, and the refined flours lacking these may lead to blood sugar voodoo when consuming past a certain threshold. Like refined sugar consumption it's though that empty carbs also have a similar effect. I suspect the primary issue with wheat is it's almost never in whole grain form.

I thought it was the lectins in the grains that cause a lot of problems for people.

I don't think that's been substantiated. Legumes, potatoes, tomatoes and some fruit are lectin-rich. Blue-zones diets tend to lean more heavily on legumes. There's the whole gluten thing for wheat and others but it's unclear to me how much of an impact that may have.

Thanks! This is great advice. If and when I return to the world of carbs I'll definitely do it like this. Keto as a diet really works for me (wonderfully). So many of my favourite foods!

Super helpful advice, thank you