I’ve decided to share some of my food sensitivities in case someone may be experiencing the same thing. What do food sensitivities have to do with rheumatoid arthritis (RA)? Most autoimmune diseases are preceded by a leaky gut. When you have a leaky gut, undigested food particles leak out of your intestines which isn’t normal. The undigested food particles put your immune system on alert and over time autoimmunity develops. Your dialed up immune system begins attacking the body. The type of autoimmune disease you develop typically depends on your genetic inheritance but that’s not always a guarantee.

We are all individuals so the things that affect me may or may not affect you. For many with rheumatoid the nightshade family causes joint pain for them. As you’ll see below that isn’t one of my joint pain triggers. The reason I’m writing this is because I remember researching coffee and dizziness when I had that issue. There were many threads where others had asked the same question but I couldn’t find any articles online with recommendations other than “drink more water”.

We live in a world where subtle symptoms are ignored or they are masked with pills. If you say that coffee makes you dizzy, chicken makes you nauseous, and nightshades make you tired many people will look at you like they think you’re crazy. You’re not. Listen to your body. As an example, if you have headaches everyday that is your body’s way of telling you that something you’re doing isn’t right. No one has a Tylenol deficiency yet many people live this way. For me, I choose to manage my symptoms with food. Have you ever listened to the side effects given in the commercials for rheumatoid medications? No thanks! I’ll stick to my veggies rather than risk leukemia…

As a health coach it’s all about the n=1 experiment. You have to play with stuff to figure out what works for you and what doesn’t. This is the list of things that I’ve figured out since I first went paleo in 2014. I used to work as a quality control chemist so these things I’m writing about didn’t happen once. I’ve experienced them multiple times, usually as a test to make sure I knew what I thought I knew, and other times I didn’t put 2 and 2 together immediately. Writing this it probably sounds like I’m all over the place and not very paleo but that is not the case.  It’s been nearly 4 years of trial and error to figure these things out. My goal for writing this is to show you what an impact food can have on your overall well-being if you listen closely.

My Rheumatoid Food Sensitivities

Coffee and Caffeine

Coffee Makes Me Dizzy

This is one of the first food sensitivities I noticed before I went paleo. After our son was born I drank more coffee than I ever had before, one french press a day, about 2 cups of coffee. It made me dizzy and initially I thought it was a water / dehydration issue. I tried drinking more water but it didn’t help. It was a dizziness that lasted all day. When I couldn’t figure it out I began to wonder if I had a brain tumor or something. Then I scheduled an appointment with a doctor which is saying a lot because I generally try to avoid most doctors. She walked me through a basic neurological exam and sent me on my way telling me to drink more water…

This was years ago so I don’t remember what prompted me to buy organic coffee but I did. Voila the dizziness went away. I’m not sure what they spray / use to grow conventional coffee, all I know is that it does not work for me. It’s been 5 years since I’ve figured this out and still to this day conventionally grown coffee makes me dizzy.

When I drink coffee now I buy Swiss Water Organic Decaf. [amazon_textlink asin=’B014MO02CA’ text=’Kicking Horse’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’jphphc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’dea215d0-4e29-11e8-a7b4-23fc6fb720ab’] is one of my favorite brands that I’ll sometimes buy at Natural Grocers. We have a lot of local roasters in Boise so I try to support the local businesses. I also look for the rainforest alliance logo.

Caffeine Makes My Fingertips Numb

A few years ago I gave up caffeine to see how it would make me feel. Contrary to what most people assume I ended up with more energy during the day and better sleep. Yes, even a cup of caffeine in the morning affects my sleep at night. After going without caffeine for a bit my husband made some organic caffeinated coffee. First it made me feel cold all over and my hands were freezing. I couldn’t believe all the times in the winter I poured myself a hot cup of something (usually caffeinated) in an attempt to warm up. Now I had learned that my warming up efforts were for naught. I’ve also discovered that if I have too much caffeine, more than 1 cup of tea or coffee, my fingertips go numb. Cold weather exacerbates the effect but it’s just my fingertips. I don’t have carpal tunnel or any other structural issue that’s affecting my arms; it’s a circulatory issue because without caffeine I don’t have any numbness.

Coffee Gives Me Dark Under Eye Circles

Eating dark leafy greens helps counteract the dark circles but I’ve noticed that the day after I have coffee the area under my eyes is darker than I’d like it to be. If I eat my greens and skip the coffee I don’t feel that I need concealer under my eyes.

Grains and Sugars

Grains Make My Joints Hurt

Like clockwork, it doesn’t matter which grain it is, they all make my joints hurt. Many people believe that gluten-free grains are better but there is no such thing as gluten-free. All grains contain gluten proteins, even rice. Wild rice and quinoa sometimes sneak their way into the paleo world but even those don’t work for me. Plus, it’s quinoa…the taste isn’t worth joint pain the next day. Since I avoid grains 99% of the time I only have a little if I have any at all and primarily it’s just the joints in my hands that are affected. Then there are times when life happens and I believe in dying with a smile so I’ll eat the pizza. Of course, I know that I’m going to pay for it the next day so I try to make sure I don’t have anything important lined up the following day. As time has gone by I have indulged in traditional pizza less and less. When you know how good you can feel it makes the taste of whatever you’re skipping not so appealing anymore.

I Wake Up With A Puffy Face If I Eat Grains

One of my other deterrents for eating grains is the puffy eyes and face I end up with the next day. Seriously, it looks like I’ve had a cry fest or been in the ring with Mike Tyson. It’s not pretty and it generally takes most of the day for my face and eyes to de-puff.

I Can Affect The Number of Joints That Hurt

For a year or so, before I went high fat low carb paleo, my big toe would sometimes hurt. Sometimes both of them would hurt. The big toe on my right foot gets a purple dot just under the skin. My husband would say that my toes needed to pop but the thought of anyone simply touching them made me cringe. They were painful and it really hurt to walk; it felt like they were out of joint. My initial thought was gout but I’ve encountered massage clients with gout and this wasn’t it. My toes weren’t hot and the foods that typically cause gout didn’t cause any pain. Over time I’ve learned that my toes hurt if I have too much sugar. If I really over do it, my knees and hips will also hurt, so much so that they’ll wake me up while I’m sleeping.

Sugar Gives Me Hot Flashes At Night

I forget the exact timing but it was definitely sometime before going paleo I had half of the symptoms of perimenopause. Now, I don’t have any perimenopause symptoms unless I eat something that brings them back. Some nights I used to struggle with sleep and I’d wake up hot and sweaty and unable to fall back to sleep. Now I sleep like the dead. If I have too much sugar however, I will wake up in the middle of the night with a hot flash, unable to fall back asleep. If you search the internet, as I just did, you’ll see that not all women suffer from hot flashes during menopause. Some articles cite soy intake others cite heat intolerance but none of them give a definitive answer for the cause. In my paleo circle  I’ve heard more than one woman state that their hot flashes disappeared when they ate less sugar. If this is something you struggle with it’s definitely worth a try.

Dairy

Dairy Makes Me Feel Drunk

After my first Whole 30 in 2014 I tried reintroducing dairy. Within about 20-30 minutes I felt like I’d been behind the bar and drank it completely dry. I had a sudden headache, I felt dizzy, and I wanted to puke from the nasty dairy taste in my mouth. This is one of the reasons I recommend trying food reintroductions towards the end of the day. I felt so horrible that I had to lay down with one foot on the floor in a poor attempt to try to stop the room from spinning. It was awful. I ended up going to bed to sleep it off.

Dairy Makes My Skin Break Out

Since my drunken dairy night I have been able to add back a bit without the room spinning but generally I stay away from it. Being able to tolerate a bit is useful for eating out. A Facebook friend wanted to know if anyone wanted to have lunch with her that day. Since I’d never eaten at Costa Vida I did a bit of web snooping and discovered that Costa Vida has dairy in all of their meats…?? Why? If I have cheese or heavy whipping cream in my coffee my face is guaranteed to break out, every time.

Dairy Is The Reason I’d Have To Pee In The Middle Of The Night

For as long as I can remember I’d routinely wake up around 4 AM and have to pee. I hated having my sleep interrupted but I dismissed it as simply “my thing”, normal. When I went paleo my midnight routine stopped and initially I attributed it to the paleo diet. I’ve since figured out that it’s the dairy. If I add heavy whipping cream or half and half to my coffee, barely enough to change the color of the coffee, I’ll wake up at 4 AM and have to pee. I can’t explain it but I’ve reproduced the results a number of times.

Dairy Makes My Breasts Sore

A grandmother that I never met died of breast cancer at the age of 44. I’m 43. Every once in a while I’ll add half and half or heavy whipping cream to my coffee and it never fails that my breasts will hurt. I’m not talking a little. I mean, they’ll hurt bad enough to make me wonder if I’m pregnant. My grandmother died when my dad was 15 and I don’t want that to be my son’s tale. This is one of those instances where I see the big picture clearly. I have a 7-year-old and I want to spend as many days with him as I can.

Nightshades

(white potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, paprika, eggplant, gogi berries, ashwaganda)

I Reversed Musculoskeletal Issues By Giving Up Nightshades

Ever since my early 20’s I’ve felt like I had tight muscles. Getting a massage I had muscles that crunched when you ran your fingers across them. When I taught massage therapy students would sometimes ask whether they were touching muscle or bone in my back. I’ve never received a diagnosis for whatever it was. I’d always been told to simply drink more water; it wasn’t a water issue. Fibromyalgia crossed my mind a number of times but I didn’t ache, I wasn’t sensitive. You could drive your truck over me and I’d ask you to do it again, deeper. I never pursued input from a doctor because it’s a subjective test based on tender points. Honestly nearly everyone I’ve ever massaged is sensitive on the fibromyalgia points used for diagnosis.

The best way I can describe it: my body felt like I was flexing my muscles all of time. My connective tissue was tight making my muscles feel like I was flexing them. The best explanation I’ve come across is Weston A Price’s article about nightshades and how they can cause calcification of soft tissues. If you have an autoimmune condition, nightshades are the one group of foods you are least likely to tolerate. They’re the very last thing you’d add back on AIP (autoimmune paleo) if you were able to add them back at all.

It’s taken some time but I’m no longer tight. My muscles don’t crunch and I don’t feel like I’m flexing 24/7.

White Potatoes Make My Feet Ache

I went AIP January 2015 and I tolerate nightshades a bit better than I used to. They used to send me running for the restroom. Over time I’ve had a bit of potato here and there. Like most things a bit here and there turns into eating them more often, especially when your husband could eat them at every meal. As I ate more potatoes I noticed that my feet began to ache again. Before I got out of bed in the morning my feet hurt and walking on the floor without slippers didn’t appeal to me. I removed potatoes from my diet and within a week my feet no longer ached. Just to be sure I tested my potato theory again and the ache in my feet returned.

Peppers Make Me Feel Like I Have Chronic Fatigue

The day after I eat peppers I have zero energy. All I want to do is lie around and sleep. I’m a homeschool mom who is married to a paramedic so not feeling my best is not an option. I need energy to keep up with a 7-year-old boy. There are obvious peppers like bell pepper that I avoid but the sneaky one is paprika. Many food ingredients contain “spices” and more often than not that means paprika. Without contacting the manufacturer directly there is no way to know for sure but “spices” are everywhere. Peppers are one of the reasons I choose to eat ethnic foods primarily at home. I love Mexican and Indian food but when you feel like you’ve been hit by a truck the next day it’s not really worth it.

Spicy Foods Give Me a Headache

I used to love spicy food and every once in a while I’ll throw caution to the wind and put a tiny bit of hot sauce on something. (How else do you figure out whether something works for you or not?) Usually within 10-15 minutes I’ll get a headache.

Rheumatoid and Joint Pain From Nightshades

Lots of people say that nightshades give them joint pain if they have rheumatoid. I’m not one of those people but it’s definitely something to be aware of.

Food Additives That Cause Big Reactions For Me

MSG (monosodium glutamate)

Ugh…for years I couldn’t figure out what made me cough. There were times I’d go out to eat and then for nearly an hour afterwards I’d cough like I’d been a smoker my entire life. My chest felt congested and I felt like I couldn’t cough deep enough. My first thought was dairy because that made sense. Then I wondered if it was gluten but coughing after eating Thai food left me still scratching my head. This one took some figuring out. It’s MSG. Since I figured it out I’ve stayed away from it like the plague. Of course when you really avoid it, it hits your harder when you end up with some one your fork. The last time I had MSG I ordered yellow curry from a Thai restaurant without any spice. About half way through my dish I began coughing, I developed a splitting headache, and I felt so awful that I went home and went straight to bed to sleep it off.

The Gums (Guar Gum, Xanthan Gum, Gellan Gum, etc)

Some reactions take a while to figure out. A couple of years ago I went through a phase of making chocolate “pudding” with coconut milk. Afterwards I’d get horrible stomach pains. I’d double over for about 4 hours each time feeling like millions of tiny razor blades were moving through my intestines. I forget what finally led me to figure out it was the guar gum in the coconut milk but since then I’ve discovered that other gums have the same effect. One night I tried Cappellos almond flour pasta which has xanthan gum and the same horrible stomach pain happened. For me, these are a definite no.

Unexpected Food Sensitivities

Chocolate Causes Joint Pain

Yep. This is the most difficult food sensitivity for me because it’s chocolate. I’ve tested this one many times and many different ways. Chocolate is simply not my friend. Whether it’s the best cacao powder, or chocolate bars without any dairy, soy, or weird ingredients; it never fails that my hands will hurt the next day. Chocolate makes my hands hurt more than grains and sugar do. I know it doesn’t help that I still sometimes indulge because I believe in dying with a smile. Will I eat ANY chocolate? No. Sometimes I go for long periods without any chocolate; it’s not that I can’t go without but it’s chocolate. Is a cheap candy bar worth reaction? No. It has to be something over the top phenomenal for me to eat it. It’s one of those places where the taste has to be worth the reaction.

Chicken Makes Me Nauseous

This is a food sensitivity I discovered without doing a chicken elimination. When you remove the chronic inflammation it allows you to get really clear on which foods are working for you and which aren’t. Chicken was a surprise for me because it used to be one of my favorite things to eat. How did I figure it out? One night I made a salad with a Simple Truth rotisserie chicken and I felt nauseous after eating it. I figured the chicken must have been bad so I threw it out. A few weeks later I cooked a bunch of organic chicken breasts from Whole Foods and I ate 3 chicken breasts in 1 day. Then I spent the next 2 days in bed nauseous feeling like I had a stomach bug. My husband and I were supposed to go on a date and we cancelled because I felt so horrible. I never threw up or had abnormal toilet time. I simply felt nauseous. Fast forward and I took my little for Italian after his Taekwondo class. I ordered rosemary chicken and one again I felt nauseous not long after eating it. That’s when I finally figured out that it was the chicken.

What About Corn and Soy-Free Chicken?

If you’re in enough food groups people offer various scenarios and reasons why they think you react to X, Y, or Z. When it comes to chicken a common thought is that it’s the corn and soy that the chickens are fed. Organic chickens are also fed corn and soy. That prompted me to try to find a chicken at the local farmers market that was pasture raised without corn or soy. I was able to find a whole chicken at the farmers market that was supplemented with barley and peas. Barley and peas still aren’t paleo but it would work to test the corn and soy theory. After roasting my $40 chicken I ate a little out of fear of feeling nauseous. A little seemed to be ok.

Histamine Issues

Then I turned my chicken into broth. Dear Lord…after sipping on a mug of broth it felt like I had trillions of tiny razor blades going through my intestines. That is when I officially parted ways with the chicken. I suspect it’s a histamine issue because I’m sensitive to some other high histamine foods. Spinach I can eat whole without issue but if it’s juiced then I immediately feel sleepy. Last summer a nectarine left the roof of my mouth feeling like I’d burnt it on pizza. I suspect my chocolate reaction is a histamine issue too. I am the canary in the coal mine.

Listen To Your Body

My motivation for writing this post is the number of people who complain about headaches, aches and pains, anxiety, depression, fatigue, insomnia, and a whole host of other symptoms. To not feel well daily isn’t normal and we need to stop dismissing it as old age, genetics, and that’s just the way it is. You’re not supposed to feel bad. Life is supposed to be vibrant and full. The reason so many don’t feel well is a topic for another blog post. Since I’m coming up on 3500 words for this post these are the top 3 things you need to focus on:

• Food sensitivities
• The microbiome
• Leaky gut

Recommended Reading

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Originally posted on May 5, 2018 @ 15:35

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