Allergic reaction? Or normal response to breaking keto diet

(Tyler Jacobson) #1

Don’t know if this is a normal response or not and would like any insight at all. Today was the first day I broke my strict keto diet after playing poker for 6 hours and missing when I was supposed to eat my last meal. During poker I didn’t have enough water for the day so I was getting a really bad headache. It was 3 hours past when I thought I’d be done and approaching 12:30am I also ran out of my prepared meals so the thought of spending 30-45 minutes to cook food when I got home was too much for my will power. Since I didn’t plan on giving myself an opportunity to break the diet again I thought I’d do it right and get Taco Bell one of my guilty pleasures. I essentially binged on it, getting a chalupa combo meal with a medium Baja blast, I know it’s not really binging but for how my appetite and diet has changed it felt like it was because I could have been good with one taco. Anyways shortly after finishing the combo meal my throat starting being itchy and it was very slightly harder to breath. Kinda like when you wake up in the morning and are just starting to get sick. Then my skin started to itch really badly then I noticed I had a few hives throughout my body. Is this my body going from eating strict keto to eating more carbs/sugar in one meal than I had in the past 10 days? also i haven’t consumed anything processed (even shredded cheese) since I started. Or could I possibly always been sensitive/slightly allergic to something that I ate but never realized it before because I always felt like garbage and was eating so much crap that it wasn’t easily identifiable like it is now? Its 2am now and I’m struggling to fall asleep because I’m still itching badly. I plan on telling my doctor all this when I see her in two weeks but I would love to know if this has happened to anyone else. I’ll include some more background on me and my diet

I started keto and got strict with 16:8 intermittent fasting 10 days ago. I went head first into both and have been extremely strict. My usual day is 73% fat 25% protein, 2-3% carbs. My body revolted when I started both because even though I had already lost 25 pounds in two months before I started keto I still was drinking juice throughout the day as well as a lot of other sugar in my diet. I had terrible headaches for about 5-6 days until my body adapted and even then I needed a lot of salt and copious amounts of water every day to feel like I wasn’t dehydrated . I’ve felt great for the last few days and I was way less hungry, no cravings, more energy, etc. today before I had Taco Bell I even went 19 hours into my fast without realizing it because I was doing my work where I couldn’t see a clock then it was 4pm in the afternoon before my hunger kicked in and I looked at the time. Haha I never had that focus before. The reason I find this reaction pretty important is that I’ve had this exact same meal 100 times before. While I used to eat a lot of processed food I’m not a huge fast food guy other than Taco Bell. I originally lost the first 25 pounds by “eating whatever I wanted just in moderation” so it’s not even like it’s been months since I’ve had this meal from Taco Bell. It’s probably closer to 3 weeks ago.

(Joel) #2

I think it is just a matter of you cleansing your body of all the junk that is in fast food and your body reacted to the taco bell. I bet if you went back to eating taco bell you’d get used to that too. Could also be an allergic reaction to something in the food. Maybe they added something new to it or you developed an allergy to some of its ingredients. My wife one day was all of the sudden allergic to raw almonds and fresh fruit. She got the itchiness and discomfort in the throat as well. Now she has the reaction every time.

(Tyler Jacobson) #3

You are probably right. The reason I started keto was more for the health benefits rather than just losing weight. I’ve lost a 60lbs of weight in the past and kept it off for years until I had a major shoulder reconstruction last winter and was on heavy pain killers for months. The only way I didn’t feel sick on them was constantly eating a lot of food therefore I gained all the weight back. So far I really like the difference in energy, not feeling hungry 24/7 and the lack of brain fog. I’ve had several concussions and two years ago I fell 20 feet head first onto concrete so when I saw the research on keto with people with brain injuries I thought it was definitely worth doing. It’s interesting how one bad meal can show you what you used to do your body all the time despite being at a healthy weight like I was for years.

(Auden) #4

That sounds like an allergic reaction to me. I personally would take a Benadryl. And start carrying them with you in your wallet in case you need it (accidentally invest whatever you’re allergic to). Allergies can start anytime. One day, I was suddenly allergic to fish. I never had a reaction before that.

(Auden) #5

Ingest*

(Ali) #6

Very much sounds like an anaphylactic reaction to me. You can experiment with each piece of the meal separately to figure out what is causing it. There could be a couple things that triggered it.
One thing to note is an allergic reaction always gets worse the more times you are exposed to the substance you are allergic to, so be careful.

(Tyler Jacobson) #7

Yeah the weird thing is I still eat ground beef all the time on keto. However it is known that Taco Bell’s beef is like 70% filler so it’s more likely the filler than ground beef. Also I’ve had all the veggies they put on their tacos except for tomatoes. So I’ll have to try a tomato today. But I’m guessing it’s the crap they put in the meat to keep the cost down.

(Chris) #8

Next time, go to Wendy’s and get yourself 8 plain cooked 1/4lb patties. They cist about a buck 50 and there’s no carbs, all beef.

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #9

Be sure to have a couple antihistamines pills handy if you do experiment. It can be shocking how fast allergies start when you are older. And they can be deadly, anaphylactic shock is not something you want to experience in its full force.

If you have developed an allergy to something in Taco Bell’s foods, your body has done you a big favor.

Hope you get it sorted out quickly.

KCKO

#10

Excellent idea. Was at the mall with my kids and got hungry (they were shopping alone so did not have them eat there) and had a Dave’s triple and asked for no bun and water. It was served very nicely with a knife and fork. Cost me less than $6.

Yes it sounds like you are allergic to something

(Darlene Horsley) #11

Definitely an allergic reaction. My guess would be the filler in their beef. Most certainly keep an antihistamin on your person! Better yet…step away from Taco Bell.
I have a son that is allergic to the FILLER in Aleve and one prescription pain medication. It affects his throat immediately and the hives start on his face. You don’t want your throat swelling shut so please obey the signal your body has just given you. We’d like to keep you around.