For the last several months, I have been feeling like my weight loss progress has been pretty slow, if not non-existent. So, as I always do, I go back to what WAS working and try to discover what I changed.
So, as I was driving home the other day, I finally remembered a change I made in my diet which just so happened to be right around the time I stopped progressing.
I incorporated nuts into my diet.
Almonds and pecans, to be exact….which occasionally turned into an unhealthy obsession with peanut butter, quite possibly as bad as this guy:
One of the topics that my uncle talks about in his book (The Power of Your Metabolism by Frank Suarez) is food intolerances. For those affected by food intolerances, having just a small portion of whatever the offending food can completely stop weight loss, which I think may be the case with me (I’ll keep you posted!).
It’s somewhat of a tricky subject because you have to really be aware of how your body responds to foods. The “reactions” you can get from a food you are intolerant to are similar to allergic reactions, but incredibly subtle. And if you’re used to feeling a certain way, you probably wont notice any difference one way or the other.
The most common foods that people tend to have intolerances to per my uncle’s book are wheat, soy and corn. According to this website, however, tree nuts (like pecans, almonds, walnuts, etc) and peanuts are also considered to be common foods that people have intolerances to.
Just as a side note, people can have intolerances to any type of food, even beyond those listed as “common”. I’ve even heard of someone having an intolerance to cucumbers — it happens. *shrug*
Luckily, there are a few reactions you can watch for, such as:
- Mucus *
- Intestinal or stomach gases*
- Water retention*
- Feeling tired or weak*
- Constipation *
- Headaches
- Cramps
- Bloating
- Irritability or nervousness
- Stomach pain
- Nausea
- Diarrhea
*These are from my uncle’s book — the rest are from this website.
The last few can also be food allergies (different than food intolerances) — like I said, food intolerances are usually subtle reactions, where allergies are typically more obvious. Either way, you should watch for these reactions.
Thinking back to when I first started incorporating almond meal (made purely from almonds) into my diet, I realize that I did, in fact, experience stomach pain, intestinal gases, bloating and even nausea (usually only when I overdid it…but even a little would cause some more subtle reactions). In fact, this was one of those times, I believe:
At the time, however, I associated the bloat with juicing….not the fact that I had stuffed my face with almonds and pecans.
So, I’m going to test this out and see what happens. Unfortunately, that means no more almond meal in my cauliflower pizza crust. But that’s okay — I’ll try the recipe without it next time! Or some other flour (any recommendations?).
TIP: Don’t start cutting out anything until you know for sure you have an intolerance to it! Just go one by one and test it out for a week or two. If you start losing weight more quickly, it’s possible that you’ve found yourself a pesky food intolerance. Good for you!
Also, not everyone experiences food intolerances so don’t assume automatically that you do too! Just test it out!
As always, I’m always open to questions or comments. Feel free to email me at weightlossjules86@gmail.com . I may not be able to respond immediately, but I always do (unless it goes to spam!).
