Giving Up Processed Foods

[indysteel]

I would certainly start with the soda. I just think soda is, in a word, nasty. I don't mind a root beer, ginger ale, or cream soda every once in a while, but I have never really had a taste for pop, diet or otherwise.

But I do keep tripping up over how fatigued you are. I assume your bloodwork included thyroid and anemia tests....

[goldfinch]

I would encourage you to keep a food and headache diary. I suffered from migraines for a while before I finally realized that they tended to coincide with my periods. You would think it should have been obvious, but it took me a while to see the connection. You might be able to spot some patterns if you keep a diary. I would keep track of what you ate, drank and your exercise.

Also, if you haven't already, talk to your doc about migraine specific pain relief. In my experience, OTCs will not treat a migraine. I personally take 20 to 40 mg of Relpax. The drug makes me groggy, but it works like a charm.

Same with me. Nothing cured my migraines but menopause. I haven't had a migraine now in years.

[indysteel]

Same with me. Nothing cured my migraines but menopause. I haven't had a migraine now in years.

Yay; something to look forward to. Thankfully, mine have largely been a nuisance. I don't get as ill as many when I get a migraine. It's more of a very persistent sense of pressure behind one of my eyes. I can sometimes get by with Excedrin on the tail end of my period. I otherwise have to take all or part of a Relpax pill. While they make me pretty sleepy, I've learned to deal with it. I don't otherwise get migraines from anything else.

[WindingRoad]

I agree with Danielle about prepping all your fresh veggies ahead of time. That REALLY saves me a lot of time in the long run and makes me COOK something as opposed to grabbing cheese and crackers or something like that. I have migraines and have had them all my life. As I age I find they are becoming less and less. Quitting hormonal birth control made a HUGE impact on frequency of headaches too. I too avoid processed foods aside of Luna Bars. I feel sooooo much better when I don't eat a lot of preservatives, colorings, food stabilizers etc. The artificial sweetener habit I can't kick completely but I have reduced my intake a LOT. I don't sweeten my coffee as much as I once did. I also use raw sugar in my coffee when I can instead of Splenda. I'm gradually weening my tastebuds of sweet, it is working but it takes a while. I add about half the sweet I did and now it tastes as sweet as the double amount I used to put in.

I'm sure you have already hear the red wine and pop corn trigger for migraines? These are pretty common migraine triggers. These are a double kicker combo that will land me in bed for a day STILL. If I drink red wine I take a couple of Excedrin beforehand now. I hope you figure out what keeps setting you off, good luck to you.

[OakLeaf]

I'm just sayin', based on my own experience and what I learned from my allergist in an exhaustive (and exhausting!) initiation when I was first diagnosed.

Fatigue is probably the #1 symptom of allergies in general and food allergies in particular.

Leave open the possibility that it isn't necessarily (or exclusively) the synthetic ingredients that are causing your symptoms, but "natural" ingredients in both processed and unprocessed foods. It's very, very difficult to find a processed food that doesn't contain both wheat and corn products. Also soy - I knew there was at least one very common allergen I was leaving out. Reading the ingredient list doesn't always tell you, unless you know what you're looking for.

I'm not saying it's a bad idea to have your thyroid checked, but if your thyroid panel was normal in the fall and you were symptomatic then, then something else is likely to be the culprit.

[indysteel]

I'm just sayin', based on my own experience and what I learned from my allergist in an exhaustive (and exhausting!) initiation when I was first diagnosed.

Fatigue is probably the #1 symptom of allergies in general and food allergies in particular.

Leave open the possibility that it isn't necessarily (or exclusively) the synthetic ingredients that are causing your symptoms, but "natural" ingredients in both processed and unprocessed foods. It's very, very difficult to find a processed food that doesn't contain both wheat and corn products. Also soy - I knew there was at least one very common allergen I was leaving out. Reading the ingredient list doesn't always tell you, unless you know what you're looking for.

I'm not saying it's a bad idea to have your thyroid checked, but if your thyroid panel was normal in the fall and you were symptomatic then, then something else is likely to be the culprit.

I only mention the thyroid because not every blood test necessarily includes it. Even if her blood test included it, it would be worth finding out what the the TSH value actually was as some docs are still using an outdated standard for what is considered a normal TSH. Otherwise, I agree with you that food allergies could be a culprit. Frankly, while I think a predominance of processed food isn't optimal for health, I'm just not buying that it would make someone that fatigued.

[Dannielle]

aspartame/equal/blue packet is the most common sweetener in diet soda/drinks and it causes headaches in many.

It definitely causes them for me. I gave up all sweeteners/sugar for a month last April as a personal challenge. I was shocked that I didn't get a headache at all that whole time. The first time I had a diet soda afterward I got a wicked headache. It took me 2 or 3 times more and I decided no more diet soda for me ever. Once I made the connection it was easy to choose another drink.

That month-long challenge was really productive for me, I think. Even though I did reintroduce some sweetener in small amounts I'm much more conscious of my use, pickier about which sweeteners I choose, and overall reduced my intake by about 70%.

[GLC1968]

I'm just sayin', based on my own experience and what I learned from my allergist in an exhaustive (and exhausting!) initiation when I was first diagnosed.

Fatigue is probably the #1 symptom of allergies in general and food allergies in particular.

Leave open the possibility that it isn't necessarily (or exclusively) the synthetic ingredients that are causing your symptoms, but "natural" ingredients in both processed and unprocessed foods. It's very, very difficult to find a processed food that doesn't contain both wheat and corn products. Also soy - I knew there was at least one very common allergen I was leaving out. Reading the ingredient list doesn't always tell you, unless you know what you're looking for.

I'm not saying it's a bad idea to have your thyroid checked, but if your thyroid panel was normal in the fall and you were symptomatic then, then something else is likely to be the culprit.

This. I also had fatigue symptoms, migraines (since I was 22 when I first went on the pill, actually) and brain fog, digestive distress and a few other minor problems. None of these things were enough to see a doctor about (except the migraines), and most of them I attributed to being either 'normal' or just due to aging or something (like the brain fog). My thyroid tested fine twice, so I know there were no issues there.

The migraines reduced to only once every couple of months once I got off all forms of hormonal birth control.

They went away completely once I had been paleo for about 4 - 5 weeks. All the other symptoms are gone now too. I thought I felt damn healthy for having lost weight and gotten back in shape, but I had no idea how much BETTER I could feel once I eliminated so many other things from my diet.

I have experimented with adding a few different things back in here and there and discovered that I do have sensitivities to certain grains. I haven't tried eating legumes yet...that'll be my test in January.

There is an online guide to doing a complete elimination for 30 days. It's called Whole 30 and the website is here: Whole30 It's based on the paleo diet, but it goes further to be very, very strict for the first 30 days. I haven't done it, but I've heard very good things from some of the people I work with, most of which are not paleo, by the way.

[Dannielle]

my month long personal challenge was a "Whole30" I ate paleo for 2 years...until recently when I tweaked things again and feel even better (which I didn't think was possible...I felt awesome with a paleo way of eating!)

[Aggie_Ama]

At the urging of my husband (after I nearly got car sick for the third day in a row) I went to the doctor today. He is getting a full metabolic panel and blood cell counts. Apparently my last blood work was in 2009. My gynecologist only checked my cholesterol this fall. My doctor thinks there is possibly something causing the overwhelming fatigue. Luckily today I did not have an awful headache for the first time in three days.

I know many of my friends I ride and race with have gone to a lower processed food diet and every one of them has told me it was a noticeable difference in energy level, performance and just overall how they feel. I am not saying they don't touch sodas or anything like that but they do focus much more on fresh products and their experience has been positive.

[Catrin]

Aggie, do keep us posted with what you find out. Hopefully it is no more than some vitamin deficiency.

Over the last two years I've gone further and further in weeding out processed foods. I dropped all soda years ago, long before I lost my weight, thankfully I lost the taste for it. The closest to processed food I eat these days are non-fat dairy products, and I do consume quite a bit as one of my two primary protein and main calcium sources. The occasional times I use more processed foods I've noted that I don't feel so good afterwards and also feel bloated. All of those chemicals, I am sure...

[shootingstar]

I guess the processsed food that I have:

soy sauce
chocolates (it is Christmas....)
crackers (only several times per year)

I rarely have chips, soda/pop. Only when I was desperate....working in an industrial site at a construction project ...means one is hemmed in by construction equipment. The lunch food truck with chips looked pretty good under those circumstances when I forgot to bring a snack.

I just grew up with cooked food and rarely processed food because we couldn't afford it. Processed food long term, is more expensive. So it's easy for me to carry on.

Besides, if you've ever seen an aisle of Asian processed/junk food, it really tells you to run over to buy the Asian fresh veggies instead. Asian processed foods is real lesson in amazement.

[indysteel]

I'm glad you're getting a full workup, Amanda. It's not that I'm not in favor of cleaning up your diet, but like your husband and doctor, I'd like you to rule out obvious medical conditions, too. I hope it's nothing serious. At the risk of asking too private a question, is there any chance you're pregnant?

Keep us posted!

[Aggie_Ama]

Blood panel was completely normal, my doctor thinks I am dehydrated and the migraine may have been triggered by that or just made everything worse. He couldn't find anything more conclusive than that but wants me to come back if it doesn't subside with plenty of rest and fluids. I felt like I hydrated great in my race Sunday and after the race but maybe I did not do as good as I thought. I did start to up my fluids even more.

Today I feel better although still very tired. I do have a sinus headache but for the first time in nearly two weeks there is a clear sky and I am going to ignore his suggestion to rest and do a short bike ride. Nothing hard just a nice rolling road ride, it is nearly 70 degrees with less than 5mph winds!

My goal is still to go to a less processed diet. I don't expect it to stop my migraines but it might. Right now they are usually every few months but they seem to be more frequent (I have had 5 this year) than they were. So I definitely will consider seeing a neurologist if they persist.

[ny biker]

Fwiw, fatigue and motion sickness can both be migraine-related. And it's possible to have migraine-related symptoms without getting a headache.