A change to how my body responds to certain foods

Exterous

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For a long time I've been lucky that my body has been able to absorb rather notable abuses in food consumption with zero effects. To the point that not only is my wife annoyed by it but several of my male friends as well. I wear a slightly smaller size than I did in high school despite being known to consume some rather large quantities of unhealthy food. I consider a large pizza to be a serving size of 1. If my wife leaves for the weekend its not unheard of for my food for the day to consist solely of a family sized bag of doritos and ice cream. Consuming large quantities of high ABV (12+%) beer? NBD the next day. No stomach problems. Blood work all in the right areas for pressure, cholesterol etc despite being in my late 30s

Now I've always balanced this with healthy food but the point is I've never had to really care about what I eat. If its a salad with local ingredients, a crazy high in sodium and fat meal, or food from a random, somewhat sketchy street vendor in a random country piled high with sauces that I have no idea what they taste like yet I've never really had any bad effects. Any kind of stomach issues were like a once every 4+ years kind of thing

Yeah well all that has come to a crashing end in the last 2-3 months and I am trying to figure out why. Now some combination of unhealthy food and drink will wreck my body in the "yeah I probably shouldn't leave the house today" kind of way. Age could be a factor but it's come on somewhat suddenly. Over the past 2 years we've really scaled back on processed foods, sugar, sodium and soda so maybe that? But I can still do the whole '1 large pizza from local pizza shop = 1 serving' thing with no issues although a bag of doritos leaves me a little off. Nothing bad just something at the edge of concern where, in the past, there were zero affects at all.

It might be related to multiple days in a row of drinking paired with high fat foods? That's probably my next investigation target but I figured it was worth a shot to see if anyone here might have any ideas
 
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Torn Mind

Lifer
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One large pizza has to be a few hundred grams of carbohydrates.....


285g grams of carbohydrates(264g digestible ones) according to this, along with 83 grams of fat.

All of that has to be stored somewhere. The carbohydrates first get broken down into glucose. Then it gets stored as glycogen. If there's no more room for glycogen, it gets converted into fat by the liver and is stored as fat in the liver and elsewhere. The fat also gets stored in the fat cells.


Ultimately, it does boil down to fat, but not because "fat makes you fat". Rather, eating foods that release insulin, which includes all digestible carbohydrates, will make your body store fat and not metabolize it.

The power of the starches and sugar is why someone can wolf down a whole pizza. Those chemicals expand the appetite for everything else in the meal, even if it's just a miniscule amount of sugar to flavor the food. Carb+Fat or Carb+Protein results in a lot of eating.
Carbs do the following:
1. Expand appetite upon contact, even miniscule amounts
2. Cause the release of insulin, whose levels will fall in about two hours after the meal, making the eater hungry at that time
3. Inhibits fat metabolism while levels are elevated.
4. Probably triggers dopamine release or something similar to an addiction fix.

Foods are "healthy" because of the micronutrients they provide. There is plenty of energy and protein to consider them mere commodities.

The deal with some "healthy foods" is that what is more valuable to the eater depends on his metabolic state. A sweet potato is very nutritious and rather "comprehensive" is the micronutrients present. However, the carbohydrate content can be damaging if the eater is starting to show signs of metabolic syndrome. Just yesterday, I ate 1lb of Japanese sweet potato(1 at 11am, 3 at about 1pm), 20 blackberries, and a sweet onion(late night). Though all fibrous, and "healthy", the last batch of onions got me feeling the "tingling" sensation of neuropathy in my feet that happens when I eat too much carbs these days.

Since you do eat junk food with regularity and drink, your liver might be starting to exhibit some strain having to process all that stuff you throw at it, which includes the alcohol and fructose.
 

Exterous

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I can't really help but are you taking any new meds? I guess they could mess with your gut bacteria.

Nothing new there but thank you

Since you do eat junk food with regularity and drink, your liver might be starting to exhibit some strain having to process all that stuff you throw at it, which includes the alcohol and fructose.

Thanks. Pizza, or really carbs, don't seem to be a cause by themselves - at least yet. I think it might be on the potato chip side of things but I think I might be down to some experimentation to figure out whats now causing this
 

mike8675309

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Sudden onset could be a lactose intolerance popping up, which happens to many as they age.
Though you said, pizza doesn't create an issue.
Is it possible in your region that you could have run into a Lone Star Tick? They do carry something that can trigger an allergic reaction to some meat proteins.
Have you had blood work done since you started experiencing this? I would want them to check for A1C levels in a fasted state to make sure you haven't been dealing with insulin resistance.
 
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DAPUNISHER

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I guess they could mess with your gut bacteria.
That'd be my layman's guess too. I.E. Problems with healthy gut flora.

I used to suffer indigestion and other occasional digestive issues. Once I started doing intermittent fasting and infrequently, fasting, all those problems stopped. Being over 55 now, my body performs much better without frequent feedings.
 
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Time to ask some uncomfortable questions:

Noticed any changes in bathroom habits?

Discoloration of stool or change in shape of stool? Floating stools? Oily stools? Black stools? Anything out of the
ordinary?

Any unusual aches or discomfort in the gut, from the stomach to the intestines? Any sharp pain in the right side of the abdomen?

Press down hard in the abdominal area between the navel and groin. Do you feel unbearable pain at any point?

Any other symptoms that are out of the ordinary?
 

Exterous

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So I guess I'd call last night an experiment. Numerous amber beers and a greasy burger and fries. No issues today

Sudden onset could be a lactose intolerance popping up, which happens to many as they age.
Is it possible in your region that you could have run into a Lone Star Tick? They do carry something that can trigger an allergic reaction to some meat proteins.
Have you had blood work done since you started experiencing this? I would want them to check for A1C levels in a fasted state to make sure you haven't been dealing with insulin resistance.

When was your last physical?

I haven't been anywhere those ticks inhabit - at least according to Wikipedia.

Haven't done a general physical for a while although I have seen the doctor recently for a somewhat similarly generalized issue. Blood work was done a couple weeks before I started having issues. That said I hadn't really done anything in that ~month preceding the blood draw that might have caused an issue

With the other comment about mozzarella potentially being low in lactose and last nights experiment - lactose intolerance, unfortunately, could be a consideration. There might be a bit of a pattern with consuming food like a fair amount of cheese (with wine) and I do sometimes drink beers high in lactose (stouts and high ABV barrel aged beers which often add lactose). It's not a consistent pattern though but warrants more investigation

I used to suffer indigestion and other occasional digestive issues. Once I started doing intermittent fasting and infrequently, fasting, all those problems stopped. Being over 55 now, my body performs much better without frequent feedings.

As I understand intermittent fasting thats something I do 6-7 days a week since I really only eat 2 meals a day. Lunch around noon and dinner around 6pm with maybe a small snack at 8pm (Wife is usually up ~4am driving some of the meal times)
 
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Exterous

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Any unusual aches or discomfort in the gut, from the stomach to the intestines? Any sharp pain in the right side of the abdomen?

Press down hard in the abdominal area between the navel and groin. Do you feel unbearable pain at any point?

Any other symptoms that are out of the ordinary?

No real symptoms or pain most of the time. Just once every few of weeks I seem to do something that really gets my digestive system all riled up and then it fades after a day or so
 
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Take this anytime you are consuming a potentially problematic meal.
 

IGBT

Lifer
Jul 16, 2001
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Early onset of metabolic syndrome... insulin spike via booze and junk food. Consult your doctor and a dietician while your biology is still some what intact.
 

Backendbrains

Junior Member
Feb 21, 2023
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In any situation, Consult to doctor is best thing. Now a days, Many new diseases disclosed so no one can help it. thank you.
 

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
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Ha! Just reading the OP's #1 makes me chuckle. Somebody "after my own heart"!

See, I consider myself a connoisseur of Italian and Mexican cuisine. I make my own pasta sauce from the garden produce; I make my own taco meat. I had defrosted a package of my taco meat the other day, but felt too lazy to fry up my favorite king-size white-corn tortillas. So I was restless and decided to go out for some carry-out tacos.

I could've chosen Taco-Bell or Del Taco or Alberto's. But no! I really-really-really wanted those thin, soft and greasy Jack-in-the-Box tacos -- just over a dollar each. I went into the drive-thru and asked for a dozen.

I have no advice, other than to suggest picking a lean diet -- perhaps canned salmon or tuna with salad for a few days. Frankly, I've got frozen pizza that needs to be used, and the OP has got me thinking about fixing it today. Especially, I have a couple cans of anchovies. Another couple hours and I can see myself springing into action . . . .
 

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
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No real symptoms or pain most of the time. Just once every few of weeks I seem to do something that really gets my digestive system all riled up and then it fades after a day or so
by the way. Do you occasionally wake up with abdominal cramps due to gas? Try Beano or something similar. I could see how too much booze could f*** you up . . . .
 

Torn Mind

Lifer
Nov 25, 2012
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With the other comment about mozzarella potentially being low in lactose and last nights experiment - lactose intolerance, unfortunately, could be a consideration. There might be a bit of a pattern with consuming food like a fair amount of cheese (with wine) and I do sometimes drink beers high in lactose (stouts and high ABV barrel aged beers which often add lactose). It's not a consistent pattern though but warrants more investigation
The lactase enzyme is sold separately as medicine. So, you could prepare the exact same meal twice but eat one course with the enzyme and the other without.

Wally got this:
 

Exterous

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I think I found the issue. My wife noticed lower joint pain taking collagen so, while we realize this could be placebo, I had been mixing some collagen powder into my morning tea. Since I've stopped taking that I have had zero issues. And we just finished a week of pretty 'aggressive' eating and drinking

Seems odd and it could be a coincidence but everything seems back to normal now

Thanks for the insights everyone!
 

Exterous

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Must come from some really iffy source.
It's the same stuff my wife uses and she doesn't have any issues. Straight from a local brick and mortar chain store since I don't trust Amazon with that kind of crap. Still no guarantee but seems more likely to be a good source in my mind
 

Exterous

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Jun 20, 2006
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You said she noticed lower joint pain so something is wrong with that collagen powder. Maybe it's got some inflammatory agent in it.

Ah I see the confusion. The amount of join pain she was having was lower after she started taking the collagen. Not that her lower joints were causing her pain once she started taking the collagen