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hi all,

i've been eating mostly paleo since February, and quite enjoying it. Thing is, I developed a wicked reaction to high fat dairy (whipping cream, sour cream, cheeses--and i know, dairy is not really paleo... :-s) a couple months in (8 hour sneeze fests - it was brutal!). Anyways, that only seemed to last a month or so, and now i can tolerate dairy, but i don't feel great on it, so i avoid it for the most part (except small amounts of butter and ghee!).

i've replaced yogurt and cream with coconut milk, which i love, but i seem to get the same reaction to coconut milk that i do to whipping cream, which makes me wonder if its actually the fat, and not the source.

the reaction is a sort of tight, deeply dry throat - and not the kind of dry that is fixed with a drink of water, but a persistent almost itchy dry. and fatigue.

has anyone else had a similar experience? or any ideas of what might be going on here?

fwiw, i also have not lost any weight eating paleo (I'm 5' 5", 160 lbs), although my partner (6' 4", now 215 lbs) lost 25 lbs. I was even eating a ketogenic diet for a few weeks, and only experienced water weight loss (mb a total of 1 lb, then plateau).

i've been taking various probiotics over the past few months, which i guess could be a factor in the dairy/fat reaction, but that's just a guess...

thanks in advance for any insights!

Kellie

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5 Answers

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It's perfectly possible to do paleo without dairy or coconut milk. I eliminated them for awhile (and pretty much only eat them once a week now) because they upset my stomach. I had a really bad stomach ache last week because I decided to try heavy cream. No thanks.

Buy some really nice fatty meat and start rendering grass fed tallow to cook with. At my sickest grass-fed bison and beef, plus some seafood, was the most I could tolerate.

And it might be worth seeing a doctor if you can. Being allergic to fat is unlikely, but other allergies and medical conditions could cause your problem. Is the reaction immediate? Is it worse in the morning?

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Thanks for your comments Melissa. I just had some (IgG) allergy tests done, and dairy came up fine, coconut wasn't tested. But something's obviously going on! The reaction is fairly immediate - 5-10 mins after eating. time of day doesn't seem to be a factor. – kb May 30 2010 at 17:13
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What is in most heavy cream and coconut milk is bean extracts: carageenan is often in the cream, and guar gum is in a lot of coconut milk.

Both mess up my digestion. I do fine with cream as long as it's only cream, and I have found 100% coconut milk (Aroy-D 8.5oz aseptic boxes have nothing added), but it's hard to track down.

Sneezing though...that sounds more like sulfites or something. The dairy products shouldn't have that stuff anyway.

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thanks Nicole! a bit of self experimentation in the last day seems to show that my reactions are milder with a bit of starchy carbohydrate (i.e. banana), interestingly enough! but that seems to open a whole other can of worms. you're right, all these foods (cream, coconut milk, etc.) really don't need to have anything added to them... they're perfect on their own. good tip on the coconut milk, thanks! – kb Jun 1 2010 at 19:55
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The milk could be a dairy reaction there are tons of sites that make it clear that milk is the perfect drink... For calves.

If your body doesn't accept it well, don't drink it

as for coconut milk, I had a similar reaction, until I made sure I wasn't buying the clean milk, I switched to organic coconut without sulfur dioxide and tastes better and no reaction. I really like how I feel after making it into Coconut Kefir!

If both still cause the reaction, try almond milk

it could also be multiple food allergies anaphylaxic nut allergy to coconut just really mild and dairy is far more common to be mild

I'd try removing both in any form from you diet and see if your weight drops a food allergy can keep your system broken

if you are deviating from paleo otherwise cheating, stop, give it 30 days of rigid low carb paleo and then slowly reintroduce things to see what the cause is

as far as probiotics, I treat them same way I treat food now... Eat real. Get probiotics from Kefir, Kombuncha, and other Real Fermented Sources.

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Coconut kefir sounds aweseome! Gonna try it. How do you keep your kefir grain alive? Do you eat it almost every day? – Paul May 30 2010 at 16:22
good ideas here Thor. I haven't been able to find a sulphur dioxide free coconut milk - what brand do you use? and good call on the probiotics. thanks! – kb May 30 2010 at 17:15
You keep them in water/milk yes I drink it daily the brand of coconut milk is "Bright" it's USDA organic for all that means but the ingredient list is water,Organic Coconut. – Stephen-Aegis May 31 2010 at 11:18
Lifeway makes a Greek style(fullfat) kefir that's a good intro to the taste, you can mix that until you get started with the kefir itself – Stephen-Aegis May 31 2010 at 11:20
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it sounds like a food intolerance. Test butter and ghee separately. What brand of coconut milk are you using?

I don't think the probiotics are hurting anything.

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good idea on testing butter/ghee separately. the coconut milk is Aroy-D (Thailand). It does have Sulphur Dioxide, which is perhaps a culprit. But since its a similar reaction to coconut milk and dairy cream (which doesn't have the SD) i wonder if that's really it? perhaps i need to try further dietary restrictions, but that's getting a bit tired! – kb May 30 2010 at 17:17
Here's a link on sulphites. fedupwithfoodadditives.info/factsheets/… The dry throat could be a symptom of asthma. Both sulphites and dairy can aggravate asthma. Perhaps start with a different brand of coconut milk? – rht Jun 1 2010 at 1:01
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I have been Paleo for a couple of months and noticed today that I had my first sneezing reaction to Aroy-D 100% Coconut. I used to get the same reaction to any milk or dairy products. I checked the ingredients to my Coconut milk and SD is not listed. Wierdness. I will give it another try then I may have to remove it from my diet.

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