Interesting thing I noticed!

[WebMistress]

So, since switching to a low carb diet, and cutting out sugars, I have noticed a very interesting thing happened. Well, two things actually.

1) The morning & night cough that I have had since November (which sounded like bronchitis, but wasn't) finally went away, and immediately so.

2) The constant congestion in my sinus cavity that I have had for the past 10 years which every doctor kept treating as "allergies" even though my tests said I didn't have any allergies, has finally completely gone away, and for the last two weeks I have been able to breathe easily through both sides of my nose, which I have not been able to do since about 2009.

The ONLY thing I have done different in my life is cut out all processed foods, reduced all sugars (only consuming sugars that occur naturally in fruits, etc) and completely removed all breads, pastas, and rice.

I am so glad that when I talk now I don't sound so 'nasally' and I can breathe!

Who would have thought that high blood sugar levels would cause me to have congestion in my sinus cavity!

Inflammation! Right? I'm so happy and overjoyed! Love Love Love it!

[Praveen55]

WebMistress

Well done and congratulations!

[TheAwfulToad Ambassador]

It's great, innit?

I'd say a good 50% of newly-converted heretics experience something similar.

Chronic conditions are absolutely horrible, even when they're "trivial". Blocked sinuses is bearable if it's a week or two ... but for longer than that, I can imagine it really, really gets you down.

You might want to watch "The Magic Pill" on YouTube, which features a couple of "miracle cures". Honestly, even as an LCHF fan, when I watched that, I thought: are they just making this stuff up? Is this for real? I personally don't believe in magic pills. OTOH, having read a fair number of papers about the mechanisms by which high-carb diets cause damage, and heard various stories like yours about "intractable" problems just disappearing, I'm inclined to assume they're telling the truth unless someone can show otherwise.

I've said it in other groups: LCHF isn't a "diet". It's just healthy eating.

[WebMistress in reply to TheAwfulToad]

I will watch that movie, thank you. I’m amazed still.

[WillBeTrim]

A girl at school with my daughters years ago used to permanently have a runny or blocked nose. Her mother removed dairy from her diet and with 2 days her sinuses cleared up and her face slimmed down. The poor mother was horrified that she had been feeding her daughter all the things that were actually making her sick.

[WebMistress in reply to WillBeTrim]

Food can definitely cause problems, and everyone has different food allergies or food sensitivities. I’m blessed that I’ve never had food allergies. But I’m still having food issues because of my past eating habits.

[Hidden in reply to WillBeTrim]

I've decided I have to at least greatly cut back on dairy too. I figured out years ago that drinking milk was what gave me sinus headaches, so I stopped drinking milk. Years later, since going LCHF, I've upped the dairy quite a bit with yogurt, cream, various forms of cheese, etc., but still don't just drink milk. And now my ears are horribly plugged up, constant drainage, etc. Bummer. I was so enjoying all that! Finding acceptable sugar free substitutes is a bit of a trick out here.

[WebMistress in reply to Hidden]

I just read your post again, for the second time. I wondered if you have done any tests to find out if you have allergies to foods?

Do your symptoms happen fairly quickly after having dairy? Or, are they only after having dairy continually (daily) for days?

I'm only asking because perhaps you can have dairy in smaller doses, with less effects?

I saw recently some products that are 'non-dairy' but are things like milks, yogurts, ice creams, etc...

Not sure about cheese though. I wonder if goat cheese effects you the same as cow's cheese?

Curious....

[Hidden in reply to WebMistress]

I'm working on it. I've been off MOST dairy for a couple weeks now, and my ears do seem to be better, though not completely clear yet. I'm still experimenting with this trying to figure it out. I was hoping to be able to still use a little butter, and I am really missing the cream and yogurt. I did find feta cheese which is better than nothing, but I may have to completely eliminate it all to see just what I am reacting to. So glad you can breathe! I am glad this congestion isn't messing up my breathing; that's so miserable.

[MTCee]

My life long asthma disappeared a few years into a low carb diet. Needless to say I was over the moon. Since then I've been able to dramatically improve my general fitness levels and reduce my weight.

[sann in reply to MTCee]

Hi there been reading your post and would. Like to no what you ear on a LCHF please, I’m one of the old school don’t know about all these things, thank you Sann

[sann in reply to sann]

Should read what you eat oops

[MTCee in reply to sann]

What do I eat? Lots of low carb fruit and veg, fish, eggs, dairy and a bit of meat plus a few pulses with the occasional bit of home baked gluten free bread and some rare treats like when I recently tried to make oat-less flapjacks and ended up with flapjack cake.....which my hubby mostly finished off quite happily 😂

[NSNG-am]

Congrats on your health and lifestyle victory. I've been lchf for the last few years and feel great. Last week my blood tests came back with great results across the board.

[TheAwfulToad Ambassador in reply to NSNG-am]

just curious - is your doctor supportive? Does he/she know what you eat?

[NSNG-am in reply to TheAwfulToad]

My doctor is mostly interested in the results and not that inquisitive of the method.

[TheAwfulToad Ambassador in reply to NSNG-am]

Interesting. You'd think he'd at least have some professional curiosity in what works and what doesn't!

[NSNG-am in reply to TheAwfulToad]

I'm not surprised. In 2014, when I went to him with knee pain from soccer, he looked at me and said I need to lose weight. He provided zero direction on how to do that.

I became my own health advocate and watched a lot of documentaries and fortunately figured out that sugar was the first thing that needed to be eliminated.

I wish the doctors would just tell everyone to eat lchf foods.

[JT489]

Fabulous, really well done, so nice to have several health benefits...the power of food is amazing!

[Magnoli-a1]

I had an interesting thing happen to me. When I told my doctor, she did not believe that my experience was relevant. A couple of winters ago, I had a chronic cough when I lay on my back while sleeping. It was irritating to me and to my husband. This went on for a couple of months and I hadn't gone to the doctor about it because I just tend to avoid the doctor's office. One night I got up in frustration at not being able to sleep through the night once again and for some reason, I mixed up my magnesium drink and drank it. Shortly after, I went back to bed and surprisingly, I had no more problems with the cough that night. I decided to try drinking it before bed the following night and again, no more coughing. I continued on my nightly magnesium ritual for a while until I was sure that the coughing was not coming back. Since that time, I have had this chronic cough appear from time to time and I always go back to my magnesium cure and it goes away!