Foods that make you ill?

[Kajikit]

I know there's a technical difference between an allergy and an intolerance, and I'm not interested in going into it yet again right now. How many people have food ingredients that they can not physically tolerate ie. food that makes you physically ill in some way, and not just because you don't like the taste!

My mother can't eat bell peppers - they make it feel like somebody is kicking a football around in her stomach all night long. DH loves them... but for the last year he's become intolerant of them too - they send him running to the bathroom within an hour of eating them. :( So I have to cook without them again. I don't have any problem with peppers, but refined soy products (soy yoghurt, soy cheese, soy milk etc.) give me vicious heartburn and indigestion. I tried using soy instead of dairy for lactose-intolerance but the effects were more unpleasant than the milk so I switched back! I'm mildly lactose-intolerant and have to watch my intake so that it doesn't make me sick, (no jumbo triple-thick milkshakes for me thank you!) but a cup of milk or yoghurt a day and a bit of cheese is fine.

[Passadumkeg]

Booze; if I drink too much, I feel shitty the next morning.

[abduction51]

I find that even after a glass I'm hurting the next morning...like today in fact.

[Erinmck]

Coffee. It depends on the day, though. More often than not, it tears me up... it's really sad because I love coffee. I drink green tea as my morning alternative, which is probably for the best anyways.

[Midlife]

I've always had an automatic Ex-Lax reaction to what passes for Curry on many non-Indian restaurant menus. I often get the same thing from Bernaise Sauce. I visited India several years ago, had many different types of curries (somewhat cautiously at first), and never had that problem.

Bernaise sauce has tarragon and chervil in it, right? But most curry powders (I'm assuming that's what's in what I'm refering to) do not contain those herbs, I don't think.

Ideas??

[alkapal]

definitely no chervil or tarragon in any curry powder i know.

[normalheightsfoodie]

Any type of food that contains traces of salmonella tends to make me ill.

[Sal Vanilla]

Any food covered in or marinated in any amount of Jack Daniels whiskey makes my gagger go off. I literally gag like when you see someone barf. It is the smell. 20 some odd years and I still cannot stand it. I had to turn away to pour it when I bartended.

If my husband has undercooked shellfish (like shrimp or lobbies - but not oysters or clams) his throat swells and his face goes all willywonka. Scary.

[KayceeK]

Ranch dressing; I feel sick just thinking about it.

[mogo]

Shrimp and chocolate make me itchy. Sometimes I don't care and will eat them anyway. :)

My mother has an odd reaction to sweet raw fruits and vegetables. If they are unripe or sour she is okay with them, but within minutes of eating sweet ones she will feel like throwing up. It's not that she doesn't like the taste/smell/texture of them either -- it just makes her sick.

[umbushi plum]

i have this reaction to some sweet fruits to, i hate it because i LOVE fruit! its mostly with yellow nectarines and peaches (white has less of an effect) pinapple some apples if they are not organic, plums and dried prunes and most dried fruit mango there are a few i am sure i'm forgetting but deffinetly those ones. they stew and sit in my stomach until they can't stay in my stomach anymore, its very unpleasant. i went to the doctor apparently i have mild fructose mal-absorbtion which sucks ;-(

[Louise]

Nothing. I can eat anything and as long as it isn't spoiled it gives me no distress at all. No migraines, no gut rumblies, no nausea, no speeding through, no unhappy returns. Some smells are gross, but not incapacitating. (Pont l'Eveque cheese = the aroma of a well fermented trash can on a hot day) I even walked through the not entirely refrigerated Muslim butcher's market in Singapore without trouble -- equatorial heat + mutton = about what you'd imagine. And I bought and ate a whole durian. Not all at once of course.

[abduction51]

Pizza from a certain restaurant that will remain nameless...but anybody else that eats the same pizza doesn't get sick...still has me perplexed.

Raw cabbage is like a little death to me every time I eat it...but yet I still do...I love the taste and texture! :(

Any kind of citric juice...always have to cut it with Sprite.

Wine...BOO!!! The worst heartburn and acid stomach ever! But I've found that through OTC medication I can still quench my love of wine.

[mrbigshotno.1]

Any sour/green apple candy, the smell makes my head throb.

Not a food but the smell of baby powder or baby oil will make me throw up. Alot of elderly ladies will wear perfume that smells like baby powder. If I'm in public and I smell that perfume I have to hold my breath and leave the area.

[BamiaWruz]

Banana candy/gum makes me feel like I'm going to throw up. Can't stand that artificial stuff and it lasts long in the mouth.

[alkapal]

years ago, i made a huge pot of ratatouille, tasting as i went. i never ate a portion when i served others, but went to bed really sick. nobody else got sick, but i associate ratatouille with that episode. i haven't eaten it since, and don't even want to smell it.

i still love each individual component. just not all together.
~~~~~~~
i've cut out sugar in my coffee, as it later gives me a headache.... as do donuts.
~~~~~~~~
share a big bag of doritos? i got a headache. (my niece, with whom i shared it, also got a headache. msg?).
~~~~~~
don't even consider leaving any uncooked egg white on my fried egg. or a tiny speck of bad lettuce on a salad. i will have to run, run, run, run awaaaaaaaaayyyyyy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5zFsy...

[kattyeyes]

When you said "run run away" this came to mind instead:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHoPYL...

Isn't it interesting/odd how quickly we form negative food associations (like your ratatouille example)? I think it's the same with drinking. When I was younger, when I got sick after drinking too much X, it was a long time before I ever drank again. I only had two bad experiences that way--one was 151 and Coke (I was young and didn't know any better) and the other was Cape Codders. Come to think of it, I don't drink either of those anymore and don't miss them whatsoever either--even 20+ years later! UGH!

[BamiaWruz]

Eggs
Cream sauces (unless I eat a lemon or lime to "cut" it I struggle with a sick feeling for a while)
Beef (psoriasis)
Chocolate (skin reaction)
Eggplant (skin reaction)
Shellfish (bumps on chin and forehead)
Avocado (bitter oily feeling in stomach)
Caffeine (increase heart rate)
Oil and fat (sickening)
Salmon (except raw)
Canned tuna (if dry, can't digest it like salmon)

[pikawicca]

Oy vey, this drives me crazy. The DH has serious issues with garlic, cinnamon, nuts. coconut, blueberries, and God knows what else. He seems to be able to tolerate a smidge of a "bad thing" every once in a while, but a little too much causes serious discomfort and sleepless nights. This sort of problem was very rare when I was a youngster, but seems to be more common now. Any thoughts why this might be so?

[kattyeyes]

Did your husband always have serious issues with those foods or did it hit him harder as he got older? It does make you wonder what about our food (or environment) has changed that so many people have serious food allergies these days. For example, I don't recall ever hearing about peanut allergies when I was a kid, but now (I'm 40) seems it's a very big deal. Are we oversensitized? Oversanitized? Something definitely seems to be going wrong.

[omotosando]

Onion, cooked or raw, gives me severe intestinal distress. It was once explained to me by a gastrointestinologist that some people lack an enzyme that can digest onions. I have no problem with garlic however, and I know some people who can't tolerate onions also can't tolerate garlic.

Worst effect is that it makes it very difficult to eat at vegan restaurants, since, in my experience, most vegan chefs think that adding onions to everything is the best way to compensate for lack of meat. Also very difficult to eat Indian curry (except as cooked by Hare Krishnas who do not eat onions for religious reasons) since onion is the base of most curries.

Not an allergy, but for some reason, mayo has always made me gag.

[alkapal]

omotosando, check out manjula's kitchen (google) for onion-free indian food. she is a jain, and thus eats no onions, iirc.

[omotosando]

Alkapal, thanks for the heads-up about Manjula's Kitchen http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/

Indian recipes without onions - I feel like I'm in heaven. Ah, if there were only a few Jain restaurants around.

[alkapal]

google jain recipes, too. here is a big site: jainworld! http://www.jainworld.com/jainfoodreci...
~~~~~~
"whatcha gonna do now that you've won the superbowl?"
"i'm goin' to JAINWORLD!"

[AngelSanctuary]

Ketchup triggers my gag reflex, so does melted ice cream but It think these are psychological...

[alkapal]

mountain dew has some ingredient that gives my tummy a dull but quite pronounced ache, and instills in me a profound sense of unwellness.

i just discovered a lesser version of this experience with a recent 7-up.

[Passadumkeg]

Food from chain restaurants. The chains hurt my teeth, are hard to digest and really, really hurt my moral principles.

Dudley Eat Right

[TampaAurora]

Smell of any cream-based sauces - specifically alfredo and chicken-a-la-king or the taste/texture/smell of mayo. Growing up with a severe milk intolerance, I began to hate the smell/taste of anything creamy. I could get away with boxed cheese pastas without too bad of a stomach ache, but that's it. The smells make me gag but as I try and slowly incorporate dairy into my life (it doesn't hurt me as badly anymore or at all in small doses) it's getting better. I just went to my first cheese tasting!

[mrsbuffer]

Brazil nuts. I love them but they give me severe stomach cramps. Ditto for French onion soup and onion dip - they go right through me.

[revsharkie]

Kiwi. No clue why, but it goes in my mouth, I gag.

[mateo21]

Scrambled eggs and omelets. Not over-easy, sunny-side-up, hard boiled, soft boiled, not egg salad, not custards or anything else that has high beaten egg content -- just plain scrambled eggs cooked (either in scramble or omelet form), make me want to vomit every time. It's the strangest thing.

[schrutefarms]

Sadly, macadamia nuts give me hives (and they're my favorite nut), and creme brulee makes me slightly ill (I ate a huge one by myself in about five minutes years and years ago and have really never been able to eat one since).

[im_nomad]

poor you ! creme brulee is one of the best things ever.

[schrutefarms]

Proof that you can have too much of a good thing.

[im_nomad]

I've never been able to understand why I can practically eat my weight in scorching hot peppers and hot sauces and such.....but raw onion or raw garlic makes me feel like i've swallowed a ball of lead, burns my stomach and has on occasion given me the queesies.

No problem at all cooked, even when they're cooked just a little, they're fine. I can tolerate the green bits of green onions raw.

[toodie jane]

the sulphur compounds perhaps?

[im_nomad]

hmmm...there's a thought. i'm also highly intolerant of sulpha drugs. the one time i took them i felt absolutely horrible.

[sfumato]

Curries. Especially ones heavy on the turmeric.

I used to LOVE them, and then we went to Pakistan for a wedding. We were SO careful, but everyone got sick- even the bride. Everyone got better and I stayed sick (lost over 15 lbs in a few weeks, and I'm only 5'1" to begin with). Three+ weeks of giardia and travelling ALL around the countryside there in December, 2003 extended into me being sick through February (after we returned) and required 2 courses of nausea-inducing antibiotics.

While we were there, I went from eating all the lovely wedding food to eating only na'an, 7up, and warm rice mushes from the family's cooks. Oh, and all the grape gum everyone kept on hand for me, as I was throwing up every hour or so (I blessedly had none of the other effects, thank GOD).

Now I can only do curries that have virtually no turmeric- lots of citrus added helps, too. And that's only a recent development.

The awful part is that this wasn't even from street food (which I LOVE)- our water bottles were refilled with tap water by the residence staff while we were out. Sigh.

[almansa]

I had a sous chef once who developed an allergy to turmeric, and he was allergic to nothing else at all. Weird.

[sfumato]

What were his symptoms? I get serious nausea and headaches, so I assume that with me, it's just a strong food aversion. Yuck.

[Mawrter]

Oh, that's just pathetic! Everyone sick at an out-of-town wedding when you should have been enjoying all that special food!

Giardia is *tough* to recover from - I have friends who had similar long, drawn-out recoveries from giardia they brought home to the U.S. I'm glad you're well now.

[sfumato]

I know, right? But I felt better that at least the Pakistani friends with us weren't immune to it (only in the sense that I wasn't as much of a wuss :)- clearly I was not happy that we were all sick).

Recovery is absolutely horrendous, and I missed out on SO much good food. I tried, but the more I attempted to just eat it, the worse I felt. Infuriating.

[James Cristinian]

Chili with beans made me sick when I was a kid, I tried it once, in Texas we just don't do it.

[dinaofdoom]

what part of texas are you from?
i'm in austin and we definitely have beans in our chili...

[James Cristinian]

Houston. The chili appreciation society international (they sanction the Terlingua cookoff) does not allow beans in their cookoff, good enough for me. To be honest, I don't now a restaurant in Houston that sells chili, I make my own.

[mordacity]

I'd never thought about it before, but it's true. I lived in Houston for most of my life, and it never even occurred to me to go out for chili. I wouldn't know where to go. Here in DC I know of a few places that sell it, but I still always make my own.

[Mawrter]

I think you Texans have so very much chili, there's probably a lot of mirco-regional variation. Here we have the opposite: so little, there's not enough chili eating, making , cooking or thinking to even have a regional style.

[irishnyc]

Ginger, fresh or pickled. I can't stand the smell, and I seem to get sick every time I've eaten it.

[Mawrter]

How ironic, since ginger is thought to help fight nausea. I guess that's not universal!

[latindancer]

Black beans.

[coll]

Those are the only beans I could tolerate at first!

[toodie jane]

my parents, being from England, always cooked favas for Easter dinner. I used to hate the flavor, and would refuse to eat them. Spent many an unhappy Easter sitting at the table alone till I "finished my dinner". One dinner, I did eat them, and promptly threw up at the table. I was never forced to eat them again.

Turns out I may have been allergic to them. Favism is a disease that affects mostly children, causing vomiting and intestinal distress, and in severe cases, jaundice. Glad I never got that far.

[dinaofdoom]

at least you had a medical reason!

once you get sick on something, it's hard to go back to it...

[revsharkie]

That's why I don't like zucchini.

[grouper]

I can't eat swordfish or farm-raised salmon or I'm doubled over in pain. Husband says it's all in my head, but he's not feeling the pain.

The one-and-only time I had escolar, I vowed never to eat it again.

[dinaofdoom]

i had no clue about escolar, and then i went and ate it and regretted it.
damn, you, escolar! why must something that tastes good hurt so bad?

[mordacity]

Jellybeans. I have no idea why.

[jumpingmonk]

Don't know if it counts as "making me ill" but I cant ea't sharp cheddar cheese, because for some reason I makes the hinges of my jaw (you know where your maxilla and mandible come together) ache like crazy. I've never understood it as not other cheese, no matter how sharp does it. Maybe it something they do to the Cheese in north America becuse real english farmhouse cheddar doesn't do the same thing to me)

[smrits]

Walnuts. I could never figure out why everybody didn't hate walnuts: I didn't realize that they're not supposed to make your mouth itch and your stomach feel queasy.

[smartie]

same problem for me, walnuts make my mouth itch, so do hazelnuts. In summer I can't eat plums, any type of melon or canteloupe and a few other fruits - same problem, itchy mouth and lips.

[Sooeygun]

I should not eat fresh baked bread when it is still warm from the oven. It goes right through me. Once it has cooled off, it is fine. My mom is the same way. But when faced with a warm loaf, I have been known to ignore the problem and pay the price.

For quite a while, I couldn't eat honey dijon dressing because it was on the last meal I had before being struck with Norwalk virus. Just the thought of it would make me feel queasy. That one is fading with time.

[Mawrter]

Physically - I can't drink like a fish, smoke Camels all night and cope the next day by throwing back espressos like I used to without experiencing profound discomfort. Middle age is really limiting, yanno? ;-)

Psychosomatically - I gag on liver and other offal. I got terribly sick on Canada goose breast (not because of the meat, in all likelihood, because I was pregnant) and now the smell icks me out. Eating it is certainly out of the question for the foreseeable future. Likewise, I could not cope with orzo for a few years. I know getting all sensitive about a particular pasta *shape* is ridiculous, but I was *that* sick.

[jumpingmonk]

Balsamic Vinegar- gives me unbelieveable gastic distress. I read somewhere that the molds in balsamic vinegar can induce labor in some overdue women so maybe its a hormone thing (I'm a guy)

"white chocolate" "straight"-makes me nauseasous. Can eat it if it mixed with regular chococolate (milk or dark)

[gfr1111]

I love Greek dolmades, the ground lanb with spices and rice that is stuffed inside grape leaves and then steamed or fried. I love the stuff, but the grape leaves make my stomach queasy. It took me a long time to figure out what it was--and that's the only food I can't eat. Interestingly, a lot of other peple have confessed to me that they have this problem, too.

[schrutefarms]

I think I might die if I couldn't eat dolmades anymore.

[kchurchill5]

It is funny because growing up I was always tested for kidney stones, I was always high in uric acid, but never got them. I do have rheumatoid since age 25. Luckily under control, but I never even thought about the correlation.

[kchurchill5]

Liver, ate it 4 times, not just when I was young, and all 4x got sick. There is absolutely no others food I will not try or eat and nothing else bothers me. The one time is was not just fried so I actually didn't not it was liver. I still got sick. I have no allergies, but I can't eat it.

[billieboy]

A friend of mine owns a deer farm and supplies me with deer liver. He, it seems cannot eat it because of the uric acid which is also in kidneys. Gives him severe gout.
Something you may want to look into.

[Peg]

Most mushrooms. I used to get all sorts of mild medical problems and tried an exclusion diet - reintroducing mushrooms caused immediate stomach pain. (I've had them since, sometimes without knowing, and always suffer pain for days).

[monavano]

I adore pineapple and could eat my way through half of a ripe one....except my stomach will feel like the acid is burning a hole through the lining. I mean like, doubled over pain ;-(

But , the real kicker for me is pesto. Pesto!. Back in the 80's, when pesto become more familiar, I made it a couple of times. I wound up nauseated for hours each time. I have narrowed it down to the pine nuts because I love and can tolerate every other thing in it. Unless it's the heavy use of olive oil?
All I know is that it looks and smells great, but I avoid pesto.....and pine nuts.

[revsharkie]

Did you ever try doing pesto with a different nut? Pine nuts are expensive, and I always have pecans on hand, so that's what I use.

[mollydingle]

Onions and to a lesser extant, most peppers. I love 'em, but unless I want to spend time doing the Aztec Two-Step, I avoid them.

[dinaofdoom]

bell peppers hate me; always have.
and it's hard, because those little buggers are in lots of stuff!

escolar. but i know i am not alone in this. i had no idea about it, and learned the hard way!

as for things i can't eat because of bad memories-- beef stew.
just smelling it makes me gaggy.
my mother forced me to eat it as a kid, and one night i had the flu and wasn't hungry but...
i am sure you know the rest.

[queencru]

I can't have dark chocolate/bittersweet chocolate because it gives me migraines. Sometimes I don't really care and will have a coffee and then take some OTC painkillers just to have the chocolate.

For some reason, certain types of sausage don't cut it for me either. They just make me have stomach pain. I'm lactose intolerant too so obviously that's something I have to watch. Certain cheesier pizzas or frozen custard are the kiss of death for that and will give me cramps for a day.

[MrsT]

This is more psychological than physical, but ever since my husband and I became really ill off of a hard cheese, I bought at a local farmers market, I can no longer tolerate the smell or taste of hard aged cheeses. I made a mac & cheese using aged cheddar and parmigiano reggiano. The smell of grating it was getting me nauseous, and when I tried it, I couldn't stand the taste of the cheddar. The same goes for gruyere, swiss, provolone, and manchego. This just started last fall. It's sad because I really used to love all kinds of cheese.

[billieboy]

Beans...I make the best Boston Baked Beans on the planet, but I cannot eat them.
Incontinence like you would not believe. (I know...too much information)
Embarrassing and inconvenient and such a shame to not be able to enjoy one of life's little pleasures.

[kattyeyes]

I'm allergic to mold, but unfortunately became a blue cheese lover over the past several years. I wish I still hated the stuff as I did when i was younger, but it's soooo delicious. What's weird is not ALL blues have the same effect on me. Recently, I had Maytag blue cheese over chips and developed a tingling tongue later that night. Lucky for me, our local cheesemonger has similar "tingly" effects to the same cheeses I do, so I can generally stay away from "trigger" cheeses by consulting with him. I have also broken out in hives from certain blues. I know I ought to be more careful.

[Cachetes]

I unfortunately have some problems with some really delicious food:
Chocolate (I'll skip the details)
Beef (same as above)
Unripened mango (rash)
Shellfish (hives)
Avocado (indigestion)
Cantaloupe (indigestion)

I have no idea why avocados and cantaloupe give me indigestion, while I can eat onions, garlic and peppers with no problems.

[jeni1002]

I get wicked stomach aches from avocado, although I love it and sometimes take the risk and enjoy it. Same with coconut milk. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but every time I tried the mini-twix, snickers or m&ms that my office has around, I got a headache for the rest of the day (this doesn't happen with good quality chocolate....)

[John Manzo]

You sound like me with avocados and coconut- something in the fat? I have a more unpleasant reaction to raw nuts; fresh out of the shell walnuts can make me vomit.

It's got better as I've got older.

[coll]

I once messed up my stomach for months and the doctor said it was because I was eating about an avocado daily at the time, he said they were really greasy. Commercial cantalopes kill me too, although I can eat the local muskmelons in summer, so I just wait until then.
Onions, garlic, bell peppers (other than my own roasted red peppers, which I rinse off after cooking), not to mention broccoli and cauliflower,cabbage..all that stuff..used to kill me, but as I'm getting older they hardly bother me anymore. Well a couple of BeanOs doesn't hurt, but I've heard that with women, it's a hormone thing, and I guess I'm hitting that age. There ARE some good things about getting older, believe it or not!

[almansa]

Does any of you have a latex allergy? It shares a protein with avocado.

[Cachetes]

No, no latex allergy. Though I'm glad to see from 'coll' that I should try local muskmelons this summer - perhaps there is hope!

[coll]

Definitely no latex allergy. I did used to have some lactose intolerance, which is what I thought you first said.

But I also had grease intolerance (gall bladder runs in my family) I don't know what that's called, but I think that is what did it.

[TampaAurora]

My irritable bowel syndrome was diagnosed because I went in with a problem with both milk and grease.

[coll]

That's probably what it was, they didn't have a name for it at the time. I think my doctor called it "sensitive stomach". As soon as I know there was a medicine for it, I got better. No way am I going to give up eating whole groups of food!

[TampaAurora]

It took about a year to get my body retrained to do what it was supposed to do naturally using several IBS-related medications but while doing so, I followed the doctors' orders (yeah, the apostrophe is in the right spot) and cut out the foods they told me to, then incorporated them back in gradually. Eating Activia yogurt helps me when I'm not eating the fiber my body needs.

7 Deadly Sins of IBS and Acid Reflux
Acids (CItrus especially)
Dairy
Sugars
Alcohol
Cruciferious Vegetables
Fat
Caffeine

During that year, I only "sinned" once a meal - mostly with fat or sugar since I was eating very poorly - mostly in restaurants, in my car or out of a box. My lifestyle was based on sleeping and making it through the day - incredibly high stress. I occasionally have a relapse, but now its more acid related or because of dehydration. My IBS was one of the most severe any of my doctors had seen, but eating more healthily is the best thing I have ever done for myself. When the symptoms creep up again, I know its diet-related and how to fix it. The problems now lie in listening to the symptoms before the medication is needed. Good luck.

[coll]

You know, that's what I did too, only because nothing agreed with me and not from the doctors' advice (yes many of them): maybe the nutrtionist I consulted recommended it, can't remember. I wasn't that crazy about her, but I was desperate.
For six months the only things I could tolerate were rice, bananas, peas and for some reason Doritos. I lost at least 30 lbs and looked like a skeleton. Than once I got the medication (it involved belladonna and other strong stuff) I wasn't afraid to eat anymore, started branching out and it never got bad like that again. Probably because I never let it get that bad again, you're right. Hey, maybe that's why I'm so obsessed with food now!

[alkapal]

dang! a doritos diet?!? is "nacho cheesier" ok? ;-0.

[coll]

Back then, there was only one Dorito, just plain ol' cheese. Ranch followed at some point soon after. For all I know, the recipe has completely changed in the years since. Probably has. I used to buy them mostly for my Siamese cats, they loved all foods but that was their favorite treat of all. But only the cheese flavor; one time I bought the ranch and they wouldn't touch any Dorito for months afterwards.

[coll]

Hope it works for you! They're worth waiting for. (Just ask my cat!)

[cheesecake17]

I stopped drinking milk beacuse I was getting stomachaches. Soy milk doesn't cause that problem, and I still eat cheese and yogurt.

Oranges and orange juice- I stay far away from those. I can't stand the acid feeling in my stomach and it leaves the most awful metallic taste.

[krisrishere]

When my husband and I moved from CT to VA we both became lactose intolerant. We cannot drink the milk down here for some reason. I have found that the ultra pasterized organic milk doesn't make us *as* ill as the general milk brands. Odd huh?