Thank you for such a thought-out reply. Emma, if it not too much
trouble, could I converse with you via email? I'm due to start my
nutrition degree again in september and I value your opinions very much.

> Hmmm. I kind of know what you mean by this. I don't know whether this
> relates to you or not, but I feel utterly unmotivated when I eat wheat
> and milk, and to a lesser extent oats.

Well as a coeliac, all gluten is off my menu. Milk i'm only doing goat
at the moment. I know it affects me but i've never really considered
how much, I just hate to cut out more than necessary.

Sushi rice doesn't seem to affect me in that way, so
> I spent most of my time on a wheat-free, rice-heavy "decorating diet".
> LOL.

I get on well with the sushi rice too:) but I still cannot tolerate
the huge carbohydrate rush of a standard portion. I think it's just
too much serotonin? The symptom I get is mostly anxiety, and brainfog.
Maybe i've just been on a low carb diet for so long, I can really tell
the difference. I tolerate lentils well as a carbohydrate souce but
too much protein does me no good either, especially since lentils are
such poor quality. I have a low gi pasta that is made of washed starch
that I tolerate very well but it probably has no nutrition in it as
well...

I really need to do the diet properly, I suspect my tolerance to the
carbs may return once I clear the amines out my system.

Maybe your body is really good at making ketones
> or particularly sensitive to ketones.

Hmmmm. Despite doing all meat for 3-4 months I never seemed to stop
spilling ketones. I was certainly eating enough calories because I
actually gained about a stone in that time. In fact I don't gain
weight at all on high carb diets, I actually really improve my
bodyfat% and my bowels are fine. Fat just puts the weight on like
anything (as do chemicals). I'm confused as to why this but I have a
lot of energy on this way as well. Then again my chemical intolerance
is not so clear to me either - it closely follows my menstural cycle,
virtually dissappearing the week before ovulating. (you might remember
I mentioned that my periods stopped as I started low carbing but they
returned upon eating a high carb diet...).

I wonder if we're both
> experiencing the same effect but with a different tolerance threshold
> to carbs and ketones? I guess if this is true you are pretty lucky
> because it must mean you have low insulin levels!

I sometimes wonder, having lived a good portion of my life in celiac
starvation whether my metabolism has still not been messed up too
much. I distinctly became more sensitive to chemicals as soon as I
started absorbing, but I guess that's obvious why!

> I think the only way to test this is to see whether fasting upsets
> your stomach in the same way low carbing does.

Actually fasting upsets my stomach very much! I quickly learnt fasting
is dangerous for me, not only do my bowels retaliate but I am
absolutely exhausted.

For me personally... I believe I have a kind of chronic stress related
disorder that has messed me up a lot - possibly a problem with the
mao-a?(I had some trauma growing up in addition to malnutrition)
Mostly because when I couldn't get low carb failsafe to work for me
back in february, I gave up with diets and just ate typical british
fair in all its glory, cups of tea and all. Having been playing with
diets for well over 2-3 years, suddenly not having to worry about
anything I was in this dopamine love affair and my symptoms
dissappeared completely for a few weeks. Then the rush was over slowly
things started to bother me again and I started fiddling with diets...
To be honest I can eat relatively normally and still be "ok" but
sometimes I don't think that's good enough for me... I'm still
questioning if I have intolerance or it's my mental attitude - ie i'm
expecting to react/know too much for my own good. If i'm stressed, I
think I never truely sleep well even though I may get a full night's
rest and that's very problematic. I haven't had a single panic attack
since I realised how much stress affects me though. Probably why my
periods stopped as well. That's why i'm very interested in
neurotransmitters recently, my brain is exceptionally influencial to
my health. I guess that's what all those eft type exercises are all
about. It stresses me out not knowing whether I really have chemical
intolerance or whether it's just me and my amygdala! :)

Elena