koa Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 Hey everyone. I've been doing the whole30 for 28 days, but this is my first time joining in the forum. I've had the most problems with finding alternatives to Almonds (milk, flour, bars, butter, etc.)! I am allergic to Almonds, and it was this reason that I looked to the whole30: my allergy appeared out of nowhere last June and sent me to the hospital; since then it's been no almonds for me, which has been very difficult since I used to be in the gym a lot and Almond-coconut milk was my go-to (and most available) for blending and recovery. In the w30, I've noticed there is a lot of Almond substituted in, and not having that available has not only been mentally frustrating, it's been distracting me from feeling accomplished, or like the resources I've got available to me are not the WHOLE set that are available for others, and that has been very discouraging. So I want to know, does anyone else suffer from specifically ALMOND ALLERGIES, and what have you done to get around it, or how has it been for you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirkor Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 I've done multiple Whole30s without having a single almond product. Not sure where you're seeing the focus on almonds that has you feeling discouraged? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koa Posted February 28, 2016 Author Share Posted February 28, 2016 I've done multiple Whole30s without having a single almond product. Not sure where you're seeing the focus on almonds that has you feeling discouraged? I don't know? Maybe I imagined that focus? What are you doing for nuts other than almonds? I turned to cashews, even though I know they're not the best choice. home-made cashew butter on apples for a snack has been helpful, but my body-type is stout, and I am used to having quick protein. I've also suffered from hypoglycemia and the quick sugar-protein combo I could get before the whole30 was important (and somehow still needing it while doing the program). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirkor Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 I don't incorporate nuts as a regular part of my diet. re: hypoglycemia, you may find that your blood sugar stabilizes after adapting to the Whole30 way of eating: http://forum.whole30.com/topic/6076-hypoglycemia/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators ShannonM816 Posted February 28, 2016 Moderators Share Posted February 28, 2016 I'd suggest listing out a couple of days worth of what you've been eating, with approximate portion sizes, along with water intake and exercise, and see if anyone has any tips to help with the hypoglycemia. For nuts, just don't use them, or sub nuts that you can have. They're really not an ideal fat source anyway, you're better off using avocado, olives, coconut, and a variety of healthy oils which you can use on their own or to make sauces or dressings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koa Posted February 28, 2016 Author Share Posted February 28, 2016 I was replying in another post that I am actually bad at portions, and I am going to start cataloging to keep track. I could try substituting nuts out with other things, but i'm not using them as a fat source, but rather a protein source. The hypoglycemia has actually gotten better, I feel more stable, but there are other things I'm worried about: stress, anxiety, lethargy, pain, aimless/listlessness... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators ShannonM816 Posted February 28, 2016 Moderators Share Posted February 28, 2016 I was replying in another post that I am actually bad at portions, and I am going to start cataloging to keep track. I could try substituting nuts out with other things, but i'm not using them as a fat source, but rather a protein source. The hypoglycemia has actually gotten better, I feel more stable, but there are other things I'm worried about: stress, anxiety, lethargy, pain, aimless/listlessness... For whole30 purposes, nuts and seeds are fat sources. Do you have other protein sources you do eat? Meat, fish or shellfish, eggs? There's a meal template linked in my signature -- for best results try to make all your meals match it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
praxisproject Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 When I first went dairy free I was having a lot of almond milk but I soon worked out that almonds are something I can't eat much of without feeling unwell (even soaked and activated they make me feel pretty crappy). Coconut flour can be used instead of almond flour in most recipes but they are different so you need to take that into account with recipes (coconut flour is very dry). There is an enzyme in almonds that is not present in hazelnuts, if you're able to eat tree nuts still. I have home made hazelnut and macadamia milk instead of almond milk (also coconut cream and coconut milk too) and same with the butters, there's loads of other nut butters and for those who can't have nuts at all, sunflower seed butter and coconut manna (not oil, butter from coconuts). Frankly I think almonds are the most boring, the others are much tastier. One thing though, when you have an allergy or an intolerance you really don't have the same set of stuff as everyone else who doesn't. No one has allergies for fun or to get things done, they do make things harder and you need to pay a lot more attention to what you eat and you don't get to choose which allergy would be easier to live with. Whether yours is long term or temporary, accepting that it makes you sick is really important. Until that happens you're always going to be thinking about something you shouldn't eat and that's the one way train to crazy town. I totally understand what it feels like, I had a similar issue with gluten, been eating it my whole life (been sick for most of that too) but never diagnosed with a gluten problem. Thank goodness for Whole30 (even then, it took me longer than it should have to accept it, it was such a shock). The flipside is that the effort pays off, when something has been making you sick, stopping eating it has benefits and you get to keep those as long as you keep it up. If you were in hospital, keep in mind you may also need some extra recovery time, you may not feel so crash hot in the gym, may need some extra sleep/rest etc, don't worry, this will pass, your body just needs some healing time. If you have trouble with your blood sugar, I highly recommend reading through the Recommendations as well as the Rules as there are a lot of things in there that can have a positive impact on blood sugar stability. As the others have mentions, nuts are a completely crappy protein source, especially if you're working out in the gym, you need real protein! http://whole30.com/2015/01/rules-recommendations/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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