After experiencing a rather severe, and completely unexpected, allergic reaction to lettuce, I was starting to question the Atkins diet. There were many things I liked about this diet, that made me want to continue it. However, I was beginning to wonder if I was actually healthy enough to do this, or any other, diet.
There are few things that freak me out as much as an unanticipated allergic reaction to a food that I thought was “safe”. There is something uniquely terrifying about noticing your lips swell, your tongue begin to grow numb, and your throat start to close up. Severe food allergies have a way of reminding a person of his or her own mortality.
The lettuce I ate was a variety that I had never tried before, and intellectually, I knew that new foods could be dangerous for me. But, it was lettuce! Who has allergic reactions to something as benign as lettuce? Well, I do, apparently. As I waited for a strong dose of antihistamine to kick in, I also waited to see if I was going to die. I could see the headlines now: “Lettuce Kills Woman”. That ought to get some page clicks for somebody.
This was when I started to reconsider if it was actually safe for me to stay on the Atkins diet. I believe that the diet is perfectly safe for people who have zero food allergies. After the scary allergic reaction I had to lettuce, and the incredibly annoying allergic reaction I had to an Atkins shake, I wasn’t so sure that this diet was a good choice for me.
I would highly recommend that people who have food allergies, or other serious health conditions, consult a doctor before starting this, or any other, diet. There are risks for people like me that healthier people would never experience. Losing weight is an admirable goal, and it usually leads to better health. No diet is worth dying for, however.
At the same time, I wasn’t ready to just quit the diet. I had lost some weight, but was still really far away from the weight goal I set when I started the Atkins diet. I’d put effort into customizing the food around my food allergies, to the best of my ability. The “learning curve” one must go through to begin this diet was behind me.
I ended up spending the remainder of the week sort of half-heartedly doing the Atkins diet. I gradually finished off the last of the gluten-free cookies that I picked up the day I had the allergic reaction to the shake, trying not to think about how much weight I was probably putting right back on. Overall, the reaction to lettuce ended up making me depressed, and extremely hesitant to eat anything.
I ended up transitioning a few of the foods that were acceptable for me to eat if I was doing Phase 2 of the diet. I continued to eat the foods from Phase 1 that hadn’t made any attempt to kill me, (so far). Ultimately, I decided that if I ended up losing weight this week I would move to Phase 2 next week. If I gained weight, then there wasn’t any point continuing the Atkins diet.
Image by Dana Robinson on Flickr