Did I overdo the almonds?

I was once told that almonds (again, apparently, it's not really a nut) contain strychnine, which is a pretty deadly poison of course. :shock: I don't know if this is true, or another one of those stories that is dreamt up in the pub. Like the ones about starchy carbs being an essential part of a healthy diet!
Hope you feel better soon Hana.

All the best,

fergus

could have been your bg bouncing around. can cause havoc with the endocrine system. but i cant actually prove that coz the tech is not available.

I eat a lot of almonds and have never had anything like that.

Me too Sue, question is do we carry on eating them or not, think I'll do a bit of research before I decide

sugarless sue said:

I eat a lot of almonds and have never had anything like that.

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Pass! :lol:

I've done a bit of research into the almonds, there are two types sweet and bitter almonds it seems to be the bitter almonds that are poisonous. Question is how do we know which ones we are eating.
Check out http://www.botanical.com

Graham

They taste bitter,Graham!

Dial 999

sugarless sue said:

They taste bitter,Graham!

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I am pretty sure that there is nothing toxic in almonds in large enough quantities to do you any harm. Cyanide is only present in trace amounts in sweet almonds (rather more in bitter almonds). I have never heard of strychnine in almonds, although it is sometimes used in pesticides so I guess that contamination is a possibility. However, gluten intolerant people often eat almond flour - and people using that eat a lot more than a couple of handfuls of the actual nuts, usually with no apparent ill effects.

My guess is that this is a BG thing. I eat quite a lot of almonds and they are one of a list of foods that I have as possible culprits of slightly higher BG than I like. However, it is also possible that you are developing an intolerance or even allergy to almonds - some people do, and just because you have never had one in the past doesn't mean that you can't acquire one now. I suggest that you try this again, with a different batch of almonds (just in case of contaminants). Monitor your BG closely to see if they have an effect upon that, and if you feel ill without a raised BG then almonds are probably something to seriously avoid (nut allergies have a habit of getting worse and can be nasty). If you are OK, then it either wasn't the almonds at all or else you got unlucky with that particular batch.

Thanks DG you probably put a few minds at ease with your response.
Cheers Graham

hanadr said:

Thanks guys!
The almonds I ate weren't bitter. I would have stopped eating them. I don't like bitter flavours NOT EVEN beer!
My husband reminded me that his mother once had a nasty turn after eating too many nuts. She called it her "heart attack" for the rest of her life and was convinced she was allergic to nuts. It didn't stop her eating Dundee cake though and the doctors never found any evidence of a heart attack.
My own mother, now aged 90, says that nuts can cause a gall bladder crisis. However, she's a Czech country woman and they have their own brand of witchcaft.
I'll just go easy on the almonds from now on

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Yup, I wonder if it could have been an allergic type of thing.

I love almonds but need to be careful with the quantities, they generate fierce quantities of wind.

Regardless of wind generation (is this a possible answer to green energy?) I think that because we feel "comfortable" eating low-carb nuts, being careful to avoid BG spikes, we can sometimes over indulge ... well I guess that too many/much of anything will cause you some kind of difficulty. I think the human body is set up to eat uts, but also fruit and berries with them, so I guess it might be down to a nut-protein overload ... ?

Jem said:

Regardless of wind generation (is this a possible answer to green energy?)

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Light your farts and heat your room

think of the heat and illumination possibilities post curry?

I poisoned myself by accident eating to many almonds. I was pregnant and wanted to eat a healthy snack so I sat down with a 3lb. Bag and ate 11/2 lbs in one sitting. Well I ended up in the hospital with severe stomach cramping. Got severely dehydrated from throwing up and diarrhea and started labor at 6 months pregnant. They took blood and found strychnine. They thought someone poisoned me and called poison controll. Poison controll had a good laugh when they told him how many almonds I ate and he said "well she poisoned herself eating that many. Most people only eat 10 to 15 total go tell her not to eat that many!" After they got my labor stopped and cleaned out the poison everyone had good laugh. Boy did i learn my lesson about moderation. So for everyone out there almonds are good for you but not in such large amounts.

Apparently almonds are high in oxalates and this author at least is convinced they gave him kidney stones:
http://www.leftistreview.com/2012/06/21/are-almonds-dangerous-to-your-health/evanlevine/

That was a good read. Looked at some of the data sites he listed too. He failed to take into account the amount of soy and soy products (on the list several times) that have come onto the marketplace. If you read ingredient labels soy is in almost everything now. It is listed several ways and can be listed as natural flavors. They even put it in herbal hot teas. I also know that if you drink a lot of soda (mountain dew is the worst straight from my son's doctors mouth) you can get stones. My son at 18 went wild drinking mountain dew after we told him he is old enough to eat or drink what he wants and so wild over the soda he went. Some days he had 3 of the 2 liter bottles always mountain dew. Several months later he had to have stones blasted and again 3 years later at 21 had to do the other kidney. they didn't do both sides at 18 because they had hoped he would pass them but they grew to 6 mm over the years. This was without drinking anymore soda. I do know some people are predisposed to get them with the wrong diet. He was also the one I was pregnant with when I poisoned myself with the almonds. My son's doctor did say that he is seeing more younger people and most of them are big soda drinkers. So anyone with kids or grandkids keep them away from soda. It is way cheaper to listen to the whining about not getting soda than the 3,000 dollar hospital bill every couple of years. (That's the price with insurance)