Tuesday of this week I had my first instance of an adverse reaction to eating too much of something. Up until this point I had been eating clean Paleo for 6 weeks.
Almonds and dark chocolate with 70%+ cacao are both acceptable foods to eat on the Paleo diet. The key is that these are treat foods, to be eaten in moderation.
Last Friday at the supermarket, I was tempted by a checkstand display of Organic Almonds coated in 75% cacao and lightly dusted with organic cinnamon and a touch of organic, fair-trade sugar.
Don’t they look yummy? 
I read the back of the package, and there didn’t appear to be any noxious ingredients. Once I got back to the office, I shook about 10 or 11 almonds out of the bag and ate them. They were very delicious.
I left the bag at the office over the weekend. I did think longingly of them several times, but was able get over it and move on.
Monday morning, although I wasn’t hungry, I shook out 10-11 almonds and ate them. Tuesday morning when I came in, I did the same thing. However, this time I was unable to get those delicious little beauties out of my mind. At 3:00, I pulled them out and had another handful. Somehow, that wasn’t enough. I wasn’t really hungry, but I really wanted those yummy almonds. I had several more handfuls between 3:00 and 3:30.
By 4:30 I had a pounding headache and was having hot flashes. The last time I had a hot flash was in July, about a week after I started eating low carb.
I started drinking a lot of water, and went for a hike after work at 5:00. That seemed to help. The headache disappeared after dinner.
I wish I had a glucometer so I could have tested my blood sugar after eating the almonds. I have resisted the urge to give myself over to complete nerdiness and test my blood sugars after eating different things. In this instance, I am quite curious about what the findings would have been.
I will not be purchasing those yummy almonds again. The sugar content is high enough to set off my cravings and upset my blood sugar balance. This article explains why foods can be addictive as well as which foods are most addictive: Can Food be as Addictive as a Drug?
I think the almonds qualified in three categories: fat, sugar and chocolate… Live and learn
Rancho Seabow Permaculture 
I am having the hardest time giving up dairy and legumes. I am not buying any more, but I have quite the supply of cheese and lentils in my home. Quinoa too.
I have a lot of that stuff around because there are three other people that eat here on a regular basis. Two of them still eat all that stuff. TMOTH is trying the 30 day challenge right now, so he is also trying to avoid all the dairy, grains and legumes.
Those items don’t interest me. I have portion control issues with nuts, and chocolate, which in theory I can eat “in moderation”. The nuts had more sugar than I thought. I think that’s what got me.
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