Nuts....by Heather

I've always been pleased I didn't find myself with nut allergies because I really like them. So when banning the sugar over the last few weeks, it was a pleasure still to be able to indulge in what is to me a form of comfort food.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't binge or go on a nut gorging spree. A handful of almonds as a snack; or a teaspoon of peanut butter in my greek yogurt (surprisingly pleasant I thought) and I introduced myself to half a glass of almond milk - all quite low key.

Of late - and I couldn't tell you when I began noticing something might be amiss - I keep getting what started as vague stomach pains and have increased steadily in tempo until some days its felt more like full on colic.

Real griping pains, and bloating with it - so much so my trousers felt uncomfortably tight was I sat down at the desk.

All would have more or less righted itself by morning, although again lately I noticed it was taking longer to subside.

I now realise the culprit is nuts. Almond nuts more pronounced, but that peanut butter had me too I realised. The last time was particularly painful - less like an ache, more like a full on attack of something nasty.

I don't know whether it is just almonds or all nuts now. I don't know whether this means that I will get this effect everytime I ate them or whether I will be ok eating them infrequently as a treat.

All I know is, after that last attack - I'm pretty loath to be eating them, any of them, any time soon - it wasn't nice.

And I'd just splashed out on almond milk and peanut butter - both still full and in the fridge.

Its disappointing too because nuts were a good snack - easy and tasty and filling, even a small amount. So that is a bummer.

I googled nuts and stomach ache and surprisingly, its not such a stupid notion - I found a lot of people on different forums and such, complaining about the self same thing.

There must be something in nuts that irritates - someone mentioned diverticulitis and nuts and seeds, something I don't need. Nuts are off the menu. (if I had one, there would be a very sad faced emoticon right just here!)