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Reaction To Quinoa Flakes?

MartialArtist
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MartialArtist Apprentice
MartialArtist
Posted

I had discovered Quinoa Flakes on the breakfast cereal aisle of Whole Foods a little while back (like 2-3 months ago). When I followed the package directions, it was something like an oatmeal, though with a slightly different texture, so I was pretty pleased with it. I have made it with brown sugar every time (I like sweet oatmeal...) and sometimes mixed in small chunks of banana after cooking or small chunks of apple before cooking (so they get softer) with great tasting results!

But about a week and a half ago, I ate the banana version for breakfast with my cup coffee and about 20 minutes later felt like the coffee was burning a hole in my stomach-- it hurt like drinking a very strong cup on an empty stomach sometimes can. I was sick for about half a day, with gut cramps and general feelings of malaise. Never threw up and eventually it subsided and I went on with my day. At the time, I figured it was probably a sensitive stomach reaction to the coffee for some reason. Over the next week, I ate a variety of breakfasts, always with coffee (I like 2 cups over the course of the morning) with no problems. Then exactly one week after the first incident, I decided on quinoa flakes (banana version again) for breakfast again. Half an hour later, SAME symptoms and like before, it was over by about 1 pm. So either I'm reacting to the breakfast or to Friday mornings... :)

I can eat bananas alone, so I don't think it's that, and I can drink coffee every day with no regular problems (and I make it at home with the same proportions every day so it shouldn't vary in acidity or strength). It's a bummer that I have reacted this way to quinoa b/c even wheat didn't do that to be before (I'm a silent celiac except for anemia). Is it a good assumption that I would now react this way to regular quinoa (as opposed to flakes)? Not sure it's worth the painful hours to try it out, but... Anyone else had similar issues with quinoa ever?

Oh -- and it's the same original box (I've only ever bought the one box b/c it's just me eating it), so I don't think there's any issue with contamination since it didn't cause me problems earlier and no one else in my family even opens the box!

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gary'sgirl Explorer
gary'sgirl
Posted

It could be CC that built up in your system over time. Is it the Ancient grains quinoa? If you look up their site you can verify this, but I was having trouble with all quinoa products and I decided to see if there was a risk of CC from that company. If I remember correctly all of their products were safe except the flake which could possibly be CC'd because they are made at another facility that also processes gluten grains (although they did seem to have good cleaning practices).

So, that could be it, but it could be that you have a problem with quinoa in general - I found out that I do - it always gives me stomach aches very similar to what you describe. The only thing about that is that it didn't do it to you at first, so my first thought was that the flakes may have a very low amount of CC that you started reacting to after having it several times - it could take your gut a little while to get damaged enough to have pain after not having gluten for a while.

Also, I have heard of people who were silent celiacs having reactions after going off of gluten. Which is actually not as bad as you would think, because then at least you know you are damaging your body.

Well, I don't know if any of that helped you, but I thought I would share just in case it could. B)

Sarah

mushroom Proficient
mushroom
Posted

Quinoa is one of the high-lectin grains. Gliadin in wheat is a lectin. There are lectins in corn and soy and peanuts. If you happen to be lectin sensitive you can react to any or all of these things. For me it is all, plus some others. So you might just consider that you have sensitized yourself to the quinoa lectin. Or it might be something else entirely.... that is the devil in the details of food sensitivities.

  • 8 years later...
DG369 Newbie
DG369
Posted

Hi,

I noticed that these posts are almost a decade old. Nevertheless, I ate Quinoa flakes from whole foods and felt like vomiting immediately. However, I couldn't vomit so, eating this sent me to the bathroom. At the same time, I eat red quinoa and white quinoa all the time.

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