Hi
Started low carb in mid 2014 and noticed I felt surprisingly good. I was on 1500kcal at the time so it was not sustainable. Went back to a normal diet but felt and looked worse. I actually had noticed bloating before that, but thought it was just water retention from carbs as I was told in a bodybuilding forum.
Turns out this was not the case. The bloat appeared too fast, too much and upper lip got bloated too, so it could not have been just carb related.
I thought maybe it's gluten, so I stopped eating bread and it somewhat got better, but not fully. So I went on a meat and cheese diet and added new foods one by one.
Now I know that I bloat immediately from wheat, rye, barley, oats, rice, buckwheat, amaranth, almonds, cashews, peanuts, hazelnuts, peas, cabbage, lettuce, celery, bell pepper, cucumbers, potatoes, carrots, bananas, apples, pears, grapes, raspberries and so on. I still try something with a hope that it will be OK, but I don't have great expectations.
These days I eat all kinds of meats, organs, fish, sea food and cheese.

Anyone experiences bloating (I gain 6+ inches on the waist from a cup of rice) and face swelling from plants?

You ever looked at a fodmap diet? What you describe could be a fodmaps issue.

A lot of the foods that are supposedly good in that diet are bad for me.

That sounds like Histamine response to me.
Here is an a post telling a little about it but I had a better one, if I find it I will post it.
See if any of this applies to you.
After the article is a link with more info. also the comments at the end have a lot of info from other people.

HEALTH
Histamine-Rich Foods:
•Fermented alcoholic beverages, especially wine, champagne and beer
•Fermented foods: sauerkraut, vinegar, soy sauce, kefir, yogurt, kombucha, etc
•Vinegar-containing foods: pickles, mayonnaise, olives
•Cured meats: bacon, salami, pepperoni, luncheon meats and hot dogs
•Soured foods: sour cream, sour milk, buttermilk, soured bread, etc
•Dried fruit: apricots, prunes, dates, figs, raisins
•Most citrus fruits
•Aged cheese including goat cheese
•Nuts: walnuts, cashews, and peanuts
•Vegetables: avocados, eggplant, spinach, and tomatoes
•Smoked fish and certain species of fish: mackerel, mahi-mahi, tuna, anchovies, sardines

Histamine-Releasing Foods:
•Alcohol
•Bananas
•Chocolate
•Cow’s Milk
•Nuts
•Papaya
•Pineapple
•Shellfish
•Strawberries
•Tomatoes
•Wheat Germ
•Many artificial preservatives and dyes

DAO-Blocking Foods:
•Alcohol
•Energy drinks
•Black tea
•Mate tea
•Green tea

Whew! That was a long list. You might be wondering now what on earth you CAN eat, so I've made a list of low histamine foods as well. Remember that freshness is key when you have histamine intolerance!

Here's a list of low-histamine foods:
•freshly cooked meat, poultry (frozen or fresh)
•freshly caught fish
•eggs
•gluten-free grains: rice, quinoa
•pure peanut butter
•fresh fruits: mango, pear, watermelon, apple, kiwi, cantaloupe, grapes
•fresh vegetables (except tomatoes, spinach, avocado, and eggplant)
•dairy substitutes: coconut milk, rice milk, hemp milk, almond milk
•cooking oils: olive oil, coconut oil
•leafy herbs
•herbal teas

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-1117...ntolerance.html

Spices/sauces that might cause problems:
ascorbic acid
autolyzed yeast
BHA and BHT
benzoates
catsup (ketchup)
cayenne
cloves
chili powder
horseradish
hot curry powder
hydrolyzed protein
meat tenderizers
miso
mustard
oleoresin paprika
paprika
pickles
red pepper
soy sauce
tamari
vinegar
worcestershire sauce
MSG – monosodium glutamate
metabisulfites
sulfites



Forget Cholesterol, Inflammation's the Real Enemy

Keeping up with which foods to eat and which ones to avoid could be a full-time job. That's because scientists continue to learn more about what we put in our bodies.

Some of their latest findings could change your mind about fat.

Twenty years ago, doctors told us to stay away from high-fat foods like eggs, bacon, and butter because they raised cholesterol and could lead to heart disease.

America responded and stopped eating fat. In its place, however, we ate more sugar and other carbohydrates.

How did that work out? Not great. As a whole, Americans grew fatter and sicker than before. Scientists back then may have reached the wrong conclusion.

Now a growing number of medical experts say weight gain, heart disease, and other illnesses are not caused by high cholesterol, but by something different: inflammation.

That means instead of avoiding foods that raise our cholesterol, we need to avoid foods that cause inflammation.

Cholesterol's Bad Rap

Dr. Beverly Teter, a lipid biochemist at the University of Maryland, studies how the different kinds of fat in food affect our health.

Teter said scientists wrongly blamed cholesterol for heart disease when they saw high levels of it at a damaged blood vessel. Teter believes the body put the cholesterol there to fix the problem, which was actually caused by inflammation.

"It's the inflammation in the vessels that start the lesion," she explained. "The body then sends the cholesterol like a scab to cover over it to protect the blood system and the vessel wall from further damage."

Research also shows cholesterol can protect against respiratory and gastrointestinal problems, and helps create vitamin D. People with higher cholesterol live longer.

Teter said that's a scientific fact that she can vouch for personally.

"I come from a family that has, my mother's side, had naturally high cholesterol. Her cholesterol was between 380 and 420 when I started watching her medical records, and she died at 97," she said. "So I don't think that cholesterol was too bad for her."

Inflammation Producers

Cholesterol is especially important in the brain, which contains more cholesterol than any other organ and needs it in order for a message to get passed from one brain cell to another.

Therefore, Teter said when it comes to food choices, don't worry if it raises your cholesterol. Focus your attention instead on whether it reduces inflammation.

When choosing which fats to eat, pick the ones that are high in Omega 3 fats and also choose natural saturated fats. On the other hand, stay away from the fats that lead to inflammation, such as trans fats and Omega 6 fats.

How to you tell the healthy Omega 3s from the unhealthy Omega 6 fats? Vegetable oils and mayonnaise contain Omega 6 fats, so be careful with how much you consume.

Ideally, Omega 6 fats are healthy but only when consumed in the same amount as Omega 3 fats. The typical American, however, consumes 15 times more Omega 6 fats than Omega 3s. This imbalance creates inflammation.

So cut back on the Omega 6s and increase your consumption of Omega 3s. These are in foods like olive oil and avocados.

Cold water fish is an excellent source of Omega 3 fat, particularly DHA, which is a super brain booster. One great way to make sure you're getting enough Omega 3, specifically DHA, is by taking a fish oil supplement. Doctors recommend one that contains at least 750 mg of DHA daily.

Butter is Better

At one time dieticians considered margarine, which is a trans fat, heart healthy. Doctors now say a better choice is butter.

In the last 20 years, trans fats have become the ingredient of choice for almost all processed foods. You can tell something contains trans fat if you see the word "hydrogenated" in the list of ingredients.

Saturated fats have really gotten a bad reputation over the last couple of decades. But they are not as bad as they have been made out to be. In fact, doctors recommend eating some saturated fats every day, such as coconut oil.

This saturated fat fights colds and the flu and has even reversed the symptoms of Alzheimers, ALS and Parkinson's Disease in some people.

Say 'No' to Inflammation

You should also remember those non-fat foods that make us fat and increase inflammation contain sugar and refined carbohydrates. Anything containing high fructose corn syrup or other sugars leads to inflammation.

So do grains, especially refined grains such as white bread, pasta, rice, and so on.

So when it comes to your health, inflammation beats out cholesterol as the new enemy. Take it on by saying "yes" to foods like fish and coconut oil, and "no" to sugar and carbohydrates, and dangerous trans fats.

*Originally aired February 1, 2013.
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/healthsc...y/?mobile=false
__________________

Can't be, cheese and smoked fish does nothing to me. The good ones though - rice, peanut butter, fresh vegetables and fruit are horrible.

Welcome reinis,
To have a reaction to that many foods sounds very serious, have you sought out a Functional Medicine doctor, or other practioner who could do the correct sensitivity testing you might need. In the US, you could search at PrimalDocs or the Functional Medicine Institute.
And you are already at a very healthy weight, mid "healthy BMI, your goal weight would make you quite thin. Focus on regaining your health. Do you have digestive issues to go with this bloating? IBS? This website does a good job on many digestive issues, inc. FODMAPS http://scdlifestyle.com/2012/09/fod...l-for-everyone/

Dr Georgia Edes is one doctor who is not a fan of vegetables and has written extensively about their downsides, histamine being one. http://www.diagnosisdiet.com/food/vegetables/

Hope you feel better,

I've got a seriously leaky gut and I'm having multiple food reactions too. I had a test done by Enterolab that showed pretty much everything I had been eating regularly, I was now intolerant of.

So I have switched my foods to ones I hadn't been eating regularly (still LC though) and I'm taking steps to heal my gut.

My list of known intolerances are:
Dairy, egg, chicken, beef, pork, tuna, all grains, potatoes (possibly all nightshades)

Since I've made the switch to fish, duck, lamb for my proteins, I'm feeling much, much better and have lost a little weight.

Did a test.
Hadn't drunk milk for at least 10 years and drank a liter today. Absolutely nothing happened.
For a while I thought all of this might be from carbs, since meat, eggs and cheese are low in carbs and plants are high, but I guess it's not the case, since milk is quite high in carbs and had no bad effect.

I'm not in the US, but I have been to many doctors and tried a lot of things. I'm thinking of maybe buying a food intolerance test panel, but it's quite expensive.
I know I'm at a healthy weight, I just want to lower the bodyfat a bit and get more muscle definition.

Is there an issue with continuing to eat the foods that you know are safe?

That's a serious question. Many people stick to a fairly narrow band of foods, because they feel crappy if they eat outside that.

Carbs are not the answer, as you know; some of the best athletes in the world eat low or no carb.

You may have allergies to many foods. There certainly are enough people who do. And, with the way that most foods are grown and processed today, even minor environmental allergies can lead to intolerance of much of the available food stock.

I think there is - is it really healthy to eat only animal based foods? Secondly, it's extremely limiting - no seasoning, no sauces etc. Thirdly, can't go to any parties, people will offer me some cake for example (or seasoned steak), I would like to eat it, but I know it will make me feel like shit so I rather just not go at all.

I think it can be healthy. The odd bit of organ meat, canned salmon with the bones left in, slow cooked ribs or chicken soup (don't expect much in the way of minerals from the broth, it doesn't end up with much, but the ends of well-boiled bones can be eaten carefully).

And if you can melt cheese on stuff, that's not such a bad sauce. And if milk is okay, heavy cream and salt cooked in with drippings makes a great gravy.

You can have a social life on a limited diet. Sometimes you just have to say "no, thanks". You can say as little or as much as you like about why you turned down the food. You can even stretch the truth. I've got friends who bring their own food when they dine with friends. So you can have your cake and not eat it too. Or something like that.

It sounds much the same as my Hyper IgE Syndrome response (and a lot of your list .. I react to it). A RAST test (part of it) tests for IgE. This is the test that tells 'how allergic' you are (I'm simplifying it)... people who have a genetic IgE anomaly (very rare... it's a rare disease) swell, and I also have anaphylaxis NOW.. (instead of swelling my throat swells up and I stop breathing).

Anyway, if you can afford it, you might ask your doc for an IgE test.. just to see. Range is 1 to 150 and mine is 16,000 (right now.. with leaves budding, etc.).

Edited to add: I've been lowcarb since 2000.. and ketogenic with IF since six years ago.. and I eat almost all animal products. I only eat twice a day.. at most.. in a six hour 'window'.. I CAN go without eating all day.. actually three days.

Eating just animal products, with, as teaser noted, the organs included, at least on occasion, is VERY healthy.

It's what we evolved eating, for the most part, and in some parts of the world, it's how we were still eating, less than 100 years ago.

But if social situations are a worry for you, know that the better you educate yourself about the real toxicity represented by that cake, and the absolute health benefits that a low or no carb diet afford you (especially if you are sensitive to so many other foods!), the easier it gets to just say, "No, thanks, I'm really full. I'll have some later."

Which, you know is a great answer. (Thanks, JustJo.) Who will come back later and ask you if you've NOW had some of that cake?