Something in my smoothie is making me sick - what is it?!

jessica43062

Hi friends,

Anyone ever experience nausea/mild food poisoning after eating any of these things?

- Matcha powder
- Chlorella powder
- Goji berries
- Wheat germ
- Camu camu powder
- Acai powder
- Sunflower, pumpkin, flax, sesame, chia or hemp seeds

I've been making smoothies for breakfast quite consistently for just over a year. I even bought ripe fruit in bulk last summer so I'd have nutritious, affordable breakfast all winter. Over time, I've been adding bonus items to my mix, so much so that the fruit is barely the primary ingredient.

BUT now I'm in crisis mode - one of those fancy (and expensive) items (or a combo?) is making me nauseous about 2 hours after I drink the smoothie. Has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone know if any of these ingredients are more likely to be contaminated? Unfortunately, I've purchased these items from lots of different places and at various times, so I can't track down the trigger by checking my orders. Likewise, I make a few different smoothie variations at the beginning of the week, freeze and blend one each morning. It took me a few weeks to, first, realize the nausea was tied to something I was eating (nope, no pregnant!) and second, narrow it down to the smoothie, so it's super hard to tell when it started. Since then, I've been trying to eat each of the individual items separately to see if it will make me sick, but no triggers yet. And I'm definitely not going to throw these all away and start over or I'll have to tap into my 401K!

Thanks for any hints!

snickerscharlie

If I even had a hint that something I was ingesting was making me physically ill, you couldn't pay me enough to continue using it. Seriously.

bkyoun

Tomorrow make a shake with just fruit and 1 other ingredient. Did you get sick?

If not, add another ingredient the next day.

Repeat until you find the culprit and then stop using the offending supplement.

neenelder

Flax kinda does a number on my GI system....I'd eliminate that first!!

RodaRose

My guess is on the Chlorella powder.
---
Take one ingredient out for three days. Then put it back in and take a different ingredient out for three days. . . .

zoeysasha37

There's a few from your list that get me sick. Chorella And flax to start with. Everyone is different though. Start weeding out some of the ingredients and see how it goes

olsogo

I have a friend that gets deathly ill from Goji berries.

ClubSilencio

Chlorella is quite potent. It has the ability to chelate heavy metals from the body.

All those superfood powders are quite expensive, and they're touted for their high antioxidant value. From what I understand though your body will only use as much as it needs. For this reason I think you'd be just as well off, health wise and financially, consuming berries everyday. Frozen berries are fantastic. Get the big bags.

I went through that 'superfood smoothie' phase too and now I just keep it simple. Fresh fruits, dark greens, frozen berries.... all the antioxidants and vitamin C you could ever need!

JustMissTracy

The wheat germ would destroy me, leave me in a heap on bathroom floor for hours...but that's just me Just curious, Why do you use so many crazy ingredients, anyways? Is there something about that combination that makes the smoothie more powerful/efficient?

caroldavison332

I don't know what many of those thing are. Why such a brew? What germ and flax make you poo. Does that explain your illness? You may want less of those two. If you are vomiting, it's probably not them. Do you wash your smoothie equipment daily or put it in the fridge?

MelaniaTrump

What liquid are you using?
I get really sick with nut milks that contain careegenan.

jessica43062

Thanks for the advice on the flax and chlorella. Obviously, yes, I'm trying these one at a time to see which one is being evil... but there are more than 10 goodies there and I had a bunch of smoothies prepared, so identifying a few to eliminate first was my goal with this post.

Why so many items? Why not just berries and greens? First, because if I'm going to consume something daily that is borderline gross, it might as well be loaded with as many high-powered items as possible, right?!

More importantly, I'm one to hedge my bets --- remember when eggs were demonized and doctors recommended a diet of only grapefruit and cottage cheese? Sure enough, something we call a super food today will be called poison tomorrow. We all know we can't win, we're always doing something wrong. Were your berries sprayed an extra time with pesticides on accident? Were they harvested super early and before they could develop all the good stuff? Were your greens grown in tainted soil - you do know they're extra good at sucking toxins out of the earth, right?! There's no way to know and keep your sanity, so to me, I'd rather use my good intentions on a variety of goodies from a variety of sources and hope for the best.

Why I use these particular varieties of snake oil:

- Matcha powder: contains 60 times the antioxidants of spinach; has high levels of L-Theanine, which helps with focus and concentration
- Chlorella powder: a powerhouse of chlorophyll, vitamin A, iron, magnesium and all of the essential amino acids, with the ability to bind to (and remove) heavy metals and chemicals in the body
- Goji berries: contains the gamut of vitamins, plus a bonus of micronutrients that are good for your eyes, like zeaxanthin and beta-carotene
- Wheat germ: has lots of B-vitamins, omega-3 fatty acids and trace minerals
- Camu camu powder: one teaspoon contains an absolutely ridiculous amount of vitamin C
- Acai powder: one of the most concentrated sources of antioxidants around, the berries are super high in anthocyanin and phenolic phytochemcials - the same stuff that's in red wine and prompted that headline "a glass of wine is better for you than an hour of exercise
- Sunflower, pumpkin, flax, sesame, chia or hemp seeds: all neat in their own right, seeds in general have loads of scarce vitamins and minerals and are little powerhouses of nutrition

There are reasons not to consume all of the items above because we are doomed to fail in someone's opinion no matter what we do. But hey, they've got to be better than pizza...

furylabs

Matcha powder on a (relatively) empty stomach makes me nauseated. Caffeine/acids do it for me. How much of that are you using?

Someone recommended making your smoothie using only two ingredients next time to see what you tolerate well and what you do not tolerate. Sounds like a good plan to me!

paulandrachelk

If you are using all, or most of, these ingredients in each smoothie-could just be overload and one or two won't bother you.

kat05317

Are you taking (or started ) any other meds? Some combination of the two could be giving you problems.

jgnatca

bkyoun wrote: »

Tomorrow make a shake with just fruit and 1 other ingredient. Did you get sick?

If not, add another ingredient the next day.

Repeat until you find the culprit and then stop using the offending supplement.

+1
Obviously something in your drink is making you ill. So you will have to ditch your pre-made shakes.

BTW, you don't get bonus health points by consuming ten times the antioxidants than you need. Just sayin'.

rosecropper

High doses of iron can definitely cause nausea, vomiting, gastritis. So can too much fiber or acidic foods. Maybe flush your system by drinking large glass of water after the smoothie would help?

okurfat

Less is more. Your body will only consume what it requires and the rest will be flushed out along with your money. I think your body, mind and pocket book would benefit the most from fresh fruits and greens. Maybe pick 1 or 2 of your favorite additives. Your body is rejecting the current concoction. Good luck.

VeryKatie

Try cutting one out at a time.
Or stop having smoothies. You don't need them.

VeryKatie

jessica43062 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice on the flax and chlorella. Obviously, yes, I'm trying these one at a time to see which one is being evil... but there are more than 10 goodies there and I had a bunch of smoothies prepared, so identifying a few to eliminate first was my goal with this post.

Why so many items? Why not just berries and greens? First, because if I'm going to consume something daily that is borderline gross, it might as well be loaded with as many high-powered items as possible, right?!

More importantly, I'm one to hedge my bets --- remember when eggs were demonized and doctors recommended a diet of only grapefruit and cottage cheese? Sure enough, something we call a super food today will be called poison tomorrow. We all know we can't win, we're always doing something wrong. Were your berries sprayed an extra time with pesticides on accident? Were they harvested super early and before they could develop all the good stuff? Were your greens grown in tainted soil - you do know they're extra good at sucking toxins out of the earth, right?! There's no way to know and keep your sanity, so to me, I'd rather use my good intentions on a variety of goodies from a variety of sources and hope for the best.

Why I use these particular varieties of snake oil:

- Matcha powder: contains 60 times the antioxidants of spinach; has high levels of L-Theanine, which helps with focus and concentration
- Chlorella powder: a powerhouse of chlorophyll, vitamin A, iron, magnesium and all of the essential amino acids, with the ability to bind to (and remove) heavy metals and chemicals in the body
- Goji berries: contains the gamut of vitamins, plus a bonus of micronutrients that are good for your eyes, like zeaxanthin and beta-carotene
- Wheat germ: has lots of B-vitamins, omega-3 fatty acids and trace minerals
- Camu camu powder: one teaspoon contains an absolutely ridiculous amount of vitamin C
- Acai powder: one of the most concentrated sources of antioxidants around, the berries are super high in anthocyanin and phenolic phytochemcials - the same stuff that's in red wine and prompted that headline "a glass of wine is better for you than an hour of exercise
- Sunflower, pumpkin, flax, sesame, chia or hemp seeds: all neat in their own right, seeds in general have loads of scarce vitamins and minerals and are little powerhouses of nutrition

There are reasons not to consume all of the items above because we are doomed to fail in someone's opinion no matter what we do. But hey, they've got to be better than pizza...

Why would you even eat something you don't like? What a waste, in my book. I'd rather replace it with something good.

My bet would be that the benefits you feel above are placebo effect since your body won't get any more of any of those thing from that concoction than other food sources (if it's too much you'll just expel it).

There's nothing wrong with pizza as long as you don't get ones full of transfats.

Also - that drink you're having is the opposite of healthy. It's making you sick.

Jindeed

Goodness, my stomach is churning just by reading the ingredients!

Aside from the matcha and flax, pretty much everything in that drink would put me in a bathroom coma. I would suggest to just make smoothies you LIKE. Even if it's solely fruit and greens, you're already getting a good amount of nutritional value/vitamins in each serving. If you don't like greens in your smoothie at all, then skip them entirely and go for fruit. Listen to your body- if your stomach and taste buds don't like it, then it's not going to benefit you in the long run, no matter how many health claims (legitimate or not) those ingredients may have.

nilbogger

My smoothies taste good. Am I doing it wrong?

disasterman

I'd work on making my smoothies not borderline gross first off.

CharlieBeansmomTracey

jessica43062 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice on the flax and chlorella. Obviously, yes, I'm trying these one at a time to see which one is being evil... but there are more than 10 goodies there and I had a bunch of smoothies prepared, so identifying a few to eliminate first was my goal with this post.

Why so many items? Why not just berries and greens? First, because if I'm going to consume something daily that is borderline gross, it might as well be loaded with as many high-powered items as possible, right?!

More importantly, I'm one to hedge my bets --- remember when eggs were demonized and doctors recommended a diet of only grapefruit and cottage cheese? Sure enough, something we call a super food today will be called poison tomorrow. We all know we can't win, we're always doing something wrong. Were your berries sprayed an extra time with pesticides on accident? Were they harvested super early and before they could develop all the good stuff? Were your greens grown in tainted soil - you do know they're extra good at sucking toxins out of the earth, right?! There's no way to know and keep your sanity, so to me, I'd rather use my good intentions on a variety of goodies from a variety of sources and hope for the best.

Why I use these particular varieties of snake oil:

- Matcha powder: contains 60 times the antioxidants of spinach; has high levels of L-Theanine, which helps with focus and concentration
- Chlorella powder: a powerhouse of chlorophyll, vitamin A, iron, magnesium and all of the essential amino acids, with the ability to bind to (and remove) heavy metals and chemicals in the body
- Goji berries: contains the gamut of vitamins, plus a bonus of micronutrients that are good for your eyes, like zeaxanthin and beta-carotene
- Wheat germ: has lots of B-vitamins, omega-3 fatty acids and trace minerals
- Camu camu powder: one teaspoon contains an absolutely ridiculous amount of vitamin C
- Acai powder: one of the most concentrated sources of antioxidants around, the berries are super high in anthocyanin and phenolic phytochemcials - the same stuff that's in red wine and prompted that headline "a glass of wine is better for you than an hour of exercise
- Sunflower, pumpkin, flax, sesame, chia or hemp seeds: all neat in their own right, seeds in general have loads of scarce vitamins and minerals and are little powerhouses of nutrition

There are reasons not to consume all of the items above because we are doomed to fail in someone's opinion no matter what we do. But hey, they've got to be better than pizza...

are you taking the chlorella because you think that you have heavy metals you need to remove or? you could do some research and see what the side effects are of each ingredient,you can also see what side effects are of taking certain supplements at the same time(like matcha powder and chlorells) some will react with others if taken the same time.

vegmebuff

furylabs wrote: »

Matcha powder on a (relatively) empty stomach makes me nauseated. Caffeine/acids do it for me. How much of that are you using?

Someone recommended making your smoothie using only two ingredients next time to see what you tolerate well and what you do not tolerate. Sounds like a good plan to me!

Matcha or any green tea will make me nauseated if I consume on an empty stomach.

I agree with the plan of having one or two items in your smoothie at first and keep adding additional items (1-2 at a time) to find the item you can't tolerate.