If you wanted to test it, look for nitrate/nitrite free meat and see if that's it. We have an upscale grocery store that carries some and I'm sure whole foods or trader joes or some health food market would. They fundamentally aren't good for you anyway, regardless of allergy.

My Mom went a long time trying to id the allergen that was getting her stomach ill. Finally discovered through a lot of trial and error that it was the preservatives BHA and BHT which can be in all kinds of bread and cereal products.

Not so fast. Don't be so easily fooled.

Places like Trader Joes, Whole Foods, and other places targeting customers who think they understand what "natural foods" are sell processed meat labeled as being "nitrate/nitrite free". That means such items are not added on their own as ingredients.

If you take a look at the labels of such products, you'll often find no nitrate/nitrate additive listed but instead you may find they contain celery powder. Here's a direct quote from a search:

" Celery powder is used as a curing agent in processed meats because it contains naturally occurring nitrates. The nitrates are converted to nitrites during fermentation, which gives cured meats their color, flavor, and texture "

So, from a labelling requirement standpoint, they are nitrate/nitrite free. From a chemical and nutrition science standpoint, they're not.

Edit to add:

Sorry, Best wishes for a speedy and full recovery.

Unfortunately, many organic/natural/uncured meats that say 'nitrate free or no added nitrates' have small print that says something like "except what is naturally occurring in celery" (or something similar). I do feel better about eating that once in a while, over added nitrates from heaven knows what source, but not sure if they would affect an allergy the same way or not.

Are you having reactions to all meats, or just processed meats? What is your response to veggies like spinach, kale, lettuce, broccoli, cabbage?

Celery? Who knew? Certainly not I!

I don't have the nitrate/nitrite problem, but most meats that have them also have too much sodium, and I'm sensitivie to that. I'll puff up and then shed water later, and get the headache, whether from salt or MSG or whatever.

I did know about the celery, and as far as I know, if you're sensitive , the celery version will be just the same. The celery ones seem to have less sodium, or at least the ones I buy do, which means no headache, or no headache with smaller servings. But, from what I learned when we had a big discussion of this in CF, back when, and I did a bunch of related research, the old way of curing had to be done over time and the chemicals became neutralized, or something like that, and the new way with the celery doesn't. I don't remember the facts involved, just an echo of the conclusion. It's worth looking into if you're sensitive.

I was reading about nitrates to remind myself of the source for 'natural or organic' meats and found a website with some detailed info, that said nitrates themselves can cause puffiness and also can affect blood sugar - not good for type 2 diabetics. I didn't look at the source of their info, but it would be easy to research if needed.

" get the headache, whether from salt or MSG or whatever. "

There are many foods items that naturally have high levels of glutamates. Do you react to those?

Thanks everyone for your replies. I am guessing that it was caused by nitrates since it was meat that caused the reaction. I don't know if I can be alergy tested or not. Going to look for nitrates free products. No veggies seem to give me the same reaction.

The thing that bothers me is that they have been known to cause cancer. I eat them only in ham, and not often. When I do, I make sure I get some vitamin C--this is based on a doctor's advice I read once. It could be nonsense for all I know, but at least the vitamin C part can't hurt.

Many vegetables naturally contain nitrates. I think more investigation is called for before settling on meat and nitrates as the definite culprit. And are you including all meat, not just processed meat?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/future/article/20190311-what-are-nitrates-in-food-side-effects

Here is an essay from famous Zingerman's deli on the chemical aspects of nitrates/nitrites.

Click on the word "here" above. I tried to use just the link but Houzz wouldn't let me.

I wonder with you too floral, that's why I asked about the veggies that are high in nitrates. Peeing more frequently is not really a sign of nitrates. Though if the OP has some UTI action going on, the bacteria can bre breaking nitrates into nitrites, and that can casue more peeing. Or if it's a lot of processed meat, it could be the variety of salts used in processing. Or maybe their body is handling purines with difficulty, and it's acting as a duretic and changing uric acid levels. If the OP is of a certain age of decades, their body might be changing and just not accepting/processing foods the same way it has.

I thought nitrites were only in cured meats? Surely you can still eat fresh meat. That said, I cure my own bacon and there's less nitrite in that than naturally occurs in broccoli.....

I do hope you find a solution.

Thanks again everyone. Dairy, eggs, and all kinds of veggies don't bother me. Only meat causes a reaction, especially pork. It has been going on for months. I see the DR on Friday and hopefully get a urine test done.

All meat, or processed meats?

Yeah I’m not understanding why the nitrate connection is being made to meat, unless we’re talking processed meat.

I think it was processed meat. Aidelles sausages uses organic chicken, no nitrites or nitrates added, and I have no reaction. But I do have a reaction to ground beef, steak, roasts, Costco chicken, pork chops if they have added nitrites.

" It is really bad if I eat pork. It is all meat, chicken, beef, lamb. No other non meat foods bother me at all. "

Do you mean all meat, or just processed or preserved meat? I'm not understanding this at all. There shouldn't be any nitrates or nitrites in fresh/frozen muscle meat - there's more in leafy green vegetables than in a chicken breast or pork tenderloin you buy raw.

You may be having a reaction to meat, but it's not from nitrates or nitrites.

There is some thought that increased protein intakes in the evening can lead to increased urination overnight, but that would be true for meat or non-meat proteins (like cheese)

I didn't think nitrates were added to any meat products except those we expect to be pink...bacon, frankfurter type sausages, lunch meats like pepperoni and salami. I've never seen it added to chicken sausage that is beige or ground beef, etc.

I'm not sure it's nitrates. Aidelles sausages do have nitrates, in the celery powder and sea salt. It just does not have other added ones. Whole cut steaks, roasts, or chops should not have any nitrate additives, so if you are reacting to those... might not be a nitrate issue.

A note about pink... pink is added to curing salt to distinguish it from being mistaken for table salt or sugar. The pink isn't really part of the cure, just a coloring agent. There's a lot of salts and other natural additives that can be used in curing/processing, not just the pink stuff. Not always pink anymore either- undyed white versions are available for people that don't want the extra pink in their cures.

I believe the pink color in cured meat is the result of chemical reactions between the salt and the myoglobin, not from the pink of the salt itself.

Haven't eaten meat in 40 years so no.

I agree with FOAS; it's the chemical reaction - otherwise plain salt would keep meat red during processing, but it doesn't. It lets meat turn an unappetizing gray color. The sausages from Adele's that have nitrates are 'smoked' style and are reddish. Plain beige chicken sausages do not usually have added nitrates whether from celery or other sources.

I too have been finding this confusing. Pork and chicken often have injected water and who knows what they put in the water. It is supposed to make these meats moist but of course you pay by the pound for soggy meat. Beef and I believe lamb are not injected but any ground meat could have water added. Sausage by its very nature is going to have lots of stuff added. Nitrates were added to meat to prevent "sausage disease" aka botulism. I wonder how they learned to do this.

Anyway maybe an elimination diet-gradually add things back in.

patriciae

I think there's a bit too much amateur scientific analysis going on.

Doing an elimination diet is a good idea, a sure and easy approach. If this were for me, I'd do that not to identify what causes a problem but more helpfully, what doesn't.

It's sometimes hard to get simple foods in their original basic state that have no processing or anything added. But they're around. Focusing on that does take a lot of good stuff off the table (literally) that hopefully people know to eat sparingly anyway if at all, for a very occasional treat. Stuff like hot dogs and bacon are in that category for me. Foods I enjoy but limit to only a few times per year. Or less.

Good luck.

IIRC, the water added to some meats is usually a solution of sodium or potassium nitrite (nitrate?), and I see that mostly in poultry, and since I haven't bought or eaten pork in many years, now, I am confused as well. Where are you buying these meats? It is possible to buy fresh meat with no added chemicals. I buy mostly organic and there are usually no additives.

I'm sure your Dr. can help you, but I think a more detailed description of the foods you suspect, along with any other foods you're consuming is warranted.

Have you considered being tested for diabetes?

There are many chicken producers these days who offer air cooled, minimally processed chicken. It's not soaked in chlorinated water that dilutes the flavor or injected like the mass produced inexpensive stuff is.

And funny thing - the air cooled chicken is much more delicious. Rich and flavorful like chicken of years past.

So many home cooks have become accustomed to using chicken in preparations with this kind of sauce, these spices and flavorings, these two types of cheese, yada yada yada. Some of these can be quite good but I have to think the more elaborate preparations have evolved to help jazz up today's common chicken products that are bland. And some (like brined rotisserie chickens) have not only too much water but too much salt.

Simply roasted air cooled chicken can't be beat.

They are supposed to label meat with added water. It usually says so but I wont buy pork or chicken at the average grocery store. Occasionally you know because if you bake it you ger a pan full of water around your meat. Salty water. Ugh

chicken is bred to be harvested very young and are at increasingly young ages. As a result the meat is soft and flavorless and very wet. No exercise, no walking about using your muscle results in flabby damp meat and that is made worse by soaking the carcass in water and then worse actually pumping up the weight with more salty water. Air cooling solves part of that problem. It wont make the chicken older and tastier but it will not be squishy with extra water.

Oddly the enormous breast that chickens were bred for have gone right out of fashion because they are tasteless and the previously despised thigh meat has become the target. You wonder what they will do with that.

patriciae

I find older, larger birds (roasters?) a bit too strong and sometimes even gamey in flavor. There's a type of chicken so raised that I've encountered in France that I don't care for.

I raised pastured poultry for about 6 years with a farmer friend. I'm lucky enough to still be able to buy it locally. If you've ever tasted it, you'd never be able to go back to factory food. And a humane life and death for the birds too.

Why do you all accept food that has been adulterated? We're lucky in Europe to get real, normal meat and veggies. Our eggs aren't treated so we don't have to keep them in the fridge, if it's called butter, then it's butter. Fish is fish. Meat certainly isn't bleached!!! Veggies are just veggies.

The most disturbing things that I learned here is that 80% of fresh food is bought by older people. The young ones aren't disposed to cook any more so they're buying crap. They'll pay the cost in the future.

I've had pasture raised poultry a number of times and know what you're saying. Even if I lived where doing that were feasible, I wouldn't have my own chickens.

Pasture raising is great if you can get good chicks. Pasture raising the genetically alterd commercial chicks is fairly pointless. They will taste better but it is a lot of bother and every varmint for miles wants to drop by for chicken dinner.

patriciae

" Why do you all accept food that has been adulterated? "

I think you're overreacting and assuming too much. It's true there are many food products produced by large scale producers who incorporate some practices for practical reasons that subtract rather than add from food wholesomeness and flavor. But they're done sometimes for practical reasons. As an example, for food often shipped thousands of miles to customers more interested in prices than in flavor. Food from local smaller scale producers using more traditional methods is often also available and for usually higher prices many can't afford.

I've lived in Continental Europe and generally agree with you that food quality is higher. But food is also much more expensive.

Meat here isn't "bleached". If you're reacting to the comment about freshly slaughtered chicken meat put into vats of chlorinated water, that's done for two reasons:

1)Meat needs to be quickly chilled to a safe cold temperature after slaughter. An effective and efficient approach that's used by large scale poultry processors is to use very cold water, and

2)The water is slightly chlorinated to prevent the spread and cross contamination of bacteria, if any is present, among the meat being treated.

Elmer, I can only go by what I read here!

And I agree, if you want quality food, you have to pay for it.

Paying more doesn't necessarily mean you're getting better quality.

I lover nitrates and nitrites used on my meat! It's converted into nitric Oxide and helps with brain function and blood flow. Excess nitric Oxide is then converted to Nitrate and passed in the urine. If there is NITRITES in your urine it means nitrate is being converted into NITRITES and indicates a urinary track infection, and will cause frequent trips to the toilet with reduced flow. The only bacteria I know that converts nitrates to NITRITES is in the dirt, not the body.

It's not the meat, nitrates or nitrites causing your problem, so you need to see a doctor about it. There are a couple of other issues I won't mention because I'm not a doctor but both are serious so ask you doctor!

Protein is processed with UREA removed as a waste product , which is removed by the kidneys into the urine stream, but I do not believe it would be drastic enough to get you up 5 times a night. Ask your doctor. I know people using the keto and caveman diets and never had problems from excess urination.

I do think when you eat vegetables you don't consume enough protein anyway to compare the two sources of protein. Protein is protein regardless where it comes from and processed the same way. To get your daily requirements of protein form vegetables you'd need to eat almost 8 cups of green peas, do you do this, or something comparable? Ask Lilly, who's been a vegetarian for ever and it's not eating a salad and calling it a day. It takes a lot of knowledge and work to live off rabbit food and still live. The body is a marvelous chemical processing plant but you need to know what to dump into your stomach to get what you need.

" Protein is protein regardless where it comes from and processed the same way. "

Actually, it isn't - different types of protein are primarily digested in different ways. Parts are digested in one part of the gut with enzymes, while other parts are digested by microbes in a different part of the gut. Different sources of protein have different proportions that are digested in different ways.

I stand corrected, but do you agree with me he needs to see a doctor?

" but do you agree with me he needs to see a doctor "

I don't have a good enough picture of things to say......That said, a visit to a doctor wouldn't be wrong. I'm just not sure it's a "need".

Just can't say it can you. "I agree with Kevin" would of been so easy, and so would applauding for a cancer survivor if it wasn't for the messenger.

" Just can't say it can you. "I agree with Kevin" would of been so easy "

But it would have been a lie. Lying is often easy, and it has nothing to do with the messenger. I don't know anything about you, and don't have a feeling about you or your posts one way or another.

Poseurs are best ignored. He'll look up the definition of this (to him) unknown word and will respond.

The proven liar, and poster child for the term poser takes a shot and misses again. Should I wait for his fake troll account posing as a Doctor make an appearance with cut and paste advice on the subject?

For Pete's sake Elmer, could you at least given you fake doctor a phone number not starting with an area code 555? I haven't seen your fake account much since Covid and wonder how many others you have.

Is your background in finance and accounting so limited you look like a 1st grader and shy away from the subject whenever it comes up? Cashier fudd/table cleaner doesn't give your creds.

Many of my life experiences come from first hand knowledge, yours come from the internet. Working in the food processing industry and working directly with USDA inspectors, I will with confidence say meat products are safe in the USA until they leave the packing plant. But you as a brochure experienced traveler of Europe and internet trained expert on food safety, who never set foot in a meat packing plant knows for a fact Europe's food is safer. OK Elmer talk your trash with many big words, fools are born every minute.

He won't respond as usual after being called out on his fraud, typical for people with this personality deficiencies, and takes him a few days when anyone calls him out what a pile he is. I think his last name IS Pyle, Elmer Pyle, but certainly not to be confused with Goober Pyle with higher grade DNA.

Wow - Kevin - such vitriol in your post. Are Americans today so full of anger that a simple discussion about food cannot be had without disintigrating into a verbal brawl filled with abusive taunts? This brings ’food fight’ to a whole new lower level.

KW, I was being kind to the pest.