>Speaking of heart and diet, I've noticed something.  Before I switched
>(originally to Atkins, then to Neanderthin), I used to get really hot and
>my heart would race after eating some meals.
<snip>

>Is this common?  Was I on the edge of more serious problems, or was it no
>big deal?
        Your body was treating a food as if it were an emergency.  Selye got a
Nobel prize for describing the alarm reaction.  What follows that is:
adaptation (chronic high bp), then finally exhaustion, (me).