Why does sugar make me bloated?

[Megan Simpson]

So I decided to eat some cookie dough and noticed it makes me bloated. Assuming its the sugar, why does sugar make me bloated? Also some side effects- aches in my back and abdomen and heartburn.

[Physibeth]

I'm assuming this was a cookie dough made with wheat flour? Unless you have successfully reintroduced wheat with no side effects I would suspect that over the sugar. 

[kaiser179]

Are you sure it was the sugar that led to the symptoms?  A more likely guess is the gluten or the dairy.  Were you previously eating W30 and doing reintroductions?  It would be helpful to eat clean for a couple of days until your symptoms go away and then reintroduce potentially offending ingredients on an individal basis.  Feel better!

[Megan Simpson]

Well it was temptation for sure. Mu niece and I were doing the whole30 and we were two and a half weeks in and she ran out of food and she's on food stamps so she stopped. So I decided to eat cookie dough. I knew what I was doing. But it's white flour.

[Physibeth]

White flour is still wheat flour it just doesn't have the bran or the germ in it. Depending on the flour it might also be chemically bleached and had things added back into it. White flour will still have gluten. 

[jpketz]

My first reintroduced food took the form of a hubcap-sized sugar cookie with icing, in public, at a Farmer's Market. Bad idea. I had exactly the same reaction...bloating, nausea, light-headedness. I suspected the sugar jolt was the culprit at first but since then, and after more well-planned reintroductions, I've concluded it was the dairy and wheat more than the sugar. Sugar has it's own delightful array of side effects but for me, and a good percentage of the population, dairy and wheat are known causes of digestive distress, especially after 30 days without them. 

 

Reintro is tricky business (I assume you're in that phase). The more scientific you can be, the better the feedback. I'd echo @kaiser179. Be patient, take it one ingredient at a time, eat clean between.  

[Tom Denham]

Here is a theory of how the sugar may be causing trouble... Sugar is food for certain gut bacteria. When you stop eating sugar, those bacteria drop in numbers and become weak. If you give them a big meal of sugar, they grow quickly and become stronger. The process of the gut bacteria growing may produce symptoms of bloating, etc.

[JamieM]

My first reintroduced food took the form of a hubcap-sized sugar cookie with icing, in public, at a Farmer's Market. Bad idea.

jpketz I literally laughed out loud when I read this! I am in an office so it definitely got me some looks! I am on day 100 and will be reintroducing starting tomorrow so I am reading others experiences with reintroductions.....thanks for the warning and for making me laugh today!

Cheers,

JamieM

[Kim Christensen]

There's a reason people use the term "gluten baby". It's a pretty common reaction to gluten. For me, I get it also with just too many carbs in general. I am pot W30 but stay 100% paleo. I get super bloated just with too much fruit, paleo cookies, etc.

[Bet]

What Tom is talking about is SIBO, small intestine bacterial overgrowth. If it was the sugar, you could have this issue. One way to cure SIBO is by diet and starve the bacteria out. The bacteria is not the good kind we want in our system, and it shouldn't be in the small intestine.