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Tummy hurts - Dr suggested introducing paleo gradually?


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Hiya - I've tried the whole 30 3 times and failed each time because of grinding stomach aches. The first I lasted 10 days and I thought the stomach aches were because i just am not used to eating that much meat, so I tried a sort of mix of the vegi option and the normal option. I still got terrible low down stomach aches and on the third try they kicked in on day 2.

 

My normal diet is mostly home cooked, lots of veg, pasta, home made bread, potatos etc. some cheese, cakes and biscuits.  I don't eat ready meals and only have junk food every couple of months or so. I don't miss sugar if I give it up.

I'm menopausal and feel better (less hot flushes etc) if I drink soya.

 

The Dr said that the intestinal lining is a very delicate thing and she thinks I might be stressing it with a change from a relatively low protein diet to a hight protein one. She suggested I wean myself into a paleo diet gradually but I don't know where to start with that really?

 

Any suggestions much appreciated.

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A few thoughts:

- maybe you "back into" the Whole30? For example, Instead of eliminating everything at once, remove gluten one day, then non-gluten grains 4 days later, then dairy 4 days later, then sugar, etc.

- I wonder if you're eating too much meat? Per the meal template, the protein portion is 1-2 palm sizes per meal.  Focus on the veggies, aiming for 1-2 cups per meal.

- try a variety of protein: red meat, pork, poultry, fish
 

Hope this is helpful.

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Ohh, I like that idea, so I gradually reduce back into a more protein focussed diet?  I was going for palm sized portions, small palms because I don't do much exercise. All that worked fine, I wasn't hungry but it just hurt.

Before Whole 30 I didn't eat much meat but a fair bit of fish, eggs, tofu etc.

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You don't have to eat 'meat' per se. Since you are used to eating fish and eggs; I would concentrate on using those sources of protein (just stay away from the tofu) Palm sized portion of fish or a couple of eggs on your plate along with lots of good veggies that you are already used to eating shouldn't cause you distress -  if it does then maybe your doctor is just taking the easy way out and blaming your diet?  I don't consider Whole30 a high protein diet.

 

As far as eliminating the dairy, grains, legumes, grains, alcohol and food additives go, I don't think that would be causing your stomach aches.

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I suspect that the real cause of your stomach aches is difficulty digesting meat. Many people who are not used to eating meat benefit from taking a digestive enzyme like Now Foods Super Enzymes for a few months as their gut grows all the bacteria it needs to efficiently digest meat.

 

Adopting the diet slowly would give your stomach time to develop the bacteria it needs, but I would try digestive enzymes and move quicker rather than slower. Most people can stop taking digestive enzymes after a while because their gut develops what it needs.

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I think you are right, it's not that I don't eat meat but just not very often. Someone told me what your mother eats when you are in utero makes a difference to how you digest food - my mum is a vegetarian. I don't know if that is total rubbish but it makes sense.

 

I'll try a more fishy approach, if you know of any fish based paleo resources that would be great but I'll google of course.

 

I don't really want to go down the enzyme route if I can help it. It seems weird to me that I change to a clean diet then put artificial stuff into my system, if my body doesn't want to digest something surely that something is just not good for it?

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I rarely eate meat before W30, so I guess I wasn't surprised to need enzymes.  I take NOW super enzymes and HCL (adding the HCL is what really helped...).  I'm still taking them as I just started W30 in April.  Eventually, I will try to wean off of them.

 

Also, I am actually a big fan of enzymes.  I'm not surprised that generations of poor eating has damaged our ability to digest real food well and I'm not surprised that switching up what we eat also takes a period of adjustment.  If enzymes help me get through that adjustment, I'm ok with it.  I sound a bit like a broken record on this because I've told this story many times on different posts on the forums, but I'll put it here, too.  My son was very small (despite coming from a very tall family) and had horrible reflux as a baby.  We had him on every reflux med available.  At 4, I think, we got fed up and worked with a naturopath and took him off Nexium and put him on high doses of enzymes and probiotics.  His reflux only got a little better, but, in just 6 months, he went from 20% or so on the growth charts to 70% or so.  He obviously needed help getting nutrients out of his food in order to grow.  He is now he's one of the tallest kids in his grade and also looks much healthier overall.  Anyway, if enzymes might help, it's worth giving it a try. 

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I've been googling and found this http://www.naturaldigestivehealing.com/blog/2011/10/03/why-i-don%E2%80%99t-recommend-hcl-and-digestive-enzymes/ which looks like it's aimed at people with diareah but it's making me more nervous of messing with my natural enzymes. It does have some suggestions like cider vinegar (need to check if that's ok) and ginger which I know is ok.

 

My stragegy is going to be to cut out things gradually - sugar, dairy and wheat first because I know I don't need sugar or dairy and I feel better without wheat. I'm going to eat more fish and eggs as my main protein sources and slowly introduce more meat as I drop the other things such as rice, beans etc.

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I don't really want to go down the enzyme route if I can help it. It seems weird to me that I change to a clean diet then put artificial stuff into my system, if my body doesn't want to digest something surely that something is just not good for it?

 

As somebody that HATES medication and supplementation in general, I understand your concern and hesitancy, but the biochemistry doesn't really support what you're thinking. If you don't use an enzyme (like pepsin, the main enzyme for digesting meat) frequently, your body isn't going to be bothered to waste the energy to produce it. Energy is scarce. It's going to make the stuff it NEEDS and downregulate the stuff that it doesn't need, like pepsin.

 

If you were to start eating lots of meat again, your body will recognize the need for pepsin and say, "hey, lets start making that stuff again" and will then upregulate its production. The problem is that that process takes TIME. a couple of weeks at least. The suggestion of taking digestive enzymes is really just propping up your digestion so you're comfortable for the time it takes your body to catch up with the diet change.

 

Now, that being said, I wouldn't take the enzymes either. I'd just suffer through...but that's because I'm a cheapskate and a skeptic. :)

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  • 1 month later...

Just an update. I'm not good at sticking to Whole 30 for more than a week and I'm fed up of beating myself up about it. It will come later.

What I have managed to do though is find a (mostly) paleo way of eating that doesn't hurt me. Apart from occasional lapses I am pretty much wheat free which makes a huge difference in how I feel.

All your replies really helped. I'm totally fine with fish, so that is my main protien and I'm gradually increasing the amount of meat I have. I can have it twice a day now without any problems, but not every day :-)

One day I'll have the resolve and self respect to manage a whole Whole 30 but probably not yet.

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HCL and digestive enzymes aren't artificial, these substances are in our bodies. However, if you don't eat meat, your system will stop making HCL. Supplementing (not replacing) these substances while your body adjusts is perfectly normal.

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