On day 21 and still so bloated

[Rebemac]

I'm on day 21 and have been eating very well. I didn't eat poorly before, but included regular butter, plain yogurt, cheddar cheese, some grains and carbs and some legumes in my diet. I did not eat much meat before, so I'm eating way more meat and eggs than I'm used to. I ate lots of vegetables before, but I'm definitely eating even more now. However, my stomach has been almost constantly bloated and I've had some bad gas too. I started taking digestive enzymes which helps a little, but shouldn't things be evening out now in my GI? I wasn't having any of these issues before starting my Whole30.

[Carlaccini]

Are you able to post a couple days worth of meals here - it will help us troubleshoot.

 

That being said - are you eating any or many nuts?  Nuts are famous for causing bloating and discomfort.

[Rebemac]

I have been eating nuts, but I ate them just about everyday before the Whole30 and never had any issues. Anyway, Day 21 I had a zucchini, egg fritter with almond meal in it, kale, sweet potato, turkey, half an avocado, and tea with coconut milk for breakfast. Lunch was a salad with peppers, carrots, radish, avocado, chicken and compliant ranch dressing, another zucchini fritter and a small handful of macadamia nuts. I went running about an hour or two later and had some turkey and jicama with Well Fed "Sunshine Sauce" when I got back. Before running I got very bloated. Dinner was zucchini noodles with pesto (walnut and pine nut) and chicken and some roasted delicata squash. I was extremely gassy and bloated that night. Day 22 I had two poached eggs with prosciutto, tomato, kale and hollandaise sauce, half a sweet potato with ghee, some fruit and coffee with coconut milk for breakfast. 2nd meal was a large salad with chicken, tomato, cucumber, peppers, onion, avocado and compliant ranch dressing, and a zucchini, egg fritter with almond meal in it. Dinner was a pork, cabbage, pepper, eggplant stir fry on cauliflower "rice", and a compliant berry cobbler from Well Fed for dessert (1st dessert in the last 21 days). Again I was very gassy and bloated in the evening. I've had some kombucha on both days too, and taking digestive enzymes with most meals.

[Carlaccini]

Hi Rebemac,

 

Your meals look good and quite frankly tasty!  But you do rely heavily on nuts as your fat source.  

 

I was never a nut lover or avocado lover before my whole 30 days. But I never noticed any issues with eating nuts or avocados either.  A whole 30 is great at pealing layers away and revealing things to us.  This is what is happening.  Less and less food is causing gut distress.  So right now it's going to start revealing to you what is bothering it.

 

Nuts, seeds, dates, dried fruit in general are well known for causing stomach distress, bloating, constipation etc.  It's best if you eliminate them for a few days and see what happens.  You still have lots of other fabulous fat choices to choose from:  Anything Coconut, olives, homemade mayo etc.  I do see that you do use a variety of fat sources already.

 

A personal note about avocados: I can't eat them.  At all.  Well I can, but unless I want to look like I'm pregnant, feel super uncomfortable, gassy, and on top of this not have the ability to go to the bathroom, then yeah I will eat avocado.  I know being sensitive to avocados is not super common, but it might be worth a try considering your discomfort level.  I would eliminate the nuts first.  Then take it from there.  If you are still having issues in the next few days then work on eliminating the avos.

[Rebemac]

I rarely ever got stomach distress before and I was eating high quality plain yogurt with fruit, almonds, pumpkin seeds, flax meal, and chia seeds every morning for breakfast pre-Whole30 I will cut out the nuts, but I'm actually starting to wonder if it's cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, etc. as I consume a bowl of leftover pork and cabbage stir fry on riced cauliflower for lunch! I took some digestive enzymes, but we'll see how I feel later. The bloating is not usually a morning thing. It usually starts sometime in the afternoon or evening.

[ShannonM816]

If I eat a lot of cauliflower and broccoli I get bloated, so that's definitely a possiblity. Also, if you were eating a high-quality yogurt before, you were getting probiotics from that -- are you eating other fermented foods (sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, fermented pickles) to make up for that? Or taking a probiotic supplement? That might be helpful.

[Rebemac]

I felt okay yesterday until after dinner. I was in the worst stomach distress I have felt since being diagnosed with IBS 17 years ago! I feel like throwing in the towel for these last five days! When I had IBS i went on a simple carb-free diet for about six months (ate lots of brown rice, buckwheat flatbreads and nut butters as well as plain yogurt, vegetables, fish and some meat) and took lots of probiotics and digestive enzymes. It totally cleared up and I would have occasional flare-ups if I had wine, beer, or too much sugar for a few years afterwards, but since then, I've never had any symptoms like that again until now. Last night for dinner I had fish, delicata squash, swiss chard, and a few bites of coconut butter for some extra fat. I started drinking about a cup of kombucha a day a little over a week ago. I was going to do the slow reintroduction of off-plan foods, but what's the point now? I'm already miserable. I wasn't doing this diet to lose weight or because I felt lousy. I was doing it mostly for my partner who ate way too much sugar and had awful headaches, bad sleep and bad gas. I had some minor skin issues which have mostly cleared up and residual pain from a torn tendon in my elbow from two years ago which I thought this would help with. He's doing great; no headaches, sleeping well, no more gas, but this diet seems to be having the opposite affect on me. I can't believe I did something to try to feel better and now I feel ten times worse! I don't understand what's going on, and wonder if I just can't process this much protein because I never had problems with nuts, brassica or anything else I'm eating now before, but have never eaten meat in this quantity before.

[Tina R]

It's true that your body can be having trouble digesting meat. Many of us need to take digestive enzymes for this, are you taking them with each meal or just once a day? I would increase them to every meal. Are you eliminating properly? I found that taking vitamin c ( I use powdered in a small glass of water) gets things moving in 10-15 min. I just learned that you should never eat carbs and fruit together. The theory is that your body will digest the carbs first and the fruit will ferment in you gut causing gas and bloating. Unfortunately it's a guessing game. Also sometimes it gets worse before it gets better. I would stop drinking kombucha. Good Luck!

[Rebemac]

Stop drinking kombucha? Someone else said to start drinking since I'm not eating yogurt now. I've been as regular as before luckily-every morning. I was taking digestive enzymes with every meal. I didn't take them last night because I felt like my dinner was pretty mild-fish, squash, and chard. Things I ate a lot of before. I did just get some stronger, non-vegetarian enzymes yesterday, so I'll start taking those. Feeling like this again after so many years has just been so discouraging though.