Day 18 - Stomach Flu or Food Reaction?

[rudeandnotginger]

(I did a search for similar topics, but everything I found seemed to relate to nausea in the first week of the program).

 

I'm on Day 18 of my first Whole30. Up until now, I've been feeling pretty great. No Tiger Blood yet, but so much less tiredness, fewer headaches, better focus, etc.

 

Then after dinner on Day 16, I began having a lot of *ahem* digestive issues. No throwing up, but gas, bloating, nausea, lack of appetite, and frequent trips to the bathroom. Bad enough I used a sick day. My hips (w/ psoriatic arthritis) have been very painful for the first time in months, and I feel achy all over (I also have fibromyalgia). And yet I don't really feel "sick" like when I have a virus.

 

See below for what I've been eating Day 15-18. Up until Day 15, I was really trying to follow the template, but now I'm just trying to find things I can eat and still stay on plan. I'm feeling hungry, but nothing sounds appetizing and it upsets my stomach when I eat it.

 

I've been drinking 32oz. of kombucha a day, but I've been doing that for two weeks now, so I don't know if it would suddenly come back to bite me now. For the record, my mother thinks I might be pregnant. I doubt it, but I'm taking a test tomorrow morning. This has been going on for two and half days, so  I just want to know if you think this might be a reaction to a food I'm sensitive to, or some sort of stomach bug? Too many FODMAPs?

 

Background info: I'm 26, drink more than 100oz. of water a day, am 5'9", and weighed 216 last time I checked.

 

DAY FIFTEEN
M1 (8AM): 3 tilapia fish cakes, 2 tbsp mayo, 1 cup steamed cauliflower, bulletproof coffee (w/ 1.5 tsp ghee, 1.5 tsp coconut oil), 1 tbsp ACV [meant to eat more cauliflower, but felt a little bloated and nauseated. Full disclosure: I drank the tbsp. of ACV straight by itself because I was silly and didn't look up that you're supposed to add it to water, and I nearly threw up  ]

M2 (1:30PM): 3 hot dogs, Tessemae's ketchup, handful of olives, 1 fist of Whole Foods sweet potatoes, 1 kombucha

M3 (4PM): 1 Epic meat bar, 12 oz. honeydew [terrible, I know, I know]

Pre-workout: 1 salted HB egg

[pretty tired during workout, but no other issues]

M4 (8:45PM): 1 bag steamed ratatouille vegetables (zucchini, eggplant, onions, tomatoes), 1/2 bag steamed root veggies, 2 chicken bratwurst, 2 tbsp ghee, 1 multi-green kombucha

[Note: this was my first workout since starting my W30]

 

DAY SIXTEEN

M1 (6AM): 4 eggs w/ 1 tbsp duck fat, 6 oz. steamed broccoli (half bag) w/ 1 tbsp. mayo, 6 oz. raw apple slices (half bag), bulletproof coffee (w/ 1.5 tsp ghee, 1.5 tsp coconut oil), 1 kombucha

M2 (11AM): 3 hot dogs w/ Tessemae's ketchup, 10oz. raw bell peppers, 1 heaping handful shredded coconut

M3 (8PM): 2 palms pork roast, 2 fists white potatoes mashed with coconut milk, 1 kombucha

NOTE: Started to have lack of appetite during day. Wasn't hungry for M3 at 4PM like I should have been. Ate a fair bit at dinner to make up for missing M3. Felt really sick to my stomach after dinner.

 

DAY SEVENTEEN - STOMACH ISSUES DAY 1

M1: 3 HB eggs w/ compliant dijon mustard, 2 cups blueberries w/ 1 handful shredded coconut, 1 kombucha

M2: 1 cup bone broth

M3: paleo pad thai (shrimp, zoodles, cabbage) w/ sunshine sauce, 1 kombucha [not the easiest on my stomach but there was no other dinner in the house]

 

DAY EIGHTEEN - STOMACH ISSUES DAY 2
M1: 1 cup bone broth, 1 cup of tea

M2: 3 white baked potatoes w/ salt and 3 tbsp ghee

M3: 1 cup bone broth

 

planned M4: compliant shepherd's pie

 

NOTE: A little better than yesterday but still nauseated and gassy.

[Physibeth]

My question is are any of these foods drastically different from the first 14 days of your Whole30? 

 

I noticed a couple of things that may or may not be issues. You do have a lot of fodmaps and nightshades in your meals. You might want to try cutting one or both for a bit and see how you go. Nightshades especially can cause problems for people with AI issues (arthritis and fibro). FODMAPs are often a culprit for GI issues.

 

My guess is that you either ate something off or are ill, but if you introduced a food or group of foods that could be an issue.

[rudeandnotginger]

My question is are any of these foods drastically different from the first 14 days of your Whole30? 

 

I noticed a couple of things that may or may not be issues. You do have a lot of fodmaps and nightshades in your meals. You might want to try cutting one or both for a bit and see how you go. Nightshades especially can cause problems for people with AI issues (arthritis and fibro). FODMAPs are often a culprit for GI issues.

 

My guess is that you either ate something off or are ill, but if you introduced a food or group of foods that could be an issue.

 Before my Whole30 I ate clean 80/20, but with too much reliance on fruit and dairy and peanut butter, with occasional bouts of too much chocolate/cheese/beer. The only entirely new foods for my Whole30 are things like kombucha, ghee, and all the coconut products. New since Day 14 would be duck fat and ACV. And I usually wasn't eating nightshade/fodmap foods in such quantities, so I may have just overloaded my system. I'll try cutting out/scaling back drastically on both.

 

1. Is continuing to drink kombucha going to help or hurt at this point?

2. I'm on my third day of this and I still can't eat much/am still having problems (I'm going to go see a doctor asap, don't worry). I've been eating white potatoes w/ ghee, fruit, bone broth, and coconut water to attempt to get something in my body. The sound of eggs, veggies, or meat makes me nauseated. Potatoes are nightshade, plus sweet potatoes are high fodmap. Any suggestions on foods that would be easy on my stomach but avoid fodmaps/nightshades?

[Physibeth]

Sweet potatoes are not eliminated on our FODMAP template so I think those are OK. For potatoes the nightshade is in the peel so if you are not already peeling them you can try that. I always peel both types of potatoes to be honest because I find the skins of both make my stomach unhappy. I would cut back on the Kombucha...32 oz is a lot. I usually drink 8-16 oz a day if that.

[praxisproject]

If you've recently added the ACV, I would try excluding it for a bit until you feel well again. Vinegar and Kombucha are both high in histamine (gut problems aren't a usual reaction to histamines that I'm aware of). I'd scale back on both of these just until you feel better, sometimes overload can be all it is.

 

I'd avoid any of the cruciferous veggies (including cauliflower) and I'd try the peeled white potatoes just until you're back on track.

 

How are you feeling now?

[rudeandnotginger]

If you've recently added the ACV, I would try excluding it for a bit until you feel well again. Vinegar and Kombucha are both high in histamine (gut problems aren't a usual reaction to histamines that I'm aware of). I'd scale back on both of these just until you feel better, sometimes overload can be all it is.

 

I'd avoid any of the cruciferous veggies (including cauliflower) and I'd try the peeled white potatoes just until you're back on track.

 

How are you feeling now?

 

Feeling much better! I'm pretty sure now that it was a stomach bug because my husband got sick right after me and had the same symptoms/duration. Still, just to be on the safe side I've scaled back my kombucha to 16 oz. a day, tops. I think I'm going to extend my Whole30 by at least a couple of days because I feel like 3 days of potatoes and bone broth cheated me out of some healing nutrition.

 

Thanks for the advice, everyone!