When will I start to see improvement?

[Becky Hamilton]

Hi guys, 

I began the Whole30 15 days ago in hopes of restoring my digestive health. I suffer from daily chronic diarrhea and have for about 2 years now. I can’t pinpoint a direct cause (i.e antibiotics, food sensitivities etc) because it really just started out of nowhere. Occasionally I’ll have a perfect poop (last one was on 07/04/17) but other than that I wake up every day and immediately feel a relatively urgent need to poop. It’s always loosely formed with visible bits of undigested food. I’ve wondered if I have IBS but I don’t feel any stomach pain or cramping during the day. 

It seems like my problem might me psychosomatic as in my brain is triggering me to evacuate my bowels directly upon waking rather than my digestive tract signaling to my brain when it’s ready. 

I’ve noticed little to no improvement and I’m two weeks in. Do I just need to give it time? Has anyone been through a similar situation and did the Whole30 work for you? I guess I’m just feeling a little discouraged and I don’t want to be popping Imodium on a daily basis. Thank you in advance.

[laura_juggles]

It's possible that, because you're going in with pre-existing issues that have been chronic for a while, you won't see changes until nearing the very end of your 30 days or possibly beyond that. 

Have you been to a doctor about these issues? Unfortunately, no one here is going to be able to give you any sort of medical advice. 

I would also recommend posting a couple days' meals with serving sizes to give the mods a bit more info to see if anyone can offer any advice with regard to tweaking meals. 

[Becky Hamilton]

Haven't been to a doctor. I wanted to try and experiment on my own beforehand so I could be absolutely sure that it isn't just a food intolerance. I have only been eating two meals a day in a effort to give my GI tract time to empty itself and heal. If my symptoms persist up until day 30 I plan to skip the reintroduction (i just don't see the point if i haven't restored my body to optimal health ya feel?) and go right into a low FODMAP and see what that does.  I know whole30 wants you to eat three meals a day but I'm very accustomed to only eating two well spaced meals with some intermittent snacking.  

I will run through my meals from the last two days:

Day one:

My first meal was around 12 or 1 and its usually 2 eggs cooked in clarified butter, a vegetable (1/2 a cucumber raw) and a fruit (1 kiwi) 

I snack throughout the day on kim chee, fruit (pineapple, bananas, mandarin oranges) or I'll have raw carrots or sugar snap peas, some raw greens eaten straight up.

My second meal is eaten around 8 and I will have some sort of protein-

2 chicken thighs baked in olive oil, 1/2 cup of green beans boiled, roughly a potato and a half's worth of baked steak fries. 2 tablespoons of homemade safflower oil mayo for dipping. 

Day two: 

meal one: 2 eggs scrambled in clarified butter, 3 strips of no sugar applegate bacon, 1 potato cubed and sautéed in olive oil and clarified butter (nothing green with this meal...oops)

Had a small handful of dried cherries in between meals. 

Meal two: two boneless pork chops sautéed in olive oil, apples and onions sautéed in chicken stock, 1/2 cup green beans

had a small "dessert" of about 1/4 cup pineapple warmed in the microwave with cinnamon. 

 

 

[SugarcubeOD]

20 minutes ago, Becky Hamilton said:

Haven't been to a doctor. I wanted to try and experiment on my own beforehand so I could be absolutely sure that it isn't just a food intolerance. I have only been eating two meals a day in a effort to give my GI tract time to empty itself and heal. If my symptoms persist up until day 30 I plan to skip the reintroduction (i just don't see the point if i haven't restored my body to optimal health ya feel?) and go right into a low FODMAP and see what that does.  I know whole30 wants you to eat three meals a day but I'm very accustomed to only eating two well spaced meals with some intermittent snacking.  

I will run through my meals from the last two days:

Day one:

My first meal was around 12 or 1 and its usually 2 eggs cooked in clarified butter, a vegetable (1/2 a cucumber raw) and a fruit (1 kiwi) 

I snack throughout the day on kim chee, fruit (pineapple, bananas, mandarin oranges) or I'll have raw carrots or sugar snap peas, some raw greens eaten straight up.

My second meal is eaten around 8 and I will have some sort of protein-

2 chicken thighs baked in olive oil, 1/2 cup of green beans boiled, roughly a potato and a half's worth of baked steak fries. 2 tablespoons of homemade safflower oil mayo for dipping. 

Day two: 

meal one: 2 eggs scrambled in clarified butter, 3 strips of no sugar applegate bacon, 1 potato cubed and sautéed in olive oil and clarified butter (nothing green with this meal...oops)

Had a small handful of dried cherries in between meals. 

Meal two: two boneless pork chops sautéed in olive oil, apples and onions sautéed in chicken stock, 1/2 cup green beans

had a small "dessert" of about 1/4 cup pineapple warmed in the microwave with cinnamon. 

 

 

You will not fix your digestion or your hormones by undereating which is what you’re definitely doing based on this log.

I’ve also bolded all the items that cause bloat and possible loose stools so if you’re chronic with loose stools, you definitely want to be leaving the fruit alone and eating cooked veggies not raw salad greens/raw veggies.  Kimchi also has potential to cause loose stools due to it being fermented so you might want to skip that for a bit as well.

 

If you’ve got an issue with a certain food like FODMAPS or a reason behind chronic loose stools, skipping meals to give your GI tract a ‘rest’ is actually not going to do anything as you cannot heal your GI tract in a few hours each day.  You can try removing the fruit and raw veggies and increasing your meals but you should also go to the doctor now, not later.

[Becky Hamilton]

No fruit at all?!? Not even low FODMAP?

[SugarcubeOD]

21 minutes ago, Becky Hamilton said:

No fruit at all?!? Not even low FODMAP?

You can have as much fruit as you want but if you have loose stools, fruit is going to contribute to that potentially so I would remove it for a week or so and see how you do. Banana is actually one fruit that is going to be positively impacting loose stools so you may want to incorporate banana.