what am I doing wrong? Sharp pain back at day 12

[Shizuma974]

Hi!

I'm 32 and it's my first whole30. I'm doing it for two reasons essentially : see if I can clear my skin and what causes me sharp pain in my belly regularly (not stomach but intestine. It's situated on the sides and lower belly).

I'm on day 12 but had to restart because I messed up 13 days ago at day 18. Everything was going well. I had the minor headache at the beginning because of my sugar addiction. Nothing to worry about. (TMI) I also had minor diarrhea at some point but I guess it's because my digestive system was adjusting. I wasn't worry either.

Yesterday the sharp pain I experienced before starting the whole 30 was back. I couldn't do anything but sleep in the afternoon. It wasn't fun. I'm kind of disappointed and lost. I'm doing everything I can to find the culprit, thought I was on the right track since I didn't had that pain in 29 days!

The only thing I did different the day before was cashew milk that I made myself from cashew butter to cook some tapioca with a little bit of cocoa. (spoiler alert it was too bitter and didn't finished it) Can that be the culprit even tho I never had issue eating cashews or cashew butter in the past and my symptoms are not what nuts or cocoa allergy is like?

Another thing I want to mention, I'm doing an ovo-pescetarian version. I'm not eating meat. My proteins are essentially eggs and sometimes fish.

Am I doing something wrong? What can cause that pain if it's not something I eat?

I hope someone can help me. Thanks!

 

Sorry if I made some mistakes. English is not my native language. 

[ShannonM816]

Even for people who are not allergic, nuts and stuff made from them sometimes causes digestive issues, so it's possible that could cause intestinal pain from gas.  Eating lots of cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower, or eating lots of raw vegetables can cause gas as well that might be painful. It's hard to say if these are what's causing your pain without knowing what you've been eating.

If you suspect it's not food related you should probably talk to your doctor.

 

[Shizuma974]

Thanks for your reply

My 3 meals consists of 2 eggs (hard boiled or cooked with some coconut oil) + some veggies : a combination of potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, zucchini... depending of what I found at the farmers market. I roast them with some olive oil and spices or steam them. Some days I add a fruit and/or some cashew nuts as a snack in the afternoon.

Before someone says I don't eat enough proteins (I saw that arguments being recurrent on the forum), I just want you to know I made my research.
I found out that a female who doesn't work out (my case) should eat 0.8 of her weight in proteins (that gives the number of grams). In my case, because I'm 50Kg, that makes 40 grams of proteins. Eggs contains about 13 g of proteins for 2 eggs. So, 40 divided by 13 equals 3, so that makes 6 eggs per day for me.

Today, I followed my basic menu and didn't add anything frivolous like the handmade cashew milk and I'm feeling better. I'm really bloated but not in pain anymore. Houray!

PS : Yay, I know I should eat my veggies raw too but it's the best I can do at the moment. Before the whole 30, potatoes and sweet potatoes were the only vegetables I was eating. :/
I'm proud of my improvements and aim to do even better in the future.

[ShannonM816]

Cooked vegetables are fine. Raw ones can be harder to digest and cause gas and bloating for some people. 

Something you might try, just to see if it makes a difference, is not doing the hard boiled eggs for a few days. I know for me, hard boiled eggs seem more likely to cause bloating than eggs cooked in other ways, especially if I eat a lot of them. So for a few days, try scrambled or fried eggs or omelettes or something.

Be sure you're drinking plenty of water, aiming for 1/2 ounce per pound of body weight, so based on the 50 kg you mentioned, at least 55 oz of water, and then more if you're out in the heat or doing any kind of exercise that makes you sweat.

My guess is if you were having cashews and stuff made from them most days, that's a big factor. Try to limit nuts to a small closed handful, every other day or so. Find some different options for fats instead, like coconut, olives, avocado, mayonnaise, or other sauces or dressings. 

[Shizuma974]

Thanks a lot Shannon!

I'll try to stop the hard boiled eggs and the nuts for a few days to see if my digestion gets better.

Concerning my water intake. If I'm right, 55 oz is 1,62 mL ? (I'm French and we don't use the same units ^^") If so, I'm between 1,5 and 2 L a day of water and green tea so I guess I'm doing right.