Stomach Pain - Day 3

[samanthajfont]

Hello,

 

First time posting here. I attempted a Whole30 in May 2016 but ended up cutting it a few days short because I was experiencing weird stomach pains. I am on Day 3 of my second Whole30 and starting to feel the pains again. They are not gas pains, and it's not bloating. The only thing that I can liken it to is that weird feeling when you are waterlogged after being in the pool all day (I am not sure if anyone can even relate to that). Kind of feels like I have a pit in my stomach, but I'm not nauseous at all.

Meals today:

M1 @ 6 AM: Made a breakfast bowl with sweet potato (roasted in avocado oil), zucchini, compliant chicken sausage, some berries, almond butter and coconut flakes <- I had a little bit of the sweet potato/zuchinni/sausage mix yesterday for lunch and was fine.

M2 @ 1 PM: ground chicken (flavored with salt, pepper and coconut aminos), green beans and half an avocado. Had the ground chicken and green beans last night for dinner and was fine. 

Drinks: Tons of water and some coffee flavored with nutpods (I drink coffee with nutpods daily)

I felt great after breakfast. The weird pain set in again at around 3:30 and it is bringing me back to what I felt during my first round. Any ideas on what it could be? I eat avocados, nuts and nut butters pretty frequently anyway but maybe I'm eating TOO much fat? FYI I have major issues with joint pain and constipation which I believe are being caused by chronic inflammation. 

Would greatly appreciate any insight here! Really looking forward to having a good Whole30 and figured I would ask for help rather than struggle alone  

 

-Sam

[Lindseydalton]

Hi Sam,

It could be possible that your body is just adjusting to the new way of eating.  What was your diet like prior to this round? 

You went 7 hours between meals 1 and 2.  I know if I go a long time between eating, after my meal I get a terrible stomach ache!  I have no idea why it happens but it does.  Maybe try to only go 5 hours max between meals.  

It doesn't look to me, based on your 2 meals here, that you're eating too much fat. 

Hope you feel better soon!

[Lorna from Canada]

I, too, suffered chronic constipation prior to W30 (IBS) and had SO much added fibre to my diet (bran and psyllium) to keep things rolling. Like 65g of fibre each day! Coming in to my first W30 I couldn't imagine how I'd fare without all that added fibre. I felt absolutely terrible for the first 10 (even maybe 20) days of my first W30 - my IBS was enraged - so much gut pain. But, it did settle down quite a bit towards the end and that long for my bowel routine to figure things out too. I think this way of eating is so unltimately healthy but to our poor, abused bodies, it must feel like a really radical change.

I hope you see this through this time. I just finished my 3rd W30 and I feel amazing. No pain this time except when I over indulge in fruit and nuts (particularly cashews and pecans). The fructose in fruit can be an irritant to those with IBS and nuts are hard to digest period.

Hope this settles for you quickly!

[samanthajfont]

Thank you so much for your responses! I think you both made some really great points, especially about it taking a while to undo the damage to our bodies. 

Regarding diet: My non-Whole30 diet is mostly gluten-free and I have been eating "clean" for quite a while (high-quality meat and dairy, watching sugars and added preservatives). However, I definitely do not eat as much meat normally as I do on Whole30 and tend to substitute with gluten-free breads, lentil pasta, etc. Also worth noting is that in the past few months I realized that eggs (whites or whole eggs) make me feel very nauseous, so I have been adding meat like chicken sausage to my breakfast instead.

Lindsey, the point you made about timing in between meals is very interesting. I felt great all weekend and my meals were all pretty close to each other. I am trying to figure out how to adjust based on my work schedule. Here is a normal day for me:

Wake up 5:30/6:00 AM

Eat Breakfast 6:30 AM

Leave the House 7:30 AM (1 hr 15 min drive to work)

Lunch: Usually between 12 and 1 PM 

Leave Work: 5:30/6:00 PM

Arrive Home: 6:30/7:00 PM

Dinner: 7:00 - 8:00 PM

How do I keep a shorter time between meals, but also eat within an hour of waking? Do I need to eat M2 earlier and add a third meal in the afternoon to tide me over until I get home from work? 

 

[Lindseydalton]

2 hours ago, samanthajfont said:

Thank you so much for your responses! I think you both made some really great points, especially about it taking a while to undo the damage to our bodies. 

Regarding diet: My non-Whole30 diet is mostly gluten-free and I have been eating "clean" for quite a while (high-quality meat and dairy, watching sugars and added preservatives). However, I definitely do not eat as much meat normally as I do on Whole30 and tend to substitute with gluten-free breads, lentil pasta, etc. Also worth noting is that in the past few months I realized that eggs (whites or whole eggs) make me feel very nauseous, so I have been adding meat like chicken sausage to my breakfast instead.

Lindsey, the point you made about timing in between meals is very interesting. I felt great all weekend and my meals were all pretty close to each other. I am trying to figure out how to adjust based on my work schedule. Here is a normal day for me:

Wake up 5:30/6:00 AM

Eat Breakfast 6:30 AM

Leave the House 7:30 AM (1 hr 15 min drive to work)

Lunch: Usually between 12 and 1 PM 

Leave Work: 5:30/6:00 PM

Arrive Home: 6:30/7:00 PM

Dinner: 7:00 - 8:00 PM

How do I keep a shorter time between meals, but also eat within an hour of waking? Do I need to eat M2 earlier and add a third meal in the afternoon to tide me over until I get home from work? 

 

Do you get hungry between your meals when you'reat work? If you don't then you can definitely keep it the same. No reason to change if it's working for you. I just thought getting too hungry could be the culprit. If you were to adjust, I would eat breakfast at 7 then lunch as close to 12 as possible. Then if you are hungry a small snack around 4:30/5 then dinner at home. But again, dont change it if it's not broken!

[samanthajfont]

I don't get that hungry in the morning before breakfast and lunch, but I am usually starving (hangry) by the time I get home. I am going to be very conscious about the timing of my meals and might try to add in a third, mini meal in between lunch and dinner for the next few work days to see if that helps! I'll report back   Thanks again! 

[Si-Ya]

I think I might experience that same feeling as you do whenever I combine high carb vegetables with meat. A dear friend of mine pointed out that it can create odd feelings and so I tried separating the two and now I feel beautiful if I eat Japanese sweet potatoes (favorite) thirty minutes after protein, but if I try to eat them simultaneously I will get an odd sploogy stomach feeling. It is hard to describe what I feel from it because it is not pain but more a gurgled ugh feeling that goes away once they have both digested. 

[Lorna from Canada]

It's amazing what we learn when we pay attention to our bodies! We're so different in what we tolerate, how we digest, what makes us feel nauseated, what keeps us full. This W30 is an amazing self-experiment!