Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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No, I don't mean constipation. Has anyone else experienced diarrhoea after a few days on a meat-and-fat-only diet (or have any idea what might cause it)?

Background: Inspired by posters such as Aglaeé and Melissa I decided to try a meat-and-fat only diet for 2 weeks to begin combatting a suspected SIBO/dysbiosis problem. For the first few days my bowel movements were small but regular. Then, about 7 days into the diet I had a sudden onset of diarrhoea which caught me completely by surprise. Not simply loose stools: this was full on, profuse, watery, why-in-the-name-of-all-that-is-holy-is-it-so-far-from-the-organic-meat-counter-to-the-customer-toilets?-type diarrhoea that hit me in the middle of the afternoon. My diet was pretty constant the whole week (beef, lamb, broth, liver, haddock, a few dried herbs) and I didn't introduce anything new which could have suddenly caused this.

I chickened (or rather 'potatoed' - a big mistake, btw) out of the diet the next day, but I'm considering trying it again for a longer stretch. I'm back on a more standard GAPS-type diet at the moment.

Your thoughts and experiences much appreciated. Thanks!

flag	asked Jul 9 at 12:57 TJ 492●2●9

I wonder if it could it be gallbladder cleansing? Detox in a sense.. – Eugene K Jul 13 at 5:20

DePaw · Answer 1 · 2012-07-09 15:52:45Z UTC

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It is likely a die-off reaction from the gut flora being starved from lack of carbohydrates. You have SIBO so the reaction is large. Just power through the diarrhoea as the SIBO dies.

Drink plenty of broth, and include feet/skin/head/cartalige for gelatin which gut cells can feed on directly. Also natural sea salt, as this will be lost in the diarrhoea water.

answered Jul 9 at 15:52

DePaw
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I think die-off is a likely candidate. I'm going to try the experiment again in a few days and stick with it this time and see if the diarrhoea clears. I have a bunch of chickens' feet on order from the butcher for my next batch of broth... – TJ Jul 13 at 12:53

Rob · Answer 2 · 2012-07-12 22:22:55Z UTC

http://www.jbc.org/content/87/3/651.full.pdf+html

That's a link to a study where two men ate nothing but mean for I think 9 months to prove that it is safe, and they did prove that as you'll see if you read it. But more to the point, it was noted that there would be diarrhea if only lean cuts were eaten, perhaps that is what happened to you? It doesn't give an explanation, but my knowledge of the subject points to an excessive build up of zinc/other minerals found in high concentration in meat which with sufficient fat intake would be easily eliminated. The recommendation is to get 80% of your calories from the fat of the animal, and 20% from the protein. Quite difficult if your just eating lean steaks! I'm about to try this, and things like lamb shoulder seem to be sufficiently fatty, though in the absence of fatty cuts of meat I will get a few jars of duck/goose/beef fat to supplement my intake.

JeJ · Answer 3 · 2012-07-09 17:21:20Z UTC

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Very possibly food poisoning. Sudden and unexpected onset after a regular couple of days- you probably ate a bad bug.

answered Jul 9 at 17:21

JeJ
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Kathleen · Answer 4 · 2012-07-13 00:20:19Z UTC

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Both my boyfriend and I got diarrhea about a week in when we tried a meat only diet. It resolved itself after a few days. I think that it is related to the amount of fat you are eating: if i remember correctly, too much causes diarrhea.

If you do try again, be sure to consume plenty of bone broth and organ meats.

answered Jul 13 at 0:20

Kathleen
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That's really interesting. I think I should have stuck at it a bit longer to see if the diarrhoea resolved. I've had diarrhoea from too much fat before but it tends to be greasy rather than watery (apologies if that's TMI). I've been doing lots of bone broth for a while now and gradually expanding my repertoire when it comes to organ meats (liver, heart, kidney, bone marrow tried so far). – TJ Jul 13 at 12:35

BoneBrothFast · Answer 5 · 2012-07-09 13:31:37Z UTC

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Your food is passing through you too quickly for the water to absorbed. Do you have IBS?

Take S. Boulardii.

answered Jul 9 at 13:31

BoneBrothFast
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	I have lifelong gut and related problems (possibly SIBO - having been undergoing inconclusive medical investigations for the past 18 months). The meat and fat diet was an attempt to begin to tackle these problems. I've struggled with loose stools for a long time but nothing quite like this before. I've tried S. Boulardii before with limited success. – TJ Jul 9 at 14:36
	Have you tried taking S. Boulardii with a carb meal? Away from any sources of protein? Did you take an S. Boulardii with FOS/MOS? Would you be receptive to the idea of a probiotic enema filled with S. Boulardii? – BoneBrothFast Jul 10 at 14:56
	I've been taking S. Boulardii as capsules (they contain potato maltodextrin but I figured it's ok as the amount is so small and I don't think I'm sensitive to nightshades). I got headaches, tiredness and a mild skin rash when I first took them which I'm sure was a die-off reaction. I'm still taking them but the effect seems to be wearing off. I don't do carb meals at the moment as it took my digestion about 3 weeks to settle down after the last one. WRT probiotic enemas, I'm so desperate I'll try anything ;-). However, most of my problems are upper GI so I'm not sure how much it would help. – TJ Jul 13 at 12:43
	I got EXTREMELY tired after S. Boulardii as well. Used to take it first thing int he morning after I woke up and then maybe an hour or two later I'd need a short nap. Probiotic enemas, when done properly, will adhere far into the GI tract. (Helps if you have a lawn chair and you lay on it reverse so your legs are raised above your head.) I would recommend doing the probiotic enema as described in the GAPS diet. – BoneBrothFast Jul 17 at 17:26

RaiseFitness · Answer 6 · 2012-07-12 22:36:04Z UTC

I would try your experiment again to be sure there isn't some missing variable. for instance, did your diarhea start on a Tuesday? You could be just allergic to Tuesdays. Just kidding there, but my point being that sometimes there are other variables taking place that we don't always think about. Maybe you just had some bad food, or something like that. Just because something happens once during an experiment doesn't mean it will always happen, or that it was the experiment that caused it. I don't personally recommend and all meat diet. I get roughly 70% of my calories from meat though.

Happy Now · Answer 7 · 2012-07-13 01:16:03Z UTC

If it isn't a disbiosis issue, depending on what your fat to meat ratio was, gunning a bunch of fat without working up to it can cause this. You can only digest as much fat as you have available bile for, and if it makes it past that part of digestion untouched your body works pretty hard to eliminate it, i.e. diarrhea. You can either take ox bile supplements or slowly build up your fat intake, either will work to provide enough bile to digest fat better.

Diarrhoea on an all-meat diet?!

7 Answers