Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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I follow a pretty clean, Primal diet. Lately i've been getting bloated after every meal. It's uncomfortable to say the least. Does anybody know what could be going on? How to treat it and prevent it?

Thanks,

Love to all

flag	asked Oct 15 at 4:53 Alvaro 3,385●5●16

	Did you recently add a lot more vegetables to your diet? – Happy Now Oct 15 at 8:01
	tell us everything you eat and drink in a typical day. – Renee Oct 15 at 15:30
	Breakfast: (if any) 2-3 eggs with tomatoes and bacon Lunch: Stir fried pork, beef or chicken, with onions, garlic, red/green peppers, eggplant, zucchini..... Dinner: Steak and salad with balsamic vinaigrette – Alvaro Oct 15 at 19:55

daz · Answer 1 · 2012-10-15 07:55:21Z UTC

could be low stomach acid.

if it is, there could be various causes & fixes.
ie. do not "water down" your meals; abstain from liquids around meal times & allow your stomach to do its work (digest food).

There's a simple test you can do to test for low stomach acid (which may or may not work);
- Do this test on an empty stomach (ie. first thing in the morning).
- Dissolve a level teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda (aka: sodium bicarbonate, baking soda) into a glass of water and drink.
- If you have not started to belch after 10 minutes, you probably have low stomach acid.

Bicarbonate is rapidly converted into gas (carbon dioxide) by the action of stomach acid.
If you start burping almost straight away, then you may have too much stomach acid.

google away for refs & more info.....

If low stomach acid is the case, you would notice some bloating & later on, possibly undigested food in your stool (assuming you look at that sort of thing)

manul · Answer 2 · 2012-10-15 06:44:57Z UTC

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It can be useful to see what is on your menu. Are there any FODMAPS? I was amazed to find out that apples are the highest fructose and thus can cause problems.

answered Oct 15 at 6:44

manul
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I eat a great variety of vegetables, raw and cooked, I stay away from fruits, except for berries. – Alvaro Oct 15 at 7:39

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lots of veggies are high in FODMAPs and can be very gassy. Onions are the worst for me. – Renee Oct 15 at 15:31

I usually eat: Onions, garlic, peppers, eggplant, zucchini, lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower – Alvaro Oct 15 at 20:02

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Onions, garlic and cauliflower are high fodmap, cabbage and broccoli are risky. Eggplant is a nightshade. These vegetables unfortunately cause digestion issues for me. – manul Oct 15 at 22:47

judybot · Answer 3 · 2012-10-15 11:06:09Z UTC

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Does the large amount of veggies that you are eating include nightshades also? I noticed that cooked tomatoes give me terrible gas soon after, and joint pain the next day.

answered Oct 15 at 11:06

judybot
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I'm not very familiar with the term nightshades, but here's what I usually eat:-Onions, garlic, peppers, eggplant, zucchini, lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower.... – Alvaro Oct 15 at 19:57

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The majority of the veggies you listed are either FODMAPS (onions, garlic, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower) or nightshades (tomatoes) or both (eggplant, peppers). Perhaps it would be useful eliminating both for a couple weeks, then reintroducing separately to gauge your body's reaction to those particular foods. – judybot Oct 15 at 20:09

But what else to eat as colorful vegetables? – Alvaro Oct 15 at 21:18

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If you decide to eliminate FODMAPS and nightshades for a bit, a good reference for figuring out other veggies you can eat is the paleo foods shopping guide from Practical Paleo, posted on the Balanced Bites website. See the notes at the bottom left of the page for which foods listed are FODMAPS, nightshades, goitrogens, etc. balancedbites.com/PDFs/BOOK_EXTRAS/… – judybot Oct 15 at 23:39

DELETE FROM PALEOHACKS · Answer 4 · 2012-10-18 18:51:59Z UTC

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There's a theory about poor food combinations like meat and carbs together equal bad digestion. I recommend researching this online for more information.

answered Oct 18 at 18:51

DELETE FROM PALEOHACKS

hhsuey · Answer 5 · 2012-10-15 07:10:35Z UTC

Have you tried digestive enzymes? They help break down fats, proteins, and complex carbs. I feel that my meals get digested faster after taking them before a very fat and protein heavy meal.

Bloating may be due to intolerances of certain foods. Research elimination diets. Try recording what you eat and quantify your bloating after each meal. Check out quantifiedself.com to see the benefits in thorough logging to identify a possible cause.

mosbey · Answer 6 · 2012-10-15 09:51:01Z UTC

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I had the same problem, which seemed aggravated by eating paleo. An aggressive probiotic intake seemed to clear it up.

answered Oct 15 at 9:51

mosbey
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Or rather, eating SAD causes gut disbiosys as you gut flora would adapt from the traditional species to ones more suited for digesting SAD foods. When you switch to paleo, you have an adjustment period where you return your gut flora to a more ancestral one. – raydawg Oct 15 at 10:25

Lemme just say, it's an unpleasant process. Digestive system, how you gonna play me like that? I found that even though I'm eating pretty much the same amount and kind of protein, my stomach started to treat it differently, and showed me its displeasure. Had to add magnesium and probiotics to avoid looking like I'm due at the delivery room in a month. – mosbey Oct 15 at 15:08

I've been eating Primal for 16 months now. – Alvaro Oct 15 at 19:58

In which form did you take the pro-biotics – Alvaro Oct 15 at 20:00

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Jarrow brands for supplement, and added fermented foods, by which I mean pickles. A lot of people do well with yogurt or kefir, but if you're avoiding dairy sauerkraut or other fermented veggies have a reputation for helping the system replenish and recover its flora. – mosbey Oct 17 at 19:27

Getting bloated after each meal

6 Answers