I remember reading something about a mucosal lining that forms as a protectant while eating problem foods. Since these foods were so prevalent before changing to paleo, the chances of having a heavy lining are pretty good. Once cleaning up the diet, the lining is no longer needed/maintained and is flushed out by the body. Therefore when a cheat happens the bodies old, trusted defenses are no longer there, causing greater sensitivity and pain!

There could be a bunch of reasons.

Most of the time when we "cheat" it ends up being a overeat binge which would probably be the biggest culprit. Not eating these foods for a long time and reintroducing them in huge quantities further causes problems because your body is not used to producing enzymes and certain stuff for these specific foods(not to sure on this one but I've heard it from a couple different people).

I personally never get intestinal pain or anything that negative after eating legumes or wheat. I ate a huge burrito after being gluten/bean free for about a year with absolutely no problems for the most.

After eating gluten, sugar, processed oils, and a bunch of crap most of my life, I think I just got de-sensitized to it. Both my body just putting up with it, and me putting up with all of the symptoms that went along with it -- digestive problems, skin conditions, wildly varying energy levels, inability to lose weight, etc.

Once I went Paleo, and realized that all of these things I had been putting up with were avoidable, I now think of them in my mind as problems I can correct, rather than just "part of life". Now, if I cheat and these symptoms come back, I have a totally different view of them.

I am also now a lot more sensitive to food "pollutants", especially sugar and gluten. Just one bite of these things sends me off into unhappy land. This was a feeling that I used to consider normal, but now know that it is not.

Going strict Paleo really redefined the baseline of what I consider to be good health.

My guess would be you have an intolerance to one of the foods you ate.

Glad I found this article.

Over Thanksgiving, due to tradition, I went ahead and ate my grandparent's famous stuffing and made-from-scratch rolls. I suppose it was a bit of a splurge, but I cannot even tell you how terrible I felt in the middle of the night. It was like a volcano was erupting inside my stomach!

Then today, I accidentally ate some white flour (had no clue it was an ingredient in French Onion Soup), and even the small traces of flour used in making a small cup have my stomach doing similar somersaults. Once being on paleo for 90 days or so, do even small small doses wreak havoc on the body?

It's interesting because I had some lentils a few months ago and felt totally fine afterwards, so I thought legumes weren't an issue. But then I had some chili with kidney beans and my stomach was like WTF. I also had some beer and didn't feel that bad, but when I had some sourdough rye it really messed me up. I think for me the issue is fructans and certain fibers like raffinose, which cause dysbiosis.

Just had my first real cheat this weekend and I'm assuming it had some sort of gluten in it (dessert), but boy I paid!

I know my gut is not healed but I learned my lesson! Pure foods and only foods I prepare!!

I am very curious though why it prompts such a tramatic response in some and not in others? I don't believe I was gluten intolerant before, I was just intolerant in general! So 8 months later a bit and bam!!

Orthorexia.

"Anyone have links to great resources/papers on the reason why people experience severe intestinal pain when they 'cheat' with a bit of gluten or legumes after going Paleo?"

My friend, I tend to be a "conservative" regarding such global questions.

You posit a cause/effect relationship, yet your question mentions nothing about the time frame involving the eating of something "forbidden" and alleged negative results.

Tell us more.

I just had a two week break from Paleo and ate awful, awful SAD food and had no issues at all, other than water weight gain from the carbs.

I have been fairly strict Paleo since 10/10.

at the urging of a very enthusiastic uncle, i ate a piece of "the best fried chicken evah"(it was) and 20 minutes later endured debilitating gastric distress for about an hour. it wasn't worth it.

ps for nostalgic purposes, i use gf pancake mixes for fried chicken and fish occasionally. they get you about 95% of the way there. pamela's pancake mix seems to work the best.

Personally, I used to have shooting intestinal pains all the time before I was paleo... now I only have them when I 'cheat' with foods that aggravate my system (grains, stuff fried in crap vegetable oil, or too much fruit or nuts, basically). But not every time.