Gut Stuff
m_puppy
Posts: 246 Member
This could get to be TMI, you've been warned.
What's the poop deal with Keto? I am not going regularly and it's starting to really bother me. I've had enough of this. I googled yesterday and kept coming up with a similar response, it's completely ok. Apparently not crapping is normal to a lot of people because less food and better nutrition. Allegedly I should be going less because my body is absorbing more. That's great in theory but there are some days when I eat the same amount if not more than I did when I was SAD. Sure my body may be using it more efficiently, but probably not ALL of it. If that were the case that means I have found the perfect world wherein a woman eats but never *kitten*. I would be the answer to the "girls don't poop" theory!
Next point, I don't feel well. I feel bloated. Sometimes I feel very pukey though this feeling isn't common unless it has been four or more days.
I have always had a messed up stomach. I used to go multiple times per day and get horrible stomach cramps all of the time. I don't want to go back to that so I'm complaining lightly. Now I'm lucky if I go twice in a week.
Magnesium used to help but it no longer does. I've tried apple cider vinegar but the smell alone makes me start gagging. Can't do it. Any other theories? I'm assuming more fiber. Any suggestions of specifically what I should put in my body? Sick of it! Literally.
What's the poop deal with Keto? I am not going regularly and it's starting to really bother me. I've had enough of this. I googled yesterday and kept coming up with a similar response, it's completely ok. Apparently not crapping is normal to a lot of people because less food and better nutrition. Allegedly I should be going less because my body is absorbing more. That's great in theory but there are some days when I eat the same amount if not more than I did when I was SAD. Sure my body may be using it more efficiently, but probably not ALL of it. If that were the case that means I have found the perfect world wherein a woman eats but never *kitten*. I would be the answer to the "girls don't poop" theory!
Next point, I don't feel well. I feel bloated. Sometimes I feel very pukey though this feeling isn't common unless it has been four or more days.
I have always had a messed up stomach. I used to go multiple times per day and get horrible stomach cramps all of the time. I don't want to go back to that so I'm complaining lightly. Now I'm lucky if I go twice in a week.
Magnesium used to help but it no longer does. I've tried apple cider vinegar but the smell alone makes me start gagging. Can't do it. Any other theories? I'm assuming more fiber. Any suggestions of specifically what I should put in my body? Sick of it! Literally.
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You didn't mention what you're eating. Both meat and cheese are slow to digest. For me, the problem was too much cheese.
What form of Mg did you try? The citrate form usually works. Some people suggest more fat, especially coconut oil and MCT.0 -
The fewer vegetables you eat, the less you'll poop. The zero carb threads address this, too, so it might be worth looking at those responses. As @wabmester says, meat and cheese are slow to digest, so it takes longer to make enough fecal matter to dispose of, and too much protein and too little fat can cause issues, too. Additionally, you're not filling up with "packing peanuts" (aka insoluble fiber), so you have nothing to bulk things up. As long as the lack of going isn't making you physically uncomfortable and feeling like you need to go, but can't, then it really is fine.
Did you increase your dairy intake when you dropped carbs? You might be sensitive to dairy, and it's coming out now. Try dropping the dairy for a couple of weeks and see if that helps. Likewise, take a look at what you've been eating and see if you've introduced anything new, or you find any patterns. It could be something else triggering it. Did you increase your coconut product intake? More nuts? More eggs? These are the most common allergens/irritants on keto (coconut is still rare, though, so it might be worth ruling out the dairy, eggs, and nuts, first).0 -
I have been eating dairy. Yesterday was my first day dairy free. Hopefully that helps with some of it. My typical day though was 70-80% fat. Yesterday, a mainly meat day, I sucked at getting fat. Today I'll try to add in some fat bombs and eggs. I also eat cauliflower, Brussels sprout, asparagus or broccoli but only a couple of times a week. I used to eat avocado but due to a poorly planned induction and some throwing up back in January I no longer can eat my once favorite food.
Magnesium- I take Nature Made magnesium citrate 250mg.0 -
Drink lots of water, too.0
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I do that, too. That is what I thought the issue was but when I tracked I realized on bad days I get 80 ounces.0
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Why is pooping regularly so important to so many people? The important question is, when you have to go (even if it's twice a week) is going easy and painless? Are you able to go without straining or discomfort? Is the poop soft and smooth and not hard and dry? If you're answering yes to these questions, you are fine. How often you poop and how much poop comes out each time aren't really important.
I wouldn't add more fiber. Fiber tends to stuff things up and make bloating and other matters worse.
And, while not pooping often may be socially acceptable as a girl, imagine how hard it is for me being a boy who never farts.
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Hahaha I'm good with only pooping twice a week but I'm not good feeling bloated. It's not 100% of the time and it's not nearly as bad as before. My concern is more along the lines of actual gut health.0
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Also, what can I say? I love to poop
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I have screwed up digestion after years on the hummingbird diet (where you eat half your weight in sugar each day) and other crappy eating. I take digestive enzymes with every freakin' meal that involves protein (or more than 1 or 2g carbs).
TMI: If I don't take them, you can see that some stuff goes through whole, especially greens & corn (corn still does).
If I seem to be having more problems than usual for a few days, I'll start drinking ACV in my water & sometimes even take HCl tablets before I eat. My system definitely likes low carb better than the hummingbird diet.0 -
This guy is somewhat entertaining:
https://www.gutsense.org/constipation/frequency.html
All I know is that my dog is a carnivore, and she poops daily.
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This issue seems to be one which affects a significant number of people using LCHF. This is borne out by the number of people regularly using Mag Cit, using laxatives etc. It's more evidence that there is no one size fits all and that generalities such as drink more water, eat more fat etc are not the answer. People with Diabetes seem to be particularly affected and it is recognised that diabetics have different gut flora from the general population. What is often overlooked is that the gut plays a very important role in our general health and is not simply only the vehicle for waste disposal. The gut is responsible for a lot of signalling in relation to our satiety etc. I don't have a specific answer for OP but I would share his/her concern. LCHF does seem to cause dense stools with the resultant problems with evacuation etc and is not to be treated lightly. I have found that GUTSENSE provides a lot of good information. I have also found that using milled flaxseed with yogurt does help, at least for me, with the problems that the OP highlights.0
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Hahaha I'm good with only pooping twice a week but I'm not good feeling bloated. It's not 100% of the time and it's not nearly as bad as before. My concern is more along the lines of actual gut health.
Are you using anything with "added fiber" to it? Ingredients like chicory root (aka inulin) can make your stomach feel horrible without actually doing all that much to make you go. Same thing with some sugar alcohols - it varies from person to person how they do on them. The bloating may be unrelated to how often you're going, and just your body not liking something you're eating, period.0 -
Speaking as someone who freaked out a bit the first time I did lclf last July, just keep going. It gets better and your poops will be better quality. Just saying I've been there. I was bloating last week, my first week back on after two months off (its a long story) but I started walking 30 minutes a day and cooking my vegtablesl longer and that seems to have helped. Good luck, everyone is different. Find out what works for you.0
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Hahaha I'm good with only pooping twice a week but I'm not good feeling bloated. It's not 100% of the time and it's not nearly as bad as before. My concern is more along the lines of actual gut health.
Are you using anything with "added fiber" to it? Ingredients like chicory root (aka inulin) can make your stomach feel horrible without actually doing all that much to make you go. Same thing with some sugar alcohols - it varies from person to person how they do on them. The bloating may be unrelated to how often you're going, and just your body not liking something you're eating, period.
Oh, the sugar alcohol induced misery. Soy does this to me too... So there could very easily be a food trigger.
I'd love to know what my gut flora situation looks like! I'm sure there is a test for that, but my medical budget is nuked through August.0 -
I take a high quality Acidophilus probiotic every day to address the issues you're talking about. After dropping my daily yogurt in order to go low-carb, I was running into some serious gut problems. You are smart to drop the dairy to test to see if that causes the bloating. Also, I can have that reaction to Broccoli.0
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KnitOrMiss wrote: »Hahaha I'm good with only pooping twice a week but I'm not good feeling bloated. It's not 100% of the time and it's not nearly as bad as before. My concern is more along the lines of actual gut health.
Are you using anything with "added fiber" to it? Ingredients like chicory root (aka inulin) can make your stomach feel horrible without actually doing all that much to make you go. Same thing with some sugar alcohols - it varies from person to person how they do on them. The bloating may be unrelated to how often you're going, and just your body not liking something you're eating, period.
Oh, the sugar alcohol induced misery. Soy does this to me too... So there could very easily be a food trigger.
I'd love to know what my gut flora situation looks like! I'm sure there is a test for that, but my medical budget is nuked through August.
I've never had too much SA issues before, but something got me good the other day. Tried my first (and last) chocolate peanut butter quest bar. I don't know exactly what it was that was different than the other ones I've had, but it felt like a gall bladder attack (and I don't have a gb anymore).
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KnitOrMiss wrote: »I'd love to know what my gut flora situation looks like! I'm sure there is a test for that, but my medical budget is nuked through August.
There is a test, and they've been compiling results, but so far, I don't think they've found any definitive trends. The main finding seems to be that there's a diverse population of bugs, both in healthy and not-so-healthy individuals.
http://americangut.org/?page_id=1040 -
No to the added fiber supplements. I've considered it though. I bought some psyllium husk last night but couldn't bring myself to consume the glass full of water. I am seriously willing to try anything... until I have to consume it haha. I came to you guys because my fear is that I'll try a bunch of different things and end up with a long term issue instead of the current issue. I would be shocked if it is soy because I would wonder where soy is sneaking in. But hey, anything is possible! I am going to consider a good probiotic for the time being. No dairy. I've never heard of coconut being a problem. Between this and my seasonal allergies, I may be turning into a bubble boy. Just the thought makes me want to stress eat lol.0
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robert65ferguson wrote: »This issue seems to be one which affects a significant number of people using LCHF. This is borne out by the number of people regularly using Mag Cit, using laxatives etc. It's more evidence that there is no one size fits all and that generalities such as drink more water, eat more fat etc are not the answer. People with Diabetes seem to be particularly affected and it is recognised that diabetics have different gut flora from the general population. What is often overlooked is that the gut plays a very important role in our general health and is not simply only the vehicle for waste disposal. The gut is responsible for a lot of signalling in relation to our satiety etc. I don't have a specific answer for OP but I would share his/her concern. LCHF does seem to cause dense stools with the resultant problems with evacuation etc and is not to be treated lightly. I have found that GUTSENSE provides a lot of good information. I have also found that using milled flaxseed with yogurt does help, at least for me, with the problems that the OP highlights.
I'd argue, based on my experience, that a solid 90% or so of people are:
1) just ill-informed and are freaking out because they aren't going every single day or multiple times per day and believe that they "should" (and aren't actually constipated)
or
2) stuck in "low fat" mode and running on protein and haven't gotten their fat high enough for proper regulation (and are actually constipated)
The incidence of use of laxatative substances isn't indicative of people actually being constipated from these ways of eating.
Ever live with a breastfed infant? After six weeks, it's not uncommon for exclusively breastfed infants to only have a bowel movement once a week. This is due to the high bioavailability of human milk to infants -- they absorb just about all of it. Also, as the Gutsense article mentions -- as long as your bowel movements aren't difficult or painful, and as long as they're not dried out and hard, it's actually nothing to be concerned about.
Keep in mind, too, that many people who come to LCHF do so for health reasons, and odds are, they're deficient in one or more nutrients. For many nutrients, the body will absorb it as long as it's deficient in that nutrient. This can mean more complete absorption of the nutrients in the food. Combine that with the lack of insoluble fiber, which only adds bulk to stool, and the result is less crap in the colon to begin with.0 -
I would just cut dairy and avoid fiber, try to get fattier cuts of meat. Coconut oil, butter, something lower in lactose to add to the fat. If my guts go quiet, a 200g fat day seems to get them moving again. Sometimes I go daily, other times it's so long I forget how long it's been. Don't stress, but yeah check your dairy habit.0
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Dragonwolf wrote: »
Keep in mind, too, that many people who come to LCHF do so for health reasons, and odds are, they're deficient in one or more nutrients. For many nutrients, the body will absorb it as long as it's deficient in that nutrient. This can mean more complete absorption of the nutrients in the food. Combine that with the lack of insoluble fiber, which only adds bulk to stool, and the result is less crap in the colon to begin with.
This is interesting and will ease my mind a bit.
Alright, this is what I mean by bloated. Sorry if it's too graphic. I have never been backed up in my life until being on this diet. When I say "bloated" I don't mean my jeans fit a little tighter. I mean, I am full. My ovaries will take turns hurting. Somedays it's so bad I can't actually sit down. I can't have sex. When I finally have to go, for the most part, it is not hard stools that are painful to push out. It's more like a full day of being in the bathroom but never really completing the job. One day at work, I figured I spent a total of 1 hour in the bathroom. Seeing as I bill at the rate of $120 an hour, I'd call that one expensive bowel unmovement.
Can I live like this? Sure. I spent about 15 years having to run to the bathroom within 30 minutes of every single meal I ate. I was told there was nothing wrong with me. I've taken poops in places you would think only homeless people use as a bathroom just to avoid doing it in my pants. Do I have the ability to stick out some pretty crappy (pun intended) circumstances? Hells yeah! I just don't want to. That bad stomach stuff all ended a few years ago. No help from the many doctors I saw. Like I said, I've never experienced this feeling before and now that I'm older I realize I need to care more about gut health.
And now that I've put this all out on the internet, I probably shouldn't run for any political office.0 -
Just reading that after I hit post. Good thing some of you are my "friends" or you would be convinced I am a troll.0
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Just reading that after I hit post. Good thing some of you are my "friends" or you would be convinced I am a troll.
Nope. I can very much relate. A few months ago I got sick, lucky if I hit 400 calories a day, and was living on medicine and water. The aftermath of that was absolutely horrible, to the point my husband was ready to leave work early and bring me one of everything in the stomach aisle at CVS. When all was said and done, it was getting fat in that made a difference, even if I was low on carbs and protein those first few days, it was the one time I made fat a goal instead of a fill-in.0 -
Poop is something we all have in common. 0
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I'm lucky if I go once every 4-5 days. I used to worry but I am used to it now.0
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Coffee too is a natural laxative (or any caffeine, really) and can move things along if it is in the right place. When I get "stuck" to the point it is making me nauseated (hasn't happened in a while), walking around helps. Whatever you do, don't strain!!! This can destroy your pelvic floor muscles. If you think the muscles might be overtight, try magnesium, and "going" in a squat position to help gravity work for you. If you have any probs in that area, look up things like "splinting" and such. But be warned, if you don't have this problem, you really likely don't want to look it up. Some people are too tight muscle wise there, and some people are loose muscle wise and the waste is not all that tries to come out.
And adding anything like extra fiber and exlax can make the problem worse! Know, too, that the abdominal bloating misery may or may not be related to not being able to go... Without more unfortunately graphic details, it would be hard to know for certain...
I'd focus on upping your fat 50 extra grams for a day or two to get things moving and a cup of coffee (or an extra one) if you're still stuck. Just don't force things...0 -
Alright, this is what I mean by bloated. Sorry if it's too graphic. I have never been backed up in my life until being on this diet. When I say "bloated" I don't mean my jeans fit a little tighter. I mean, I am full. My ovaries will take turns hurting. Somedays it's so bad I can't actually sit down. I can't have sex. When I finally have to go, for the most part, it is not hard stools that are painful to push out. It's more like a full day of being in the bathroom but never really completing the job.
You say you're full, as in full of poop. So, when you go, is there a lot of poo? Like just massive amounts, way more than you would expect? Or do you just feel like there's a lot in there and more that's not coming out? With the pain and discomfort, I am suspecting this is a little more than your average slowdown. Most people worry without any negative signs aside from the reduced frequency.
You could be dealing with something more serious and you might want to actually see a doctor and share your concerns. It is possible there is something going on. I do know one person who dealt with fecal impaction when they first started an all meat diet (although they suffered from it before going all meat as well). It would be really weird for that to be the case with you. The other person was a long-term constipation sufferer who was also using strong laxatives on a regular basis before they started all meat. Basically, the problem existed before the diet change. You've never had this problem before.
Still, if it continues and causes pain and enough discomfort that you aren't able to lead a normal life, you should talk to a doctor and get an abdominal exam done. They'll be able to feel if things are backed up and tell you if anything is wrong. They'll probably recommend a laxative and/or fiber, which would be a bridge I would cross only after talking with them. If you're able to eat and things are still moving, it's likely not an emergency situation, but it is something I would seriously consider seeing a professional about if it doesn't resolve in a few days.
It took this to finally push you over that edge?And now that I've put this all out on the internet, I probably shouldn't run for any political office. That ship sailed for me long ago, and it wasn't just because of a random post online. LOL
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I have never been backed up in my life until being on this diet.
m_puppy I have normal, daily bowel movements without taking supplements or laxatives. I don't eat a lot of fiber (under 10g a day usually) but I do eat fruits and vegetables every day. I'd rule out any medical problems, of course, but eating vegetables a few times a week probably isn't enough for regular bowel movements.
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Thank you everyone for the crappy advice. Wait, not what I mean. For real though, thank you. I'm going to give it a bit on this no cheese situation and see if that helps. If obesity doesn't kill me, I'm certain not eating cheese will. I just spent two months finding a food truck that will make cheese curds specifically for my wedding in the fall. Two months people. Imagine how sick I'll be lol. Sorry not funny but it's a little funny because Keto has become such a way of life for me. Yesterday I ate quite a lot of fat. I'm hoping that I see a difference with those two changes. A probiotic seems like a good idea either way. Hopefully it's nothing more serious.0
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Seeing as I bill at the rate of $120 an hour, I'd call that one expensive bowel unmovement.
Haha, this made me chuckle. It's good you got a sense of sarcastic humor about it.
Are you doing a diary where you notice what you were eating before horrible constipation ? If not, I highly recommend doing so to discover any patterns. I feel for you! I've had terrible IBS for years, at times chained to the bathroom. I ALWAYS get constipated when eating red meat. So I up magnesium and CO on those days. For ME the solution to the rollercoaster of loose and hard stools was psyllium fiberhusk. It's a soluble fiber. For most people who tend towards constipation, soluble fiber is the solution. Insoluble fiber, as in cellulose, is for runny tummy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietary_fiber
I take my fiber in a blender bottle with some SF lemonade in the morning and before each meal. (Also slows down absorption and possibly some of the uptake of starch and fat). As mentioned above, the health of the gut microbiome is a very new and incredibly interesting research field. It could explain some of the why even identical twins may differ from each other. There's a guy who studies twins where one gets obese and the other not. The microbiome is also a good candidate to explain some of the incredible variations among people with very similar demographics.
Friends with Benefits: The Human Microbiome
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAF-AblJpfM&index=24&list=PLhMVa_juzVPn7PWoU8JmRL6ZyMq_cIJgA
Funny italian guy makes a vivid presentation about why you should take care of the trillions of bacteria (that outnumber you) in your body:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wha30RSxE6w&index=16&list=PLhMVa_juzVPn7PWoU8JmRL6ZyMq_cIJgA
Highly anecdotal, but I consistently have more and frequent BM on days before a whoosh.
We're all different. Experiment to find your formula.
Edit: Added links to vids about microbiome. The microbiome is one of the reasons I try to eat a lot of vegs, even though I know the carbs can mount up. It's a delicate balance between staying in FA, athletic performance, mood and eating for health 0
