Major bloat from too much fiber?
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aeloine
Posts: 2,163 Member
I've *really* upped my raw vegetable intake this week. While staying in deficit, I feel like there's a brick in my stomach and I'm really bloated. Not TOM. Anyone have any experience with this? I have a feeling that it's due to increased fiber but I'm not sure.
Note: Drinking over a gallon a day of water in addition to other liquids.
Note: Drinking over a gallon a day of water in addition to other liquids.
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Replies
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Raw vegetables in general tend to do that to me and I'm fairly accustomed to eating a pretty high fiber diet. For me, it's just the fact that they are raw and sitting in my stomach like a brick.0
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@cwolfman13 does it ever pass or is this something that I need to steer away from? Current meal prep is 85% raw veg.
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I read a study a while back that if you don't eat much fiber it takes a while to adjust to it. They used legumes in the study and over a month's time, the individuals gradually were able to digest fiber better. Your digestive system is pretty incredible but it typically takes a bit to adjust to changes in diet. You think about people that do keto or even Paleo and then you can switch to WFPB (whole food plant based) and your body can adapt. It does take time though to adapt to different food. I'm not arguing one is better than another but if you think about the ability of the digestive system to adapt to things so diverse -- much of it is enzymes or bacteria in your microbiome that changes in makeup depending on what you eat. They don't know much honestly yet about the microbiome (a study just came out this year that 99% of the DNA in the average microbiome hasn't even been identified yet as something we knew about previously) but what's clear is that the makeup of it dramatically shifts depending on what you eat. Your stomach/digestion will adjust given time.
If you're sold on raw, perhaps help them out a bit. There are great recipes for raw chopped salads. Chopping the vegetables up finely gives them a head start on the digestion process and might not sit like a brick as long.
Good for you upping your raw vegetables. Just curious why all the water though?? Not sure that a whole gallon is entirely necessary. I do think a lot of the information out there on being hydrated enough is over exaggerated.5 -
@cwolfman13 does it ever pass or is this something that I need to steer away from? Current meal prep is 85% raw veg.
IDK...I eat a ton of beans and lentils and oats and whatnot...and tons of cooked veg, so I don't think for me it's a fiber issue but rather raw veg issue. I'm always so uncomfortable that I just avoid eating most raw veggies all together.
The worst culprits for me are cruciferous veg like broccoli and cauliflower so I never eat them raw. About the only thing I can handle are greens, carrots (if it's not too many...and usually shredded in a salad), cucumber and snap peas...I can do celery too, but I'm not a fan. I can only handle eating a big garden salad a couple times per week.2 -
Making a dramatic change in the ratio of soluble/insoluble fiber can cause that. Soluble slows, Insoluble goes.
Even so, your body will adjust to the change. You'll be ok in a day or two.
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@MikePfirrman I'm not exactly "sold" on raw, I just bulk bought a lot of salad mix, sugar snap peas, and baby carrots during a moment of waning creativity and now I'm just munching my way through a truck load of rabbit food. The hydration isn't exactly intentional - my Fitbit buzzes at me to get up from my desk every hour, so I walk over to the water fountain and fill up my water bottle or get a cup of tea instead of walking over to the vending machine. It's just something that I've been doing for over two year at this point, so really doesn't seem out of the ordinary. I don't drink nearly that much on weekends, but I think the recycled office air doesn't help.2
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I can relate to the water part. I do consulting and talk all day on the phone and if I'm not sitting there with tea, coffee or water (I drink water all afternoon), I can't talk half the time, so I end up accidentally drinking probably a gallon a day too. Too many trips to the bathroom though!! At least you're not dehydrated. When the stomach is in distress, I think it does fill up with water. Not sure about the biology on that though, just observational. My wife found out she had some severe food allergies and that's what would happen to her - her stomach would fill up like a water drum. It felt really hard like a water bottle.1
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How is your fat intake?1
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@bbell1985 40 g or under every day this week. A little low. Historically 60g+. That might be something to look into. I've had yogurt daily but also take my milk fat free so might up it quite a bit tomorrow.1
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@bbell1985 40 g or under every day this week. A little low. Historically 60g+. That might be something to look into. I've had yogurt daily but also take my milk fat free so might up it quite a bit tomorrow.
It helps move things along. You may also just need to build up to that amount of fiber or cook some more of the veg.0 -
Yeah: It's better to ramp up fiber gradually, and adequate fat intake can make a material difference, as well as hydration.
Adding probiotic foods helps some people (yogurt, kefir, kombucha, unpasteurized kim chi/sauerkraut/miso/fermented pickles, etc). Exercise helps some people (especially forms that move the midsection).3 -
Yeah: It's better to ramp up fiber gradually, and adequate fat intake can make a material difference, as well as hydration.
Adding probiotic foods helps some people (yogurt, kefir, kombucha, unpasteurized kim chi/sauerkraut/miso/fermented pickles, etc). Exercise helps some people (especially forms that move the midsection).
Went to Zumba yesterday and was planning on running today. Had Greek yogurt but have some kimchi in the fridge that I've been meaning to break out! Thanks for the advice! Day 2 and I'm still quite miserable but I do feel it starting to let up.1 -
I've *really* upped my raw vegetable intake this week. While staying in deficit, I feel like there's a brick in my stomach and I'm really bloated. Not TOM. Anyone have any experience with this? I have a feeling that it's due to increased fiber but I'm not sure.
Note: Drinking over a gallon a day of water in addition to other liquids.
You just have to experiment with what your body likes. My family are farmers and gardeners, so I grew up eating raw food. I know how my belly reacts to what. Broccoli, Cauli, can be gassy and leave you bloated same with cabbage, carrots are pretty heavy but super filling and easy on the stomach. Acidic things, like peppers and tomatoes and fruit will help you digest that the heavy vegetables or they can give you heart burn if you eat too much. Cucumbers are super easy on the stomach. Green leafy stuff mostly as well. Some vegs will leave you hungry, and some will leave you full.
But honestly all that water and vegetables if you're not used to it, is a major shift. Have you ever poured water on dry dog food and watch what happens? So yeah. Your body is probably just not used it yet, what you did sounds pretty significant. Not sure if you added fruit also, but you should try to add some more fruit into the mix to help get things flowing. Or just dial it back and ramp up.0 -
It might also be age related. I never had any problem eating vegetables until about a year ago. (I'm 52). I was a vegan for 3 years and vegetarian for 7in my 20s-30s so I ate a lot of them and much fiber. Even more recently I used to eat two salads a day and veggies in an omelette, but now I just cannot. I cannot take most vegetables raw. Forget smoothies--cannot eat them-- the bloating and gas is horrible. Certain veg like artichokes, onions, leeks, or peppers even when cooked, if more than a tiny bit, i get bloated. I just resigned myself to not eating many vegetables. The distress on the stomach and intestines is too much for me0
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I've *really* upped my raw vegetable intake this week. While staying in deficit, I feel like there's a brick in my stomach and I'm really bloated. Not TOM. Anyone have any experience with this? I have a feeling that it's due to increased fiber but I'm not sure.
Note: Drinking over a gallon a day of water in addition to other liquids.
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I was diagnosed with IBS a few years back and ever since then can't eat much raw veg w/o it giving me painful bloating. Even cooked veg was off the table for me for a long time, but I've slowly worked back up to being able to handle large amounts of that again.
What might help you is taking Beano when you eat veg. It provides an enzyme that helps you digest the food (in particular, a type of carb/sugar that some people have major problems digesting). When I was recovering from IBS, beano played a major role in helping me start eating veg/high-fiber foods again. I really regret waiting as long as I did to try it! I had always associated that product with preventing flatulence, which was never my problem fortunately
, but it can help a lot with bloating and stomach cramps too. 1 -
Raw broccoli makes me bloat. If I parboil the broccoli, I don't have that problem. Just thought I'd pass that along1
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@bbell1985 40 g or under every day this week. A little low. Historically 60g+. That might be something to look into. I've had yogurt daily but also take my milk fat free so might up it quite a bit tomorrow.
Up your fat intake! With increased fiber intake, you need to ensure your water and fat intake is also increased in order to keep things moving. Fat helps lubricate the digestive tract.0 -
Just curious, what is your diet like otherwise? what do you eat regularly? I'm ending up avoiding foods because of digestion issues..lucerorojo wrote: »It might also be age related. I never had any problem eating vegetables until about a year ago. (I'm 52). I was a vegan for 3 years and vegetarian for 7in my 20s-30s so I ate a lot of them and much fiber. Even more recently I used to eat two salads a day and veggies in an omelette, but now I just cannot. I cannot take most vegetables raw. Forget smoothies--cannot eat them-- the bloating and gas is horrible. Certain veg like artichokes, onions, leeks, or peppers even when cooked, if more than a tiny bit, i get bloated. I just resigned myself to not eating many vegetables. The distress on the stomach and intestines is too much for me
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@bbell1985 40 g or under every day this week. A little low. Historically 60g+. That might be something to look into. I've had yogurt daily but also take my milk fat free so might up it quite a bit tomorrow.
Up your fat intake! With increased fiber intake, you need to ensure your water and fat intake is also increased in order to keep things moving. Fat helps lubricate the digestive tract.
Fat is not something I've paid a lot of attention to recently but I think I need to keep a better eye on it.
I ended up subbing some cheese for a couple of things at dinner and feel much less bloated today but still feeling heavy. I'm going to stick the meal-prep-week out because cooking lettuce is not something I'm interested in, but this may stay just that - an experimental week.
Thanks to all for advice!0
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