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Loo Issue

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klkateri
klkateri Posts: 432 Member
in Social Groups
I have a tender tummy and because of this, I tend to have a lot of issues in the loo. I started on Keto the 11th and have felt "ok" on it (Had keto flu as well as PMS together... rough couple of days). Today, all of a sudden (well, maybe not) I feel like i have a bowling ball in my guts and everything coming out of me smells like sewage (No exaggeration either). HELP!! Is this normal? Any idea's other than a stool softener? Do I need to adjust my eating or is this just a temporary side effect of switching my diets?

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  • UMDavies
    UMDavies Posts: 87 Member
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    I've had problems with bowel issues on keto too :( I know people have success with adding more fat and eating more vegetables (if you're counting net carbs rather than total, so the fibre doesn't count) but the only thing that's worked for me is upping my carbs slightly in order to add in half a tin (~110g) of chickpeas each day. I'm still under 40g total and ~20g net carbs daily and this has completely sorted out all of my toilet troubles! I'd play around with adding in more fat and vegetables and see what works for you :)
  • Sunny_Bunny_
    Sunny_Bunny_ Posts: 7,140 Member
    edited January 2016
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    The fact that you had "Keto flu" means you're low on electrolytes and dehydrated. This is quite likely affecting the loo issue as well. That bowling ball you're feeling is lacking is water and lubricant (like fats).
    Get between 3000-5000mg of sodium a day, at the higher end right now to get balanced. And get a magnesium supplement like magnesium citrate or any that end with "ate". Great idea to get some NuSalt or LoSalt which has potassium too and use it on foods.
    When you're burning ketones, especially in the beginning, you're losing a lot of water. With that goes sodium, and once sodium gets low enough the body starts dumping magnesium and potassium in an attempt to hold onto the remaining sodium. It's all a balance, so it's very important to keep sodium up on a daily basis to prevent the others getting dumped, but it's certainly too late for that now. Plus, pretty much everyone is deficient on at least magnesium anyway. So just take it and all is well.
    Additionally, make sure to get more fats than you do protein.

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