Severly Bloated Newbie

[chewy22]

Hi all,

I have been eating Mcdougall for 7 days now. The good news is I lost about 4 lbs. The bad news is my stomach has been bloated for the last 4 days.

When I get up in the morning it is not too bad, but by 10:00 at night I am so bloated it hurts a bit.

I have been eating mainly white potatoes, steamed vegetables, brown rice, bananas and oatmeal. I ate all of these foods before without incident, however I am eating them almost exclusively now.

I have not had any bathroom issues, I just seem to be very bloated.
Is this my body adjusting to the diet? Have some of you experienced similar bloating?

Mike

[pinkrose]

Congratulations for doing so well! The bloating/gas is quite common. The best remedy that I know is to take long walks (30 minutes to an hour) after meals. Do not think that a little walking will give you a lot of relief from gas. Walk for an hour and you will probably get major relief. You may also want to eat earlier in the evening. This should help you to feel more comfortable when you go to bed.

I expect you will feel much more comfortable with this after your body has a few weeks to adjust! Keep us posted!

[Faith in DC]

I seem to do better breaking down the meals into mini meals or nibble on them rather than eating them up. I think it's the amount of fiber all at one time that I have problems with and get bloated too.

9am I eat a serving of oatmeal w/blueberries
10am I eat a fruit
11am I eat a fruit
12:30pm I start nibbling my salad and normally don't get done until 2:00 or so I also have a cup of homemade soup.

That usually holds me until 7:00 or so.

[chewy22]

Thanks for the advice, I will try spreading my food out a little. I do at least an hour a day of walking now, it does help some.

Hopefully it will calm down in another week or so.

[etoila]

Hi!

Newbie here also of four days. I have the same problem. Bloating and gas. Hubby says I should give it up. No Way!! I do have to admit the gas is hard to deal with. I've taken beano and gas-x and it doesn't help much. I think I'll trying stretching my food out too.

etoila

[chewy22]

Etolia,

The bloating was better today, not gone but much better. I think my body may be getting used to it. Today is my 8th day so try to stick with it. My body seems to be getting used to it , yours probably will as well.

Mike

[deelightful]

I will say that I have just hit the 2 week mark and I think that it gets better as you keep going... I am just really careful not to have a bean salad with a broccoli side, if you catch my drift...

[Tex gal]

I guess I'm glad to know I'm not the only person suffering from this problem! I have been following a vegan diet for a week now and except for the tummy issues I feel great. The bloating and gas is a definite problem though, so I hope it will "pass" soon! I have been using a heating pad at night which helps some. I didn't want to use any medications, but finally gave in and bought some Beano, but so far I haven't noticed that it helps much.

[etoila]

I had to give it up for awhile as I was getting excrutiating pain in my gut that I almost went to the emergency room. I just started back on it a couple of days ago but, no beans or antything that mat make me gassy.

I have an appointment with my gastro doctor on the 22nd. for my five year colonoscopy and my endoscopy and will ask him about this problem. I have been tested last year for celiac and lactose and both were negative.

Needless to say I have been very depressed about not being able to stay on this.

etoila

[Kime]

Are any of you having bloating after cutting out all beans, legumes and cole (broccoli, cabbage family)? These are notorious gas producers. No one should have to go off the diet because of bloating. If you are really having problems you can try cutting down to a very simple diet of 1 starch that works well for you such as rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, or quinoa, plus some green and yellow vegetables (not from the cole family) and gradually work in other food items. That way you can figure out which foods are causing the most problems. As your body adjusts you should be able to add most or all of the foods back in.

Canned beans are very gas producing in my experience. The way Mary cooks beans in the crock pot with no pre-soak is also more gassy. They have been eating like this for so long that it probably isn't a problem for them. Beans will be much less gassy with a quick soak (which takes a little more than 2 hours). First heat water to boiling in a large pot. Then dump in the beans and bring back to a boil for about a minute or two. Then take the pan off the heat and let the beans soak for a couple of hours. A lot of the beans should be floating when you take it off the heat. Make sure you use enough water so that the beans will still be covered when they rehydrate to full size. After 2 hours rinse the beans in a colander dumping out the soaking water and running clean water over the beans; a lot of the gas producing substances are now in that soaking water that goes down the drain. Now you can put the beans into the crock pot or cook them however you want them. You only need to have the water go about 1 inch over the beans in the crock pot because they have already soaked up the water.

I find even legumes such as split peas are gassy if you don't pre soak them. I just use hot tap water for soaking split peas and then cut a cup or so of the water out of the recipe after I rinse them.

[lydia]

Your body will have some adjusting time to the new foods you are feeding it. The symptoms you are having are common and likely to resolve.