Bowel beef continued.
High fibre, high carb diet. I love it. This is why I've failed at weight control over the years - I've been trying to portion control tiny amounts of high fat/protein + *soluble* fibre foods because I thought I had to limit *insoluble* fibre. I naturally have a sweet tooth and LOVE carb-heavy foods, and when I can eat things like:
- Whole grains/corn
- Legumes
- Apples and pears
- Other fresh and dried fruits
I am able to control my weight because my body is getting what it craves. BUT because my tummy always hurts, and all the usual IBS advice (including the low-FODMAP diet) tells you that those are the foods you need to limit/avoid, I have found it difficult to stay satisfied (and slim). For years I've been having protein, fats and vegetables low in soluble fibre. So I'd get into a cycle of eating lots of protein and leaves and berries for a day (thinking the leaves and berries should do for fibre) and then giving into my cravings for grains and eating thousands of white, refined bakery products (as white > wholegrain for IBS of course, so it was fine!) I put these typical days as examples into MyFitnessPal and a typical 'healthy day' I was getting only 12-14g fibre most of which was soluble. On a 'Bakery Diet' day I was having far less. So, to be TMI about it - I was adding to the bulk of the stuff in there with the soluble fibre, but the lack of insoluble fibre was making things move too slowly and therefore not letting anything out. Hence the 4 extra inches of belly.
So over the past three weeks I've been gradually reintroducing insoluble fibre, with resultage. I'm still having pains, maybe due to fat (will try quitting chocolate after Easter!) or an intolerance - I still suspect that my gut hates high levels of fructose and have therefore been bombarding it with ripe bananas + strained yoghurt to try and sort out my Good Bacteria. I haven't tried lactose yet. I will carry on doing this for another month or so, in case the bloating is just adjusting to higher amounts of fibrey things and will settle down (normally I'd have quit by now and gone back to the Bakery Diet!). If it's still going on I'll have to try eliminating things again. Sigh. In the meantime I've got my gastroenterologist appointment on 21st May which is why I'm writing all this.
Summary: still don't know the cause of the pain/bloating, but at least for now the things are moving through more quickly. Yay. And I've lost 5lbs already!
- Whole grains/corn
- Legumes
- Apples and pears
- Other fresh and dried fruits
I am able to control my weight because my body is getting what it craves. BUT because my tummy always hurts, and all the usual IBS advice (including the low-FODMAP diet) tells you that those are the foods you need to limit/avoid, I have found it difficult to stay satisfied (and slim). For years I've been having protein, fats and vegetables low in soluble fibre. So I'd get into a cycle of eating lots of protein and leaves and berries for a day (thinking the leaves and berries should do for fibre) and then giving into my cravings for grains and eating thousands of white, refined bakery products (as white > wholegrain for IBS of course, so it was fine!) I put these typical days as examples into MyFitnessPal and a typical 'healthy day' I was getting only 12-14g fibre most of which was soluble. On a 'Bakery Diet' day I was having far less. So, to be TMI about it - I was adding to the bulk of the stuff in there with the soluble fibre, but the lack of insoluble fibre was making things move too slowly and therefore not letting anything out. Hence the 4 extra inches of belly.
So over the past three weeks I've been gradually reintroducing insoluble fibre, with resultage. I'm still having pains, maybe due to fat (will try quitting chocolate after Easter!) or an intolerance - I still suspect that my gut hates high levels of fructose and have therefore been bombarding it with ripe bananas + strained yoghurt to try and sort out my Good Bacteria. I haven't tried lactose yet. I will carry on doing this for another month or so, in case the bloating is just adjusting to higher amounts of fibrey things and will settle down (normally I'd have quit by now and gone back to the Bakery Diet!). If it's still going on I'll have to try eliminating things again. Sigh. In the meantime I've got my gastroenterologist appointment on 21st May which is why I'm writing all this.
Summary: still don't know the cause of the pain/bloating, but at least for now the things are moving through more quickly. Yay. And I've lost 5lbs already!