GI problems on refeeds?

[imported_edziu]

Am I the only person experiencing this?

I'm currently trying to diet hard most days, with two carb refeeds per week. (weight 225, eating 1800 or 1900 most days, extra 500 g carbs on refeed days.)

Five times in a row, on refeed day, I've progressed through extra movements to loose stools to, by the end of the day, diarrhea. The extra food and hyperactive metabolism really shoot through me. . . Any others have a similar reaction?

 

[jsraaf]

Holy crap, edziu!

(couldn't resist). Can't say as I've had that problem myself...

Seriously... might you be lactose-intolerant & not know it? Are you eating lots of dairy?

 

[micmic]

A refeed is considered as such if you are at least slightly hypercaloric when doing it. Otherwise one can't reap the benefits of it (increased metabolism, leptin upregulation etc.) Are you hypercaloric at 2400 ?

Some stuff that gives me diarrhea:

1) Lactose in dairy (including ice cream - low fat dairy -> more lactose)
2) Lactose in protein powders that claim they have no lactose
3) Beans, fava beans, chickpeas, lentils
4) Excessive carbonated drinks
5) Excessive sweeteners

If none of these is an issue, I'd suggest a few probiotics for a week or so and proceed accordingly. Multi billion acidophilus caps would be fine.

 

[Aaron_F]

Nope

you aint the only one

When I carb upexcessively 500-600+grams, and I have huge GI issues, gas, bloated, and loose problems.
Its relatively common
Digestion rates of carbs are reasonably high, but when you have a bolus the body doesnt seem to adapt as quickly and excessive amounts get thru to the fermenting bacteria lower down.

Quote[/b] ]If none of these is an issue, I'd suggest a few probiotics for a week or so and proceed accordingly. Multi billion acidophilus caps would be fine.

if you can find ones that escape digestion. There was an interesting review on pro-biotics out a couple of years ago, and I think this is one of the main points they said out of it.

 

[Steve McDermott]

Your definitely not alone. I have the same issues with refeeds. I just figure the benefits out weigh the unpleasantries for the duration of the refeed. Although I'm not sure my wife would agree

 

[stevie]

i noticed that when i came off a no-carb diet almost a year ago. it took me about 2 weeks to return to some kind of regular 'emptying'. As Aaron stated, i suffered from being bloated most of the time and would have to get to the toilet very frequently at irregular times. At the time i figured this was simply due to some kind of gut bacteria 'imbalance' due to the diet change.
As a side note, when i first went onto the no carb diet, i remember feeling less bloated directly after meals. I would 'go' once per day on no-carb. I 'go' twice a day now i am accustomed to carbs in my diet.

 

[imported_elle11]

I had the same problem on vacation during SD -- ate lots of carbs and ended up in the bathroom. From the best of my recollection this could also be from the osmolarity of your diet. In other words if you consume a lot of sugar for example, the contents of your stomach are ultra concentrated and your body attempts to remedy this by pushing water into the stomach and intestines causing "dumping syndrome" which in turn gives you diarrhea or worse vomiting. That's why high sugar drinks are not recommended to atheletes during training or games -- sports drinks such as gatorade are relatively low in osmolarity. Normally this is not a problem with a normal stomach and intestines, and usually occurs in surgery patients, but after weeks of low sugar it could cause problems. Just another thought --
Elle

 

[micmic]

Quote[/b] (Aaron_F @ April 08 2003,10:17)]

Quote[/b] ]If none of these is an issue, I'd suggest a few probiotics for a week or so and proceed accordingly. Multi billion acidophilus caps would be fine.

if you can find ones that escape digestion. There was an interesting review on pro-biotics out a couple of years ago, and I think this is one of the main points they said out of it.

I can live without dairy, but I can't live without beans, lentils and chickpeas. I use Solgar's acidophilus and it says on the bottle that they survive digestion. Not that you have to trust them, but when I take 3 of them together with 1 caps of Saccharomyces boulardii, postprandial diarrhea disappears. So, I guess it must be working.

Another problem is to find alive probiotics. A study showed that 9 out of 10 products had very few or even zero alive bacteria.

 

[imported_edziu]

Quote[/b] (micmic @ April 07 2003,8:26)]A refeed is considered as such if you are at least slightly hypercaloric when doing it. Otherwise one can't reap the benefits of it (increased metabolism, leptin upregulation etc.) Are you hypercaloric at 2400 ?

That was 500 extra grams of carbs, buddy. And yes, I'm hypercaloric at 3800 calories.

All my foods were those which were usually safe for me. The only difference was the sudden influx of fiber and simple carb. I guess when I feast, the lower intestinal fauna just throw a party.

It's reassuring to know that others share the same joy. Not that I like to share the pain, or anything, but it makes it far less likely that I'm developing some sort of colo-rectal thing that should make me worry. I prefer my polyps in a reef tank.

 

[Bryan Haycock]

Quote[/b] (edziu @ April 08 2003,3:39)]

Quote[/b] (micmic @ April 07 2003,8:26)]A refeed is considered as such if you are at least slightly hypercaloric when doing it. Otherwise one can't reap the benefits of it (increased metabolism, leptin upregulation etc.) Are you hypercaloric at 2400 ?

That was 500 extra grams of carbs, buddy. And yes, I'm hypercaloric at 3800 calories.

All my foods were those which were usually safe for me. The only difference was the sudden influx of fiber and simple carb. I guess when I feast, the lower intestinal fauna just throw a party.
It's reassuring to know that others share the same joy. Not that I like to share the pain, or anything, but it makes it far less likely that I'm developing some sort of colo-rectal thing that should make me worry. I prefer my polyps in a reef tank.

Just about everybody experiences this problem.

Have you tried "feasting" on fewer carbs for the refeed? Say...300?

 

[imported_edziu]

This was my first pass at regularly scheduled refeeds. (No pun intended.) So I guess I'll fine-tune it down by a few hundred calories and see if it's better tolerated. Thanks.

I don't want to lengthen my refeeds, though, as I'm doing two a week as it is.