Grain Intolerant, Dairy Intolerant, Legume Intolerant, Now Meat? Oh No...

[Pyro]

For the last few weeks I've been going haywire with my regular diet. My body no longer craves meat at all and it's been a major problem (probably why I've been pushing my luck described in the other topic) because meat is the major part of my diet.

My body runs far better on fats and meats (and I happen to like them more than bland piles of rice) so I've gone towards a more paleo approach to food. Meat, green veggies, and seeds with the occasional fat fruit (avocado, coconut) or nut thrown in. But at one point meat became completely undesirable to me and I was living off of eggs and liver for a couple of days. Even though the amount of eggs was pretty intolerable, they seemed to go away soon enough and I was afraid to clog myself up again with meat. Which I don't even know if it does stop me up, but my stomach felt so clear I didn't want to risk it.

Of course at some point I went back to meat and my stomach feels volatile right now. There could be other factors involved, and I would need time to really test it but there still is no desire to eat meat tomorrow. When I had a piece of beef earlier today I instantly had gas which happens if I eat a problem food. And the fish that I ate earlier (croaker) is sitting in my stomach making me kind of nauseated right now. The other day I had a bunch of mackerel and felt REALLY badly nauseated.

This is causing a lot of stress because I am really a firm believer that a lower carb life style more suits the fuel my body wants. And the protein is essential to me because I like to lift and all that. Vegan diets (which I read about and don't like) are usually low in protein and good amino acid profiles no matter how much people claim they aren't. Unless I were to eat a lot of tofu/tempeh but I don't think that would help my problems go away and there are a lot of rumors that soy protein is bad for you.

Oy..

[mftnchn]

Do you take digestive enzymes? What about low stomach acid?

[Pyro]

Do you take digestive enzymes? What about low stomach acid?

I take probiotics (acidophilus) and ginger capsules. At one point I was taking pancreatin but didn't feel it helped much for it's cost. Revitalx also didn't help too much.

[YoloGx]

I think its good to have a balance rather than go to such extremes. Eating just meat and green veggies isn't enough. You need root vegetables if you can't tolerate any grains.

However there are a number of ancient grains that are good--like quinoa, teff, amaranth etc. I find for myself that eating thoroughly washed brown rice (i.e.,washed 4 times to get rid of any residue that they might have seems to be needed for me) with my meat and veggies really is satisfying.

They say the whole grains like that help the intestines work better not only for eliminations but also to create more B vitamins--which are often low for people who have celiac.

I take co-enzyme B vitamins meanwhile so I can better handle eating protein and carbohydrates. I like the Country Life brand since they don't have sorbitol and are fairly low priced. Its best taken on an empty stomach.

[aikiducky]

I've noticed that I often go in cycles when it comes to certain foods. I'll eat more protein heavy for a while and then for a while I really don't feel like I need it that much but I really start to crave rice and root veggies and other carbs. It seems that as long as I eat more or less what my body is asking for i feel pretty good! So maybe not freak out just yet but consider that you might have had enough meat for a while and your body is trying to tell you something?

A food &symptoms diary might be a good idea, too, if you suspect there are more foods you can't tolerate?

Pauliina

[mftnchn]

I had to take two of a strong prescription level pancrealipase combo before I noticed improvement. I am still not able to digest carbs well. My bile levels are low too, all of this makes for difficult digestion.

So while I agree with Yolo for the long term, for the short term sometimes we have to compromise. At least I am doing hugely better limiting complex carbs that I cannot break down--I'm on SCD which eliminates grains and all starchy vegetables, plus sugars.

Could you have some testing done to check these things? Acid levels and digestive enzymes, plus stool residues (are you excreting fats, proteins, sugars in excess of what you should be) could help determine if there is a problem.

Probiotics are a great thing too, glad you are doing that.

Just some ideas....

[ShayFL]

HCL - Hydrochloric Acid was the first thing that came to my mind.

I went through this about 12 years ago. Stopped wanting meat. And when I ate it.....I really paid for it. So I became a vegetarian and then vegan. But what really turned me around was taking a HCL tab with each protein meal. Over time I started craving meat again and found I could eat it just fine with the HCL. Eventually I weened off of the HCL and my body took over again. Whole process took about 6 months for me.

[Nancym]

If you want some support with your Paleo way of eating I'd recommend this message forum: Open Original Shared Link Lots of recipes and people that would probably have many ideas for you.

Eating too much meat can make you anorexic, I mean we're talking like more than 30% of your daily calories (assuming your calorie intake is normal). There's only so much protein your body can handle. Also if your carb levels are low enough to put you into ketosis you can feel a bit anorexic too. Generally everyone coming off of a high carb diet goes through this adjustment period. It does go away. You can lessen it by gradually lower carbs.

I'm eating a lot of stir-frys right now. Meat in them but loads of veggies, which I adore.

I'd recommend making sure you're eating lots of veggies and maybe limiting the meat somewhat until you adjust. Be sure to eat plenty of fat: Nuts, nut-butters, avocados, oils, maybe ghee or butter depending on how strict you are with the Paleo concept, eggs. I like to cook a duck or goose every now and then and save the drippings to use for cooking other stuff.

There's nothing wrong with eating most root veggies on a paleo diet but some are too starchy to include if you're trying to lose weight. Also winter squashes are great too, some are a bit on the starchier side though.

Another thing you might try is intermittent fasting. Most people implement it as eating during a certain window each day. There's a strong following for that on the low carb forum I linked.

[Pyro]

I'm not strict paleo at all. If something needs to be eaten, it will be eaten without regard to any kind of moral restriction. Though I do keep myself in ketosis and have been following a ketosis based way of eating for a year now. I feel, or usually feel, way better on it and can maintain a positive mood and boat load of energy on it rather than consistently crashing like I would on a glucose based diet. My metabolism is very fast and even whole grains can't keep me running consistently unless I eat them throughout the day which isn't always possible.

As for IF, I was doing it way back and enjoyed it then but it stopped working for me. My body must have changed, because I never used to get hungry in the mornings so eating early was always a big chore and I would still feel nauseous afterwards. I still usually skip breakfast now but usually will definitely be hungry by noon which wasn't the case before.

Shay, I'll look into some HCL. If it works I have no idea how to repay you. First the neem, then the possibility of making a milkshake, and possibly solving this problem... You're like the doctor that everyone prays for . But you're getting nothing in return! I feel like you really deserve something.