Bloated

[rebe09]

I have been gluten-free for almost 2 weeks. It has been going well. I have seen a lot of positive changes. However, I have noticed as the days increase being gluten-free, I have felt more and more bloated. I have had regular BM, but I continue to feel bloated in the stomach area. Is this normal? Could it be related to eating dairy? I'm trying to pinpoint why this is happening.

[ksymonds84]

  rebe09 said:

I have been gluten-free for almost 2 weeks. It has been going well. I have seen a lot of positive changes. However, I have noticed as the days increase being gluten-free, I have felt more and more bloated. I have had regular BM, but I continue to feel bloated in the stomach area. Is this normal? Could it be related to eating dairy? I'm trying to pinpoint why this is happening.

It could definatley be related to dairy or perhaps you are trying the gluten free substitutes for bread ect. IMO, In the beginning its best to eat whole foods such as meat, veggies, and fruit. If rice is not a problem than that is okay too. Gluten free grains that your body is not used to need to be added in slowly. That being said, Dairy bloats me up every single time!

[GreatGFBaker]

Lots of gluten free foods are full of bean flours (garbanzo, fava, etc) or are high in fiber (like quinoa, teff, millet) and those tend to bloat people if you're not used to them yet. It will get better! Don't use beano though because it has wheat in it, but you can get some relief from Gas-X

[jerseyangel]

Corn makes me bloated--I still eat it, just not every day.

[rebe09]

I'm trying to eliminate dairy to see if that is why I feel bloated. I have seen some positive results, but it's so hard eliminating dairy. Can I things like soy yogurt and rice milk in the meantime, if I want to eliminate dairy. Is soy o.k. for you?

[BRUMI1968]

soy is not dairy or gluten, so in that sense it's fine. soy is a high allergen food, however. you're probably better off with rice or hemp or almond, and maybe rice being the best of all fat-wise. sometimes it takes us a while to get back to being able to digest fats and such. anyway, yes, they are all fine so long as you check the brand and make sure it says Gluten Free!

[kera87]

  rebe09 said:

I have been gluten-free for almost 2 weeks. It has been going well. I have seen a lot of positive changes. However, I have noticed as the days increase being gluten-free, I have felt more and more bloated. I have had regular BM, but I continue to feel bloated in the stomach area. Is this normal? Could it be related to eating dairy? I'm trying to pinpoint why this is happening.

You may have bacterial overgrowth, that happens when you start to heal. I usually have to go on antibiotics for it every 5 months because I start getting badly bloated. Can't hurt to ask about that.

[Gfresh404]

Bloating used to be my worst enemy. Luckily in my recovery process I discovered many things for relief. First off, if you're not already doing so, drink plenty of water. Water is an extremely important of a healthy digestive system. It will also help you burp up any excess gas. And instead of taking antibiotics for bacterial overgrowth, go the alternative route: take enteric coated peppermint capsules - there has actually been a lot of research done on this and it has proven to be very safe and effective (with little to no side effects - just do a good search).

Before self diagnosing myself as gluten intolerant I was fairly certain I had bacterial overgrowth. But anyway, I took two capsules 2 times a day in between meals and this helped a ton. It got rid of any excess air in my intestines (also kills many pathogenic bacteria).

This is probably the important one of all: the supplementation of digestive enzymes. Try to get plant based ones as they are the best in my opinion, and the safest. I have been gluten-free for almost 8 months and still take a digestive enzyme when I eat fatty foods. And if you do not want to take digestive enzymes try cutting down your fat intake. Oils especially get me bloated so I usually stick with nuts and legumes.

One last thing you could try is exercise. Cardio especially gets those enzymes flowing.

Good luck!

[Crayons574]

  rebe09 said:

I have been gluten-free for almost 2 weeks. It has been going well. I have seen a lot of positive changes. However, I have noticed as the days increase being gluten-free, I have felt more and more bloated. I have had regular BM, but I continue to feel bloated in the stomach area. Is this normal? Could it be related to eating dairy? I'm trying to pinpoint why this is happening.

you may try going casein (dairy) and soy free for a couple of weeks to see if the bloating goes down. those seem to be common allergies on this site. when i eat soy, i bloat like crazy, but i also get pain with it. if you are not experiencing indigestion, it could be a variety of things like candida overgrowth, or perhaps you need to take more probiotics, too much salt, there might be something in your new gluten free substitutes. dairy may be a big one though. it's worth it to get it a try of eliminating it for a little bit. i also find it really helpful, when you are trying to solve a problem like this, to keep a food diary. write down everything you eat and make sure you know the ingredients of your food, and document on a scale of 1-10 how bad your bloating is. good luck!