I’m now 16 days into the BSD and to my surprise doing really well. I’ve lost 9lbs (4kg) and cut out sugar and really dialled back on carbs: no rice, no pasta, no noodles, no bread, and for the past few days (not deliberately) no beans or lentils. I have never really had a problematic gut or any intolerances.

So for the past 2 or 3 days I’ve had horrendous bloating and painful wind. I am eating plenty of fibre in the form of veg. I’m drinking plenty (and making the effort to drink more). But I’m feeling constipated (not actually constipated) and very uncomfortable. It’s not shifting and I wondered if anyone knows what could be causing it? At first I thought I’d eaten something bad, but nobody else in the family has had similar. Is this part of the process in some way?

Hi Josejose, it is probably cause simply by the change in your diet, nothing to worry about. It will pass (pun intended). If you find you are constipated, drink plenty of water and try sprinkling chia or linseed seeds on your food, yoghurt or soup, something you can mix it in with. Chia always works for me although it does give me cramps to tell me I need to go.

Thanks – it’s really unusual for me but that does make sense. I was reading about keto bloat and I guess it could be that too. Hopefully when it settles some of this middle will melt away, haha!

Hi,
I understand that the range and level of each type of gut bacteria develop based on the type of diet we follow. – When you dramatically change your diet, then there isn’t enough food to support that mixture of bacteria and you get some die off of bacteria.

The bacteria which digest sugar are the ones which multiply most rapidly in response to eating carbs and die off the most rapidly when you cut out the carbs.

Perhaps that is what is happening?

I wondered that. Today is so much better so whatever it was, it’s got better. I love the mental image of all those gut bacteria popping off because I’ve given up sugar and eaten minimal carbs!

The other thing to remember is that the bacteria which depend on sugar are able to send signals to our subconscious to prompt us to teed them. So if I get a craving for carbs I just think about some ugly fat bacteria in my gut being the ones demanding they get fed and its easier to step away from the kitchen.

😁 The good news is it lasted 5 days and then stopped. I’m not missing sugar at all. I have fruit maybe 3x per week (usually blueberries) and the rest of my diet is veg/protein/bit of dairy. So perhaps it was those sugar-loving bacteria buggering off, leaving me craving-free.

Hi JoseJose,
I don’t know if you named yourself after my favourite Mexican singer, but your name has reminded me of him and of many happy evenings singing his songs at the karaoke cantabars in glaswegian Spanish. Oh how I loved that! I’ve found some to sing along with on YouTube.
Thanks for the memory and good luck with your BSD!