The Dark Side of Healthy Eating And What To Do About It
February 24, 2012 24 Comments
What is wrong with that guy? What did he eat a meat and cheese burger from Burger King?
No...............he ate broccoli. A lot of it - more than he had ever eaten before. He did what MyPlate told him to do - filled half his plate with broccoli and now he has a tummy filled with (you guessed it) gas.
He is root-a-toot-tooting all the way to his next meeting. Poor guy.
Foods such as beans, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, whole grains, etc. can cause stomach discomfort if they are new to you. Basically, your intestinal flora (bacteria, fungi, and protozoa that live in you) haven't had to break up the complex carbohydrates that are arriving from your mouth.
Here's a photo of some E. Coli that live in your gut:
Say HI! to the little buggers. You may not have enough of these guys or the right types to handle the increase of the healthy foods.
You don't want to give up on the foods that cause you discomfort because they are healthy! There are two things you can do to help your stomach better digest deal these foods.
- Eat more yogurt with live cultures or drink kefir.
- Try a dietary supplement such as Beano or Gas-X Prevention
The yogurt will help you get more live active bacteria into your gut to "help out" with the increase of vegetables and beans. It never hurts to add more microorganisms if you like yogurt.
The Beano or Gas-X Prevention is a food enzyme supplement that has not been evaluated by the FDA for its effectiveness. This is true of many dietary supplements - the FDA approves drugs but not these.
What this supplement does is provide an enzyme, alpha-galactosidase, that will help you break down the problem complex carbohydrates.
I tried Gas-X Prevention because it costs less than Beano and I have problems when I eat too many beans. You take it RIGHT BEFORE your first bite. This is very important because your stomach acid will probably denature the enzyme if you take it any earlier rendering it ineffective.
It may have been a placebo effect, but I found that it worked. I didn't have my post bean meal tummy ache - hurray!
Do you have problems with eating certain healthy foods? What did you do about it?
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