Hi Folks
Just looking for a bit of advice, hopefully from someone with experience of one of these two things.
Background is that I used to eat a ‘normal’ diet: high carbs, high protein, low fat. I felt bloated all the time eating this way, but was also slightly overweight so thought I was just confusing the two/making excuses.
Anyway, I’ve been carb cycling for the last two months, so now only have two days a week where I eat an appreciable amount of carbs. Interestingly, on my ‘meat, eggs and veggies’ days I fell great, not bloated, no wind etc. On high carb days (carb sources exclusively from oatmeal, brown rice and PWO simple carbs), I feel horrible again and, lo and behold, the mighty bloat returns.
I used to think it was wheat intolerance, but I hardly eat any wheat now. So I think I have narrowed it down to either gluten (from the oats) or lactose (from the milk that I pile onto the oats). I know what I have to do, namely eliminate one at a time and see what’s different.
I’m going to start with lactose-free milk and normal oats to see if that fixes things. If its still the same I will go back to normal milk but (grudgingly) get some gluten-free oats and see if that works. I seriously hope its not the gluten - I really love grains and cannot be arsed with the ball-ache of having to track down gluten-free versions wherever I am.
Anyway I’ll update as I go after the next high carb day (lactose restriction). I was just wondering if anyone can spot something I might have missed? Below is a dietary framework of the things I eat in case someone spots something.
Low Carb Days:
Meat (pork, chicken, beef)
Oily Fish (mackerel, salmon)
Cheese (mozzarella and feta mainly)
Vegetables (tomato, cucumber, stir-fry mix)
Eggs
High Carb Days
Oatmeal
Brown Rice
Vegetables (as above)
Lean meat cuts (chicken, pork)
Eggs
As a side note, carb cycling is the best thing I have ever done. Bodyfat is dropping like crazy, I’m getting stronger in the gym (unexpected), but can probably be explained by the fact that I’m so ‘terrified’ of losing muscle because of carb restriction that I go at the weights like a rabid gorilla.
More importantly, I FEEL great the whole time. No more lethargy, no more post-meal energy crashes. It’s great. Best of all, at the current rate I should reach my goal of 10% bf by the end of april, but am actually enjoying getting there (read as ‘steak and eggs are delicious’)
Thanks for listening
BG