How a post on a forum about weigh-ins before a BM turned into an interesting gut flora discussion

Americans don't like to talk about poop. Like we don't like to talk about sex or snot or ear wax and anything else that's deemed "gross". Well, I go there because I think it's important to talk about the things that affect our lives and like my son's toddler/preschool favorite book says, "Everyone Poops".

So, my poop situation. When I eat however I want - whenever I want. I need to poop several times a day. Every day. It's not diarrhea. Just normal poop.

When I am on plan, I do several things at one time. I reduce my calories (so amount of food coming into my body is less). I change the balance of foods I eat (lower carb) and I change when I eat. This naturally affects my bathroom habits.

Because I have been doing variations of this "diet" for over 5 years, I know how my body reacts to foods and this diet, especially. The timing of my eating does little to my BM schedule and amount, etc. Eating lower calorie does lessen the frequency of needing to poop. I will only need to go once a day versus 2-3 times a day. But the change from a high carb diet to a lower carb diet (and I am NOT eating a super low carb diet) changes frequency by a lot. I will only need to have a bowel movement every 3 days, sometimes only every 4 days.

And it's not instantaneous. It takes several weeks to go from once a day to every 3 days. During our 6 day vacation? I only had to go to the bathroom two times - 4th day and 6th day. (I can remember because where we were visiting/staying - not that I keep that close track of my BMs!)

Upon coming home, I had been eating a bit more carbs during vacation and immediately following it with cake. BUT... I was eating within my caloric range, so it was the components of my diet that was different, not the amounts of food. And, I started to need to go to the bathroom more frequently - every 2 days, every day. And now, 2 weeks and 3 days from being home, and it's back down to every 2 days and will probably decrease even more to every 3 days. That's how I really know if I'm on plan or not - my bowel movement frequency.

Again, I'm not constipated. Constipation means straining on the toilet - having difficult bowel movements. I'm having a normal bowel movement. Just not very often. And when I go, I go a normal amount as I would see at other times too. So please don't think I'm doing something "bad" by not needing to poop every day. It's OK!

So, what's going on here? Eating less resulting in less poop - that makes sense. So eating 3000 -3500 calories a day that resulted in 2-3 poops a day and switching to a 1100-1500 calorie diet and pooping once a day makes sense.

But the switch from eating a 1100-1500 calorie diet that has things like bread, cake, pasta in it resulting in pooping every day and eating a 1100-1500 calorie diet that eliminates things like bread, cake, pasta in it resulting in pooping every 3-4 days doesn't seem to make sense.

Well, then comes in gut flora. We are learning a lot. Here are some articles on it. I'm not saying all of this is the end of the story. In fact, its' the beginning of the story. We are just beginning to look at our bacter in our body as important to life.

Article one: How our gut flora helps us digest more food or less food depending on the balance of nutrients/carbs: Gut Bacteria and Obesity – A Hidden Connection?

Article two: How higher carb diets affect rates of types of cancers - always fun: Carbs and gut microbes fuel colon cancer

Article three: Talks a bit about what are different types of gut flora: Your Gut Bacteria Are What You Eat

And then there are lots and lots and lots of articles or posts in forums for Keto, Paleo and other low carb diets about, "Where's my poop?" I'm not the only person experiencing that! Though, some people really do get constipated, and that is different. I eat a high fiber diet. I eat almonds. I eat a lot of leafy greens and other nonstarchy vegetables. I do not have a lack of fiber issue.

Anyway, it's interesting. I think that my gut flora changes significantly and gets more in balance. When I am carbed up, I think my gut flora is WAY out of balance - which is bad (and probably makes me gain weight even faster!)

I'll be curious to learn more as they learn more, but my own experience is, my gut flora radically changes from what I eat.

Saw my labs - not nearly as bad as I expected

For as long as I've ignored things, I'm surprised things aren't as bad as I thought they would be. But then, they've been ignored for about 8-9 months... not for YEARS like in the past.

My thyroid is low in all areas, so that needs to be addressed and is. The doctor's office called in the prescription at the end of the day yesterday, so I started it last night. (Yes you can do it at night too as long as you have an empty stomach).

My vitamin D is really low.
My Fasting Blood Sugars is slightly high
My cholesterol is moderately high and the "bad" cholesterol is high
And, of course, I know the blood pressure is high.

Everything should get back on track with taking the thyroid medicine except the Vitamin D. I just need more sunlight and a supplement.

The last time I was in "trouble" the numbers were way worse except the blood pressure. My blood pressure is the #1 indicator of my thyroid is adjusted or not - even slight differences affect it. And that isn't typical, but is typical for me. Even 2 years ago when my TSH went from 3.5 to 4.5 my blood pressure went from normal to too high, (around 170/100). So, the good news is that I can probably get an idea of how well adjusted my thyroid medication is by watching my blood pressure. Bad news is that it takes the thyroid much longer to regular than it does to get blood pressure to regulate.

So, that is good news. They other bit of good news is that I'm ready to get with the program again. I feel a new energy. I feel less despair. And it's been building for several weeks, but now... I'm seriously ready.

Yesterday I went and bought a new sports bra what fits and a few workout clothes that fit. As well, I cannot wear the same clothes I was wearing when I was 175 pounds as I can at 242 pounds now can I?

And I just want to GO DO IT. Can't yet because of blood pressure, but as soon as I get the go ahead for exercise, I will.

Also, I ate well and low carb yesterday and it was easy. I looked at my kids cookies and just put them away versus grabbing a couple.

You cannot imagine how good that feels to feel that I have some control again. Let's hope that it stays that way!

An interesting article

A college colleague posted this article on Facebook yesterday. Give it a read: The Worst Lies That Mainstream Nutrition Has Told You.

I read it and was going, "Uh-huh." "Yep." "I agree." for pretty much all of it. Then I went to read some of the comments and they are all over the place.

Now, I'm not going to say that this was a great article and that there isn't still some controversy out there, but more and more and more stuff is coming to light that the low fat, high carb diet (plus being sedentary) is what is doing us in and making us fatter. I'm curious how long it will take for it to become more mainstream.

And, through my own trials of losing weight and getting healthier, I've pretty much found that this way of eating that is the best for me. Though, it's not the gluten that gets me - but the simple carbs of any grains that get me. Although, perhaps gluten/wheat does affect my system somewhat is I do break out more, my gut behaves less efficiently, etc.

We have it in our heads that fats are bad and that eating saturated fats make our hearts unhealthy and our arteries clog. It's not that simple. If people moved more they would find they could eat whatever they wanted and would be in perfect health. That, and it is being shown that eating higher carb diets lead to higher cholesterol - bad cholesterol. It's not from eating a higher cholesterol diet.

When I was eating a high carb, low fat diet, my cholesterol level was around 200 and the breakdown was borderline bad. Now that I eat lower carb (under 100 net grams of carbs a day) with high fat and higher protein diet, my cholesterol is 170ish and with a great good/bad breakdown. My fasting blood sugar is way better. My blood pressure is way better and I feel way better. It's a combo of diet and exercise.

Carbs taste good, are easy and cheap. That is the big issue. It costs more to get a bigger piece of meat/dairy and lots of vegetables. It was cheaper when we ate a big side of rice or potatoes, a big portion of veggies and then a small portion of protein.

Although it wasn't my intention, but almost all of us in my family has lowered their carb intake with my diet. Since I'm the cook, I just make less of that fluff (and it is mostly fluff) and make more of the green stuff and proteins - adding in more nuts, soy, dairy, eggs and beans. AND adding in more fat - roasting vegetables in the oven with olive oil, or with a bit of chopped pancetta, etc. It tastes freaking fantastic and it's healthier. We are getting more nutrients and less fluffy stuff that only filled our stomachs and filled them temporarily. We have less need for snacking (which tends to be the unhealthy stuff too for most of us, right?)

Not all people are sensitive to sugars and simple carbs, but many of us are. That's another thing we need to get into our heads. We are all different and how and what we eat can be different too. If a person can eat a high carb diet with bread and rice and sweets and maintain their weight and have good blood results, then great. But many of us can't without getting into that craving sweets/carbs mode.  My mother in law has an incredible sweet tooth, but she can deal with it. For me? That would be a disaster to eat like that as it used to be and will be again if I ever go back to it. So, I've found another way to eat and it's what's mentioned in the article and boy, is it easier than ever to not overeat.