Digestive Issues

[Anri]

Hi There

I've been HCLF vegan since 9 May 2017. My body has a really hard time digesting any legumes (even if soaked before cooking), cruciferous veggies, onions, oats, wheat, peas, corn, any nuts and most fruit, leafy greens if I ingest more than half a cup. I tried eating small amounts of the above mentioned, to enable my body to adjust, but it just never adjusted.

I cut out everything that made me feel bad, and now I'm living of rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, peppers, lettuce, cucumber and butternut.

It feels a bit limited. And I tend to get extremely hungry. I'm worried that I'm going to be unhealthy in the long term. Am I doing something wrong? Or is it fine eating such a limited variety of foods?

I drink on average about 2 litres of water everyday. I still have coffee. I'm not overweight. I exercise 3 - 5 times a week. I dont smoke. I do have alcohol on special occasions.

ANY advise would be appreciated!

Thanks!!
Anri

[Willijan]

I am wondering if you ate any of the troublesome foods before May 9, 2017, before you went HCLF. Unfortunately, I don't know what to tell you, but it seems like knowing the answer to that might help someone else make sense of what might be happening.

From extensive reading of Dr. McDougall, I'm pretty sure you will be fine with eating your limited diet for quite a long time, possibly forever. (Except for the hunger and boredom, of course.) Because there are a number of examples where people thrived on an even more limited diet for quite a while--say a year. People who ate nothing but potatoes, (or potatoes and oil, which doesn't contribute any significant nutrients). And I've heard Dr. McDougall say you can just eat any one starch and any (?) one vegetable and you'll be fine.

Also, there's the Kempner Diet, where the patients ate nothing but rice, fruit and sugar for several months. Then one patient accidentally continued for quite a while longer, and that's how Kempner found out it was safe for a longer time, because she was perfectly healthy.

Perhaps your body will change after you've been on the diet a few more months. Then you could try adding back one food on the troublesome list at a time, and see if you could then eat it.

Did you have any health problems before you started this diet? That information might help solve the puzzle too.

[Anri]

Hi Willijan. Thank you for your reply. I did eat the troublesome foods beforehand, just not very often and in small portions. No, I dont have any health issues... Maybe my body is just taking longer to adapt to the new diet. I will wait a few more months, and then try to reintroduce. Have a great day!

[Cathmc]

Hope things do improve Anri and let us know how it goes.

I´m having a few problems with bloated, gassy feelings myself.

[Drew_ab]

Coffee is known to cause many digestive problems, it can induced IBS or IBS-like symptoms in many people. I bet if you quit coffee, you could introduce some foods back in that you were previously unable to eat.