Can supplements lead to bloating?

[daisy]

I was following a very restricted doctor supervised low carb plan to lose most of my weight (45lbs) (the plan consists of a 2 hour counselling/support session weekly which i still go to, the only downside is when they phase food in again its the normal food pyramid and i was starved/bingeing so i'm low carbing by my own choice as i know it works!) and now i'm low carbing and taking lots of advice from here (its a wonderful community), anyway i've had to start taking supplements as originally my "foodpacks" provided all of my daily needs, i've phased in magnesium, potassium, green tea (both drink and supplemnet any suggestions for making tea taste better :confused: ), l-glutamine, l-carnitine and chromium and all topped off with a multivitamin, phew thats alot!!!!! I had to stop my water tablet cos of the potassium and after 10 days i'm still really bloated, my tummy feels like a really hard wall (although i know there is abs under that fat apron i'm trying to get rid of), i drink 4-6 litres of water a day (nearer 6 most days) and i don't drink anything with caffeine or any kind of sweetener in it, my diet consists mainly of fish, chicken, turkey with asparagus, avocado, cauliflower, brocoli, mushrooms, celery and supplemented with some cheese, nuts and seeds and pork scratchings for the occasional snack and fat boost....

If its salt retention from the fish (i read that low carbers lose salt easier though so i thought it couldn't be that) does anyone have any suggestions other than drink more water, i love drinking it but honestly if i drink anymore i'll float away and as it is i'm up 2 or 3 times every night to get rid of it (see i'd have thought that meant i wasn't holding onto it :rolleyes: ) and a whole nights sleep would be wonderful lol

daisy xx

[Mitra]

I can't help on the fluid retention - hope someone else will be able to.

I never enjoyed green tea, because it always tasted too strong and astringent, but recently read that it should be made with water that's a bit cooler than boiling (about 80°C). If you don't have a thermometer, pour boiling water into your cup or pot and wait a couple of minutes before adding the tea. And don't use too much tea. When I make it that way, it's actually very mild and pleasant, and I look forward to it now. Apparently the Chinese/Japanese often keep using the same leaves through the day, then throw them away at the end of a day. I usually just have one pot of green tea and one of white (which is made even cooler, at 70°C) in the day, so I haven't been doing this.

[deirdra]

Are you eating more cauliflower & broccoli than you used to? That can cause bloating. If you steam it for 5-10 minutes instead of eating it raw, that helps. Or try Beano. The rest of your foods look fine and I doubt salt in the fish would be a problem since the rest of your foods have little sodium - unless the nuts, seeds & pork rinds are really salty or have MSG added.


Your list of supplements shouldn't cause bloating (I take them all with no problems) unless they contain starchy or yeasty fillers. Did your doctor give you the original packaging that shows ALL the ingredients in each pill? What else is in them?


I make green tea (and all my teas) in my "10 cup" Braun drip coffee maker with only one teabag for a whole pot; this probably is a bit cooler than using boiling water in my Brown Betty like I used to. I got the idea after looking at a friend's "tea maker" and saw that it is really just a cone-filter coffeemaker. Green tea packages mention shorter infusion times, but I've found all teas taste better if the water just drips through the tea leaves. I use coffee filters with my loose tea and position tea bags across the bottom of the cone. Jasmine green tea tastes better than any of the other varieties I've tried.

It sounds like you are on the right track ignoring the doc's advice to follow the food pyramid!

[Gaelen]

i've phased in magnesium, potassium, green tea (both drink and supplemnet any suggestions for making tea taste better

As suggested, brew the tea cooler than you'd brew black tea--I actually brew it in warm-to-touch water and let it steep an hour or so on the windowsill, then add ice and drink it cold. We call that 'sun tea' here in the states. I also like to add a wedge of lime or lemon to my tea, no cream or milk or sweetener. In the winter, I still drink it that way, and coffee is my hot drink of choice.

Honestly, I'm wondering if you're bloated *because* of your very high water intake along with foods that contain added sodium...what happens when you cut out the pork rinds (which are usually pretty high sodium here in the states) and reduce the water intake to, say, 2 liters or no more than 64 oz.? The reality is that you can also count your green tea as clear fluid intake, so you may just be getting too much fluid if you're drinking green tea PLUS 6L water every day. I know, the advice is to 'drink until you float,' but water intake needs DO vary from person to person. Try getting rid of ALL added sodium and then reduce your water intake to 2L or so for a couple of days and see first whether you're actually thirsty, and second, whether the bloating reduces.

[daisy]

Thanks very much for the replies, the problem for me with the green tea is i want to drink it (one cup a day) cos i've been hearing so much about its benefits but i really hate tea :lol: i'm a coffee drinker by nature but haven't even touched that for months since dedicating myself to making some longterm changes and even then it was decaf..... I hate the taste but i'm hoping if i persevere it will get better and i really don't want to stick splenda in it cos i'd rather save that for something i feel i really need (at any point in the future), i made it with lukewarm water so i could get it down quickly lol

My pork scratchings, of which i've consumed 2 30g bags over the last 2 weeks, are called Green Top Pork Crunchies, it doesn't give an amount for sodium although salt is listed as the 2nd ingredient, at least they don't have any MSG in them :rolleyes:

Other than that i'm not eating anything that is processed and could contain alot of salt but i can go without the pork snacks for a week or so and try cutting down the water, the problem with that is that i enjoy it and its taken me long and painful months to get to that point lol but if it cures the water retention i'm happy to give it a shot, i'm glad its not any of my supplements, i buy them all either online or at the health shop here cos our doctors don't prescribe them, also although my doctor recommended my former eating plan she would push me towards a low GI diet rather than a low carb one so she isn't going to actively support my food choices and there is no chance of getting on another doctors list where i live so i'm a bit stuck, its a question of tell them what they want to hear, she sees my weight being stable, my bloodwork had been fine before anyway so she isn't concerned.

thanks for the input :)

daisy xxx

[paleogirl]

Hi Daisy :)

I too suffered from 'turtle belly'... :p It would stick out like I'm pregnant and was rock hard like a shell. Very frustrating. I found it got a LOT better when I cut out the following:

- anything dehydrated (nuts, flax crackers)
- dairy
- fruit (unless combined with almond butter)
- all legumes, even miniscule amounts as added ingredients

I also tried cutting out salt and it made no difference.

I drink about 4 litres of water a day and about 4 big mugs of green tea (probably 8 'cups'). Incidentally, have you tried a few different brands? Some of it is gross! I settled on a loose-leaf organic brand which I brew in a stainless steel tea pot (probably a 2-cup pot although it is just right for one really big mug). I use one level 'tea' spoon per pot - it's an actual tea measuring spoon. It appears so be about the size of a heaped normal teaspoon. :confused: Anyway, I pour the water before it's done boiling (just when it's starting to sound like it's nearly there), and I let it brew for about 2-3 mins. That to me makes delicious, not bitter, not watery tea. A full 3-5 min brewing time makes it bitter in my opinion. Btw, you can take my tea-making advice seriously as I'm English, I just live in Texas. ;) :D

Also bear in mind that English tea bags have 50% more tea in them than US ones, so a shorter brewing time is acceptable. :)