I'm almost completing my 2nd week of Atkins. I usually eat alot of salads but these past few days I've been feeling so bloated, I don't even feel like eating or drinking anything. Can the lettuce be doing this? Should I ride it out or cut back on my salad eating?

When was the last time you pooped? Are you constipated?

This was my first thought. I get that way on Atkins...take some Magnesium Oxide (1 pill a day, if no results, 1 more, etc.)

Was wondering the same thing. How much are you drinking, what about sodium?

A little while ago, actually

I'll look into that, thanks!

I drink mostly water all day long and I don't care for salt much, so that's not a problem.

Yes, it could be the extra lettuce. You may have just upped your intake too fast for your body to happily adjust.

Look at your veggie intake pre Atkins and see what veggies your body liked. Lettuce is certainly not your only option. Reread the Atkins induction food sticky and see if any of your old favorites are induction friendly.

It also might be a problem for you simply because of the volume. If you were eating 2 or 3 servings of veggies a day and are now eating 6 servings, you might want to ease up on the quantities. A serving is 1 cup of lettuce or 1/2 cup of anything else.

not sure what you mean by bloated. It means so many different things. Do u feel like youre retaining water? Like your gi tract is sluggish?

I wonder if the "not feeling like you want to eat" is simply due to being in ketosis?

Are you eating lots of cheese? That would make me feel bogged down.

I would be reluctant to cut veggies. You should be getting 12-15carbs per day from veggies, minimum.

Yup, I was practically eating no fruits and vegetables and now all this lettuce and a bit of veggies. I think I will be cutting back, at least on the lettuce. Thanks!

It feels like I have a knot in my stomach. I eat alot of cheese, but that was never a problem for me. I do need more veggies.

If you're eating more than 4 ozs of cheese per day, you may want to look at cutting it back to max out at 4 ozs per day.
Too much cheese can cause constipation and water retention.
Cheese may not have been an issue for you before but as we get older, things can change.

If you are eating a lot of raw veggies and feel bloated, try to limit raw to one salad per day and cook your other veggies.

You can cook any of the salad vegetables on the list if ou feel raw is not suiting you. Even lettuce can be cooked!!

hm

also you might want to consider doing some things to help digestion. Chew well. Avoid water/beverages with meals as it will dilute hcl (stomach acid) which you need for digesting meat/proteins. Look into digestive enzymes/betaine hcl, applecider vinegar, etc.

Lots of us who end up overweight are actually malnourished with digestive and absorption problems.

It can be tricky to eat lots of cooked veggies in the summer~i guess lots of them could be blanched then chilled though. If you have a juicer try juicing your greens. Or there are lots of recipes for cold soups for summer that would be lowcarb friendly.