Hey guys, I'm generally a lurker, but decided to give a post.
I've been following a low carb diet for quiet some time, though I will occasionally fit in a cheat day every now and then since I'm not following this diet to lose weight or anything.

Let me first say I wholeheartedly support this way of life and truly believe in the health benefits a low carb diet and the removal of sugars and refined grains can have on my body. Still, there are times I read things people post on this forum and cringe at how wrong I think they are. Here is an example of one I commonly see:

1. "Oh man, after accidentally eating that piece of bread/roll/donut/pizza/[insert carby food here] I had bloating, stomach cramps, bathroom problems, and fatigue like no other!! Carbs are terrible for humans, we weren't meant to eat them, and this just goes to prove it!!"

Ummm, no. We were born with the ability to digest starches and carbs just as we were born with the ability to digest protein and fats. In fact, carbs are broken down before ANY OTHER macronutrient. (Saliva in the mouth)

The REASON you are getting these digestion problems is NOT because you're finally teaching your body how to live the way it should have, but because your body is simply ADJUSTED to not eating them, and therefore makes fewer enzymes that aid in carb digestion.

Take for example a vegetarian. They can have the opposite problem. They accidentally eat a piece of meat and have constipation, cramps, and bloating afterwards. According to your logic, they can also say "ohh man! that meat was soo bad for my digestive system!! Clearly, humans were not meant to eat meat and this proves it!" Obviously, you would think that vegetarian was wrong. Why does the vegetarian get the cramps from meat? The same reason you get cramps from eating carbs: the adjustment of your body.

Thoughts?

You're so very sure of yourself.

Go talk to folks who have gluten sensitivity or celiac disease. Many of them once they remove gluten from their diet, even after they continue eating high carb diets, they get very strong reactions to gluten.

You are right about losing the enzymes to help you digest carbs. Dr. Eades mentions that, Atkins does too sort of. They both suggest eating carbs for awhile before taking a glucose tolerance test because you'll have extreme reactions if you take one after being low carb. However, there is also some truth to your body having a stronger immune response to something if you've been exposed to it a long time, then it goes away and is brought back.

I heard some doctors on the radio talking about how that works with common allergies too.

Hi colejames. Welcome to the forum. I don't have any answers for you, but I will be following this thread because I ask myself the same question all the time. I eat low carb because I need to lose weight and because I have digestion problems. When I do eat carbs I feel good, like my body is getting something it needs, but if I keep it up then I wind up with problems. I think you'll get some good answers here.

I didn't know I had a problem digesting starch until I went lowcarb. Suddenly all my life-long digestive issues (bloating, cramps, diarrhea, etc.) disappeared. At first I thought it was just gluten sensitivity, but when I tried a starch-based, vegan diet (McDougall) and did it gluten-free, I had all the same problems. It's starch! I suspect that many people who find success on a low carb diet have the same problem, whether they know it or not.

I would say most of the things you mentioned.. aren't meant to be eaten. Anything processed, really. Or not found in it's natural state. Lots of people feel bad when they eat bread. Whether they are on low carb or not. I have a gluten sensitivity and when I eat pizza, cake, rolls, etc., I feel SO awful, and I did for a few years before going to LC. So I wouldn't say I lacked the enzymes.

I can, however, eat potatoes, yuca, plantains, etc., without these problems. Most people, when complaining of these problems, are complaining that processed junk is what is giving them digestive problems and are right when they say they aren't meant for the human body to consume.

[U]

You have articulated precisely the point at hand: I think two issues may have been confused!

(1) We were designed to digest naturally ocuring carbs (in veggies, fruits, legumes, potatoes, etc.)
---The processed stuff is BAD for us, no matter which way you cut it. ["Processed" refers not just to twinkies and ice cream, but most breads, cereals, crackers, rice, etc.]
---The rise of industry, fast foods, general availability of food, and grocery markets, have made us fat and sick! period.
---We were never meant to eat these natural items in the frequency or quantity that we consume them today. They would come with the seasons and the region!

(2) After being on LC and 'cheating' or going on maintenance, some people can tolerate some natural carbs. However, some people are EXTREMELY sensitive to any kind of sugar or gluten and the like (found in both natural and processed products). And they only discovered this by going LC and then going back to one or more offending foods.

Example: some LCers cannot eat natural fruits, because it makes their blood sugar rise too much This DOES cause problems with fatigue and stomach issues.

Furthermore, there are some theories that state we have these allergies/sensitivities because of our poor diets. In other words, eating the refined, highly processed crap (99% of foods from the grocery) has caused problems with insulin resistance and other food issues in the first place! Thus, destroying some people's ability to eat 'natural' carbs without problems.

To make matters worse, our produce today is modified/hybridized for sweetness. I am willing to bet that the sweetcorn that we ate as kids was 1/2 as sweet as the corn they sell today. The stuff we get now makes my teeth hurt.

Same goes for apples, peppers etc etc. Nutritional value of these foods has gone down with soil nutrient depletion and the sugar content has gone up.

Trying to be "healthy" gets more and more difficult all the time!
C.

I agree completely! I read that fruits have less and less fiber and more and more fructose.


it is so frustrating that even the natural foods: meats, poultry, veggies are contaminated with growth hormones, antibiotics, and pesticides, etc. It is kindof like an "asymptote" in math: we can try and try to approach 'healthy', but will never quite get there! http://www.freemathhelp.com/asymptotes.html

LC is a great start!

I agree with some of what you're saying, as I have seen a brief adjustment period when going either on or off lowcarb.

However "adjustment" doesn't sufficiently explain the 15 years of digestion problems I had while eating a "healthy" high carb diet for several decades, unless you are claiming that the adjustment period can take over 30 years. You aren't claiming that, are you?

I get really bad arthritis if I eat wheat or refined sugar. It's not in my head, and as big as I still am, I should get the clicking (so loud that others can hear it) and pain in my knees whether I am eating these things (at least according to common knowledge about what causes joint problems). For a long time I thought it was starchy food in general, but I've found that it really only comes back if I eat a lot of food with wheat or refined sugar. I can eat a fair amount of carby fruit and even potatoes or rice and not have it. This isn't something that is new with low carb; I just always thought it had to do with my weight.

I also think people who have a lot of lower GI problems from carbs probably have yeast issues. I don't think it's a simple as stop eating carbs and all your health problems will go away. I think some carbs are more tolerated than others by people in general whether they have similar levels of carbohydrate.

We've sort of lived a long time without wheat and even longer without refined sugar. We may be designed with the ability to process carbs, even if it was just for times when the carbier fruits and plants were in season, but I think things like sugar, wheat, fruit juices, and HFCS are something totally different.

Hi Moggsy,

same thing happened with me: when I limited wheat and eliminated white sugar & HFCS, my arthritis pain went away. Not to mention my stomach became flatter. I remember feeling odd for a few days and couldn't pinpoint what was different until I realized that my every day leg pain and back pain was gone!

When I am lo-carbing, I do not eat low-carb bread products at all simply because I do not like the taste. I want to have the real thing - or nothing. But I miss good bread! I am the only person in my family with arthritis pain, the others eat wheat, whole-wheat and sometimes meat (vegetarians for the most part of the week) and are pain-free. How about rice? I have many friends from Japan and China, and they eat a lot of rice and vegetables and some meat, and arthritis is not a popular occurrence there. It seems so unfair, yet the only conclusion that comes to mind is that it's me, I must have apparently lost the ability to digest wheat a few years ago and the badly-digested by products of wheat caused my arthritis.

Since I miss bread, I feel tempted to experiment: how about if I "keet" the bread and just eliminate sugar & HFCS?? hmmm, would arthritis pain still be gone? Have you tried this experiment?

Lol, my thought exactly, Cubbby! Before I went LC, I had digestion problems quite often, and I didn't realize it was from the way I was eating. A couple pieces of pizza would bring on diarrhea, painful stomach, gas. Haven't had those problems since I started this WOL, but I think I would if I started eating the crap I used to eat again.

I kind of look at it like this: I now know that certain foods are poison to my body. I can't say that they affect everyone like they affect me, and I would never dare be that presumptuous. I find it presumptuous for someone to tell me that if I eat strychnine, the reason I'm convulsing is that I'm just not used to it.

It seems to me that that's what colejames is saying, and I find his attitude to be a bit troll-like. Like he joined the forum just to p*** people off and get a laugh out of it.

So how much wheat do we have to eat to digest it properly? Enough to wreck our health?

If I eat pizza, I'll blow up like a beachball. Gluten-free pizza doesn't do that to me.

All of your responses are very very interesting. And no Nancy, haha, I'm not THAT sure of myself though it may have come across that way. It's just in my nature to question things and never accept anything for fact without complete proof. I know a lot of you here have had previous issues such as arthritis and such from eating carbs, but I actually had none of these issues. I'm still young and healthy, so this may be why the effects have not manifested themselves yet, and that is why I'm starting low-carb early: as a prevention method rather than a cure.