Thank you all for your help. It has been very valuable in getting my husband and me started with CAD. I have a question, though. (Yes, another one.) My husband has trouble with his bowels which worsened after he had his gallbladder out several years ago. He said yesterday that eating frequently keeps them going smoothly, and that if he can only eat four times a day that he won't be able to stick with CAD.

Do any of you have similar issues where you have to eat more than four times daily for whatever reason? Does that still work for weight loss? I want my husband to stay on CAD, but I can certainly understand that he doesn't want diarrhea every day.

On CAD, you can't eat more than 4 times a day, otherwise you'll get cravings if you're a CA. Eating more than 4 times a day raises your insulin and hunger levels.

Your husband might find that over time his bowel problems will lessen. I had my gallbladder out in 1995 and I had that same problem also for several years. I found that certain foods were a trigger and if I ate them it was run not walk to the toilet. It was so bad that until I figured out which foods were triggers I would be afraid to eat out anywhere; it was just too embarrassing.

In a certain way it doesn't even make sense. I mean when you eat a food, it doesn't even get to that part of the digestive track for quite some time and yet somehow it triggers diarrhea so it seems to me that it must be an allergic reaction to the just consumed food that is causing the intestines to react with diarrhea. At the same time, somehow the bile produced by the gallbladder interacted before to prevent this reaction when the gallbadder was still there. I don't have a good scientific explanation for this, just my own personal experience.

I've been able to add some of those foods back into my diet without the diarrhea but each person will probably be different. Also I take a bile acid supplement when I have a fatty meal.

My suggestion to your husband would be to try and find what foods trigger the diarrhea for him. For me, coffee first thing in the morning was a major trigger; probably the tannin oils since I drink my coffee black.

Has your husband tried just eating 4 times a day or is he going by his past experience? He might find that his bowels have settled down by now and it is no longer an issue. If it flares up again, it might be what he is eating and not how often he eats.

Good Luck,
Cyndi

Yes, he's tried. We do know that too many cruciferous vegetables send him running, but no matter what he eats, he says that eating only three times a day causes the "dumping."

Of course, he hasn't actually been doing CAD, anyway; I notice that when I get up in the morning, it's the carby food that's gone. So I may go back to Atkins just to minimize the amount of carbs in the house. I'm so frustrated; I know it's his decision, but he feels bad most of the time (fibromyalgia) and really needs to lose about 120 pounds, and yet he won't commit to anything.

Hi FrecklFluf--I don't know if this will help at all, but I can tell you of my personal experience in this area. Several years ago, I had my gallbladder removed, and had the same problem as your husband. Couldn't eat out anywhere--too scared that I wouldn't make it home. I talked to my doctor at the time, and he suggested (like clkeifer) that it might be an allergic reaction. He suggested that I always avoid any "bar" foods--salad bars, hot food bars, etc., on the idea that foods that are left sitting for extended periods of time are bacteria traps. Never thought of that before, but it made sense. That helped some, but mostly we just learned to eat at a restaurant very close to home, if we ate out at all. When I first started on CAD I didn't notice an improvement right away, but over time things have gotten much better. A while after starting to lc--I decided to cut out all sugar and white flour--and I haven't had a problem since then at all!!! I can't tell you for sure what made the change--but I do know that I usually only eat twice a day now, and I never have any problems anymore. I can't swear that the flour/sugar thing "cured" me, but I really think that this was the answer for me. Even if your husband isn't interested in trying CAD, I wonder if he would see improvement if he just tried using only AS (I use only Splenda or Stevia-with NO problem at all) and eliminating the bread--maybe only having an occasional slice of high fiber bread or lc tortilla? I try to have a full serving of protein and raw veggies at each meal, as well-and feel better than I ever have in my entire life. No more of the intestinal problems that ruled my life for so many years. Just trying to throw out some ideas for you... Hope that he is able to find a way to get some relief from the problem...

I haven't had the problem that your husband has, even though I have had my gallbladder out. But with what I have been reading from the others, it sure sounds as though it would be worth your husband giving CAD a try. It could really help him. Either way though, if you think CAD is a good idea for you, you owe it to yourself to try it. You don't HAVE to be on the same plan as hubby, even though that does make it easier.

Good luck with whatever you try.

Tracy

Thanks, all. I think for the time being (after this week), I will go back to Atkins. The main reason I switched to CAD was that I thought it would be something Shawn could do; Atkins was working for me. (Although I sure do like the RMs, and I bet CAD would work for me too. ) The problem with doing CAD is that if there is carby food around, that's what he'll eat. He wasn't doing Atkins before, really, but he was eating a lot lower carb than we used to, just by virtue of not having high-carb stuff in the house. And he feels better when he eats that way (salad and cruciferous veggies notwithstanding).

I do think that I'm going to suggest that he get allergy tests done. Who knows? He may be allergic to something we eat all the time.

Thank you all for all your help. I really appreciate it.

A couple of more thoughts on this. If you find that you want to try CAD it seems that you would have to limit prepared carbs in the house. Take your CMs and try to keep your husbands CMs and snacks from the approved foods list as much as you can to try and limit insulin spikes for him. Then for the RM have your treat but, and this is the main point I am suggesting, prepare only enough of the high carb treat for just that one meal. You don't want any leftovers for your husband to get into the following day. For example, if your treat is a couple of cookies, make the cookie dough, bake off just enough for both of you for the evening meal, then freeze the rest of the dough in cookie-sized pieces for other nights. If pasta, cook just enough for that night; don't give him any temptations laying around in the frig. Let him have his snacks, just try as much as you can to guide him in his choices. He might find that after a while he won't want to have all that other food but don't tell him that, let him find out for himself Good luck with whatever decision you decide to make. Cyndi