Primal for a skinny guy with weak digestion... page

[Northrun]

Looking for some advice on my particular situation/build. Greatly revised edition 5 posts down!

So, I'm on day 19 of primal/paleo. Done a fair bit of reading from mark's blog, and Robb Wolf's site and book and other sources.

I am 22 years old, male. Was 133 lbs, 2 1/2 weeks ago, but lost about 3-5lb. 5 7" height. Have been gluten free for over 2 years(minus some spelt or kamut here and there). I have had a lot of digestive problems, used to be bloated and gassy all day, always felt heavy and tired. Cutting the gluten was a huge help, like a fog lifted off. However, over the past 2 years I've developed some pretty severe anxiety. Recently cut out all my food intolerances again and feeling a lot better, as well from doing acupuncture/ TCM.

Food intolerances (from IGG blood test.): All gluten grains, oats, all beans, peanuts, coconut, eggs, dairy, cranberries, cherries, almonds. Was not tested for meat because I've been mostly vegetarian for the past 3 years.

Anyway, I've found cracking down on those foods has helped a lot, but I was still gassy and bloated again and not feeling optimal. So I've gone Primal/Paleo!

Within 2 days of cutting out grains stomach distention and gas 90-100% gone. I felt increase energy for a few days and was feeling great. Then hit a mood and energy crash on day 5 which may have been from coconut milk. Mood got better, though I've been up and down quite a bit. Basically for the past 2 weeks i've been pretty rough. Light headed, dizzy, some days really tired, not always unenergetic, but feeling quite weak. Headaches on a couple of occasions. Most dominant symptom is light headedness and spaciness, accompanied by weakness fairly often. I've lost weight, where I want to gain weight. I feel like I've lost muscle in my calves too...
Is this carb flu? I'm almost 21 days in, figured I'd have adjusted by now...most people seem to have gotten through it by now. And I havent had wheat in 2 years, and wouldn't expect to be detoxing too hard since I've been eating organic for 3 years, with mostly whole grains and lots of veg.

I eat meat 3 meals a day at least, usually hitting 100 g of protein and fat at least a day I think. Been eating squash and sweet potato, bananas, especially on days of lifting. I think carbs are probably at about 80-150 a day, leaning towards slightly over 100. Taking vit D, enzymes, soon fish oil too. I lift 5x5, under about 45 mins 2-3 times a week. I do yoga every week or two. Have an active job, constant walking an light lifting.

So, my questions.

1) What do you think of my carb flu like symptoms? Carb flu? Or detox? Or am I not optimizing my diet for my body type? DO I need more carbs being so thin?

2) Although I may want to up carbs, is too much fruit/nuts/starch bad given my weak digestion and likely inflammation?

3) Gaining weight! Why am I losing weight? Losing muscle? I'd like to be 150 one day...140 would be great to reach too! A lot of this is me wondering how much carbs and calories I need to eat. I have read Mark's hardgainers post, but I'm wondering if anyone else has experince in this. I am considering adding white potatoes or white rice, but again with weak digestion I feel like those would do more damage than good. Avoiding nighshades and grains seem essential for healthy digestion. Thoughts? I just don't know how to get enough dense foods without eggs, coconut, starches. Besides sweet potatoes...but too much of one thing probably isn't ideal either. I'm considering reintroducing eggs, goat yogurt and eggs one at a time after month or so. I am hoping my inability to gain weight has been a digestive/stress issue and will improve greatly on a primal diet. I'll mention I haven't put on any weight or height for 7 years, since I was 15.

Thanks for any advice. Sorry it wasn't so short after all!

[SleepyRoots]

Your macros sounds fairly similar to mine, but I am only 5' and sit at my computer all day. That, your symptoms, and weightloss basically points to plain and simple eat more. It shouldn't matter too much what exactly that is. If it doesn't make you sick, eat it.

You do have a rather long list of 'don'ts'. Do they all cause equally bad symptoms? Without coconut, dairy or egg that pretty much leaves fatty fish, lard and tallow for calorie dense stuff. Can you cope ok with straight animal stuff?
It sounds a bit like you are haphazardly trying things on your out list just to have something to eat. I'd suggest trying to be very strict for a few weeks, then introduce things and see how much you can stomach. It would be hard work being so restrictive, but if some things cause you huge problems, you really need to stay off them.
Don't eat poisonous (to you) stuff. No matter who says it's supposed to be good to you.

[La.C]

I am with Sleepy Roots. What is your calorie intake in a normal day?

[Northrun]

Hey, I haven't actually mapped out a whole day's worth in calories, but have looked at individual meals a lot, and I think I must be hitting 2000-2500 a day. Hard to say, I'll try doing a whole day mapped out again. My main meals seem to be 600 at least, and with fruit and nuts throughout the day, and hemp shakes on work-out days, I'd doubt i was getting under 2000. Coconut is the only thing I've tried on my no list, and I haven't had any grains, legumes or dairy. There was a tiny bit of rice flour in some buffalo pepperoni I had actually, that would be it. I'm not sure if that would affect the adjusting of the body to fat, but rice isn't on my reactive foods list. I add lots of olive oil to meals, and save chicken fat and cook in that when I do a roast. I don't know where to get organic lard..

Edit- Just did a count for today..of course these things are somewhat rough. So I had:

Calories- 2731 Fat- 124g Protein- 166g.

More protein than I thought! Is that too much...well can't be helped, eating meat 3x a day. Mind you, this was a lifting day. I feel pretty good today though. Eaten a bit more than usual, so I'd say my average looks like 2200-2500 most days.

[dado]

Too much bro, can we cut this to 3 sentences?

[Northrun]

Revised for dado:

1) Light headed, dizzy, weak feeling often, and sometimes have headache, increased congested sinus', a bit of mood swings, and lost 4 lb, seemingly muscle- is this carb flu, or do I need more carbs or something for my build(male, 5 7", 22, 128 lb)? On day 20 of primal.

2) Where's the balance between healing a weak digestive system, and needing to consume lots of starchy/high carb/calorie foods- potatoes, white rice etc- for a hardgainer like myself, because so far I've lost muscle and weight! (food intolerances- eggs, coconut, all gluten grains, beans, dairy, almonds).

Eating between 2200-2500 calories a day average, lifting 2-3 x a week, active job, supplementing w/ vit D, and digestive enzymes.

[tradawg]

How much water are you drinking?

[Northrun]

I'd say at least 2 litres a day. Without grains(which are 2/3 water), I could be getting less than before. Still, I think 2 litres ought to be just fine.

[dado]

Revised for dado:

1) Light headed, dizzy, weak feeling often, and sometimes have headache, increased congested sinus', a bit of mood swings, and lost 4 lb, seemingly muscle- is this carb flu, or do I need more carbs or something for my build(male, 5 7", 22, 128 lb)? On day 20 of primal.

2) Where's the balance between healing a weak digestive system, and needing to consume lots of starchy/high carb/calorie foods- potatoes, white rice etc- for a hardgainer like myself, because so far I've lost muscle and weight! (food intolerances- eggs, coconut, all gluten grains, beans, dairy, almonds).

Eating between 2200-2500 calories a day average, lifting 2-3 x a week, active job, supplementing w/ vit D, and digestive enzymes.

you need more food. 128#, male, and with an active job, you are dying at 2200 calories. drink gallon of milk every day; what is your lifting like? by your weight and height, you are weak; you must not lift any other way than the 'starting strength' way.

[namelesswonder]

Might not hurt to look into the GAPS diet to see if your food intolerances can be "healed".