Gut health and IF page

[huntingBears]

Anyone who has had any gut health problems (stomach ache, heartburn, bloating, flatulence etc) did IF help at all, to give your gut a rest as it were?
Does IF work if you're not 100% paleo? or would you simply crash?
I tried IF nearer the start of discovering paleo and I felt bloody brilliant all day, then I had a massive dinner and crashed trying to get my daily calories in one meal because thats how i thought it was done, after that meal i felt terrible
So tomorrow I'm going to drink water all day then have a medium dinner or maybe fast all day and eat nothing but water
Any thoughts on this?

[john_e_turner_ii]

Don't try to get all your calories in that one meal. Just eat until you are full. I stuff myself each night and don't even consider calories anymore.

As far as gut health, just giving up grains and dairy did the trick for me. I used to have daily acid reflux, but it's completely gone. I also have lest nasal congestion and reaction to seasonal allergies since giving up dairy.

[bryanccfshr]

IF for stomach distress will help. when a dog gets sick on the stomach does it continue to eat? Eat normally afterward. Part of IF is caloric restriction. You skip a meal you can never really make it back up. If you try it's counter productive. Or try to eat 2-3 meals in a smaller window .

[patski]

IF definitely helped my digestive issues when dealing with candida.

It gives your gut time to relax and not work!

I also suggest bone broth on an empty stomach; also, l-glutamine is your friend. It does amazing things for healing your gut lining. I recommend 5,000 - 10,000 mg daily.

[EvansMom]

Bone broth helps, as do soups w/homemade broth, so does ginger. Take it raw & fresh, crush or fine-grate into a cup of herbal or regular tea, steep for 5 minutes and drink after every meal. Also I take a supplement called zyflamend that helps lots. Its just herbs that are anti-inflammatory. Giving up all grains helps. Now I do some rice as necessary for my carb sanity when PMS-ing.

IF did not help me at all with this issue. Cutting all grains and dairy initially helped the most. After a year now I can do fermented dairy without major issues and my seasonal allergies do not react to the dairy like they once did. Corn majorly makes me react with "seasonal" allergies.

Look for info about "GAPS" and incorporate some homemade meat/bone broth soups daily and the ginger and that should help.

[BestBetter]

I have had chronic IBS symptoms (constipation, bloating/inflammation, severe abdominal pain) on and off for about 6 years. Cutting out gluten, dairy, and soy didn't help. Going strict paleo actually made it significantly worse. I've tried about everything under the sun (dietary changes, more/less excercise, water, fat, carbs, taking fiber supplements (DON'T TAKE FIBER SUPPLEMENTS!), accupuncture, enemas, every OTC laxative, colonics, probiotics, fasting, seeing gastroenterologists...) and at some times some of those things helped while others had no effect or made me worse. I have found that IF has had no effect on my digestive issues, and while I love eating one huge meal per day, I tend to overeat when I do this (because I'm trying to fit my daily nutrition needs in one meal, which is just too much food for my stomache at once), and this tends to give me A LOT of abdominal pain.

What I'm doing now (and it seems to be working!) is I'm eating a low fiber diet (aiming for 10-15grams of fiber or less per day) as recommended in The Fiber Menace Book by Konstantin Monastyrsky. I also am taking the supplements in his Colorectal Recovery Program, which are actually having a very positive effect (usually I don't react well to anything that's supposed to alleviate constipation, so I was wary of spending money on more supplements, but his stuff is very high quality, and now i'm glad I made the investment). You can don't need to order his book, all the information in it is basically on the website:

Gut Sense: About The Book

I suppose IFing could help with some issues, because it's basically about eating meals in a structured way with no snacking, which is a very good thing for our digestive systems - we're not designed to be eating every minute of the day. However, I think it's equally important to pay attention to what you're eating (not just when or how often).