# Low carb high fat (LCHF) nightmare



## formerlypaleo (Jun 27, 2014)

Finding this foum has been such a relief. I'd like to share my very frustrating story in the hopes of getting some new ideas/suggestions. Anything would be very appreciated!

I'm female and I have suffered from constipation since my teens and am now in my mid-20s. Over the past 4-5 years, I've been managing my constipation by exercising regularly, drinking lots of water and eating "clean" (fruit, veg, oats, etc.). With these strict measures, I was going once every couple of days and it was often slow and painful. I saw a GI who sent me away with the sole suggestion to take a probiotic....

Recently I became interested in the 'primal' way of eating. I have eaten a fairly strict diet of vegetables and protein over the past 6-7 months (fairly low-carb- average of 50g or less a day) and found that while I wasn't retaining as much water/was less bloated, my constipation became so much worse. I persisted, hoping that my body would readjust because I was enjoying the satiety that this diet provided. I tried supplementing with magnesium oxide ad then later magnesium citrate with no change... bowel movements are extremely painful and occur 4+ days apart.

Over the last 4 weeks I have given up. I just want to return to my pre-LCHF bowel movements (which weren't ideal, but better than this).

I trialled low-fodmaps for just over a week with no benefits noted. I don't know if I should have persisted longer, but I am starting to feel completely hopeless.

What would be a good starting point? Thanks for reading!


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Low Fodmap may not be the best for some constipated folks who need all the osmotics from all the foods that loosen stools they can get (so particularly the high fodmap fruits).

I would go back to your clean diet that was working for you before to at least get things going again. You may also need the soluble fiber from the oats. Some of the high fat, high protein diets add oat fiber to them because normal people can be to constipated (especially the ones that tend to limit veggies so you don't even get anything from them that can hold water in the stool).

Is there some reason you don't want to eat that diet anymore?

How much magnesium are you taking? Some people need up to 1000 mgs a day to see much difference. Are you willing to try miralax? Usually it is safer to just keep bumping up the dose until you find what works as you can get too much magnesium and unbalance your minerals. It isn't easy to do that if your kidneys are working good, but it can be serious (heart rhythm issues) if you do it.


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## Jinky (May 23, 2014)

Re: Primal, did you try going up on the carbs a bit? Yam, butternut, squash, and pumpkin are allowed. If you search around the Primal sites, you'll see that not everyone follows a VLC (Very Low Carb) diet.

The high end is about 100mg, which is still a lot lower than the average American diet. Try adding a bit of the aforementioned carb sources and see if it helps.


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## formerlypaleo (Jun 27, 2014)

Thank you for your replies, really appreciated! Sorry about the late response!

It has now been 3 weeks since my original post and I am really upset and frustrated. I have had no bowel movements since that time without the help of a laxative tea which I took 2-3 days apart for almost 2 weeks out of desperation. The tea had a diarrea effect each time. I also found that due to so much straining, I experienced what I suspect is partial prolapse... I'm really concerned and embarassed about this, but I haven't spoken to anyone about it.

I have continued with 500g -600g mag citrate capsules which don't seem to help. I have ordered Natural Calm today and I'm curious to see if I respond better to it.

I suspect a big contributing factor for me is that I am 3 weeks away from moving overseas on a working holiday and am experiencing stress and excitement about the move which can't be helping.

I stopped eating 'primal' in the hopes of improving my constipation. I'm currently eating more balanced macros:

Carbs: ~150gms

Protein: ~130gms

Fat: 60 - 80gms

I calculated these macros using resources in a weight training book as I am doing weight lifting 3-4 times a week and I try to go on a long walk (40 -60mins) every day.

Drinking at least 3L a day of water. Currently eating: oatmeal, eggs, tuna, chicken, legumes, natural greek yoghurt, mushrooms, tomatoes, carrots, spinach, celery, onion, capsicum/bell pepper, asparaus. Occasional fruit and occasional wholemeal bread (just to see if it helps).

Would you suggest for me to be mindful of soluble vs. insoble fibre intake? I am trying to wrap my head around fibre but there are so many conflicting ideas that I feel overwhelmed. Thanks again for your responses!


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## maxwell (Apr 26, 2014)

From personal experience, I'd recommend not doing the primal or low carb stuff at all - check your thyroid, you'll see what I mean. I personally wish I'd never heard of the bloody LC diets and never was dumb enough to do it either for longer than a few weeks. All my hormones are complete crap right now, that includes cortisol, Test, thyroid, ADH, and probably others I'm forgetting.

You mentioned you are female, so I guess you are taking 130g b/c you are 130lbs? In that case, unless you are losing weight, you may go as low as 65g. Upping your carbs and fat, esp. vegetable/seed oils will definitely help with constipation - I guarantee it. In my case I seem to have bloating from the additional carbs, but if that isn't a consideration for you then don't worry about it.

If you are troubled with satiety, try changing your fats and carbs around. Some people do better on higher carbs, some on higher fats, but don't drop your fats too low.

From personal experience, I'd also recommend against high water intake. I drank more than 2 gallons/day at one point, it does not help at all. If you are getting your 2 litres, that's all you need, dont go any higher as then you will start losing you potassium, magnesium, etc.

Looking at your diet, take out the yogurt and eggs.

You also seem to have no soluble fibre at all other than oatmeal. For me, no matter how much veggies I eat will not produce bowel movement. I will feel like I swallowed a cannonball, but nothing will move, so volume is not the issue. But, putting in a bit of soluble fibre helps, so like you mention soluble vs insoluble seems to make a difference. Also, are you only eating oatmeal for carbs? Switch it up a bit, have some buckwheat, quinoa, potatoes and sweet potatoes. Try throwing out legumes as well.

If you can't or don't want to add sources of soluble fibre, try FibreSmart - that stuff works very well for me.

If you are training 4 times a week, you definitely should have more carbs, and you probably don't need to train 4x per week anyway.

These are based on personal experimentation, and this stuff is highly individualized.

If you do anything, I'd recommend getting your Thyroid checked at least.

Good luck!!!


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## Moises (May 20, 2000)

Well, you have abandoned very low carb. But just in case someone else finds that they are constipated but wishes to maintain very low carb one method that has worked for many LCHFers is to increase fiber. Specifically, you can test psyllium seed husk or raw unmodified potato starch. If using psyllium, be sure to find some that is unsweetened. Many psylliums have sweeteners added and this would, obviously, run counter to your LCHF goals. If you choose the raw unmodified potato starch be sure not to heat it. Heat will change its properties and usually reduces its effectiveness as a treatment for digestive difficulties. The only brand of potato starch that seems to be raw and unmodified is Bob's Red Mill.

With all fibers the key is to start with a minuscule dose to see if you can tolerate it. Many will have bloating, gas, pain, or other undesired effects. Often, but not always, this goes away with time and then the dose can gradually be increased.


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## formerlypaleo (Jun 27, 2014)

Thanks guys, you've given me lots to think about!

Perhaps my plan of attack for the next couple of weeks can be:

- Try eliminating eggs, dairy and legumes

- Add more soluble fibre (things like oatmeal,apples, oranges, pears, strawberries, nuts, flaxseeds, blueberries, cucumbers, celery, carrots)

- Up my carbs in general

I'll definitely get my thyroid tested too before I go overseas in 3 weeks.

Just one last question... given that it has now been a week without any bowel movements, I am very tempted to go buy more of that horrible laxative tea just to get some relief. Would doing this be counter-productive to getting everything back to working? I thought maybe I can start with a 'clean slate'...


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## tummyrumbles (Aug 14, 2005)

Do you have some hot drinks in the morning to make you go? Try a whole pot of tea or coffee, anything fairly hot, and see if that works. Sometimes you have to retrain the colon as well. I remember once asking a doctor about all the gas I was having, and he just suggested going once a day after breakfast. That was decades ago. Before then I was all over the place, sometimes in the morning, sometimes at night. You might have to sit there a while and wait and reinforce to yourself and your colon that it's happening. A lot of it has to do with the mind and the colon is a creature of habit. Maybe sit there for a while the same time every morning. I'd say no to meds to make you go. There's a lot of people post here trying to get their colon to work again after using meds for a long time. On the other hand a week seems like an unusually long time. Do you remember what led to the constipation in the first place? If your best diet was every 2 days I'd go back to that diet. Paleo can be constipating because people tend to eat more protein because of the hunger from lack of starches. Protein can be constipating but then so can high fibre vegetables. I get constipation from gas and I've found evacuation is quicker when I eat low fibre, gentle mashed or boiled veges with a minimum of meats and starches. Fish and eggs seem to be OK and I think I'm OK with low FODMAP fruits and ripe bananas. High starch foods like bread, rice, fried chips etc are out. Maybe you could try this.


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## maxwell (Apr 26, 2014)

I personally had a horrible experience with senna to the point where I was up on the white throne at 3 am, couldn't keep anything in, lol. Generally stimulant laxatives are discouraged.

Try taking in some more soluble fibre and see if that helps. Fruit, berries may help as well. Another problem could be that you are in a calorie deficit, overtrained and overstressed, and that is a situation where having lower carbs is worse, at least for me and upping calories in general also seems to help. I think that may have to do with cortisol output, as having low glycogen levels will result in higher cortisol response to exercise, which is good in short term, but bad if chronic.

How much fibre are you taking in? I found that vegetables have a surprisingly low amount of fibre, and you really may have to eat a lot - e.g. you'd have to eat a POUND of spinach to get 10g...


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## formerlypaleo (Jun 27, 2014)

I feel stress is a huge factor right now...

Haha you're right, I am currently on a caloric deficit. My maintenance calories are about 1920 and I have been eating 1700. I might trial eating at maintenance and reducing my weight training (and forget about my vanity/aesthetic goals for the moment).

Fibre has been at around 20g/day and I've been trying to increase the soluble fibre.


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## Nojokeibs (Apr 14, 2014)

After years of trying this and trying that, I've removed all labels from my diet. It's not 'paleo' or 'gaps' or whatever, it's just my diet. I have to use some words to describe it but I try to avoid the popular ones, or say "paleo like" if I am trying to say "I use no grains and look for grass fed meat." The way we talk about diets is too strict. People who are healthy can play with diets like that, but people who are sick need to just do what helps them and not try to fit into a labeled box, not even a government approved box.

If you're having some issues with your gut, switching to cardio for a while instead of weights might help, especially constipation. I know, cardio is the death of muscles, but hear me out. If you go to bodybuilding.com and go on their forums and mention Paleo, you'll be shouted out of the "room" so fast, it's amazing. It's not that they disagree with eating better meat, it's that they believe it's wrong to artificially limit the diet. I say, ditto to the exercise. I'm not sure it's a good idea to artificially limit your movement choices, especially if walking and running give so many benefits to gut motility and you happen to be constipated. Just give it some thought is all. I know running is not usual for people who lift but your body is unique.

I happen to be doing well on keto atm, but that' even more restricted than LCHF, and you seem to be going the other way. You could use something else I've discovered though: sauerkraut really helps me. I'm not constipated at all and haven't been in quite some time. I came back to the forums here to say so. I can even have FODMAPS and no pain. That wasn't true before. Check out my blog entry about sauerkraut if you're interested.


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## kaydee82 (Aug 16, 2014)

Loved your blog on sauerkraut. Makes lots of sense. I've been on FODMAP and now SCD for almost a month with no improvement. I was avoiding sauerkraut until much later on SCD- worried about gas, etc. But I'll go buy some at Whole Foods and look into making it. (BTW- Can I just say that I hate SCD-not a big meat eater usually, always hungry, etc. I'm almost hoping that it's not the answer for me.). Maybe sauerkraut is. I keep looking for that magic bullet.

What's keto atm?


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