I Am Looking For Help In Fixing Weak Digestion

[JustAGuy]

Hello,

I am looking for your help in fixing my weak digestion.
Whenever I start eating foods I am usually left with a white tongue and feel a bit heavy/fatigued after meals.
I know the white tongue can disappear because if I stop eating for a day it goes away. In addition if I only drink juice it also goes away.

Eating any sort of protein or fat makes it hit me big time and I feel like it is poisoning my body. I get some brain fog and neck pain after meals and don’t feel as powerful.

I am trying to compose of an easy to digest yet nutritious diet.
Drinking a lot of liquids, like relying on orange juice as a main calorie source makes me go to the toilet constantly and drops my temp by 1 degrees celsius. Energy is good but I feel cold. I feel like I should focus more on denser food with a lower liquid content.

My digestion is very weak in the morning (has always been, I would secretly throw away my breakfast as a 5 year old because I had poor appetite) so I will focus on getting most of my calories later in the day. Also I will try to avoid very large meals and split it up more.

I am thinking about the following foods:
Carbs:
- white rice
- a bit of very ripe fruits I can find, bananas don’t sit well with me either
- heavily processed breakfast cereals with a good amount of sugar (will try to avoid added iron as much as possible)
Protein:
- start off with an essential amino acid blend, while slowly transitioning into lean meat/skim milk as digestion improves

I will also eat a few raw carrots daily. After I had a poor digesting meal I start to crave raw carrots, so I am sure they benefit me.

In addition to this I will look into using cascada sagrada and activated charcoal as I have seen a lot of positive feedback on these items on the forum.

Also while exercising I will try to avoid too strenuous exercises that tax my nervous system excessively (think squats/other barbell exercises) since I feel doing this contributes to my poor digestion.

Any critiques or ideas are greatly appreciated!

 

[Jsaute21]

You are on the right track. Eating micronutrient dense is huge. Calcium, magenisum, vitamins A,D,E & K, B vitamins etc along with plenty of good carbohydrate. I am a big fan of well cooked potatoes, fruits particularly melons, orange juice, and i like apples a lot. Making sure your protein comes from ample calcium sources like cheese or milk is huge as well. Beef is good and fine but so many of us are overloaded with iron that it is good to be aware of not eating too much meat. Coffee and particularly espresso (which i think is better than coffee both for health and taste) is a great tool when adequately fueled. Start with dietary tweaks and then adjust from there. I don't eat processed cereals due to a somewhat suspect ingredient panel but there are certainly worse foods that you could eat.

 

[thisoldtown1978]

If you can, try limiting fluids to only when you’re very thirsty. Too much fluid with an already compromised digestion will dilute stomach acid and everything will just sit in your stomach. This is my experience.

 

[yerrag]

Eating any sort of protein or fat

With or without carbs?

like relying on orange juice as a main calorie source makes me go to the toilet constantly

To pee or to poo?

 

[Sourdoughbanana]

on top of all the food suggestions, I'd recommend supplementing betaine HCL+pepsin (stomach help) and taurine (bile+liver help). Those help.

I do limit fats to 15% of my calories and that's optimal. Others may have a higher tolerance / better genetics but I don't see a dietary need for more fats. I'd prioritize nutrient dense carbs by the way, tubers being my source of choice. Boil and mash them, add frozen spinach, they make wonderful tasty dishes.

 

[JustAGuy]

Hello, thank you for the replies!

Just wanna say real quick that I am so happy to have found this forum with great people all helping each other voluntarily!

You are on the right track. Eating micronutrient dense is huge. Calcium, magenisum, vitamins A,D,E & K, B vitamins etc along with plenty of good carbohydrate. I am a big fan of well cooked potatoes, fruits particularly melons, orange juice, and i like apples a lot. Making sure your protein comes from ample calcium sources like cheese or milk is huge as well. Beef is good and fine but so many of us are overloaded with iron that it is good to be aware of not eating too much meat. Coffee and particularly espresso (which i think is better than coffee both for health and taste) is a great tool when adequately fueled. Start with dietary tweaks and then adjust from there. I don't eat processed cereals due to a somewhat suspect ingredient panel but there are certainly worse foods that you could eat.

I am wondering how important the micros are for short term? I am looking to build up my digestion first and don’t really know of an easy to digest lower liquid approach to getting in all my micros currently. I know certain diets like the Kempner rice/sugar diet are out there, thinking of giving it a try for a few days while slowly adding in more foods. Even eating very well cooked potatoes and very ripe bananas give me a white tongue, eating only grapes does not but I do get cold eating just grapes. And it is no protein obviously.

If you can, try limiting fluids to only when you’re very thirsty. Too much fluid with an already compromised digestion will dilute stomach acid and everything will just sit in your stomach. This is my experience.

I feel similar, I think the more dense the carb the better my body takes it in. I tried eating 1kg potatoes per meal but it is just too high in liquid and doesn’t digest well.

With or without carbs?

To pee or to poo?

With carbs, no matter how much (tons of white rice + sugar and 50g meat or 1 glass of milk is still coated tongue.
Pee, too much liquid and I pee clear all the time and feel colder. My energy does not feel worse on high liquid fruit intake though.

 

[JustAGuy]

on top of all the food suggestions, I'd recommend supplementing betaine HCL+pepsin (stomach help) and taurine (bile+liver help). Those help.

I do limit fats to 15% of my calories and that's optimal. Others may have a higher tolerance / better genetics but I don't see a dietary need for more fats. I'd prioritize nutrient dense carbs by the way, tubers being my source of choice. Boil and mash them, add frozen spinach, they make wonderful tasty dishes.

Like 2 years ago I tried betaine hcl with meat meals, I had a protocol where you add more caps to see when it burns to determine dosing. I went to 8 caps and felt absolutely nothing, so I guess my stomach acid production is very very bad.

What does taurine do for the bile exactly?

My instinct tells me the key to it all is just optimizing my digestion so my body is supplied with the nutrients it needs and then just letting it do it’s thing, so I am probably gonna give the Betaine Hcl another shot for sure. I wonder if lime juice could give a similar effect?

 

[somuch4food]

You keep talking about your white tongue. Does it become completely white or only a coating toward the back of your mouth?

I do have a white tongue from time to time, but right now I try to focus on more severe symptoms. The white tongue can result from bacterial/yeast overgrowth I think, but it can also result from a pH imbalance in the body. I would not stop eating a food if the only symptom is a white tongue. It is important to not be too paranoid and still feed your body with nutrient-dense foods. Just choose the ones that your body tolerate better.

Also, can you elaborate on what you mean by poor digestion? Gas issues, bloating, constipation, slow transit, poor appetite, it can be anything.

 

[Dave Clark]

You keep talking about your white tongue. Does it become completely white or only a coating toward the back of your mouth?

I do have a white tongue from time to time, but right now I try to focus on more severe symptoms. The white tongue can result from bacterial/yeast overgrowth I think, but it can also result from a pH imbalance in the body. I would not stop eating a food if the only symptom is a white tongue. It is important to not be too paranoid and still feed your body with nutrient-dense foods. Just choose the ones that your body tolerate better.

Also, can you elaborate on what you mean by poor digestion? Gas issues, bloating, constipation, slow transit, poor appetite, it can be anything.

Bacterial/yeast overgrowth will definiately mess with your digestion, I would address that issue before any other.

 

[somuch4food]

Bacterial/yeast overgrowth will definiately mess with your digestion, I would address that issue before any other.

I think I am dealing with bacterial overgrowth myself: slow transit, gas and bloating. I am considering a low starch diet, less extreme than the Rice diet . Have you looked into that?

 

[Inaut]

instead of betaine hcl, why not just take some vinegar with meals?

 

[somuch4food]

I find that salt helps ease digestion also.

 

[Sourdoughbanana]

You are on the right track. Eating micronutrient dense is huge. Calcium, magenisum, vitamins A,D,E & K, B vitamins etc along with plenty of good carbohydrate. I am a big fan of well cooked potatoes, fruits particularly melons, orange juice, and i like apples a lot. Making sure your protein comes from ample calcium sources like cheese or milk is huge as well. Beef is good and fine but so many of us are overloaded with iron that it is good to be aware of not eating too much meat. Coffee and particularly espresso (which i think is better than coffee both for health and taste) is a great tool when adequately fueled. Start with dietary tweaks and then adjust from there. I don't eat processed cereals due to a somewhat suspect ingredient panel but there are certainly worse foods that you could eat.

Which parameter would you use on a bloodwork when it comes to iron? I’ve had TIBC come back low the only time I’ve done a full iron check. Ferritin in the low 100s. I can’t remember hematocrit ever going above 43%. Hemoglobin is towards the lower quartile too. Should i eat more meat? Should I eat more meat and pop more HCL to actually improve iron absorption?

 

[Jsaute21]

Which parameter would you use on a bloodwork when it comes to iron? I’ve had TIBC come back low the only time I’ve done a full iron check. Ferritin in the low 100s. I can’t remember hematocrit ever going above 43%. Hemoglobin is towards the lower quartile too. Should i eat more meat? Should I eat more meat and pop more HCL to actually improve iron absorption?

I am not an expert on blood tests or what would be best for recognizing iron overload. However, I used to eat a ton of meat and avoid cheesse (for years) while under consuming micronutrients and carbs. Therefore, it was pretty easy for me to conclude that i consumed far too much iron nutritonally. I haven't gotten blood tests done in a long time, and plan on doing it soon. @haidut would be a good reference for your question as he is for most questions lol.

 

[Sourdoughbanana]

I think I have it backwards. If TIBC is low, meaning low available transferrin, then iron intake is probably far too high.

No red meat

 

[JustAGuy]

You keep talking about your white tongue. Does it become completely white or only a coating toward the back of your mouth?

I do have a white tongue from time to time, but right now I try to focus on more severe symptoms. The white tongue can result from bacterial/yeast overgrowth I think, but it can also result from a pH imbalance in the body. I would not stop eating a food if the only symptom is a white tongue. It is important to not be too paranoid and still feed your body with nutrient-dense foods. Just choose the ones that your body tolerate better.

Also, can you elaborate on what you mean by poor digestion? Gas issues, bloating, constipation, slow transit, poor appetite, it can be anything.

I’d say about half the tongue is covered, sometimes a bit more sometimes less. I tried nystatin a while ago to get rid of it but it did nothing.

The white tongue is completely correlated with how I feel. The whiter it is the worse I feel (energy, sleep, mood etc).
After a protein meal I feel bad/foggy instantly. Also feel adrenaline coming up and sone anxious feeling and heavyness in my stomach. If I have a protein meal in the evening I am 100% guaranteed for nightmares the same night and constantly waking up. Also my hair and nail growth slow down tremendously, in addition my toe nail color (figured this out recently) changes aswell according to my food intake. Half my toenails has like a weird white color. The better my tongue is the more it heads to normal.

Transit time is also very poor, about 3 days by estimation. If I eat a heavy meal it sits there for days, I can just feel it. I had red dragonfruit 2.5 days ago and the seeds and red color of it are still coming out today in my stool, so it is very slow.

 

[JustAGuy]

Bacterial/yeast overgrowth will definiately mess with your digestion, I would address that issue before any other.

I feel like if that is present it is most likely the result rather than cause of the poor digestion, also how would I otherwise address it?

instead of betaine hcl, why not just take some vinegar with meals?

Does that work similar? If so I will buy some immediately today.

I find that salt helps ease digestion also.

Me too, I am always eating some sslt throughout the day :)

 

[somuch4food]

I feel like if that is present it is most likely the result rather than cause of the poor digestion, also how would I otherwise address it?

Nothing scientific here. From everything I have read, you can either starve them and hope that when you start to eat carbs again that you won't have the same problem, but you will also suffer from deprivation during the process.

The more "Peaty" approach though is to feed your body nutrient-rich foods (mainly liver, oysters, dairy and fruits) while avoiding empty/processed foods and let the body find its balance again.

You will always have bacteria/yeast inside your body, you can either fight them or feed them and let the good guys takeover :)

The tricky part is finding the foods that your body digests the most easily.

Are you eating seafood? I find it is easier for me to digest.

 

[JustAGuy]

Nothing scientific here. From everything I have read, you can either starve them and hope that when you start to eat carbs again that you won't have the same problem, but you will also suffer from deprivation during the process.

The more "Peaty" approach though is to feed your body nutrient-rich foods (mainly liver, oysters, dairy and fruits) while avoiding empty/processed foods and let the body find its balance again.

You will always have bacteria/yeast inside your body, you can either fight them or feed them and let the good guys takeover :)

The tricky part is finding the foods that your body digests the most easily.

Are you eating seafood? I find it is easier for me to digest.

Hello!

I am already very lean so I wouldn’t want to fast for more than 1-2 days since I’d get very very thin quickly. I am not eating any seafood but currently staying in Asia for a few months so have access to a lot of sushi at good price! I will give it a try, I had horrible ibs constipation for like 6 years so I am sure my whole microbiome is in very poor state. I feel like you are right that I just need to experiment to find nutritious foods that I digest well while maintaining a low stress intake from all other sources and let my body try to balance itself.

 

[Inaut]

I feel like if that is present it is most likely the result rather than cause of the poor digestion, also how would I otherwise address it?


Does that work similar? If so I will buy some immediately today.


Me too, I am always eating some sslt throughout the day :)

I drink vinegar and honey in water with meals now and I find I have far less digestive complaints. It tastes pretty good too. Sometimes i add a touch of baking soda for a little carbonation (although not as much as when i make acetate)