Gut Health
Logged my bloating for 60 days. Here is what my data shows.
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Logged my bloating for 60 days. Here is what my data shows.
Ok so I tracked bloating 0-10 every day for 60 days along with what I ate. Pulled it into a spreadsheet. Top 3 triggers for me: 1. onions (avg +3.2 bloat score) 2. whey protein (+2.1) 3. kombucha of all things (+1.8) Biggest non-triggers that surprised me: gluten (neutral), coffee (neutral). I was convinced gluten was the issue. nope. for me at least. If anyone wants the template I made lmk. n=1 disclaimer obviously.
tracked fiber intake for 90 days - the 30g cliff is real for me
spreadsheet person back again. logged grams of fiber daily, bowel regularity, bloating, and energy level 0-10 for 90 days. under 22g/day: rough, constipated, low energy 22-30g: ok, variable 30-40g: the sweet spot, everything works 40+g: wrecked, gassy, worse than low fiber for ME the cliff seems to be right around 30. more isn't more. i'm eating mostly veg, berries, chia, oats. no psyllium added. posting bc i kept seeing ppl push 50g+ and that number broke me personally.
AMA: 11 months postpartum, gut/hair/hormones
doing an ask me anything type thing because ppl kept DMing. brief: c-section, breastfed 9 mo, weaned feb, hair shedding peaked at mo 4, gut was a mess mo 2-6, mostly normalized now. hormone panel at 10mo was finally balanced. happy to answer specifics in comments.
HRT fixed my gut (not a typo)
47, peri. my gut went haywire at 44, no trigger we could find. everyone kept saying stress / anxiety / diet. started estradiol patch + progesterone 5 months ago for sleep/hot flashes and my gut... calmed all the way down. not exactly scientific but estrogen affects motility and the GI tract, which is apparently known but nobody tells you. sharing in case another peri person is chasing their tail.
does stress literally destroy your stomach or is it just me
i had a insane work week and my IBS flared up on day 3 on the dot. couldn't eat anything without running to the bathroom. took 4 days of calm to reset. is there actually like a hotline between your brain and gut that i can unplug lmao
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3 weeks off dairy and my skin is less angry?
Not sure if it's coincidence but I cut cheese + milk (still eating butter) for 3 weeks and the cystic bumps on my chin are way less. Acid reflux also down like 60%. Anyone else? Gonna keep going another month to be sure. Didn't change anything else, same workout, same sleep, same stress level (lol).
gut x skin crossover: my chin clears when my bowels are regular. weirdly predictable.
posting here instead of skin because i'm 90% sure the root is gut. when i'm regular (once a day, formed, no strain) my chin is clear. when things get sluggish, cysts come back like clockwork 3-4 days later. water + fiber + walking after dinner is my 'skincare routine' now basically.
setback post - flare after 4 good months
was doing so well. then had a stressful work week + ate out 3 nights in a row + didn't sleep. boom, full flare. bloating, D, anxiety spiral. was starting to think i'd 'fixed' it. humbled. posting so the next person reading isn't blindsided when theirs comes back. chronic means chronic.
before you spend $80/mo on probiotics read this
quick PSA. most of the good data on probiotics is strain-specific. a label saying '50 billion CFU' means literally nothing without knowing the strain. look up the exact strain (like L. rhamnosus GG for example) in pubmed for your condition. if the bottle just says 'proprietary blend' with no strain IDs, it's marketing. not saying probiotics don't work. saying do 5 min of reading before dropping real money.
the ingredient deck on "gut health" gummies is embarrassing
looked at 8 popular gut gummies. median amount of actual prebiotic fiber: 2g. the rest is sugar, gelatin, flavoring. a pear has 6g. an apple has 4. for $40/mo you're buying candy with branding. sorry not sorry. spend on real food.
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spring allergies x gut - did not expect these to connect
every april my gut gets weird. took me 3 years to notice it lines up exactly with tree pollen peak. apparently histamine load affects gut motility for some people. started a lower histamine diet for ~6 weeks each spring (no aged cheese, no fermented stuff during peak, fewer leftovers) and this year is the first april my stomach isn't a mess. worth trying if you're a seasonal allergy person.
meta-analysis of probiotic studies = mostly meh, here is the nuance
read through ~20 RCTs on probiotics this weekend. honest take: most pooled analyses are weak because they mix strains. the signal when you look strain by strain is much more interesting. B. infantis 35624 for IBS-D has legit data. S. boulardii for AAD has legit data. the 'take any probiotic' advice is the problem, not probiotics themselves. will DM sources if anyone wants.
cycle + gut - anyone track luteal bloat specifically?
i swear my bloating doubles the week before my period. same food, same water, same everything. started marking it on my cycle app and it's almost perfectly predictable. anyone have a protocol for luteal week specifically? i do magnesium + less salt + earlier dinner but still feel like a water balloon day 24-28.
the 'eat the rainbow' thing is lazy advice but it works
i used to roll my eyes at this phrase. then i literally counted plant types per week (james clear / tim spector thing, 30 different plants). i was at maybe 12. pushed to 30 over 6 weeks. my digestion is notably better. my skin too. i think the mechanism is probably fiber diversity = microbiome diversity but honestly i don't fully care why. cheap, no supplements, just groceries.
stopped taking omeprazole cold turkey - would not recommend
had been on it 6 yrs. decided to quit overnight. three days of rebound reflux that felt worse than the original problem. had to restart and taper over 6 weeks + famotidine bridge + elevated bed + smaller meals. on it half as long as before. lesson: taper with your doc, don't be a hero.
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postpartum gut is its own animal, 11 months in
nobody warned me that postpartum would mess with my digestion this long. pre-baby i was a clockwork person. now it's unpredictable, random bloating, random urgency. pelvic floor PT has actually helped more than probiotics tbh. sharing in case another new mom is wondering if she's alone. ur not.
soup season ended and my constipation came back - coincidence?
all winter i was eating homemade veg soups 4-5x a week. total regularity. switched to salads + grain bowls for spring and i'm backed up again. think it's the broth + cooked fiber vs raw. going back to soup once a day even if its 75 out lol.
skeptical of "leaky gut" but this zonulin test result is interesting
ok hear me out. i've been dismissive of leaky gut forever because the marketing is atrocious. but my functional doc ran a zonulin and it was elevated. follow up will include a GI-MAP. i'll report back with actual numbers. i still think 95% of the leaky gut internet is nonsense but i'm going to look at my own data with an open mind.
peri bloating is on another level and nothing fits
48f. the bloating that started around 46 is different from anything pre-peri. belly stays distended even on 'clean' days. magnesium citrate at night helps. fennel tea helps. limiting carbs at dinner helps. HRT helped overall inflammation tbh. just commenting because i spent a year thinking i was broken and it was hormones the whole time
recipe: the soup my gut needed this week
boil bone broth, throw in ginger, carrots, leeks (green parts only if onions hate you), a soft boiled egg on top. eat slow. this is basically all i could stomach after a flare up and it got me back to normal in 2 days. not a cure, just a soft landing. 🥣
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fermented foods every day for a month - update
started adding either sauerkraut, kimchi, or kefir to one meal a day. week 1 was rough honestly, lots of gas. by week 3 my stomach was noticeably flatter in the evenings. week 4 constipation basically gone. i eat a decent amount of fiber already so ymmv. the kimchi is addictive btw, put it on eggs, thank me later
simplified my breakfast and stopped bloating all morning
old breakfast: oatmeal, berries, almond milk, chia, protein powder, peanut butter. 7 ingredients. new breakfast: 2 eggs + half an avocado + sourdough toast. turns out my stomach did NOT like the smoothie-bowl chaos. less is more.
beginner question: where do i even start with gut stuff?
i know this is a dumb question. my gf keeps saying i should 'work on my gut' and i have no idea what that means. i eat pretty standard american, some bloating after big meals, one coffee poop, occasional heartburn. do i just... start eating more fiber? do i need to test something? where does a normal person start without buying 9 supplements?
minimalist eating experiment: 12 foods for 2 weeks
did an elimination-ish thing but simpler: picked 12 foods i know my body likes (eggs, chicken, rice, salmon, blueberries, spinach, olive oil, sweet potato, greek yogurt, almonds, carrots, bananas) and ate only those for 14 days. bloating basically gone by day 5. then reintroduced one thing at a time. found 2 clear triggers. boring but useful.
afternoon bloat after protein shakes - fixed
bro if you're bloated every afternoon and drinking whey, try switching to isolate or a plant blend. did it on a whim 2 weeks ago and my 3pm gut punch is gone. wild. same calories same macros, just the protein source.
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GERD basically gone after cutting carbs, hear me out
52yo dude. had reflux for 15 yrs. PPI on and off. cut grains + sugar in jan, not even full carnivore, just mostly meat eggs fish veg. reflux is 90% gone. lost 18 lbs as a side effect. my cardiologist is mad at me but the numbers are fine. keep ur eye rolls to yourself thanks
creatine + bloating - is it the creatine or just water weight
started creatine 5g/day 3 weeks ago. feel like my stomach is puffier but lifts are going up. reading mixed stuff online. is this real GI bloating or just intramuscular water? anyone notice a difference with different forms (mono vs HCL)?
the celery juice people were right and i hate it
ok so i was dragged into doing 16oz celery juice every morning for 30 days by my sister. taste: ew. first 5 days: gassy hell. day 10 onward my morning bloat just... stopped. i still don't believe the mystical claims around it but something about chugging a bunch of water/electrolytes/fiber adjacent liquid first thing seems to work for me. will i keep doing it? unclear. would i recommend it? sigh.
college dining hall survival - what do u eat if ur gut hates everything
freshman again, different angle. dining hall food is destroying me. ideas from ppl who've been there? i try to hit plain chicken + rice + steamed veg most days but it gets sad fast. eggs in the morning. fruit when it's not sketchy. anyone have go-to combos that aren't depressing?
pre-workout is wrecking my stomach, anyone swap to something simpler
every time i take my pre my gut is a disaster for 2 hrs. tried 3 different brands same result. i think it's the sucralose or the beta alanine idk. thinking of just doing black coffee + a banana + creatine. is that dumb? lifts have been fine without pre actually.
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peppermint oil capsules actually working for me
52 dude, IBS on and off for decades. doc suggested enteric coated peppermint oil. figured it was woo. 3 weeks in, cramping is down maybe 70%. take it 30 min before meals. not a miracle. cheap. weird thing that worked for me.
any hashis folks here dealing with constant IBS?
so hashimotos diagnosed 3 yrs ago. even on levo and TSH is normal, my gut is a mess. alternating C and D, bloating, the works. tried low fodmap twice. tried digestive enzymes. tried betaine HCL. i'm tired lol. wondering if anyone with autoimmune stuff found something that actually moved the needle? not looking for advice exactly, more like company + ideas to bring to my GI
FODMAP reintroduction phase is the actual hard part
elimination is easy, just eat rice and chicken like a robot. the reintro phase is where you learn stuff. spent 6 weeks adding one category back at a time. my personal verdicts after reintro: - fructose: fine - lactose: fine up to ~1 cup milk equivalent - fructans (onions, wheat): absolutely not - polyols: not great - galactans: neutral knowing exactly what hits me is freeing honestly
LDN + gut: the slow win
on low dose naltrexone for 7 months now. it was not a fast medication. around month 5 i noticed my gut was calmer. less urgency, less daily flare. not a cure. also not nothing. reporting back for the autoimmune folks who ask about it in DMs.
postpartum digestion is another person entirely
i had a cast iron stomach pre-baby. post baby? milk makes me cramp, coffee makes me jittery in a new way, spicy stuff gives me heartburn i never had. body is different. still figuring it out at 9 months pp. if anyone else recalibrated their diet postpartum i want to hear what you landed on
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i tried glutamine powder for 6 weeks, honest review
tried l-glutamine 5g/day, mixed in water first thing in morning, empty stomach. week 1-2: nothing. week 3-4: maybe slightly less bloating? placebo vibes. week 5-6: honestly couldn't tell a difference. dropped it. not saying it doesn't work for anyone, just sharing my n=1 so the 'must-try' list is a little shorter for somebody.
morning routine that actually helps my digestion
warm water + lemon + pinch of salt on waking. wait 20 min. then coffee. then breakfast 30-60 min later. this sequence changed my mornings. i used to have coffee on empty stomach and be bloated by 10am every day. now it's chill. also walking 10 min after dinner, even just around the block. stacks up.
cold plunge before breakfast = insane poops (sorry for TMI)
don't know why i'm posting this. cold shower / plunge in morning + coffee = the most efficient bathroom visit of my life, every time. maybe vagus nerve? maybe coincidence? jumping in the community pool at 6am is weird but here we are.
tried 3 different probiotic formulations - thoughts
researching probiotics is a rabbit hole. i rotated through 3 different multi-strain ones for 6 weeks each. A (15 strain, refrigerated): felt slight improvement in stool consistency by wk 4 B (single strain, shelf stable): nothing noticeable C (spore based): weirdly better energy, gut unchanged conclusion: i have no idea, possibly placebo. looking at Seed vs Ritual vs some generic from my pharmacy for my next round. anyone done a real side by side?
my gut has opinions about the new espresso machine
got one of those fancy home espresso machines and i've gone from 2 coffees to like 5 shots a day (for science) and my stomach is Done. going back to 2 cups. the machine will remain for aesthetic purposes. this is a bloating PSA to self.
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L-glutamine experiment - 30 days
tried 5g of L-glutamine in my morning water for 30 days. subjectively: looser stools normalized, less random cramping after coffee. can't tell if it did anything to my skin which was the original hope. ordering another bottle. cheap and low risk imo.
seed cycling for gut? someone told me this was a thing
i've done seed cycling for hormones for ages but a friend said flax+pumpkin is also good for motility specifically. anyone notice gut changes from seed cycling (vs skin/cycle changes)? i won't add it as a new variable but curious if anyone has a read.
accutane + already bad gut = ???
finishing accutane. my gut was never great and people in my comments keep telling me accutane is making it worse. hasn't felt noticeably different to me but idk what 'normal' is. anyone been thru it with IBS tendencies, any red flags i should watch for or am i fine