I’m a stomach-growler from way back. I get funny looks at checkout lines. My daughter says, “Mom, just go eat!” I have finally come to realize that it is not necessarily a hunger signal, and my doctor says that’s common for a lot of folks. In my past life (30 days ago!) the solution was to snack - it seemed to calm it down for maybe, a half hour. It growls, it’s about to growl, but doesn’t - really uncomfortable. On Keto I have made strides. For years, I would snack at three in the morning on lots of milk and triscuits. Then get up and eat breakfast! And graze all day. What keeps it at bay the longest is a piece of meat. (I could live on meat - yesterday I got some relief from 12 strips of bacon, avocado and cheese). I am now doing much better, no early morning snack, and I have pushed breakfast up to 9:00. But, three hours later, gggggrrrrrrrrrr, rrruuummmbbble. (I read about EF and can’t imagine what would happen. I think my stomach might run away from home (hey, there’s an idea!)). Will this get better on Keto? Does anyone else have this problem? I drink tons of water and use a lot of salt, but that does not help. Anything you guys can think of? I don’t know, probiotics, coffee, tea, anything. Sometimes it feels like gas - if I press on my stomach hard enough it gets some relief. Annoying, to say the least. Help!
Any tips for "the Growlies?"
I would say probiotics and fiber… I get the sink draining sounds in my gut without the fiber.
Yeah, I’m not ready for EF. My goal right now is IF with two nourishing, satisfying meals a day, no snacks.
I just.make sure I get my leafy greens when feeding and take 15 g of typical powder fiber throughout the day when fasting more than 16 hours.
I think you would want to do IF (Intermittent fasting) before you do EF (extended fasting).
I don’t have the growls, so I can’t speak to that, but i never thought I’d be able to skip breakfast (as I needed the fuel for morning runs), but workouts are more comfortable fasted now.
I went to a 16:8 IF. It means you contain your eating to 8 hours a day and fast 16. You can do this any way the works for you, but I found it easiest to skip breakfast and have my first meal around 12:30-1:00. Then my second and last by 8ish. I’m actually closer to 18:6 most days I do it.
The first day or two I had a little hunger, but nothing a warm tea wouldn’t fix. If you get too hungry and need more, you probably aren’t ready for IF. You could try to push your breakfast out a little longer each day until your able to skip it altogether.
I’ve been bad about the leafies, even though I grow my own. Past few days just meat and cheese, my go to default! What brand of fiber do you use?
Generic metumucil. Its cheaper don’t know if its any worse than the fancy stuff and seems to work. If I only go meat and dairy I get a… Very fluid experience.
Thanks. I don’t believe this is true hunger. Tea might work, though the tannins don’t agree with my stomach - maybe herbal tea? I am trying to train my brain and stomach. The stomach rumbling progresses as the day goes on.
I’ve been there. Everyone says they’re constipated (or bound, as my grandmother used to say) on this diet. Not me! Makes me think I’m doing something wrong. Or maybe it’s just my body.
Any calorie free or very low calorie drink would work. If you like coffee, do that. Depending on your tolerance for caffeine, do decaf instead.
You want to be careful adding too much to it. My version of BPC comes in at over 400 calories and a lot of fat. So it’s basically it’s own meal.
Sometimes when I’m dragging at work (as I’m not fat adapted yet) I drink a Zipfizz. It’s 20 calories and 2g carbs. Not ideal, but not going to kill me either as my carbs are low enough to stay well under the 20g.
I surely go less than I did before. Its hard for me to remember some days when the last time was… Some times its frustrating and uncomfortable which is why I started the probiotics. Its been the months keto for me so I’m sure my microbiome is still adjusting.
The only time I get this is A.) Eating too much fat too quickly (this is me specific as I have dumping syndrome from having no gallbladder.) B.) Too much fibrous foods. This can be salad, chia seeds, flax seeds. I can’t eat a salad without my stomach making horror noises later. And it doesn’t seem to be gas either, it’s just noise.
I have Celiac disease & my first symptom of getting dosed is loud growls from my abdomen (called borborygmous in medicalese). Attuned to that, I pay attention to what triggered it when there has been no chance of gluten. For me, it’s dairy. I’m sensitive to dairy but largely ignore that and so have a noisy tummy.