Why Do I Feel Better When I Don't Eat?
I received a text message with that exact question this morning.Why do I feel better when I don’t eat? That actually is an extremely hard question to answer because eating good food-lean protein, vegetables, healthy fats- and avoiding sugar is suppose to make you feel better.
dial your nutrition in, until you really get serious or have a health issue. For most of us, we can get by eating carbs, fats and protein and never really notice what's going on that causes us to feel better when we don't eat.We assume that being bloated or having gas or ezcema is natural. We shrug our shoulders because it's something that just happens.
But if our health is at stake or we decide to really dial in our nutrition, we then start to realize what's really going on.
I have a family member that was constantly saying this for years... "I feel so much better when I don't eat".
And I’m willing to believe that millions of people think the SAME thing to themselves every single day yet they have never made the connection to their gut.
Sure, they know they get bloated, maybe have diarrhea.They’ve likely even been diagnosed with IBS but they still haven’t made the connection.
The answer is really simple
You feel better when you don’t eat because you aren’t feeding the bad bacteria in your gut.
You feel better when you don’t eat carbs because you aren’t giving the bad bacteria in your gut the glucose and sugar that it needs to thrive.
You have diarrhea because you likely have some sort of gut bacteria and more of your food gets "used" higher up than it should in the intestinal tract.
This is the extreme definition of intestinal permeability or otherwise, as known online, leaky gut.
You see your gut only has one thin mucosal lining that is suppose to act as the “bouncer” between the food you eat and your intestinal tract. It's there to keep junk like bacteria, pathogens, artificial sweeteners, xenoestrogens out of your small intestine.
But if our gut is beat up over time with stress and bad food, these pieces of nasty junk that are typically kept out of our gut is actually allowed to take up space and grow and fester.
What Are Some Symptoms That Are A Result of Leaky Gut?
More and more research points to intestinal permeability and some sort of connection between the follow issues
High cholesterol
High blood pressure
Blood sugar levels that constantly fluctuate
Weight gain
Headaches
Brain fog
Acid reflux or GERD
Skin rashes, psoriasis and eczema
Gas that stinks like raw eggs
Constantly burping or being bloated.
Joint pain
These are just a few common problems that everyday people face as a result of intestinal permeability and more is coming out by the day.
Do you feel better on a low carb or keto diet?
About 99% of people that come to me and hire me to help “fix” their gut all report the same thing. They use a low carb or keto diet and instantly feel better.
Truthfully, while both of these diets can be very helpful for your long term health, these diets manage your symptoms but they do not FIX the problem.
What we’re really talking about is a sub clinical (undiagnosed) autoimmune disease. Inflammatory conditions that exist below the radar that by themselves won't cause a disease state but will just wear your body down over time.
While the evidence is growing daily, conditions such as lupus, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis have been linked to leaky gut, as an example.
All of these conditions as well as diabetes and cholesterol problems seem to exist with intestinal permeability.While the food that you eat can still be absorbed, they will not be absorbed as efficiently.Fats on the other hand, may not be as absorbed as efficiently leading to diarrhea and over eating.
So the day starts and you haven't eaten and you're feeling good then after your first meal you feel terrible. So what happened? You ingest some sort of food, the small intestine bacterial overgrowth, which is bacteria where it shouldn't be, starts feeing on your nutrients before they can be fully absorbed.
You start getting bloated and gassy. Since your gut lining is weak, whole food particles pass through undigested leading to an immune system activation which causes your blood sugar to spike then drop. This is why you get light headed and hungry.
So this is what I want you to do
1) If you feel better when you don’t eat then you have a serious gut problem. Recognize that and go low carb.
2) Start by taking 1-2 capsules of Physique Formula digestive enzymes with every meal.
3) Stress plays a big role in your digestive health. Manage it better. Try to destress a little bit more daily.
4) Remove immunogenic foods from your diet-diary,corn,soy,gluten and wheat. An elimination diet reduces gut inflammation.
You have to start somewhere. This is your start.