When Good Food Makes you Feel Bad

When Good Food Makes you Feel Bad

Raw Salads and Acid Reflux

If you suspect certain healthy foods may be making you feel worse, read on to see some of the more common healthy food intolerances I encounter and some nutritious workarounds.

Raw salads and acid reflux: So you replaced those burger lunches with salads. Strangely, you now feel incredibly bloated within an hour of eating; or perhaps you're waking with a sore, scratchy throat the morning after a salad dinner - evidence of overnight acid reflux.

Similarly, having appetizer-sized portions of soft, baby greens with some thinly-sliced vegetables as a palate cleanser toward the end of a meal - much like the French do - is another way my reflux patients have improved their salad tolerance. In many cases, we find some way for raw veggies like video potato galette to comfortably coexist with the stomach though usually not as the focal point of the meal.

High Fructose Fruit

Research has implicated fructose intolerance as a prime culprit behind the abdominal pain, bloating and diarrhea experienced in some people with IBS; a recent study has further raised the possibly that fructose can trigger symptoms even in IBS patients who don't have trouble digesting fructose!

When people with fructose intolerance consume fructose-rich foods, the unabsorbed sugar makes its way to the colon, attracting large amounts of water by osmosis and providing a fermentable treat to the resident bacteria. The result? Diarrhea, bloating and gas, generally about 6 to 8 hours after eating the fructose load.

Whole Grains

Appreciating my patients' desire to use diet therapeutically, I often encourage them to think of adopting two distinct dietary patterns: one for digestive tolerance during a flare and another to promote an anti-inflammatory milieu in the body once remission has been medically achieved. When the going gets tough, temporarily choosing low-fiber "white carbs" like sourdough bread, farina, white rice, potatoes and crackers is appropriate to help manage symptoms. As a flare subsides, a transition toward whole grains can gradually begin as tolerated and continue throughout periods of remission