Bathroom Question :(

[goin2befit]

Just a nice little warning this is a bathroom question... sorry for TMI in advance...

Before when I did Low-Carb 7 years ago, I ate only meat and cheese and (20 net carbs of anything sweet I wanted) I lost 99 pounds doing this.. of course b/c of not properly eating gained it all back during 2 pregnancies.... also please note *** I never ate veggies so literally meat and cheese and my soemthing sweet a day***

So this time around and through marring a man who loves veggies and thinks it is a must, I have grown to like them and even enjoy some of them.. so now I'm doing Atkins...

However, here is my bathroom problem... When I eat greens, partically lettuce (romain, spinach, ect) I get constipated!!! Not the it is to hard, but the opposite.. it is so sticky and peanut butter like texture that I can't push it out and it will literally sit there for days until my body finally pushes it.. My stomach will ache and my bottom feels very uncomfortable b/c something is literally sitting there (TMI~ can feel it or like if you wipe there is still that little bit there)

Knowing what I know Greens are high fiber foods, so shouldn't I be able to go easily or is it that I'm not being able to digest the fiber and having this problem... I tried googling and can't really find something reliable so I thought I would just ask...

Thanks,
~Amanda

[liv]

This happens only when you eat green veggies not when you eat the other veggies you can eat?
Did you not use a fiber supplement last time?

[IrishIrish]

Flax seed and some veggies from the other veggie list would be my response. Make sure you are getting fat in your diet and you may want to reduce the cheese for a while. Cheese is a known constipator for some people.

[goin2befit]

That is just it... Last time around I didnt' eat NO veggies at all and was regular like I always had been.

This time, I eat all the other veggies, even cucumbers and tomatoes, onion, squash, everything... just when I eat the lettuce/green leafy (green beans are good)...

I'm afraid if I do the more fiber then I'm just blocked down there. I did take the Phillips' milk of magnesium and it really didn't do anything, I went but still had that sticky/pasty for a couple of days until my system just cleared it.

As for the cheese, I don't eat to much of it and have never had a problem with that before.

My fat is okay b/c I make my own dressing for the salad with mayo, olive oil, and lemon juice.

I have ate salad like this for a while, but usually I would eat a nice whole wheat bread/roll with it, so I guess it could be that... it may be the extra fiber from the bread that kept it rolling fine.

The flax seeds, do they have a test, any suggestion of how much to use on the salad?

Thanks, it seems we are on the right path.
~Amanda

[Evansmom49]

You might want to check how much iron you're getting (spinach, multivitamins?) - iron is notorious for causing constipation.

[TitianWasp]

Also, remember, you may be eating less volume of food now. All that carby stuff takes up a lot of room in your GI tract. When you eat denser foods, like meat, cheese or veg, there's just less in there. Many people don't go every day. If it's not hard, you may not be consitpated, you just may not have as much stuff to pass. Listen to your body and don't try to force anything (leads to haemmerhoids). If you are only going every couple of days, but you are eating healthfully, drinking your water and getting some exercise (being sedentary can also slow things down - moving helps moving), then your body might have a different pattern on this WOL.

[MrsChesterDogg]

Try a calcium and magnesium supplement. It helped me a lot.

[moniegail]

try eating cabbage, i had always heard it's great for relieving constipation. well the more often i eat it the more i notice i never have that problem any more.