why does sugar& starchy foods make you bloat

staceys

i'm just wondering why starchy foods&sugar make you bloat so much compared to high fat foods ??? what happens to them when they're consumed ? is the only way to flat stomach to avoid sugar and starchy foods??:)

corkcomp

staceys wrote: »

i'm just wondering why starchy foods&sugar make you bloat so much compared to high fat foods ??? what happens to them when they're consumed ? is the only way to flat stomach to avoid sugar and starchy foods??:)

think of it this way - volume! the average human stomach is only the size of a large fist.. try putting a bread roll into a pan of water for an hour.. where as try eatting that much fat on its own, which is unlikely to happen..

staceys

ah right, but if you ate the same quantity of food as white rolls etc in meat form chicken etc would you get as bloated? How long does it take for starchy foods and sugar to completly leave your system?

corkcomp

staceys wrote: »

ah right, but if you ate the same quantity of food as white rolls etc in meat form chicken etc would you get as bloated? How long does it take for starchy foods and sugar to completly leave your system?

thats a very easy test to try for yourself.. it depends on the person! Also a chicken fillet and bread role although similar sizes will behave very differently when moist.. not too long:D

El_Dangeroso

I don't actually think sugar and starch bloat you per se. Bloating can be a sign of a million things, such as food intolerance or even drinking too much air in the form of fizzy drinks.

And even things that are mostly fat and low carb such as cream can bloat you if you're intolerant to them.

I always think it's valuable keeping a little diary detailing when you get bad bloating and what you ate beforehand (provided the portions were reasonable of course.)

I have IBS and I can eat things like potatoes with no bloating at all (as long as I keep portions moderate), stuff like cabbage and turnip, not so much, still eat them anyway though :pac:

ApeXaviour

Starchy foods that are grain based can make people feel bloated as a result of the gluten. It can irritate your bowels. Most people would be at least mildly gluten sensitive and not even realise it. Middle-eastern people less so, but northern Europeans haven't been farming grain that long and so don't necessarily have a strong in bred tolerance to it.

Try not eating wheat at all for a week and then have a big bowl of pasta and bread etc. Notice how bloated (and sorry to say flatulent) you (will likely) feel.

staceys

so even if you had gluten free alternatives you wouldnt end up bloating? im just wondering because in advise in losing weight your told "stay away from bread pasta and sugar"
And sugar isnt particularly large in volume and can still maske you bloat why is this??

corkcomp

staceys wrote: »

so even if you had gluten free alternatives you wouldnt end up bloating? im just wondering because in advise in losing weight your told "stay away from bread pasta and sugar"
And sugar isnt particularly large in volume and can still maske you bloat why is this??

like temple mentioned different foods make different people bloat. if i went and had a few spoons of sugar now (not that id want to) I wouldnt bloat at all! people trying to lose weight dont HAVE to avoid the foods you mentioned.. it sounds like you are thinking of things in a black and white kind of way but thats not how it works.. if you want some advice on losing weight maybe post up your current diet and stats etc?

El_Dangeroso

ApeXaviour wrote: »

Try not eating wheat at all for a week and then have a big bowl of pasta and bread etc. Notice how bloated (and sorry to say flatulent) you (will likely) feel.

God yes, very unsociable! Wheat does cause bloating in a lot of people, I've seen people lose 10lb doing nothing different except kicking wheat, though in fairness most of that would be dropping the water retained by the mild food intolerance. Still though, worth a try for a week.

ApeXaviour

staceys wrote: »

so even if you had gluten free alternatives you wouldnt end up bloating?

At least for me that's the case.

staceys wrote: »

im just wondering because in advise in losing weight your told "stay away from bread pasta and sugar"
And sugar isnt particularly large in volume and can still maske you bloat why is this??

Hold on... are you talking about bloating or are you talking about getting fat? Bloating as I know it is basically an overfull feeling of discomfort caused by poor digestion and hence a buildup of gases in the gastro-intestinal tract.

Sugar and starches cause you to get fat because of how they screw with your blood sugar. Your body wants a steady blood-sugar level, it goes to great lengths to try keep it steady. When you digest protein or fatty foods it tends not to change your blood sugar level. However when you eat sugar or starches (which turn into sugar in your stomach) it causes it to raise. So your body counter-acts this by releasing insulin. Insulin shoves the sugar into the cells and eventually causes them to be stored as body fat (and you can guess what that does to your waistline). Now often your body will overshoot this process and cause your blood sugar to very quickly drop too far. The symptoms of low blood sugar are hunger, tiredness, bad mood, sweet cravings. So you eat more carbs soon after, the process starts again and you get fat.
When you cut down these sugars and starchy carbs you tend not to get these ridiculous cravings. You feel fuller for longer and your blood sugar is steady, not being pushed into your fat cells. Hence why it's advisable to avoid sugars and starches when trying to lose weight.

staceys

So if you had 2 diets one including sugars and starches etc..
and had another diet the exact same calories but with only fats and protiens you would lose weight and be less bloated even though there is no calorie deficit ?

corkcomp

staceys wrote: »

So if you had 2 diets one including sugars and starches etc..
and had another diet the exact same calories but with only fats and protiens you would lose weight and be less bloated even though there is no calorie deficit ?

you need a calorie deficit to lose weight.. if you stick ridgidly to required calories it really doesnt matter what they are made up of (in theory) .. however seeing as we dont know what your diet is and how much weight you need to lose, and what if any exercise you take, its all anecdotal

staceys

no im just wondering as i eat ALOT of carbs and sugar.
im 5"3 and 9 stone and would have some form of sugar and carbs at EVERY meal so just looking up the actual effects of sugar and carbs when you eat them.

corkcomp

staceys wrote: »

no im just wondering as i eat ALOT of carbs and sugar.
im 5"3 and 9 stone and would have some form of sugar and carbs at EVERY meal so just looking up the actual effects of sugar and carbs when you eat them.

let carbs aside for a second (i.e fruit, vegetables and whole grains) you should not be taking in simple sugar at every meal.. even if your not trying to lose weight it will cause energy spikes all over the place.. when you say sugar do you mean SUGAR or just carby foods?

staceys

well id have chocolate or biscuits a few times a day and would have yoghurts with sugar included and pancakes with sugar and white bagette roll

corkcomp

staceys wrote: »

well id have chocolate or biscuits a few times a day and would have yoghurts with sugar included and pancakes with sugar and white bagette roll

yeah most of those not good.. maybe ocasionally but not several times a day.. replace some of those with vegetables, apples, meat and fish

How Strange

staceys, I'm pretty much the same height and weight as you. When I eat carbs I tend to get bloated and (ahem) flatulent.

In the last month or so I cut down on carbs so most days I eat none altogether and the bloating has disappeared and my stomach is flat. I haven't lost weight but I definitely feel much better because of being low carb.

I go running a few times a week and not eating alot of carbs hasn't affected me at all in terms of energy for running which was one thing I was worried about.

If I ate sugar or a lot of carbs regularly my sugar levels would be all over the place and if I got too hot I'd start shaking and feeling faint from a sugar low. Keeping carbs and sugars to a minimum seems to work for me in terms of bloating and sugar levels.

EileenG

staceys wrote: »

So if you had 2 diets one including sugars and starches etc..
and had another diet the exact same calories but with only fats and protiens you would lose weight and be less bloated even though there is no calorie deficit ?

Calories count. You can get fat eating tuna and lettuce, or you can lose weight eating doughnuts. But it would take a massive amount of tuna, and a very small amount of doughnuts.

One of the big reasons dieters are recommended to go avoid sugar and starch is that in general, they are empty calories. They don't supply any (or almost none) of the nutrients you need to be healthy. So your body, even though it's had the right amount of calories, is still going to be looking for more food, and you will be constantly hungry and picking.

The typical food you eat on a low carb diet tends to be things like eggs, fish, meat, lots of green veg, some fruit, nuts, seeds, olive oil, diary etc. They are all high in nutrients, so after eating a reasonable portion, your body is getting what it needs and is less likely to insist you need more food.

Just on a purely practical note, most low carb food requires a certain amount of preparation, so you are less likely just to grab it as you walk past the fridge/biscuit tin. You are more likely to ask yourself if you are really hungry before you scramble a couple of eggs.

El_Dangeroso

'Tis hard enough to eat only fat and protein and not run a calorie deficit tbh, that's the 'trick' of low carb diets, it drops triglyceride levels like a stone and barring any other hormonal imbalances, it allows more leptin to reach the brain. Leptin is the 'I'm full - don't eat' hormone that is difficult (though admittedly not impossible) to bypass.

Any diet that makes triglycerides drop does this.