Alligatorob's Diary
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alligatorob
Respected Member
It was a better day, I have implemented some of my experiments and seem to have been successful. My digestion and belly are improved, not perfect but improved.
I ate 8 portions of vegetables and 3 of fruit, pretty much what I had planned, but I think more importantly I ate very little of the artificial sweeteners. I kind of think its the artificial sweeteners that have been most of the problem. I did drink one coffee sweetened with stevia, after reading that stevia should not be a problem. Then I looked closely at the ingredients and see that the first ingredient on the label is erythritol, apparently even more than stevia itself. So then I investigated erythritol and found it can cause exactly the symptoms I have. So no more stevia for the day. That one dose was probably not enough to hurt, but now I am thinking erythritol could well be part of the problem. I found that you can get stevia without erythritol or other additives, but it is more expensive and hard to find. I ordered some and will try it, in the meantime my stevia intake will be limited. I will keep experimenting, I am now optimistic that I can figure this out.
Exercise was limited to physical therapy, but tomorrow its back to the gym.
I ate 8 portions of vegetables and 3 of fruit, pretty much what I had planned, but I think more importantly I ate very little of the artificial sweeteners. I kind of think its the artificial sweeteners that have been most of the problem. I did drink one coffee sweetened with stevia, after reading that stevia should not be a problem. Then I looked closely at the ingredients and see that the first ingredient on the label is erythritol, apparently even more than stevia itself. So then I investigated erythritol and found it can cause exactly the symptoms I have. So no more stevia for the day. That one dose was probably not enough to hurt, but now I am thinking erythritol could well be part of the problem. I found that you can get stevia without erythritol or other additives, but it is more expensive and hard to find. I ordered some and will try it, in the meantime my stevia intake will be limited. I will keep experimenting, I am now optimistic that I can figure this out.
Exercise was limited to physical therapy, but tomorrow its back to the gym.
I don't think diet soda is the problem, in fact part of the reason I started consuming the artificial sweeteners was trying to find a replacement for the diet soft drinks, so I was drinking a lot of zero calorie hot chocolate, and other hot flavored drinks including coffee instead of the diet soft drinks. That made it worse. I think I am making progress, sure felt better today.Having too much diet soda gives me explosive diarrhea ( I'm sure you wanted to know that) while too much veg/fiber mainly makes me painfully bloated. Best of luck with the elimination process!
Thanks Cate, and that does seem to be at least a part of my problem, today was more comfortable.
Glad you feel better. Stevia is often held up as some natural holy grail but the chemical extraction methods make the resulting steviol glucosides just as artifical as most other sweeteners. If you want the natural version get yourself a stevia plant and cut up a leaf for your coffee. Or get used to drinking it black...
PS: I know you use sweeteners for taste, not for health, so my mini rant really wasn't meant for you. I just got really annoyed with stevia 10 years ago when people claimed all kinds of wonderful things for it. I still hope it works for you!
PS: I know you use sweeteners for taste, not for health, so my mini rant really wasn't meant for you. I just got really annoyed with stevia 10 years ago when people claimed all kinds of wonderful things for it. I still hope it works for you!
alligatorob
Respected Member
It was a good day, I ate well, exercised, and feel good tonight. Started eating a bit more sweeter and veggies and so far no digestion problems. I am avoiding the stevia with erythritol and anything with a similar sugar alcohol in the ingredient list. I think this will be a bit of trial and error, but so far so good.
Worrying about covid, yesterday at the physical therapist's there were 9 people in the gym area and we got to talking and found that 4 of the 9 have had the virus, and today I found out that my doctor is in the hospital in intensive care with it. I kind of feel like unless I get the vacine soon I am doomed to get it. The 4 people at the therapist did not have bad cases, only the doctor...
Worrying about covid, yesterday at the physical therapist's there were 9 people in the gym area and we got to talking and found that 4 of the 9 have had the virus, and today I found out that my doctor is in the hospital in intensive care with it. I kind of feel like unless I get the vacine soon I am doomed to get it. The 4 people at the therapist did not have bad cases, only the doctor...
The stevia did help me quell hunger and cravings, but it wasn't worth it, not if that was the cause of my problems anyway. I am pragmatic about "natural" foods, I think pretty much everything, except some fresh fruits and vegetables have been processed at least to some degree. Stevia would be no exception. I do try to eat fresh when I can get it, or frozen as second best, but don't worry too much about processed vs natural. The most "natural" I can get is fresh from my garden or caught fish or game, but even those things often are impacted by human treatments...
I really hope you don't get it Rob. I think worrying about getting it is a waste of energy you could be using to get into a positive frame of mind and keep your immune system strong. I guess the point is not to take unnecessary chances with it.
Glad the experiments with food seem to be working.
alligatorob
Respected Member
It was a good day, I ate well, exercised and feel good tonight. Struggled a bit this afternoon, but got through it. I have about settled on the stevia with erythritol as the gut problem culprit. Have been eating more of the other flavorings and veggies without problem. I will try to get some stevia without erythritol and see how that works.
Good point LaMa, it has always amused me that people are reluctant to eat "genetically engineered" foods, in reality we have been eating them for thousands of years!
Thanks Emily and of course you are right worrying about it does me no good, I will just keep on trying to be careful and hope for luck. I don't think the virus would kill me, but I'd rather not find out!
I think it's partly to do with not knowing how it works. Some people seem to confuse "engineered" with "able to engineer".
Hi Rob! Really glad you found the culprit and are feeling better. I was very sick in Feb. last year - just exhausted and painfully achy and my chest squeaked when I breathed. There was no news about the coronavirus yet, so I didn't get tested, but that was one of the very worst flus I ever had. It's great that you eat so healthy and get good exercise. I bet you won't catch it. Just be sure to get a lot of vitamin D!
alligatorob
Respected Member
Yesterday was a good day, I ate well, did some exercise at the physical therapist's and felt good. Went to be early so did not get posted until this morning.
I got some "pure" stevia yesterday, without erythritol or other sweeteners and so far so good. I am not sure why most sweeteners include so much of the sugar alcohols, like erythritol, xylitol, sorbitol, maltitol, mannitol, or lactitol, they all taste sweet with few digestible calories, but all seem to carry some risk of digestive problems. A friend pointed out that xylitol, a common one, can be quite toxic to dogs and a bit of research shows she is right. They must be cheaper, and maybe can make the sweetener look and act more like real sugar. The "pure" stevia I found is more expensive, but also much more powerful, so I am not sure it costs more per sweet unit. It is also hard to find, the stuff on the shelves at my local grocery is called "stevia" but has more erythritol than stevia. It does taste and look a lot like sugar, but it sure did not agree with my digestive system. So far so good with the pure stuff, but I know I am eating less of it, that probably helps too. Guess I have learned to beware any sweetener additive that ends in ol, and make sure you know what you are getting...
I got some "pure" stevia yesterday, without erythritol or other sweeteners and so far so good. I am not sure why most sweeteners include so much of the sugar alcohols, like erythritol, xylitol, sorbitol, maltitol, mannitol, or lactitol, they all taste sweet with few digestible calories, but all seem to carry some risk of digestive problems. A friend pointed out that xylitol, a common one, can be quite toxic to dogs and a bit of research shows she is right. They must be cheaper, and maybe can make the sweetener look and act more like real sugar. The "pure" stevia I found is more expensive, but also much more powerful, so I am not sure it costs more per sweet unit. It is also hard to find, the stuff on the shelves at my local grocery is called "stevia" but has more erythritol than stevia. It does taste and look a lot like sugar, but it sure did not agree with my digestive system. So far so good with the pure stuff, but I know I am eating less of it, that probably helps too. Guess I have learned to beware any sweetener additive that ends in ol, and make sure you know what you are getting...
Yes, you are right. Even the fish we catch here in Utah are most all from hatcheries and "engineered" they do grow up in the wild, eating more nature things, but rarely do you catch a true wild native trout. When I was young they stocked a lot of albino trout, so I think people would appreciate the efforts of our Fish and Game folks, but they have stopped doing that, I think fishermen prefer thinking they are getting wild fish. Most of the stocked fish are sterile to try and protect the few actual native populations, again not something I care much about or most fishermen know. The fish still look and taste fine.
Thanks Petal, good to hear from you! I should have talked with you before trying the sweeteners! Our labels don't seem to carry any such warning, they should!
Hey Marsia, good to hear from you! You can get an antibody test to see if you had Covid in the past. They do it on me every time I give blood and the Red Cross sends me the result a few weeks later, mine are always negative. They are looking for blood with the antibodies in it, that's the reason for the test, in that case a positive result is a good one. I hope you are right about not getting it, and I do get a lot of vitamin D, or think I do anyway, I eat a lot of yogurt and take a multivitamin daily. Does that help ward off the virus?
Whut? Food labels in the US - the land where microwave ovens supposedly carry a warning not to dry your pets in them - don´t tell you about the laxative effects of sugar alcohols? That´s wild.
Having low vit D levels is associated with worse outcomes for covid but so far there´s no evidence that supplementing helps. That may sound trivial but low vitamin D levels are associated with a lot of bad health outcomes where supplementing doesn´t help. Generally because the low levels are caused by the same things that cause the bad outcomes instead of one causing the other. As in: maybe your vitamin D levels are low because you´re too frail to go outside much or because you´re too poor to eat well, either of which would mean you´re likely to have bad outcomes when you get covid, break a hip, or get cancer but neither of which is solved by taking a vitamin D supplement.
I agree with LaMa about the vitamin D that there have been a bunch of studies showing that vitamin D deficiency is linked to poorer outcomes if you catch coronavirus, but they can't pin down whether it's because frail people don't go outside and get their vitamin D, or whether vitamin D is helping their immune systems fight off the virus. There is evidence that vitamin D does strengthen the immune system and help fight infection. Since you take a multivitamin, you're covered either way.
LaMa, I hadn't heard about microwave warnings not to dry pets in there. Wow! Our food labels tend to only have info that is required by law - no one wants to advertise that their product may cause the runs!
LaMa, I hadn't heard about microwave warnings not to dry pets in there. Wow! Our food labels tend to only have info that is required by law - no one wants to advertise that their product may cause the runs!
But then when someone has an adverse reaction and finds out it´s caused by the food item, wouldn´t they be able to sue for damages (because they were sitting on the toilet instead of taking that important meeting)?
It would be the infamous "Case of the Runs"!
alligatorob
Respected Member
It was a good day, I exercised, ate well, and feel good tonight. Had to fight off some afternoon cravings, but not as bad as some days.
Yeah, it is a bit hard to make sense of the warnings we get. So many of them are pointless, and then for something like this no warning... Go figure. Thanks for all the vitamin D info!
If that happened and the suit was successful I think warnings would get added! Case of the runs, LOL!
alligatorob
Respected Member
I ate well, but did no real exercise, chopped a bit of wood but not a whole lot. Back to the gym tomorrow.
I have started trying to eat more fat, today I ate more than I have eaten in a single day since I began the diet. I don't think it will hurt me, and might help.
I have started trying to eat more fat, today I ate more than I have eaten in a single day since I began the diet. I don't think it will hurt me, and might help.
alligatorob
Respected Member
It was a good day, I ate well, did over 2 hours in the gym, and feel good tonight! Still trying to eat more fat, so far so good.
