I recently began eating a vegetarian diet; vegan as much as possible & have been bloated & had nausea- normal?

Question

It has been about a month. Could this be from the drastic change in diet or should I be worried about other problems. Others have noticed some weight loss in me and so did i at first, but the past two weeks my stomach has been bloated. I am hoping this is from diet and not because of something else. Please advise. Thanks so much!

Answer 1

Doesn't matter what your diet is, if you have bloating in the abdominal area (and even lower down) then you may be intolerant (allergic reaction) to something you have eaten. I have been vegan for a long time now (5 years) and I noticed that I have those reactions whenever I eat soy products. My nutritionist found out that I am intolerant of soy (and corn!). Which means that I can eat it, but I will have an allergic reaction to it as it goes through my GI tract (digestive tract) till I can expel it. I am not so allergic that I will break out in hives or any systemic reaction (anaphylatic shock), but if I keep eating it then I may develop a severe reaction to it. So I keep soy to a minimum (maybe twice a month I will accidently eat it -soybean oil is in everything, as is soy lecithin).

See what foods you eat for the day, and notice the reaction. Try to keep your diet pretty bland for awhile, like just eating rice (brown rice if you can). See if you can get to a point of just being normal (no bloating), if you can't, then you might want to check out food poisoning/bacteria/yeast overgrowth with a doctor.

Answer 2

I'm not sure about nausea, but I think the bloating is probably related to gas caused by certain veggies (especially broccoli, cabbage, and beans) and by some soy products. (Especially some of the mock meat products like veggie ground round.)

You can try reducing your intake of some of these things to see if that helps, but since beans and soy are such a huge staple of a vegan diet, you may want to try Beano with your meal to see if that helps.

I've been vegan for years and experience what you're talking about from time to time. I think it gradually fades away as your body gets used to the changes, but some foods will cause gas no matter what. (I know, I know....eew.)

Congratulations for making the change! You will feel so much better overall! Increased energy and stamina, you'll feel "lighter" and not as weighed down after your meals, you won't have a lot of the phlem related issues-sorry for being gross- associated with dairy products, and you'll lose excess pounds.

As an added bonus - I used to have horrible migraines, but after I went vegan, they stopped completely!   :o)

Answer 3

Ummm...Switching to a vegetarian diet had the opposite effect on my bathroom habits...There are not too many constipated vegetarians.  You are bloated because you're full of poo.  Also you shouldn't have lost weight right away.

Your diet is obviously lacking or you have a bowel obstruction, which is not vegetarian related.

Get more fiber and make sure you eat enough calories and drink enough water.  The problems you are having are not normal.

Answer 4

you might just have bad gas.