Expert: Ryan Hale - 10/1/2009

Question
Hi,

I was exhibiting anerexic behavior for about nine months and just 6 weeks ago started eating more with the help of my nutritionist. At first I gained about 5 pounds imediately (125lb to 131lb, which totally freaked me out) was bloated and miserable,  then I lost four of them, they just came off by themselves. I work out 4-5 days a week most of the time, and am 5'3. I eat about 2200-2300ish calories per day. A few days agoI started drinking milk, the bloating returned and in 4 days I am back up to 131lb. Food is the same, do you know why this would happen?

PS- I am in recovery for binge eating in OA for five years, the anorexic behavior just crept up on me, now I consider myself both and have had to change my definition of sober behavior to include abstaining from both..

Answer
Jill- for some people, especially if they have not been used to ingesting animal protein or dairy, they can tend to bloat once they start eating it again.  I've worked with people who ate a raw food diet or were vegetarians who reported to me that they gained 5-10 lbs just by eating meat and milk once again.  For some, processed grains such as bread (especially white bread) can cause a bit of bloating.

I don't know the physiological reason for this.  Perhaps your nutritionist can explain it, however, by eating sources of protein from a wide variety of foods (nuts, seeds, protein supplements, soy, hemp, eggs, etc) you can avoid getting it all from meat.  For some reason, fish and chicken seem to cause less bloating than buffalo, beef, or pork.  Eat small amounts of protein throughout the day and especially after your workouts for the muscle repair and recovery going on, that way you never hit your stomach with a big protein bomb which can cause the bloating.  A serving of protein is only about the size of a typical Mcdonalds hamburger... about 3-6 oz.  If you chose a protein shake break it up into 2 or 3 servings of only about 4-6 fluid ounces (about one forth or a half of a soda can.  Often protein shakes mix up about 12-24 ounces... too much.  

For many people, dairy just does not agree with them.  You can choose rice, soy or hemp milk for your diet and should be supplementing with about 1,000 mg or more of calcium anyway (it's really difficult to get enough calcium from your diet alone).

That's great that you are in recovery and working with a nutritionist.  Keep up the good work and remember to "graze" throughout the day, small meals 6-8 times per day, and about the size of what you can fit in your hands will help keep the bloating down.