Blueberry Feces

[xylothrill]

I read something from someone, even on a cooked paleo diet, who complained that even it was hard to maintain because of social situations. Raw Paleo does tend to make *me* more social because I'm not as anxious a person as I was, nor am I as quick to anger. I've learned berries don't effect me like neolithic foods and fruit. Something strange though. I ate a half a carton, about 2 cups maybe, of blueberries last night and today my bowel movement was blueish purple. That never happened on SAD or raw vegan that I can recall. I wonder if I have to adjust to digesting them again.

[lex_rooker]

I ate a half a carton, about 2 cups maybe, of blueberries last night and today my bowel movement was blueish purple. That never happened on SAD or raw vegan that I can recall. I wonder if I have to adjust to digesting them again.

Craig,
After a prolonged period of not eating carbs to any extent you will find that you don't have the intestinal flora (bacteria) to deal with the digestive remains of plant based foods.  This can cause bloating and much discomfort if you suddenly eat a high carb meal.  BG will spike dramatically also as your pancreas has shut down and can't supply large amounts of insulin anymore.  All of this is reversible of course, just start eating carbs again and soon the body will adapt to that environment.

What you see with the blueberries is that they have very low carb content and what carbs they do have are simple sugars.  These are easily absorbed and there is little left except the skins and their coloring agents which pass through unmolested since you don't have the bacteria necessary to break them down further.  If you were taking BG readings you should have seen these spike significantly and rather quickly (15 -30 min after eating) as your pancrease isn't prepared to quickly respond with insulin anymore.

When you eat fruits with significant indigestible bulk like apples, peaches, pears, etc., there is a large load of "fiber" and this ferments as is passes through and without the good bacteria to help break it down, it creates gas and a host of other issues that can make you very uncomfortable for a while.

Lex

[wodgina]

Trust me, the older you get, the faster time goes by. As a kid, Christmas seemed to take forever to come around but that was like 1/5 of my life when I was five. Now, I find my self wondering how it could already be Christmas again so soon!

I read something from someone, even on a cooked paleo diet, who complained that even it was hard to maintain because of social situations. Raw Paleo does tend to make *me* more social because I'm not as anxious a person as I was, nor am I as quick to anger. I've learned berries don't effect me like neolithic foods and fruit. Something strange though. I ate a half a carton, about 2 cups maybe, of blueberries last night and today my bowel movement was blueish purple. That never happened on SAD or raw vegan that I can recall. I wonder if I have to adjust to digesting them again.

Best of luck! Stay in touch.

Old man Batsey 

That is interesting, to not digest something (blueberries) which would have digested easily on a SAD. I haven't touched any fruit now for two months but I had digestive problems shifting to all meat.
I was ravenously hungry even though I was eating a lot, it's taken a while but I'm eating less and less as the bacteria increase and don't waste as much. All the fat is digesting also. I believe there was a bacteria/fungus imbalance caused by too many carbs and this has slowly shifted.

[xylothrill]

Lex and Andrew,

I did suspect gut flora. As a raw vegan, I'd eat blueberry pudding and that never happened and those contained a LOT of blueberries! When I first went carnivorous, I had digestive problems so intestinal flora was probably a factor there as well.
Since blueberries aren't high in carbs and the carbs they do have are mostly fructose, which doesn't require insulin, I thought I'd push my limits. Eating raw cheese gave me more of a carb-sensitve type of reaction than the berries did. I woke very hungry the next morning (I'm never hungry in the morning let alone most of the day) as if I had produced too much insulin in response to the cheese, which is supposed to be mostly fat and very low carb. I've read that dairy can cause hyperinsulinemia.
I had been eating wild fruits, which must contain even less sugar judging by sweetness so I should have been used to some carb intake. They weren't as deeply colored so maybe I just didn't notice any remnants in my stool.

When I was eating a mixed SAD diet, I probably had the right ratio of gut flora. Even then, hardly anything would come out looking like it went in, except for corn. My digestive problems on SAD were mainly heartburn and acid reflux.   

I'm glad you're doing better re digestion Andrew. Batsey? I've been called "batty" before.

Craig

[Sully]

It also could be because prior to raw paleo you ate foods randomly and often ate fruit after slowly digesting foods which caused them to mix.

I ate some carrots then ate some meat after it. Half of my poop was orange, and half was brown.

I think both eating low carb and mono eating could be the case.