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Here is a summary of the great responses I got to my bloating
question.(Thank you thank you thank you!!!)  A lot of you seemed to suspect
the watermelon.

First, my original posting (for context):
<I've been gf since my diagnosis in Feb. 02. Last night I developed painful
bloating. I looked like I was 9 months pregnant! I have been so careful, I
can't imagine what it was that got me. I only ate home cooked foods
yesterday: brown rice lasagna, salad, brewed iced tea, watermelon, coffee.
Also, how long does it take for what you eat to make you bloated? It's now
the next morning and I'm still bloated, but not as
much. Help!>



Assuming you didnt get anything unknown or contaminated, I would suggest
the watermelon if you ate much of it. I have been told to eat the
watermelon first, as it goes through the digestive tract much faster. If
you ate it after the lasagna, it would sit at the top and ferment, waiting
for the starchy things to break down.
I have suffered serious bloat over the last few years and have found that
the worst offender was corn. Now, most gf starches will do the same. Dont
know why. I just try to avoid potatoes, gf breads, cornstarch, and even
Arrowhead Mills Rice and Shine hot cooked cereal. Regular rice seems to be
okay in small quantities.

It usually takes between 2 and 6 hours to have a reaction to gluten
ingestion. Despite all the care in the world, we all make some mistakes.
Can only suggest that the sauce for the lasagna (if not homemade) had
starch or some cross contamination from other items in the kitchen. The
other thought is that (like me) tomatoes do it to you. They are always
implicated in irritable bowel syndrome, so I try to avoid them when
possible. Now your bowel is starting to heal, it may be reacting to a new
threat.

Oh! You definitely got glutened! I HATE that. My last culprit was "natural
flavors" in a blended juice drink - possible = tea? Or the cheese in the
lasagna? hope you feel better - Phazyme helps me with the
gas/bloat.


It may not be a gluten issue - I have extreme bloating all the time and for
me I think it's due to vegetables. Like onions and peppers. Gas X can be
helpful in reducing it, but I know how painful it is. For me, the bloating
occurs within about a half an hour.

Watermelon makes some people bloated. (especially eating quite a bit)

I had the same thing happen to me when I ate watermelon--horrible
stomachache--only to find out that I was fructose intolerant.


sometimes watermelon does that to me. I love it, but have to eat it in very
small amounts to get away with it.

You haven't been eating dairy without taking Lactaid have you? I get like
you do when I eat dairy without taking Lactaid.

I've heard you can react as much as 48 to 72 hours after exposure. Most
react more quickly, but it can take a while. As for what you ate, the only
suspect here would seem to be the lasagna. If it's not made on a dedicated
GF line you could have contamination. The only other possibility would be
contamination at home from old non-stick or aluminum pots, wooden utensils,
colander etc.

Any food such as watermelon, beans, broccoli, etc. can cause severe
bloating if you are having other problems with your diet. Perhaps you are
accidentally using a product in one of your ingredients that has gluten iin
it. bloating happens immediately after the meal and continues with every
meal for several days.

This seems to happen to some of us after going GF. I did not experience any
bloating till being GF for over 3 years! Every case is different.

You need to work on leaky gut and build up the intestines. WITH EACH MEAL
take one L-glutamine capsule [an amino acid] and one Probiotics complex
[heavy duty multi strained form of acidophilus]. You will feel much better
in a few days and the gut will completely heal within several months, altho
you should remain on this formula. This was given to me by a nutritionist
six years and I was the one who originally posted it to the web.

I hear your story over and over again among Celiacs. What we are not told
by the National organizations is that Celiacs also have bacterial
overgrowth that they must also address before they can get well. That means
eliminating certain foods that feed and multiply the intestinal bacteria
and also cause bloating, pain, indigestion, acid reflux, and constipation
or diarrhea. Anything that doesn't digest easily, feeds this bacteria and
compounds problems.

Even gf foods can make you bloat, many have intolerances to gf foods and
you've only been gf about four mo so do and elimination diet eat just one
food for 4-7 days if all is well add one and so on. do you make everything
from scratch? have you eliminated all dairy and sugar?

Be VERY VERY careful with your dairy intake and fats as we CDers run the
potential of malabsorbing other things resulting from long term damage to
villi.
I used to be able to eat almost anything prior to being GF (Since 2/02) and
now my diet is so very limited with similar symptoms to you and then large
fatty stools like having ingested the gluten when I had not.

Sounds like you need digestive enyzmes! Often various food combinations
will produce gas /bloating. Lettuce, cheese, and fruit (if not eaten
separately) can do this. Those who are GF probably have weaken digestive
systems already..so give your body a break and go to a health food store
and get yourself a good GF enyzme supplement (one that digests protein,
fats and carbos). Take them at each meal and you will mostly likely see a
difference.

I found out months after I went GF that yeast was causing a bloating
reaction in me. It has nothing to do with the celiac, just another food
that my body can't tolerate. Gluten gives me an immediate (within the hour)
reaction of pain, cramping and diarrhea. It's gone within 6 hours. The only
thing the yeast does is give me painful bloating, but that can take from 6
to 24 hours to develop. It usually hangs around for 2 or 3 days. You might
want to consider that some other substance you're ingesting could be
causing your bloating, not gluten.

Your bloating could be caused from something that you ate 2 or even 5 days
ago! That's why it is so hard to figure it out. I've been through the same
thing several times since going GF (about 6 months ago). I have found that
I am very sensitive to the least little bit of possible gluten in my diet
(I never fudge - if I get any gluten it's by accident) and have also found
that I am A LOT more sensitive to GF sources other than food now. Hope you
can find the culprit and start to feel better soon.

First, suspsect the lasagna if you have cheese in it. I'm sorry to tell
you, but after I'd been GF a few months, I had a terrible reaction to dairy
and have not tolerated it well since. I miss lasagna and cheese like crazy.
Can have just a tiny bit now without too much trouble. Read on the web the
articles available to learn more about the complexities of Celiac! Also, I
recall that an ob-gyn doc told me once that watermelon was going to cause
me to retain a lot of water and not good when I was pregnant. But that
doesn't explain your belly bloating, I'm sure. Caffeine is also a water
retaining thing I think. I'm sure more knowledgeable folks will write you.

I used to think it took only one to two hours to bloat. (GF since Oct 2001)
but I did an experiment a couple of weeks ago and ate a wheat bagel. It
actually took about 30 hours.... and for the next week or two, I bloated a
little bit every time I ate anything.

What you describe that you are eating is extremely high carb. You may be
carb-intolerant and/or you probably have candida overgrowth that you are
feeding. (hard to get this under control: take lots of acidophilus, go on a
low-carb diet and take both Diflucan and Nystatin by prescription). Either
carb intolerance and/or candida overgrowth will both cause painful
bloating.........also when you eat fruit, the saying is : Eat fruit alone,
or leave it alone. This means you should not mix fruit with other foods;
fruit takes much less time to digest and will ferment on top of the food
that takes longer and cause bloating and gas. There should be at least a
two hour delay between eating a meal and eating any sort of fruit.........

*Please provide references to back up claims of a product being GF or not GF*