# Does anything but meat cause distress if re-introduced after a long absence? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 6, 2013, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-but-meat-cause-distress-if-re-introduced-after-a-long-absence/665468 "2013-08-06T03:26:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-but-meat-cause-distress-if-re-introduced-after-a-long-absence/665468/21 "2013-08-07T01:47:39Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > I hope I am not getting to personal here, why can’t you digest meat? Is it just because you haven’t had it in a long time or is there some other digestion issue? Your body has some of your digestion enzymes on a feedback loop. If you haven’t eaten much fat for awhile, your liver will produce less bile, so less bile will be available in your gallbladder for use when a meal comes through. Also, a fair bit of digestion is done by the microbes in your gut. They multiply to match the amount of the sort of compounds that they can digest that you regularly take in. If you suddenly provide more of their type of compound, they’ll start multiplying. So they’ve got sort of the same feedback loop. Here’s where that gets tricky. Your microbiome is a consortium of many different types of microbe. Microbe A will consume compound X, releasing byproduct Y. Then microbe B (and maybe C and D) will consume compound Y, releasing byproduct Z. But the growth of microbe B is going to be lagged compared to the growth of microbe A, because it has to wait for byproduct Y to build up and trigger its growth. So you have the chance that compounds Y, Z, etc. will be building up, and some of them may cause irritation, either directly or by changing the pH of your digestate. Also, if your digestive enzymes are insufficient for the job, as in the not enough bile example, there will be more undigested compounds available for your microbiome to go nuts on. That would mean more intermediary compounds and final compounds, like carbon dioxide, in the case of beans, in your system. I know that cellulose and lignin can only be digested by specialized bacteria. I’d imagine that meat fibers might also require either specialized bacteria or sertain enzymes or a mix of both. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-but-meat-cause-distress-if-re-introduced-after-a-long-absence/665468/22 "2013-08-07T01:54:28Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > how awesome of her to allow you to do so. I didn’t say she allowed me to. I’m an adult and I’ll order what I want. She \*suggested \*I do so, which is indeed polite and awesome. I’m polite enough to tend to order veg when eating with a vegetarian to avoid potential icky feelings, and it was very nice of her to preempt that tendency by bringing it up first. But really, I just wanted you all to know I’ve been to lunch with **Ferret Herder**. That’s how awesome she is. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![NotDeadYet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NotDeadYet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotDeadYet)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-but-meat-cause-distress-if-re-introduced-after-a-long-absence/665468/23 "2013-08-07T02:35:54Z")
Caffeine Highly acid food after low acid diet Lactose And as mentioned; fat, carbohydrates, and any food that requires you build up a tolerance to. Based on personal experience, nicotine will give you a buzz if you haven’t had it for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-but-meat-cause-distress-if-re-introduced-after-a-long-absence/665468/24 "2013-08-07T13:33:25Z")
Milk, for me. ---
**Author:** ![Minnie\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Minnie\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minnie_Luna)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-but-meat-cause-distress-if-re-introduced-after-a-long-absence/665468/25 "2013-08-07T13:46:43Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I gave up gluten a year ago because it was causing long-term digestive woes. Now, when I’m exposed, it seems to cause immediate, drastic effects that are way worse than the long-term problems I had been experiencing. Even if I wanted to start eating gluten again, I’m not sure I could at this point. I gave up gluten in the spring because of digestive issues also. I slipped up once in the first two weeks and had a Luna Bar and ended up with some nasty gas and nausea. I have not slipped since. Can I ask what happens when you eat wheat? Right now I am happy not eating gluten, I’ve lost 10 lbs and my body feels much, much better, but I haven’t decided on the future. The Dr. recommended 6 months as a trial and to go from there. I have not been tested for celiac, nor did the Dr. think testing was necessary, just cut it out and see how you feel. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-but-meat-cause-distress-if-re-introduced-after-a-long-absence/665468/26 "2013-08-07T14:36:05Z")
> [@Minnie\_Luna](#): > > I gave up gluten in the spring because of digestive issues also. I slipped up once in the first two weeks and had a Luna Bar and ended up with some nasty gas and nausea. I have not slipped since. Can I ask what happens when you eat wheat? Right now I am happy not eating gluten, I’ve lost 10 lbs and my body feels much, much better, but I haven’t decided on the future. The Dr. recommended 6 months as a trial and to go from there. I have not been tested for celiac, nor did the Dr. think testing was necessary, just cut it out and see how you feel. About 30-60 minutes after I eat gluten, I develop a lot, and I mean a LOT, of discomfort in my stomach/chest/esophagus as if I just ate ten meals. Imagine the most uncomfortably full you’ve ever been. Now multiply that by two or three. It gradually subsides over the course of a few hours, but will come again every time I eat for a few days, getting less intense each time. It’s accompanied by extreme belchiness, for the added fun. ☹ These reactions have been “blind,” too. After exposure to things I didn’t know could have gluten in them and later discovered did. I don’t know if I would eventually get over it or not if I went back to eating it all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-but-meat-cause-distress-if-re-introduced-after-a-long-absence/665468/27 "2013-08-07T14:50:15Z")
Milk. I pretty much quit drinking milk for three years, as the only stuff we could get was UHT and I didn’t like the taste. That was 15 years ago and I still can’t drink a glassful without serious gastric distress. Even a bowl of cereal will give me gas. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-but-meat-cause-distress-if-re-introduced-after-a-long-absence/665468/28 "2013-08-07T15:08:03Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > if I go even a few days with a vegetable-poor food intake, and then have a decent sized green salad (e.g. one with actual greens and not just crunchy water) then it’ll run through me in about one hour. > > which means (spoilered for gross TMI) > > I will see leaves in the toilet bowl when I am done. That would freak me out more than if it came out the other end. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anything-but-meat-cause-distress-if-re-introduced-after-a-long-absence/665468.md?page=1)