Bowel movement after first meal of the day

[tate1981]

Hey Jordan,

wondering if you can help here. Most mornings, after my first meal I usually find myself rushing to the toilet with diarrhea. Its extremely frustrating as everything I am consuming is single ingredient, whole foods, and what is considered "healthy" foods. I start off with 1 pint of water mixed with 5g creatine then cook 60g wholegrain oats in 250ml semi-skim milk and 3 whole eggs / 3 egg whites mixed with low fat shredded cheese and an orange, and a cup of coffee. Shortly after this i am off to the toilet. My other meals of the day dont appear to bother me or cause any issues. I am trying to eat "clean" as my bodyfat is around 25% at 198lb with 39.5" waist. Can excess bodyfat cause gut issues or is it down the foods? Again, its frustrating because i feel like the nutrition i take in to start the day is wasted. Any help with the issue here Jordan or any advice? Thanks and keep the great content coming.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Tate,

Sorry to hear this!

So I'd be wondering how you would fare if you skipped the milk. If that doesn't resolve your symptoms, I'd see your doctor about this as aspects of your medical history and/or a current issue would beed to be elucidated past a fairly common food allergen.

I don't think body fat is a contributing issue.

[tate1981]

Thanks Jordan.

so, I will experiment with the milk. I also consume 2 scoops of chocolate whey through the day which has sucralose in it, and i've read that certain sweeteners can trigger. I also consume another scoop before bed, mixed with 200g 0% fat greek yogurt. All of which could be a lactose thing. I am thinking of switching to unflavoured impact whey as it doesnt appear to have the sweetners.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Thanks Jordan.

so, I will experiment with the milk. I also consume 2 scoops of chocolate whey through the day which has sucralose in it, and i've read that certain sweeteners can trigger. I also consume another scoop before bed, mixed with 200g 0% fat greek yogurt. All of which could be a lactose thing. I am thinking of switching to unflavoured impact whey as it doesnt appear to have the sweetners.

Whey typically doesn't have lactose in it and Greek yogurt's lactose typically is partially broken down by the time you eat it. Sucralose doesn't typically cause diarrhea either.

[tate1981]

Ok, thanks. So i held off the milk and oats this morning. Had 4 eggs scrambled with low fat shredded cheese with two pancakes and honey, large glass of water and 5g creatine. No issues at all so the problem lies somewhere within the milk, the oats, or the coffee.

[teddyd]

I have found that I tolerate 100mls to 150mls of milk in the morning with my oats (circa 50g to 75g) without an issue. However, if I start pushing up to 200mls of milk and beyond I find gastro issues usually occur. So it comes down to the volume of milk I can tolerate.

I have never had an issue with milk in the past and I can eat cheese by the ton, but milk is now something I need to moderate (my wife is lactose intolerant so we didn't have milk in the house for years, but now with a toddler and a kiddo cooking there is milk about so I use some).