Re: messed up post fast...is there still hope?

"my question is this...I feel very full...my stomach feels like I gained at least 5 pounds"

Hi #130556 :-) all is not lost, the flora is out of balance is all and will get the picture after half a day or more of no food. you've onto it, its just too much variety too soon.

difficult situation isn't it straight after a fast and needing to be comfortable while travelling.

here's some interesting info about seaweed in case you had it with your sushi. you can read about it on the net. latest discovery is that seaweed can't be digested by westerners but japanese can because it carries a bacteria (beneficial) that inserted a gene into (some of) their intestinal flora long ago to help digest it. it took many generations for this gene transplant to take so it doesn't help us. they are now researching how many other foods might also carry on them into the gut a bacteria capable of assisting digestion by genetically mutating certain flora already there. it maybe add another piece to the jigsaw as to why the food ones ancestors ate goes down easier.

it still astounds me that only 10% of our cells are human and 90% are the cells of bacterias without which we would die.

you simply have a bacterial battle going on in there, aka: indigestion and the good guys haven't won till the stomach goes down. lol :-). the bi-product (waste) of intestinal bacteria is gas. an overbalance of one type (of gas) has caused the bloat.

try researching 'gut bacteria' it explains the bloat best.

have a great trip