Hypochloridia?

Question
Dianne
I have always suffered from poor digestion and get bloated whenever I eat. I have been able to identify red meat, dairy, and gluten as the main offenders and have cut them out which has helped a lot-plus I am losing a little weight. The rest of me looks pretty good but my belly looks pregnant. My doc says I have no issues that show up on tests-just 'central obesity'
Lately I have been waking up with nausea early in the morning (no not prego-hubby got fixed) I am susceptible to heartburn, and from what I have googled, the fact I now work nights, and snack when I get home may probably be the culprit.
I also discovered I may actually have hypochloridia, or not enough stomach acid. Maybe this is why I have trouble digesting tough foods like red meat? Also, sorry for the yuck factor, my stools have a lot of undigested food. I know what healthy and non healthy stools look like as I worked in a nursing home. Is it possible the lack of acid is the reason the food isnt digesting? BTW digestive enzymes and probiotics do help to a certain extant. Anyhoo, I just started taking Betain HCA. Only been a couple days but I am feelin better and my you know whats are looking better and there are fewer of them.
Thanks for your thoughts, and have a very happy new year!

Answer
Hi Bonny !  

To be honest, I'm not sure what "thoughts" you are looking for. if your eliminations are becoming more normal and sans undigested food, It sounds as though the added probiotics and HCA is doing what they are supposed to do to balance out stomach acids and digestive enzymes.

Being overweight and/or obese causes a myriad of digestive issues in and of itself because it generally means an unhealthy lifestyle (not enough exercise, not enough water, too much soda, diet high in processed foods with too little whole foods to keep the body working properly, etc. etc.)  

Dairy (because of the lactose) and gluten (which your body was not really meant to process) can generally be found at the root of many digestive and bloating issue and red meat (especially if from grain fed cows vs grass fed) can also cause problems because you are eating the grains the cows ingested.

If  you would like to send me a sample of what you eat each day, I'd be happy to take a look and make some suggestions.  To start, I would start reading the ingredients on the foods you are eating (if any of them are pre packaged and processed) as many of them contain chemicals and preservatives which can cause digestive issues simply because your body does not know quite what to do with them or how to process them.

To give you an idea of what a healthy balanced day of eating would look like, you can read This Article

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